[K3pzn-board] Contesting with the Emergency Communications Vehicle

[James Nitzberg]

Hi Keith;

Thanks for the many reminders about this meeting and I
certainly fall into the "thinking about using it  for
contesting" category.

I won't be at the meeting this Thursday so this will
be some of my thoughts and ideas.

As much as I'd like to turn it into a VHF/HF rover
contest station, I have to admit that the primary
purpose is to provide communications during
emergencies and other events that would benefit from
our communication support.  

With that stated as the primary purpose - contesting
might be a side benefit but I wouldn't want to
sacrifice the "emergency services" part of our
mission.

Here's would would be nice to have:

1.  An HF mobile antenna or two - like a Screwdriver,
or hamsticks that can go on the roof with a magnetic
mount. 

2.  A light-weight triband Yagi antenna for 2 & 440
that can be mounted on the 40 foot mast and rotated. 
a small 6 meter beam would be nice as well. 

3.  One radio that can do HF, VHF and UHF that is a
"reasonable" contest radio.  Kenwood's TS-2000 is in
that category.  Yaesu may have some new entries in
this market. 

Of course we can use the club's Kenwood TS-850 on 12
volts right now - and it's an excellent HF contest
radio.

4.  Notebook computer for logging.


5.  Provide access to 120 Volts.  This lets us plug in
a wide variety of accessories to help the operations.


It's not a very long list - is it!

73,

Jim  WX3B