[NLRS] September Rover Report K0PG, K9ILT (log)

[ADUHAWK@aol.com]

Equipment failure, and K9YR saves the day.

This time we made it to the starting point on time.  We even had a whole 
minute to spare.  It always amazes me that with the car entirely stuffed with 
gear Friday night that the antenna work takes three to four hours Saturday 
morning!  

We had six bands going, an all time high for us.  Our only glitch was that we 
didn't get the XVRTR from DEM in time.  It was all my fault, I waited until 
their last ready-made one was gone before I ordered. r.  Steve did turn 
around my 902 XVRTR in time to arrive for the festivities.  I must say, we 
like that band!  Our experience this weekend was that it was always better 
than 1296, but your results may vary. The 900 MHz antenna is a dinky little 
10 el yagi, but it sure outshone the 23 element looper on 1296.  We didn't 
have any cases though where we completed on one band and not on the other.  
The other major treat was our new TS2000X. It was sure nifty to have that 
remote head on the dashboard bracket!  The only band we needed to turn around 
and tune was 903.  The transverter was strapped to the FT290R i.f. which was 
strapped to the rear seat arm rest.  That really reduced the fatigue factor 
for us.  The internal voice keyer worked like a champ.  I had tried to use a 
couple of different external ones in the past, but in the rf rich environment 
of the back seat the results were unacceptable.  The built in CW memory keyer 
was also nice.  My cw is bad enough when we are in motion, and maybe when 
we're parked, but the addition of the internal memory keyer made it easier on 
everybody.  I had to say "bye bye" to some old favorites in order to swing 
the deal, but our technology has just taken a 10 year leap!

As in all complicated events, a few things usually go wrong and this time was 
no exception.  It came to light in the ACE Hardware parking lot in 
Beardstown, IL (EM49) Saturday night.

While we were making the long grid cross through EM59 some stations weren't 
responding to our calls. This was our first time with the new radio, and we 
weren't 100% familiar with all of the bells and whistles.  Anyway, it didn't 
look like the black dots were lighting up when we spoke.  They did on CW, and 
they did on FM, but not on SSB.  So, we stopped in Beardstown to investigate. 
 No one could understand the words coming out of my mouth.  The mic was dead. 
 It was the Heil dual element job.  It's about 10 years old.  I took it 
apart, and put it back together again.  There was nothing obvious.  I was 
sorely disappointed.  It would have to be CW only on all the bands, or if I 
took the transverter off the FT290R I could have 2 meters and 222 FM.  The 
222 FM came as a generous loan from K9YR.  Jeff learned that we weren't going 
to have the band, so he offered his FM rig and amplifier.

We took him up on the offer and made some FM Qs at our stops along the way.  
Pat suggested that we replace the Heil mic with the mic on the Yaesu.  I told 
her that the pin outs weren't the same and we didn't bring the manual along, 
so we were stuck.  Then she asked if the ADI mic on the 222 radio would work. 
 I assured her that it wouldn't, but just to humor her I put it on the 
Kenwood.  It worked.  So, the 222 radio was retired for the remainder of the 
trip, but at least we had 5 bands working. Thanks Jeff!

The rest of the trip went without failure or frustration for that matter.  We 
would liked to have had some conditions, but we were able to work about 300 
miles in a round number pretty regularly.  We got our 15 grids in, and 
totaled 78 mults -- I think at about 300 QSOs for each of us.  Pat beat me in 
June by two, but this time I got two more than she did.  We didn't have much 
luck getting north of 44 degrees, just a couple of MN and WI Qs, and of 
course, the ever present K2YAZ in EN74.

We worked WB9Z everywhere we tried, likewise K2DRH from Illinois, N0URW from 
IA, and N9DG and others from WI.  We need to thank Ken, W9GA who helped set 
us up with Qs on 5 bands in three grids from WA9O, plus the help he gave us 
in advising when to try on our upper bands.

In light of the security status of the country, we wrote to the sheriffs of 
the counties we stopped in, telling them what was up, referring them to the 
ARRL website and including a couple of digital pix of the rovermobile in 
action.  Of course this was the only time we didn't interface with local law 
enforcement!

Anyway, thanks so much to all who followed us around.  We had a great time.  
The most satisfying part for us was hearing the thank yous for the new grids, 
particularly on 903 and 1296. So, the batteries come out of the trunk until 
January and we begin the dead bug removal process from all of the antennas. 
73, Tim K0PG and Pat K9ILT