[NLRS] Freqs during contests
[email protected]
[email protected]
Wed, 22 Jan 2003 08:32:35 -0600
Nice observations & summary John. I think you nailed it. As a fixed
Twin Cities station, I depend a lot on rovers communicating where they will
be, when, and on what frequency. Before the start of each contest I make
myself a one page Excel spread sheet of all the rovers and where they will
be on an hour-by-hour basis. At the top of each column I put what bands
they have and what frequency they plan to stake out. Then, based on my
spreadsheet information, I show up at the stated time, on the stated
frequency, with the antenna in that direction. Sometimes this isn't so
easy when your busy on other bands doing other things, but I give working
rovers the highest priority; the only thing that gets me away from working
the rovers as they move is an E opening or aurora ..... the fixed station
needs to make a one of those decisions on horseback as to whether to work
the opening or the rover (or hopefully both !). As the contest unfolds,
its pretty common that the initial rover plans get modified, so I make
pencil modifications to my spreadsheet as that occurs. I also listen a
lot on the rovers declared "calling" frequency and it really helps us fixed
stations when a rover announces that they are ".... running one hour
behind", or ".... will be moving to the next grid in 2 hrs", etc. It also
helps when they QSY bands in the same pattern, for example 2, 222, 432, 6,
or whatever. As a suggestion, since 432 is a bit more common that 222,
it may be better to QSY bands from 2 to 432 then to 222 so that those
without 222 don't get lost. I think your use of a voice keyer on your
declared freq of 144.230 to beat the bushes coupled with brief forays to
144.200 was excellent. I also recognize that those who live out further
away from the Twin Cities where "local" activity is lower may perceive
144.200 as an open calling frequency and that their operating patterns may
be different from mine based on that.
My long long winded $0.02 worth.
73, Jon
W0ZQ
"John Hoaglun"
<[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>
Sent by: cc:
nlrs-admin@mailman Subject: [NLRS] Freqs during contests
.qth.net
01/22/03 06:50 AM
Please respond to
"John Hoaglun"
It was pretty interesting working the contest as a rover and listening to
see where people would operate.
During the contest we tried several different methods.
1. Sit on 144.230 and manually call CQ or to use the computer as a voice
keyer. (I know that is a different freq than what I had posted before the
contest.... things happen.... people make changes on the fly. I will do
better next now that I have some better experience to draw upon.)
2. Listen to 144.200 for new calls.... then try to move them to 144.230 as
much as possible.
3. Hold 144.230 as my calling freq.... once in a while jump down to the
calling freq make a little announcement then QSY back to 144.230.
4. Check 223.500FM
In Iowa we exercised options 1, 2, and 3. Given there was next to no one on
the air, frankly it really didn't matter. We ended up talking to the
cornfield which for some reason don't respond very well, we listen and
listen, some for KM0T, call CQ wit the voice keyer... then listen some more
for KM0T is one of three stations that were actually on the air in Iowa
besides all the rovers. (There must have been a rover for every cornfield
in
Central Iowa.)
In Minnesota after trying all of the above options at some point during the
weekend we ended up using options 3 and 4. Even for the last two hours on
Sunday sitting on an overpass from Brooklyn Park about 3 miles from my
house
options 3 and 4 seemed to work while.... granted it was a little slow. But
I
probably averaged about 30's per hour. Not a great rate but we called cq...
very little search and pounce by Sunday night. I was there to hand out
points.
I was a little disappointed that people would sit and run on 144.200 for
10-20 minutes at a time. I can see making a quick q if it was really
slow.... I can see making a quick little announcement and then qsy up or
down the dial a few KHz.
I can honestly say that I heard sometimes as much as 4 layers of stations
trying to complete q's at 144.200.
By the end of the weekend I had pretty much sworn off the calling the
freq... even listening to it... About every 20-30 minutes I would jump
down... make my little announcement and then qsy back to 144.230 and hold
my
freq. If people wanted my contact they need to spin the VFO a little and
move up the dial. (Considering that I exceeded my contest goals a few times
I decided that the calling freq wasn't that important.)
As a rover station it is pretty obvious when people are not moving up the
dial. I am always a little nervous sitting 30 KHz up the dial since many
stations would not check that high.
KT80 was fun to listen to... Eric knew that w0amt/r was running at 144.240
and that I was running from 144.230. I heard Eric grab a potential q and
then move stations up to 144.250 to make sure that he was in the clear.
It was also kind of funny when someone new would stop by 144.230, we would
complete a q and then some of the other locals would jump in to get the new
call sign. That happened more than a few times.
I found that my best 2m DX occurred when I stayed at 144.230. I was able to
work EN44, EN45, EN53 Sunday evening. It was quiet enough at 144.230 that
adjacent channels were not too much of an issue washing out the longer
paths.
I don't know what other people think of voice keys.... but I am sold. It
was
pleasant break during certain portions of the contest.
73
John Hoaglun - MCSE
KC0LBT - EN35
http://www.hoaglun.com
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