[NLRS] What would you like from rovers??? (long)

[Jon Platt]

Hi John,

I didn't see any other response to your questions so I'll take a shot !
I've group my thoughts into the fixed station perspective, the rovers
perspective, and some other comments.

>From the perspective of the fixed station:
1.   Please rove "close" to me.   You will hear this from every fixed
station.   Bill up there in EN37 would most likely be just thrilled if you
activated the nine of twelve grids around him.
2.   Once I've worked you in a grid, and I can work you pretty fast, then
I'm ready for you to move to the next grid (please).   Many grids please
.... and fast please.
3.   Please take a good station.   Don't get me wrong .... I will attempt to
work anyone anywhere anytime running anything, but man, it sure is A LOT
easier and scores accumulate a lot faster if I'm not working a 5 watt rover
running a omni.   It really helps if the rover has a good signal on at least
one band, such as 2m or 222, for running the higher bands as you can use the
lower band for coordination.
4.   Its helpful when the rover has the ability to communicate while in
transit from grid to grid in order to confirm schedules.   For rovers that
stop to set up at each grid even a simple omni on 2m may work for this.
5.  As discussed before, posting a schedule with freq. is huge.

>From the perspective of the rover station:  (I'll bet that a few others may
have some comments here, but here are mine).
1.  You arrive on time, and as posted, but no one shows up.   Why post ?
Fixed stations need to be more aware of posted schedules so that they are on
freq when you show up in the grid (or soon after that).
2.  Rovers rove for different reasons.   Some like the travel time, some
want pile-ups, some want to activate rare grids on rare bands, some what a
big score, and others what to get out of the house.   I think you need to
link why you rove to what your strategy is.  What drives it all (no pun
intended) is to have fun.
Staring at a road map to find effective ways to transit between grids may be
important.   Grid corners are also strategic .... grids are longer east-west
than north-south direction.
3.  For June & Sept, my experience has been that conditions are better south
of Lat 45 degrees.   Going north into pine tree country is mighty pretty but
I have little doubt that there is a strong positive correlation between corn
fields and propagation.

General thoughts; neither fixed station nor rover based:
1.   The Jan., June, and Sept. contests are all different.   In January
condition are usually poor and MOST rovers are running 100 watts to small
yagis.   June is often a 6m contest and many of the fixed single op stations
are up on 6m leaving the local rovers wondering where the heck everyone is
with respect to 2m and up.   The September contest may be the best contest
for roving as it can be the tropo contest.   Also, don't forget the August
UHF contest that is just 24 hrs plus you can leave that huge 6m and 2m
antennas at home.   That "magic line" that you taked about with respect to
working the cities is somewhat different for each of these three contests.
2.   Rovers USUALLY have poor 6m signals due to low antennas.
3.   Microwave contacts count as either 4 or 8 points depending on the
contest.   Check out how 902, 1296, and 2304 contacts have added to W9FZ/R
and N0DQS/R scores .... Gene also have 3456, 5760 and 10 GHz.   A rover that
is "small" on VHF but "big" on UHF and who stays close to UHF activity may
generate a better score.

Perhaps this will generate some other thoughts !!

73, Jon
W0ZQ



----- Original Message -----
From: "John Hoaglun" <john@hoaglun.com>
To: <nlrs@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 11:56 AM
Subject: [NLRS] What would you like from rovers???


> I am starting to get ready for the next contest.... working through some
> ideas and I thought that I would solicit thoughts from my "clients." I am
> debating changing which grids that I activate.
>
> Would people prefer that we work less grids but for a longer period of
time
> in each grid?
>
> Or would you prefer that we try to maximize the number of grids that we
can
> activate with realistic chances of making good q's?
>
> How long to stay in a grid is a common debate for rovers. I found that we
> could work 50-75% of our q's while in motion. This made the couple longer
> stops that we had seem pretty quiet once we did actually stop. After 30-45
> minutes there wasn't much for activity until we moved someplace else.
> Granted once the rates really slow down we do still get a few new q's once
> in a while.
>
> I am thinking about starting in EN23 & EN33 or some such area that is
within
> the 175 mile circle.  The magic line on the map that allowed us to be able
> to working into EN34 & EN35 during the Jan 2003 contest was someplace just
> south of Clear Lake near the EN32/33 border as W0GHZ found out. This would
> cut down our drive by 30+% and maybe would allow us to find another grid
or
> two someplace else within the circle to operate from like EN44/EN45 or
maybe
> even to end the contest in EN37.
>
> My friends.... let me know your thoughts... this might also impact my
choice
> of antennas and future bands which is why I ask the question now.
>
> 73
>
>
>
> John Hoaglun - MCSE
> KC0LBT - EN35
> http://www.hoaglun.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> NLRS mailing list
> NLRS@mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/nlrs
>