[NLRS] Summary: Rovermania Postmortum

[jcplatt1 at mmm.com]

I did receive a number of replies regarding my request for feedback on
Rovermania (the UHF contest) as to what worked and what didn't work.
Here is a consolidation of that feedback that I will carry forward into
Rovermania II.

1.   We need to establish a database of rover sites.    All rovers, myself
included, have known sites that are based on knowledge and experience ....
how about we share some of that.   This would be especially helpful to
newbie rovers and experienced rovers travelling in unknown areas.    I see
at least two solutions.    One solution is to create our own listing
(database) and post it on our NLRS reflector.    If we do this, I would
like to see a volunteer come forward (rover site coordinator) who would
coordinate collecting that information from fellow rovers and then package
it in such a way that our webmasters (JT & SHF) can easily upload it to our
website.    The second solution is to use existing tools such as the one at
http://www.intac.com/~mherson/rovesite.htm  .   I would like some feedback
on this proposal.   One upside to this work is that the rover locations
database can be used for all contests, not just Rovermania.

2.  We did a great job of promoting Rovermania within the NLRS, but little
was known about it outside of NLRS land.   We need to make sure that
regional clubs and big gun stations are aware of our plans and where to
find us.    For those promoting Rovermania, we should construct a mail list
of regional big guns and clubs and send them a link to our Rovermania plans
in the weeks leading up to the contest.

3.  The published plans with proposed routes, times, and freq's, was liked
by all.    There was some discussion about reducing (consolidating) the
number of assigned rover freqs as the spread may have caused a lot of knob
spinning and may have resulted in some lost contacts.    One thought is to
assign two rovers to a freq.   Another thought is to have several (two or
three) regional calling freqs where once a contact was made the stations
would QSY.    We need to think about this some more.

4.   We need to have a trial run to make sure everything is working before
the contest.   Maybe we should consider linking in the June VHF contest as
a test ground for Rovermania.    The thought is to establish your rover
station for the June contest where you can debug it so its ready to go for
the August UHF contest.   We shouldnt come on to Rovermania cold turkey.

5.   Application of APRS (HamCom) for automatic rover locating.    Rovers
would need to be equipped for this ..... when in range, an APRS equipped
station (rover or fixed) would be able to know where a APRS equipped rover
currently is.    How much value does this add vs how much work (and cost)
is it ?   For example, I prefer to leave my 222 rig on my assigned freq and
someone can holler at me to see where I'm at ..... that plus staying to
schedule.   What is the range for APRS (its 2m FM as I recall) ?

6.  We need to have more home stations active.   How do we get non-rover
stations to get on ?

7.  There was some discussion about promoting Rovermania for all four ARRL
contests during the year therefore spreading the work & activity around.
My thoughts are that the UHF contest is unique and ideally suited for
roving and that we should continue to focus Rovermania on the UHF contest
for now.    Any favorable outcomes like shared rover locations, new rovers,
etc. will automatically spill over into these other contests.

8.  Activation of rare grids versus maximizing scores.    This one is a
tough one.    On the one hand I can make more contacts by staying close to
known areas of high activity.   On the other hand its lots of fun to rove
to more distance grids (knowing full well that I may only make contacts on
the lower bands).     My thought on this subject is to let each rover
determine what it is that they find is fun to do, and to do that with as
much coordination and integrations with others as possible.    Each rover
should do what it is that they find is fun to do (and this includes picking
their own route(s)).

9.  We need to encourage rovers at all levels.    This includes the "big
gun" multiband behemoths as well as the two band little pistols who want to
go out for some fun on a Sunday afternoon.    Rovers of all levels are
invited in Rovermania, and we need to assure that this message gets out.

10.  Encourage Rovermania planning discussions before the big event.
Who's going where with what, etc.   This is a strength of ours as we
certainly don't lack from talking !    We need to encourage all rovers to
participate in the preplanning discussions.    Its a federation of rovers
where individual rover rights are strongly supported, but we recognize and
exploit the advantages that comes from union.

11.  8 to 12 grids is generally felt to be the most grids you can (safely)
do while work multiple stations (the UHF contest & Rovermania is a 24 hr
contest).

12.   Assigning a freq to fixed stations didn't work.

73, Jon
W0ZQ