[NLRS] Summary: Rovermania Postmortum

Tue Nov 2 12:29:50 EST 2004

Sorry that I was not able to que in on this earlier, will have more feedback
on RoverMania this winter.

However, my one comment that stands out is that for the first 4 hours or so,
at least from the fixed station perspective, the rovers should be in their
initial grids a bit longer if possible.  I was a real tough negotiation to
find everyone in the first grids, get them worked, and look for the next one
before they all move off to the next grid.

Food for thought.  Thanks everyone else for their feedback so far.
RoverMania was a complete success and can be repeated!  Oh, I wholeheartedly
agree with Jon's assessment for RoverMania being for the UHF contest, I
think it will be pretty hard on everyone to try to repeat for the other
major contest in the same year.  If the UHF Contest is eliminated by the
grace of the ARRL, then its time to move RoverMania to June or Sept, etc.
Just my opinion.

73

Mike - KM0T

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jcplatt1 at mmm.com>
To: <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 11:08 AM
Subject: [NLRS] Summary: Rovermania Postmortum

>
>
>
>
> 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
>
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