[NLRS] Jan VHF : W0ZQ/rover (long)

[w0zq at aol.com]

                Valid
                QSOs    Pts/QSO   QSO Pts   Mult
50 MHz            0      1          0        0
144 MHz          19      1         19        2
222 MHz           0      2          0        0
432 MHz           3      2          6        2
902 MHz           0      4          0        0 
1296 MHz          0      4          0        0
2394 MHz          3      8         24        1 
3456 MHz          3      8         24        1
5760 MHz          5      8         40        2
10 GHz           17      8        136        3
24 GHz            4      8         32        2

Total
All Bands        54               281       13 + 2 Grids = 15

CLAIMED SCORE:   4,215

What a hoot.   Prior to the contest I had thought about going roving, but my weekend timeline did not allow for it.   So instead I opted for a mini-rover-lite expedition just in the Twin Cites (EN34, 35).   I already had 10 gigs ready to go.   Add to that KM0T's 24 gig system, that's two bands.   I recently received my 5760 dish and mounting it to my extra camera tripod, then strapping the DEM transverter to the backside via my favorite mounting method, tie-wraps, I had 5760 ready to go minus an IF rig.   What to do.  I decide to use the TM-255 2m IF rig that is on my 10 gig system by splicing in an A/B coax switch on the 10 gig tripod thus allowing me to run coax from the 5760 transverter over to the A/B switch on the 10 gig system and to use the 10 gig IF rig.   With that, I now had 5.7, 10, and 24 gigs ready to go.   Hmmmm, more bands on the quick ..... what to do.   Looking at how the scoring is set up, I decided to concentrate on the 8 pointers.   I added a small boom-to-mast clamp to the Yakama roof rack, mounted on that a 2' pipe, and mounted on that my rover loopers for 2304 and 3456.   My microwave stuff is set up to move from shack to house to shack fairly easily, all with power pole connectors and transverter control via the IF coax.   So its was a simple matter of throwing the TR751 2m IF rig in the car with a second A/B coax switch along with the 2304 and 3456 transverters.   With that, I was good for 2.3, 3.4, 5.7, 10g, and 24g.   Hmmmm, more bands, more bands, what to do.   Well, I had 2m FM in the car, and oh ya, my little handheld does 440.   Two more bands !!   With that, I had seven bands.    I thought hard about adding 1296, but that was a bridge too far for this mini-rover-lite expedition.   
 
I decide to just rove the Twin Cites (sorry to those NLRSers outside the cites) with the intend to work the high bands mostly off of downtown.   I started in EN34, Burnsville Parkway.   I had previously arrange to try to work K0AWU on 10 gig right at the start of the contest and was delighted to find some very light snow scatter along our path.   Bill and I found each other about 15 minutes prior to the start of the contest on 10 gigs.   We were lucky that the snow held together long enough so that my first Q of the contest was with him ..... EN37 on 10 gigs, off to a good start !     
 
>From EN34 I made 23 contacts.    My little 440 FM handheld was overwhelmed with intermod, but it was good for two multiplers !    N0KP's 10 gig beacon on 10368.292 was of tremendous help to make sure that we were all on freq .... the process is to find the beacon, see what your IF freq reads, subtract 292, and that is your offset.   Add that offset to 100, dial it in and presto, 10 gig contacts !    Transverter stability in the cold is a challenge.   However,  10 gigs was often the liaison freq for other band.   I am very happy with how 2.3, 3.4, and 5.7 played as well.    KM0T's higher power 24 gig system worked flawlessly and made being heard ease ; the challege was to hear other lower power stations.  From EN35 I made an additional 31 contacts for a total of 54 Q's.    Almost all Q's were off of downtown.    In total I had 19 2m FM Q's and 17 Q's with three grids on 10 gig.   
 
A big thanks to all the help provided by fellow club members.   What a hoot.
 
73, Jon
W0ZQ/R