[NLRS] K0MHC/R UHF Test Summary

Tue Aug 4 01:58:06 EDT 2009

Jim - You were LOUD, LOUD, LOUD from your locations.  A great  rove!!

OK, so how many Q's and grids and what's the big score?!?!

Rich

In a message dated 8/3/2009 10:00:09 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
jim.k0mhc at earthlink.net writes:

Many thanks to the NLRS gang who spent the weekend on the hill.  You all did
a great job!

While the June contest was a workup  to this event there was no comparison.
This was much more  fun!

Saturday was rather slow from the four corners of EN27/17/26/16  just
Northwest of Detroit Lakes, MN. The first hour was OK with 14 contacts  back
towards the cities but it went downhill from then on. The next 5 grids  were
rather quiet except for the strong signal from  W0AUS.

Sunday was better but I had difficulty finding good  operating locations in
the heavily forested and hilly EN36/35 area. I  probably missed many of you
as I was driving around scouting the  area.

Overall we accumulated 161 QSOs across 6 bands while activating 8  grids.
Here are a few more details and  observations:

Location, Location, Location! No, this isn't  about being a realtor. It's
about being a rover. My wife and I had  previously scouted EN17, 16, 26 but
not EN27. However I found a great spot  using Google Earth that was
relatively high with a good takeoff over a  lake. However, when I showed up
it turned out to be a cemetery located on  the White Earth Indian
reservation.  Being the culturally aware person  that I am (not) and being a
paleface with a Texas driver's license I  decided to move on to the
flatlands. Thanks to Bruce for suggesting the 4  corners NW of Detroit 
Lakes,
MN. Although completely flat (West of Highway  59), their cash crop isn't
corn. Moving on down to the Elbow Lake, MN four  corners was uneventful
except I had forgotten my mosquito repellent. It's  tough to send good CW
while you're keeping the darn bugs off. Sorry about  that.

A last minute request changed my Sunday route to cover  the EN36 void. Not a
problem except my previous cell tower location was now  overgrown by bush 
and
trees. I had to find a better location in the EN36 SW  corner with hilly
heavily forested area. Finally I found a road pull off  just on the edge of 
a
corn field with a good southern view. After elevating  the mast and leveling
the car a farmer came galloping up on his ATV. "What  the h%#& are you doing
on my road?" (actually it was a county road).  After concluding his
introductory remarks I remembered Donn's comment  regarding red neck farmers
up in Northern Minnesota and tried to complement  him on his corn crop. That
didn't change the subject much so remembering my  days on the farm I asked
him about the corn futures market. That helped  defuse the situation. When 
he
spotted the E85 sticker on my car it was as  if we were long lost brothers.
He even suggested that I return next near.  The downside of this location 
was
that the looper antennas (902 - 3456)  were just peaking over the corn
stocks. When Mike (KM0T) and I ran the  bands we had a problem with 2304.
Based on these extensive data we  concluded that the corn cobs must resonate
on 2304 MHz. Tilting the looper  array up another 5 degrees (above horizon)
seemed to solve the problem as  signal strengths returned to normal and 2304
was good to go. Yes I may  return to this site again but I hope the farmer
didn't return to find the  popcorn lying underneath his corn stocks.

On as more serious  note, I made some changes since June that may have 
helped
somewhat. My  preference is to rotate the rotor (rather than the car) and
observe antenna  boom length limitations that would allow me to rotate 360'
while in motion  (if I had a roving partner to drive). The configuration for
this time out  consisted of the following hardware:

222 - 140 watts* 8' yagi  11.4 dBd @ 21'

432 - 125 watts* 8' yagis 16 dBd @ 21'

902 - 28  watts* 6' loopers 19 dBi @ 8'

1296 - 28 watts* 6' loopers 19.5 dBi @  8'

2304 - 11 watts* 7' looper 20 dBi @ 7.5'

3456 - 20 watts* 7'  looper 23 dBi @ 9'

*All power measured at the antenna end of the  coax

What went well?

-        100  Amp service @ 14 VDC provided for all amplifiers (didn't need 
a
backup  generator this time)

-        23' telescoping mast  stood up under relatively strong winds

-         FT-847 transceiver was repaired and returned in time for the  
August
contest

-        Microwave "box"  (Xverters, amplifiers, relays and controller for
902-3456) worked  well

-        "H" frame mounted pre-amps for 902  & 1296 worked well

What needs attention?

-     Both the 222 and 432 pre-amps (built into the power  amplifiers)
failed early on

-        The 3456  transmission line had 3 dB of loss (measured after  the
contest)

-        IC 820H 144 MHz IF  transceiver isn't performing very well on CW

-       More scouting for good operating sites

-       I need to add mosquito lotion and fly swatter to my "must  take"
list

Highlights:

-        Running  all the bands with W0AUS from all 8 grids

-         Mild weather on Saturday with a constant 67 degrees and 15 MPH  NW
wind

Lowlights:

-        Where was  everyone on Saturday? Many 360 degree sweeps yielded 
only
white  noise

-        I called many stations on Sunday but  they QSY'd before getting
their attention

Future  Plans:

-        2010 RoverMania - we're on a  roll!

73, Jim

K0MHC/R

EN26ha home  base

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