[NLRS] Fwd: ARRL Sep VHF AE0EE/R Rover QRP

Tue Sep 15 08:45:29 EDT 2020

Looks like Murphy was out to get several of us this year! I had problems
from before I left home till the very end of the contest, including two
radio failures that only allowed me to make QSO's with one station on 1296
and above. As a Single-Op QRP Portable, I'm used to not being able to work
stations I hear. But this year I only heard a small number of stations. I
did work W0VTT, who was quite loud at my end also. I also briefly heard
W0UC, but by the time I got my beam pointed his way, he was gone.

At least the weather at my location was just about perfect.

73, Zack W9SZ

On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 10:38 PM W. S. Mitchell <wsmitchell3 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> As usual, my contest write-up turned into a novel.
>
> 73,
>   Bill
> AE0EE
>
>
>                     ARRL September VHF Contest - 2020
>
> Call: AE0EE/R
> Operator(s): AE0EE
> Station: AE0EE/R
>
> Class: Rover QRP
> QTH: EN34
> Operating Time (hrs): 10
>
> Summary:
>  Band  QSOs  Mults
> -------------------
>     6:   6      4
>     2:   7      5
>   222:   3      2
>   432:   5      4
>   903:   2      2
>   1.2:
>   2.3:
>   3.4:
>   5.7:
>   10G:
>   24G:
> -------------------
> Total:  23     17  Total Score = 805
>
> Club: Northern Lights Radio Society
>
> Comments:
>
> 5 W all bands, battery power (some solar-charged, some commercial-mains
> charged).
> 6 m: Moxon at 7', mast lashed to open door of car.
> 2 m: 3-element Yagi hand-held, or mag-mount vertical.
> 223 MHz: 3-element Yagi hand-held (FM only).
> 432 MHz: 7-element Yagi hand-held, or mag-mount vertical.
> 927 MHz: Rubber ducky (FM only).
>
> I had hopes of a VHF activation of SOTA summit K0M/CW-001 "near" Park
> Rapids, MN in EN27.  There is a fire tower there, and it appeared to have
> reasonable access via a DNR-maintained road.
>
> Friends, the DNR does not maintain roads like the DOT.  The dirt road had
> maybe
> been graded not too long before I got there with my front-wheel-drive
> sedan, but
> they missed a few big rocks in the middle of the road, and there were
> places
> where the road got a bit soft as I was driving in.  Naturally, being a DNR
> road,
> it is hilly and winding: not what you want to drive on for five miles with
> a car
> that's sliding around.
>
> I parked at what had been shown on the map as a trail that went up to the
> fire
> tower.  It was obviously overgrown, and there was not even the thought of
> going
> up with the vehicle.  I stepped out of the car, and immediately found some
> mosquitoes.  Thankful that I had planned ahead and had my bag in a
> grab-and-go
> state, I hoisted my pack, grabbed the antenna, and headed up the hill in
> some
> light mist.
>
> After a short walk, 5-10 minutes, I reached the base of the fire tower.  It
> is a
> ladder-type tower (80'), so climbing it was obviously out---even if there
> were a
> ladder section for the bottom 15 feet.  The forest was wet, so I picked as
> good
> a spot as I could find.
>
> Usually I'm pretty quick to set up a station, but when using two hands to
> fend
> off clouds of voracious mosquitoes, it's hard to make much progress with my
> other two hands.  This was also true of operating while holding the antenna
> (and
> the pen/notebook for logging).  I was glad I had brought dry bags and
> planned
> for rain, because not long after I arrived, it started to drizzle more
> earnestly.  It didn't pour, but it was definitely too wet for unprotected
> radios.
>
> Somehow I wasn't able to make contact with one of the bigger stations in
> the
> area, even though he should have been easy.  I probably had some settings
> wrong
> and was distracted by the cold/wet/mosquitoes, but similarly I may have
> lost a
> few dB to the mosquitoes, let alone the wet forest.  Sadly I only made two
> contacts, short of the minimum needed to get credit for the SOTA
> activation.
>
> As it started raining a bit harder, I texted a friend to let him know I was
> heading down and onto some sketchy "road" that was now wetter than
> when I came in, and when to call in a search party.  Thankfully it wasn't
> necessary, and I made it out without too much incident beyond small
> branches
> getting stuck underneath the car and going clunk-clunk-clunk as I went
> along.
>
> I made a quick stop in EN17 to work K0VG on FM.  Obviously I was still a
> bit
> rattled from my SOTA effort, because in my haste to reassemble the beam
> (elements labeled for quick identification), I managed to switch the
> director
> and reflector.  Vern was really weak, even when I pointed right at him, but
> somehow got much stronger when I pointed away.  Oops!
>
> From there it was a long drive to a campsite in North Dakota near I-29 and
> the
> EN16/15 border.  I arrived just before sundown, pitched the tent in the
> twilight, got the 40 m antenna up (HF QRP rig is much more power efficient
> than
> my VHF rig), and handed out North Dakota to a few people before admiring
> the
> dark skies and turning in for the night.
>
> In the morning I packed the dew-drenched gear back into the car and headed
> off
> for a sandhill.  It was warmer and drier, which was a welcome change.  As I
> called CQ from the sandhill, I watched as a cold front came through,
> bringing
> with it cooler temperatures, wind, and much-reduced visibility.  So much
> for the
> scenic views of a high point!  K0BBC/R had a good signal from the Wilmot
> rest
> stop, and it was good to get a second call in the log---and on a bunch of
> bands!
>
> Then it was off down I-29 to the Wilmot rest stop, where I got to see
> K0BBC/R
> and also worked W0VTT for my third unique.  I operated some FT8, and while
> I
> heard a few out-of-area callsigns, none were consistent enough to work.  I
> even
> missed W0UC, who seemed to come on just as I had stopped to eat lunch away
> from
> the radio.
>
> Once K0BBC/R had arrived in EN14 and worked me, I was off to play catch-up.
> Fortunately the roads to my usual spot weren't in bad condition aside from
> some
> grasses growing taller than I like between the ruts of the two-track road
> (remember: not much clearance!)
>
> W0VTT had a good signal on 2 m, and I worked him quickly.  6 m was quite
> dead,
> and eventually it was time for a sandwich and the long drive home.
>
> I arrived home with about 30 minutes to go in the contest, so I headed up
> to my
> local hill, hopped onto FM simplex, and managed to get a fourth unique in
> the
> log, plus a new grid on two bands!  With the exception of the "multiplier
> radios" on 223/927 MHz FM, all of the radios finished the contest pretty
> much at the end of their first battery.  I had backups for both the
> weak-signal
> rig and the primary dual-band handheld (with APRS).  The computer battery
> died
> in EN15, putting an anticipated end to the FT8 (and computer logging!).
>
> All told it was a 38-hour trip, I covered 700 miles, operated from six
> grids
> (EN27, EN17, EN16, EN15, EN14, and EN34), and had some fun playing radio
> with
> just five watts.  Thanks to K0VG, K0BBC/R, W0VTT, and N0UK for working me,
> and
> K0AWU and W0UC for attempts.
>
> For next time, I'll plan not to operate VHF from the Height of Land fire
> tower
> summit.  It's too densely forested and too densely mosquitoed to operate in
> the
> summer, and likely to be very difficult to access (also cold!) in the
> winter.
>
>
> Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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