[Rover] KK6MC/r in January Contest

[James Duffey]

This time I clearly bit off more than I could chew. My schedule was  
ambitious even if things had gone perfectly, which they did not.

Here are the results:

	Band 	QSOs	Grids wrkd	Grids activitated

	6	12	3		5

	2	15	6		6

	432	 4	2		4
---------------------------------------------
Total    3       31    6		6

Score - (35 QSO points)*(11 band grids worked + 6 grids activated)=  
595 Points

Although I made only 4 QSOs in 2 grids on 432, adding 432 helped the  
score by 50%; without it my score would have been 405. So that  
experiment was a success.

I had intended to take Friday off and get the rover ready, but a last  
minute meeting precluded this, so I ended up getting things ready  
Friday night and early Saturday. Cold temperatures made running feed  
line difficult and fingers very cold after more than a few minutes  
putting things together. So I ended up getting on the road about an  
hour and a half late Saturday morning. Normally this would be easy to  
make up, but there was road construction in a couple of places that  
further put me behind schedule. I decided to take a short cut that  
involved a gravel road instead of an indirect route that was all  
pavement and it ended up with the gravel road dead ending. So we had  
to back track and this cost as much time as I had hoped to save.  
Roads aren't always were maps think they are.

I ended up at San Juan Mesa in DM83 about 2130Z, but could not get  
access to operate on the mesa. There are a lot of wind generators  
there. I ended up operating from lower ground after a great deal of  
searching for an open road to the top. I worked W5DDR on 3 bands,  
heard a couple of 0s in QSO on 6M, but I could not raise them, even  
on CW. I also heard a DM82 station briefly but couldn't raise him  
either. After a half hour the rancher whose property (30 sections!)  
adjoined the road I was on stopped by and wanted to know what I was  
up to. He was interested in what I was doing, but at the end admitted  
that he had thought I was with the wind farm people and thought he  
could talk to me about leasing some of his land. We left and had  
problems with the road we took out deadending in someone's driveway  
instead of going through like it showed on the map, so there was  
another delay there.

I made it to DM73 about 2330Z and it was clear that DM82 and DM72  
were not to be. I pulled off the road and setup in the dusk. I worked  
another DM73 station on 2M, but not another soul was to be heard.  
After 45 minutes we pulled up stakes and moved on.

I wanted a quick dinner so we could make Demming that evening, but  
the service at the place we chose was slow and it took us an hour and  
a half to get dinner. In retrospect that McDonalds would have been  
better.

At this point we decided that Demming was out of reach for the  
evening and chose to head for Las Cruces. At Cloudcroft we were both  
tired so we decided to overnight in Alamogordo. At 1000PM I was  
feeling relief that the frustrating day was over and pulled under the  
motel canopy  only to hear a solid thunk. The antenna mast had hit  
the canopy. And again when I exited. The mast was bent 30 degrees 2  
ft from the top. I Only the 6M boom was on top, I travel with the  
antennas stowed. Fortunately Virginia, my wife, had brought along a  
nice bottle of wine, so that helped a lot. After a glass of wine,  
things didn't seem so bad. I considered my options, straightening the  
mast, cutting off the bent portion, or buying a new one. I use EMT  
(electrical conduit). All three would have to wait until morning.

In the morning I removed the mast from the Subaru. I tried to  
straighten it by standing on the bent portion. It kept twisting. The  
motel had two stories and the stairs leading to the second floor were  
open back. I wedged the bent portion of the mast in open portion of  
the back and tried to unbend it. This is a two step process. The  
first bend gets straightened but it adds a second bend in the  
opposite direction. THen you need to go and unbend that bend. After  
10 minutes of that, I had a mast that was on average straight with  
only two slightly opposing bends. My wife finally stopped laughing.  
Then I reassembled the mast and 6M antenna boom. I put the rover  
battery back in the car and off we went. Late again.

Quick continental breakfast at the motel, fill the tank, and off to  
Deming. We stopped briefly in Las Cruces for a more substantial  
breakfast to go at Whataburger. We finally go to DM62 South of Deming  
at about 1715. I reconnected the rigs to the battery and immediately  
noticed that I had shut the 2M fuse holder in the door and it was in  
pieces. WHile contemplating this, I smelled burnt plastic and noticed  
a bit of smoke from the battery. One end of the broken fuse holder  
had come in contact with ground. I quickly remedied that. I taped the  
fuse holder together with electrical tape and was on the air at 1745.  
I was immediately greeted by WB5LJO, who informed me that he had been  
waiting all morning for me to show. Others immediately showed up,  
again wanting to know where I had been, and this was a successful  
stop. I worked K7ICW on all three bands. In all a successful stop.

We moved on to DM61 a few miles south and Murphy stayed behind. We  
had another successful stop here.

My plan was to move on and operate from the DM51/DM52 line, which is  
close to the Continental Divide. but N2IC suggested that the DM61/ 
DM51 line might be better for sight lines. There were some nice high  
spots there, but unfortunately they were all occupied by INS agents.  
Some under camouflage netting. This is a mile or so from the Mexico/ 
New Mexico border.

I operated from DM51 and DM52 on both sides of the continental  
divide. about a dozen INS agents passed by and one slowed down, but  
none stopped. One parked about a quarter mile away for a half hour,  
but they stayed there. These were both successful stops. I heard  
snippets of 7s talking on 6M from here, but was unable to raise them,  
even on CW.

 From here I headed home. I thought that I might get on from DM63 or  
DM64 on I-25 headed north, but it was dark when I got to both and  
there were no obvious good sites to operate from.

Thanks to all for  working me. I had a great time. Look for me as  
rover in the June contest.

Now, things to add for June

1. The ability to operate in motion, at least on 6M.

2. APRS tracker. this would help when I get behind schedule.

3. Conservative plans.

4. Longer antennas on 2M and 6M. Present antennas are 6 ft and 5 ft  
respectively. I can probably go to 8ft before handling them becomes a  
problem.

5. Sidetone for the 2M rig. I keep forgetting it doesn't have one.

Again, thanks to all who worked me and my apologies for those who  
missed me due me being behind schedule. - Duffey






--
James Duffey KK6MC/5
Cedar Crest NM 87008
DM65