Spring 2003 Issue

January 2003 VHF Sweepstakes in grid DM73. Five FSK441 meteor-scatter contacts were made from this remote southern New Mexico grid on 144 MHz.

How a New Mexico VHF operator makes meteor-scatter contacts from his parked car.

By Mike Hasselbeck,* WB2FKO

The VHF contest scene in the southwestern United States is dramatically different from contesting in the east. The population density out here in New Mexico is low, and contest activity is minimal at best. I observed these characteristics first hand while operating as a rover in three VHF contests during 2002.

I have driven many hours from my home in Albuquerque to remote corners of the state in a futile search for VHF DX. What usually happens is I’ll work two stations back in Albuquerque (DM65) in the center of the state and little else. Sometimes I’m not so lucky. More than once I’ve been in a grid for several hours calling CQ and worked no one! (That’s right—nada, zilch, zip!) You can’t even count the grid as a multiplier if you don’t make at least one QSO, which, to say the least, is discouraging.

In principle, the Rocky Mountains offer some of the best locations in the continental United States for VHF DX. I have accumulated a list of spectacular vistas in rare grids at elevations well in excess of 7000 feet. Then again, like the proverbial tree falling in the woods, if there are no stations out there to copy my signals, I wonder if am I even making noise.
In an effort to make more noise, I have been working on my setup by adding more power and better antennas. Bobby Smith, N5XZM, Albuquerque’s big gun on VHF+, provided much of the ingenuity and even some of the equipment for my rover improvements.

While I continue to improve my station, I know, however, that what is really needed in the Southwest are increased activity and more grid multipliers to help our scores. There is 6-meter sporadic-E, which is primarily during the summer. Even then, it’s only one band and at best very hit-or-miss.

Considering the limitations of propagation and my budget, I was looking for a way to expand my DX horizon without breaking the bank. For me, WSJT meteor scatter was just what the doctor ordered.
On December 27, 2001, Andy Flowers, KØSM, made what is believed to be the first portable WSJT QSO in North America while operating from grid DN90. Prior to the availability of WSJT, KD5BUR and later the W8WN-WD8KVD team took their high-speed CW setups on the road for meteor-scatter contacts.

This is not the definitive article on portable WSJT. What I will relate here, however, is how I managed to make portable WSJT work on the cheap with relatively simple upgrades and additions to my existing 2-meter rover setup.

What Does it Take?

With less than 50 QSOs in a typical contest weekend, I’ve never had the need for a portable computer to do the logging. I have plenty of time—way too much time—to record contact information by hand on a piece of paper. To operate WSJT in the rover, however, I was going to need a laptop.

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