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Spring 2003 Issue |
 Photo A. Wood was used to create an antenna mount for the bed of K3YWY’s 1993 Ford Ranger.
I Rove; Therefore, I Am This article’s title borrows a sentiment from the French philosopher Descartes in that existence is somehow tied to an activity. In the case of the authors of this article, it is roving. Actually, no one knows whether or not hauling a bunch of bulky radios up to a high spot gives ultimate meaning to life, but it is a lot of fun. In this light-hearted look at roving, the authors explore some experiences and give some tips. By Chuck Pearce, PhD, K3YWY, |
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Not everyone is endowed with a great QTH for
VHF-UHF operation. Even one which is fine for 6 meters or 2 meters may be
marginal for operation at microwave frequencies, which is true in our
case. Roving allows us to put a 2000-foot earthen tower under my truck
with a short feedline on 2.3 GHz. Height is the great equalizer in the VHF
and higher realms. Even a modest station (100 watts, 5-element Yagi) can
dominate a band from 2000 feet and attract a pile-up. Roving is akin to normal mobile operation only more concentrated in terms of equipment and duration. There are two basic rules of thumb: the more radios the better, and likewise, the more distance covered the better. The VHF-UHF contests sponsored by the ARRL are scored on a system involving Maidenhead grid locators, which are 1° ¥ 2° rectangles laid out along lines of latitude and longitude. All stations endeavor to work as many grid locators as possible on as many bands as possible, but rovers get a bonus grid for each grid they activate. This has led to Herculean efforts by some rovers who have activated upwards of 20 grid locators, driving 1000 miles or more in the process. We typically cover about four to six grids in any one contest. What the grid locator system does is justify the purchase of another electronic gadget—the GPS receiver. We use the Garmin® XLS-45, which will read out positions in Maidenhead grid locator format. Not all GPS receivers do this. If you already have a GPS receiver, just use the longitude and latitude readout mode and acquaint yourself with the relationship between the latitude and longitude coordinates, as well as grid locators. The four-character grid locator is part of the contest exchange, and six-character grid locators are used to calculate bearings for antenna headings.
As rovers, we can work all the stations we
worked in one grid all over again in the next grid. Therefore, one of the
fun parts of our being a rover is traveling down the Pennsylvania Turnpike
at 65 mph, waiting for the GPS receiver readout to flip over from FN00 to
FN10.
We generally operate for an hour or two,
sometimes more, from a high spot. Then we proceed to the next stop.
Although it is fun to operate from the high elevations, we do spend a lot
of time driving, during which time we want to make some contacts. This
means some of our antennas need to be operational while we are in motion,
like a normal mobile. While we are moving, we use loops on 50 to 432 MHz.
If you are familiar with FM repeater operation, you will find VHF-UHF
mobile similar in certain respects. Instead of a repeater being on a high
spot providing coverage to all the low-powered mobiles, a high-powered
contest station with a big antenna fills this role, and SSB has more punch
than FM. We’ve consistently worked the large multi-op contest stations at
distances of over 200 miles, especially on 6 and 2 meters. You’ll be
surprised at how well you can do mobile SSB.
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