After contest soapbox
Once again I spent too much time engineering and adjusting and lost several hours of contest time because I wasn’t watching the clock. Plans were also delayed because of the expectation of hail Friday and the very real downpour Saturday morning between me and my first scheduled stop. For the hours I did rover however I’m happy with the result.
There were some band openings but it wasn’t quite like the ARRL VHF weekend. This time however I packed light – I had minimal tools and only two antennas but I did have some new equipment. The 100 AH LiFePo4 battery lasted the full day although the contesting hours were shorter. The BMS in the 100 AH LiFePo4 battery also seems to be susceptible to 6m RF as I had to find a RF power level that didn’t cause the battery to cut power (either a temperature sensor or a current sensor in the battery)! Not a fun thing when I’m about to log a contact and the radios are suddenly off – which requires closing and re-opening WSJTX. The new Samlex inverter also works well however regardless of it’s commercial grade FCC approved equipment rating it clearly should not be this close to the radio as it fills the 6m waterfall with bands of noise and the audio sounded like ocean waves coming ashore. Even when the inverter was off its fan runs with I transmit on 6m (temp sensor evidently being interfered). Thankfully I use Anderson PowerPoles so it is easy to disconnect it from the battery one handed but it will be a problem if I need it for an antenna rotor in the future. I’ve ordered lots of ferrites for the next trip.
I also realized that going forward I need to use Waze instead of Google Maps as Waze allows me to avoid gravel roads where the low tree limbs and narrow roadways are often located. The “No Commercial Trucks” sign is always a warning to turn around, however unfortunately the road isn’t ever wide enough to do so without tearing up an antenna.
I also need to re-evaluate logging and likely change my rover to N1MM like I’ve used at home for HF contests. The problem is that I’m not sure N1MM is usable as a rover (grid changing). This may be why I chose N3FJP.
Achievements on this trip:
Only 95 contacts (with a few dupes) but 68 multipliers
Activated 6 grids of the intended 9 grids.
Contact into 37 unique grids total.
63 contacts total on 6m.
32 contacts total on 2m.
66 unique calls total.
Mt. Scott EM04 had 14 unique grids on 6m and 8 on 2m (Afternoon)
Anadarko EM05 had 5 and 1 (Mid-morning)
West Enid EM06 had 12 and 1 (Mid-morning)
Purcell EM14 had 3 and 3 (dark of night)
Edmond EM15 had 1 and 1 (mid-afternoon)
Blackwell EM16 had 13 and 6 (final moments).
A huge thanks to everyone who was patient with me fading in and out and getting me in their logbook!
Before contest info
Begin: Saturday July 15 at 1PM Central
End: Sunday July 16 at 4PM Central
My Call for this contest: N5ZY/R
For this contest I will have 2m Vertical (FM), 2m Horizontal (SSB), and 6m Horizontal (SSB). Unlike the ARRL VHF contest, this CQ WW VHF contest is considerably shorter and ONLY uses 6m and 2m.
Note that I only get points for logging each contact per band per Grid Square.
After the contest entry submission deadline I will upload logs to LoTW with my grid square so you will have them (and I) for VUCC. If you need a QSL card, mail me one and I will QSL back.
APRS Position Beacon
I will use APRSdroid to beacon my live position.
You can see where I am using this link: My Real-Time location from APRS
Saturday Schedule
| Stop Name | Grid | Arrive | Depart | Travel time to next stop | Lat/Lon |
| Mount Scott | EM04 | 1:00 PM | 2:00 PM | 45 min | 34.7443958, -98.5317999 |
| Anadarko CHRG | EM05 | 2:45 PM | 3:45 PM | 5 min | 35.0801728, -98.2337896 |
| Anadarko | EM05 | 3:45 PM | 4:00 PM | 20 min | 35.0728075, -98.1915129 |
| Chickasha EAT/CHRG | EM15 | 4:20 PM | 4:45 PM | 45 min | 35.0329401, -97.9328352 |
| Purcell hillside | EM14 | 5:30 PM | 6:15 PM | 30 min | 34.9968269, -97.3793444 |
| Newcastle | EM15 | 6:45 PM | 7:15 PM | 45 min | 35.1828453, -97.5567024 |
| Edmond | EM15 | 8:00 PM | 8:30 PM | 45 min | 35.6515107, -97.4237585 |
| Home | 9:00 PM | …unless 6m is going bonkers |
Sunday Schedule
| Stop Name | Grid | Arrive | Depart | Travel time to next stop | Lat/Lon |
| W. Enid | EM06 | 6:30 AM | 6:45 AM | 5 min | 36.3906908, -98.005744 |
| Enid CHRG | EM16 | 6:50 AM | 7:00 AM | 60 min | 36.3901574, -97.9041847 |
| Blackwell CHRG | EM16 | 8:00 AM | 8:15 AM | 35 min | 36.8104904, -97.3364655 |
| Belle Plaine KS EAT/CHRG | EM17 | 8:50 AM | 9:35 AM | 35 min | 37.366026, -97.322465 |
| Arkansas City | EM17 | 10:10 AM | 10:25 AM | 35 min | 37.1289834, -97.0343647 |
| Cedar Vale | EM17 | 11:00 AM | 11:15 AM | 35 min | 37.1154256, -96.5029066 |
| Caney Water Tower | EM27 | 11:45 AM | 12:00 PM | 30 min | 37.0226625, -95.9167031 |
| Bartlesville EAT/CHRG | EM26 | 12:30 PM | 1:35 PM | 10 min | 36.7243946, -95.9345343 |
| Bartlesville Park | EM26 | 1:45 PM | 2:00 PM | 60 min | 36.7573233, -95.9715331 |
| Turkey Mountain | EM26 | 3:00 PM | 4:00 PM | CONTEST ENDS. | 36.070736, -95.994256 |
Frequencies
For this contest I am not allowed to make QSO’s on the National Simplex Frequency. At most I can simply announce they QSY.
| Band | Call Freq (USB) | QSO Freq (USB) | FM SIMPX | CONTEST FM SIMPX 1 | CONTEST FM SIMPX 2 | CONTEST FM SIMPX 3 |
| 6 | 50.125 | 50.145 | ||||
| 2 | 144.200 | 144.220 | 146.520 | 146.490 | 146.550 | 146.580 |
WSJT-X
FT8 2M: 144.174 USB
Q65 2M: 144.116 USB
FT8 6M: 50.313 USB
| Ant | |
| 6m | Par Electronics Stressed Moxon |
| 2m | M2 Antennas 2M7X |
| 2m FM | Comet Base Vertical CMA-GP-95 (2m/70cm/23cm) |
| 70cm | M2 Antennas 440-11X |
| 23cm | Comet CYA-1216E |
Route Map image
Sunday I will be entering Kansas and EM17 and EM27!
Photos
Here is a view of the new setup, tested on Field Day. You can see the tilt-mount and the Comet ‘base mount’ vertical for FM.
I’ve fixed the previous problem and now only have one laptop with Ubuntu “Lunar Lobster”. I still need to build a stand for the radios.
