Begin: Saturday Jan 17 at 1PM Central
End: Sunday Jan 18 at 10 PM Central
My call will be N5ZY/R for Rover
ARRL VHF Contest Rules: http://www.arrl.org/january-vhf
Join us on-the-air during the No Static VHF Activity weekend! These two days everything 6m and up will be radioactive. For this rover event I will be a lone bison rovering Oklahoma, weather permitting. Weather predictions are forecasting warmer than normal (Spring in January!) No artic blast! After last year I decided I needed ski goggles if that happened again.
- Grid Squares – Where and when
- APRS Position Beacon
- Visual Map
- Frequencies
- Antennas & Radios
- Previous Results
Sign-up for my Rover Grid Alert SMS/Text during the contest when I’m at a grid!
To receive an SMS/Text when I arrive at a new grid please enter your contact information below. Upon arrival I will message you from an App, not a group chat with reply-all chaos!
Just a few important messages like:
– N5ZY/R QRV EM16 – 6m/2m/1.25m/70cm/33cm/23cm
– N5ZY/R QSY 222.0
– N5ZY/R QRT Equip Issue
Grid Squares – Where and when
Ambitious yes.. I will add local times as soon as I calculate them..
| Local TIme | Grid | LAT,LON | Note | Gmap Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SATURDAY 1PM until band dies | ||||
| 1 – 2PM | EM04 | 34.74529,-98.53184 | Mount Scott | GMap |
| 3 – 3:20 PM | EM14 | 34.99589,-97.96661 | HE Bailey Roadside | GMap |
| 5:30 – 5:45 PM | EM05 | 35.53702,-98.03445 | Fort Reno, El Reno | GMap |
| 6 – 6:20 PM | EM15 | 35.59956,-97.95969 | El Reno hilltop | GMap |
| 7 – 7:20 PM | EM16 | 36.02990,-97.90134 | Hennessey | GMap |
| 8 – 8:20 PM | EM06 | 36.39038,-98.05105 | West Enid | GMap |
| SUNDAY 6 AM until band dies | ||||
| 7 – 10 AM | EM16 | 36.07556,-96.00352 | Turkey Mtn W | GMap |
| 10:15 – 10:45 AM | EM26 | 36.07182,-95.90466 | 61st & Sheridan | GMap |
| 11 – 11:25 AM | EM15 | 35.97550,-96.04911 | Sapulpa-Glenpool Farm | GMap |
| 11:35 – 11:50 AM | EM25 | 35.94451,-95.98986 | Glenpool Farm2 | GMap |
| 12:10 – 12:30 PM | EM15 | 35.72960,-96.00381 | Okmulgee | GMap |
| 1 – 1:15 PM | EM25 | 35.43613,-95.96398 | Henryetta H2O Twr | GMap |
| 3 – 3:30 PM | EM24 | 34.89444,-95.75993 | McAlester H2O Twr | GMap |
| 4 – 4:20 PM | EM14 | 34.93815,-96.01854 | West McAlester | GMap |
APRS Position Beacon
I will use APRSdroid to beacon my live position.
You can see where I am using https://aprs.fi/ and searching for my callsign N5ZY.
Visual Map
Saturday Afternoon EM04, EM14, EM05, EM15, EM16, EM06
Start at Mount Scott then work my way North along the grid line. Overnight I will drive to Tulsa and stage for Sunday.
Sunday EM16, EM26, EM15, EM25, EM24, EM14
Start at Tulsa Grid corner then work my way South along the grid line. In this map of Tulsa I highlighted terrain above 750 ft. and plotted my activations accordingly.
The remaining daylight hours of Sunday I will drive South along the grid line. Again terrain above 750 ft is shaded and plotted my activations accordingly.
Frequencies
For 2026 I’m adding 10 GHz however at this writing I’ve not yet tested it and setup will require several minutes.
| Band | WSJT-FT8 (USB) | Call Freq (USB) | QSO Freq (USB) | FM SIMPLEX | FM SIMPLEX 2 | FM SIMPLEX 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 M | 50.313 | 50.125 | 50.145 | 52.525 | ||
| 2 M | 144.174 | 144.2 | 144.220 | 146.52 | 146.49 | 146.55 |
| 1.25 M | 222.174 | 222.1 | 223.5 | |||
| 70 cm | 432.174 | 432.1 | 446.0 | |||
| 33 cm | 902.174 ? | 902.1 | 902.125 | |||
| 23 cm | 1296.174 | 1296.1 | 1294.5 | |||
| 3 cm | 10368 | 10368 |
Antennas
| Bands | Antenna |
|---|---|
| Verticals | |
| 2 M | Whip while driving |
| 2/70/23 | Comet Base Vertical CMA-GP-95 while parked only and while the rotor is NOT in use! 6 dBi @ 146MHz, 8.6 dBi @ 446, 12.8 dBi 1.2 GHz |
| 1.25 M | Comet CA-SUPER22 while parked only 6.6 dB @ 222 MHz |
| 33 CM | Comet KP-20 while parked only 9.2 dB @ 902 MHz |
| Horizontals | |
| 6 M | Par Electronics Stressed Moxon, (50.3 Mhz) or M2 Antennas 6M-3SS beam or Par Electronics 6M Omniangle (OA-50) |
| 2 M | M2 Antennas 2M7X (144-148MHz) 7ele 12.3 dBi |
| 1.25 M | M2 Antennas 222-10EZ (222-226 MHz) 10 ele 14.1 dBi |
| 70 CM | M2 Antennas 440-11X (420-450 MHz) 11 ele 13.4 dBi |
| 33 CM | M2 Antennas 917HD (900-930MHz) 17 ele 17 dBi |
| 23 CM | M2 Antennas 23CM35 (1250-1300MHz) 35 ele 20.94 dBi |
| 3 CM | Ebay 22 dBi (10.368 GHz) rectangular horn |
Radios
| Radio | Desc/Use |
|---|---|
| IC9700 | 2m, 70cm and 23 cm USB and FM |
| IC7610 | 6m |
| IC7300 | To use with transverters |
| Q5 Signal L33-28hp50 | Converts 10 M to 33 cm |
| Q5 Signal L222-28hp100 | Converts 10 M to 1.25 M |
| DEMI 10368-144 | Convert 70cm to 3cm @ 3 watts |
| Anytone | VHF Mobile |
Previous Results while rovering
| Yr | Mo | Category | Div | Nat Rank/All Cat | Div Rank/ALL Cat Me/Total | Div Rank/Rovers Me/Total | Score | QSOs | Mults | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Sep | SngOpLP | WGDiv (OK) | 9/25 | n/a | 513 | 28 | 19 | ||
| 2023 | Jan | ClascRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 23/47 | 2/2 | 399 | 17 | 19 | ||
| 2023 | Jun | LimtdRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 411/1588 | 51/100+ | 3/3 | 15228 | 157 | 94 | |
| 2023 | Sep | ClascRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 174/686 | 7/25 | 1/4 | 4182 | 67 | 51 | |
| 2024 | Jun | LimtdRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 154/1133 | 14/72 | 4/7 | 15566 | 180 | 86 | |
| 2024 | Sep | LimtdRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 129/636 | 6/41 | 2/3 | 4922 | 89 | 46 | |
| 2025 | Jan | ClascRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 205/764 | 11/40 | 1/1 | 2366 | 72 | 26 | Brrr!! Artic Blast! |
| 2025 | Jun | ClascRovr | DeltaDiv (AR) | 131/1257 | 6/33 | 3/3 | 35,462 | 233 | 149 | Good test |
| 2025 | Aug 222 and Up | Rover | Area 8 | 4/5 (raw) | 2/2 (raw) | 7,148 (raw) | Retreated Sunday 4AM from Hail storm | |||
| 2025 | Sep | ClascRovr | WGDiv (OK) | 35/540 (raw) | 35/540, 3/32 (raw) | 1/2 (raw) | 29,562 (raw) | 191 | 78 | Missed last grid due to LiFePO4 depletion |