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Post Contest

I drove 847 miles – Good grief! I did fall behind schedule but mostly because I stayed in a few spots much longer than anticipated. Matfield Green Tower Site in Kansas for instance, after driving on gravel roads for 30 min just to get there I wasn’t ready to leave at the scheduled time. Also the summer heat had finally broken and it was very pleasant – so I sat here with the windows open, enjoying the cooler temp.

I operated with WSJTX in Ubuntu and N1MM in a Windows VM and it worked really well. I just need to learn the color coding and things in N1MM better. The great thing in this setup is that I could operate in WSJTX and quickly switch over to Phone and log a contact. I also just need to program a hotkey to enter ‘ROVERQTH’ for me when I change grids.

This was the first time I ever talked on 1.25M and I was surprised how quiet and clear it was. It was also the first time I made contacts on 23cm! I also had fun talking to fellow hams at travel stops and seeing some beautiful countryside! Most of the contacts were with the OKRover GridDance gang and a few others I could reach from the elevation I was at.

Unfortunately it was a lackluster contest with little openings in our region. Saturday we didn’t have any 6m or 2m propagation/enhancement, nor did we Sunday except Sunday evening. At 6PM on 6m, like a tsunami my WSJT screen filled with people calling me but like the tide it was suddenly gone after I logged a few. Then at sunset 6M opened up to South America and Canada for a brief period. I’m glad I was following OKRover around while they did the grid dance or otherwise there would have been nobody to talk to. Only a few people were on 2m FM Simplex. Throughout the contest I would hear brief moments of wobbly signals on 6m which resembled meteor scatter. If it was there long enough WSJT would decode a station and then I would never see it again.

Enjoying the quiet countryside and even rolled down the windows. I was here a few hours and only saw one rancher come by twice with a livestock trailer and one other person. The car had so much gravel dust from the trip there I had to slam shut all the doors to knock it off allowing me to see out the back and side windows..

Usually while charging the car I also start calling CQ on the 2m Vertical and 6m WSJTX. Visited several chargers this weekend – and looking forward to a day I can get a car with a longer range. The 2024 cars really run circles around this 2020 – but this Kia is great for getting to and from work, just not driving across a state.

Saturday’s journey. Saturday while driving to Topeka I made the huge mistake of going by my head and not by my map. I therefore drove to the wrong charging station and juiced up for what I thought (in my head) to be a mere 90 miles. Well, it was 130 miles and at the 125 mile point I had to call a tow truck and start removing the antennas from the roof (my car requires a 12 ft clearance and on top of a flat bed tow truck it was more like 17 ft). He towed me to a fast charger in Topeka and while the car charged I re-assembled the antennas. After this experience I’m really looking forward to a Rivian R2S or Canoo truck/van or other electric with many hundreds of miles of range..

Sunday’s Journey – I skipped going East of Kansas City to the grid corner since I started my day a few hours late, highly discouraged from Saturday’s lack-luster band status. In Missouri I actually had to wait for a fast charger to become available at two locations. I’ve never had to wait before.

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Link to the ARRL Sept VHF Contest: https://www.arrl.org/september-vhf

Back-link to the July CQ WW contest: https://n5zy.org/2023-july-cq-ww-vhf/

I’m coordinating with OKROVER.INFO, a group of three other rovers who will be on the air nearby operating from several grid corners. They are even operating on the microwave bands! Check them out: http://okrover.info I will follow them to Kansas and operate from there all Saturday afternoon. Sunday I will leave their side and drive through Missouri to the Oklahoma border then work my way back to OKC.

I will be making several stops for charging. Unlike the new cars that can drive over 350 miles my battery pack safely drives about 130 miles.

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

Frequencies

For this contest we are allowed to use everything from 6m and up, and the National Simplex Frequency may be used if not busy.

Band	WSJT-FT8 (USB)	Call Freq (CW/USB)	QSO Freq (USB)	FM SIMPX NA	FM SIMPX 1	FM SIMPX 2	FM SIMPX 3
6 M	50.313	50.125	50.145
2 M	144.174	144.2	144.220	146.520	146.490	146.550	146.580
1.25 M	222.174	222.1		223.5
70 cm	432.174	432.1		446.0
23 cm	1296.174	1296.1		1294.5

Antennas

Band	Ant.
6 M	Par Electronics Stressed Moxon
2 M	M2 Antennas 2M7X
2 M	Par Electronics Stressed Moxon
2/70/23 Vert	Comet Base Vertical CMA-GP-95 (2m/70cm/23cm) (While parked only!)
1.25 M	M2 Antennas 222-10EZ
70 CM	M2 Antennas 440-11X
23 CM	Comet CYA-1216E

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Saturday 9-Sept Schedule (1 PM Start)

1	On-air 1PM Central, Depart likely at 3:00 PM Grid EM18, Kansas Matfield Green Tower Site 1,732 ft by way of Bazaar Cattle Pens Lat, Long: 38.144188, -96.437224 NOTE: Simultaneously OKRovers will be doing grid dance at EM27,17, 18, 28

1	On-air 6PM Central, Depart at 6:30 PM Grid EM29, North Topeka Lat, Long: 39.06177, -95.76169
2	On-air 6:30 PM, Depart at 7PM Grid EM28, South Topeka Kansas Lat, Long: 38.9926, -95.79289
3	On-air 7:30 PM, Depart at 8PM Grid EM18, Eskridge, KS Lat, Long: 38.95733, -96.11179
4	On-air 9:30 PM, Depart at 6AM Sat. Grid EM19, St. Mary, KS Lat, Long: 39.24389, -96.10746

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Sunday 10-Sept Schedule (10 PM Stop)

1	On-air 8AM Central, Depart at 8:10 AM Grid EM29, West Kansas City, Wyandotte County Park Lat, Long: 39.107249, -94.869967
2	On-air 9:50AM Central, Depart at 10:00 AM Grid EM39, Odessa Missouri Lat, Long: 39.009184, -93.962486
3	On-air 11:00 AM Central, Depart at 11:45 AM Grid EM28, Harrisonville, MO Lat, Long: 38.653549, -94.359796

1	On-air 12:40 PM Central, Depart 1:00 PM Grid EM27, 400 Johnson Dr, Nevada MO Lat, Long: 37.832938, -94.324571
2	On-air 1:55 PM Central, Depart 2:45 PM Grid EM27, 2100 S Prigmor Ave, Joplin, MO Lat, Long: 37.066984, -94.405168
3	On-air 3:55 PM Central, Depart: 4:10 PM Grid EM26, Vinita, OK Lat, Long: 36.631381, -95.141609

1	On-air 5:10 PM Central, Depart 5:40 PM Grid EM26, Turkey Mountain Tulsa OK Lat, Long: 36.070822, -95.99423
?	Grid EM16 I would love to work the grid corner but I will be in desperate need of a charge and I will be running out of daylight. If possible from here I would drive to the next hill and operate from EM16.
?	Grid EM25 If possible from here I would drive to Bixby or Glenpool and operate from EM25
2	Unless I divert, on-air 6:50 PM Central, Depart 7:35 PM Grid EM15, Bristow OK Charging stop for drive to OKC. Lat. Long: 35.843436, -96.395802