11/29/2007 | K4GUN This contest was my introduction to contest roving. I'm hooked. I really hadn't even planned on being a rover. I had to work on Saturday so I figured I'd drive to my club's mountaintop site on Sunday. Having an IC7000 in the truck, I thought I'd try to make a few contacts during my drive up and back from the mountain.

This is when I discovered just how bad a vertical antenna is for SSB in the vhf/uhf bands. People had tried to tell me, but being as inexperienced (and perhaps stubborn) as I am, I didn't quite understand the depths of this issue. I figured I have a pretty good vertical so how bad could it be?

The answer? Pretty bad. I managed a meager 16 QSOs between the two bands that I could cover with the radio/antenna combination. The bulk of those were with K8GP since they have enough power and the pre-amps to hear a guy like me. I did manage to stretch this out over 4 grid squares and something as simple as map planning made it an interesting pursuit.

The result of this is that I'm now hooked. Shortly after this, I set out to build up a decent roving station. I've been busy getting ready for January when I'll have 3 bands with a variety of antennas. I'm prepared to transmit while moving with stacked loops and when stopped, the directional antennas will go up. I've figured out routes, operating schedules and have already checked with the police at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. I'm even looking beyond January with the intent of adding bands.

I'll be ready by January and it will not be 16 contacts on a vertical. Y'all got me hook, line and sinker. -- K4GUN