Nick Farlow, KB0YHT and myself, Randy Wing, N0LD, activated several grids this weekend as a rover in the January 2017 VHF Contest in Texas and Oklahoma.  Our antennas include a loop for 6m, 2 stacked loops for 2m, 2 stacked loops for 70cm, a 2m beam (2M7), a 70cm beam (432-12EME), and a vertical for 2m and 70cm.  We used 100 watts on 6m, 150 watts on 2m, and 50 watts on 70cm.  We had an FM 70 cm / 2m mobile with 50 watts that we used to make contacts on FM simplex. The loops allowed us to make mobile contacts in an omni-directional fashion... the beams allowed us to focus on distant stations.

  Our path took us  from just south of Waco, TX, to near Brenham, TX to Houston,TX to Dallas, TX to Durant, OK to Muscogee, OK to Tulsa, OK, and back home to Oklahoma City, OK. Our itinerary had a built in 10-15 minute stop per hour where we directed the  beam antennas to N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, and NW and make a call:  

EM11 TX at 1900 UTC thru 1930 UTC Jan 21 South of Waco, TX

EM10 TX at 1930 UTC thru 2030 UTC Jan 21 Bellville, TX

EL19 TX at 2030 UTC thru 2100 UTC Jan 21 Brookshire, TX

EL29 TX at 2100 UTC thru 2215 UTC Jan 21 Galveston, TX   ****

attempting tropo over the Gulf of Mexico from Pelican Island, TX ****  

EL29 TX at 2315 UTC thru 0045 UTC Jan 21 Westfield, TX

EM20 TX at 0045 UTC thru 0100 UTC Jan 21 The Woodlands, TX   **** dinner and overnight break in The Woodlands, TX ****  

EM20 TX at 1300 UTC thru 1415 UTC Jan 22 Madisonville, TX

EM21 TX at 1415 UTC thru 1445 UTC Jan 22 Centerville, TX

EM11 TX at 1445 UTC thru 1545 UTC Jan 22 Richland, TX

EM12 TX at 1545 UTC thru 1645 UTC Jan 22 Dallas, TX

EM13 TX at 1645 UTC thru 1715 UTC Jan 22 Plano, TX  

**** lunch break in Plano, TX ****  

EM14 OK at 1815 UTC thru 1945 UTC Jan 22 Durant,OK

EM24 OK at 1945 UTC thru 2045 UTC Jan 22 Chockie, OK

EM25 OK at 2045 UTC thru 2200 UTC Jan 22 Ulan, OK

EM25 OK at 2200 UTC thru 2315 UTC Sep 11 Glenpool, OK

EM26 OK at 2315 UTC thru 2330 UTC Sep 11 Jenks, OK

EM16 OK at 2330 UTC thru 0000 UTC Jan 22 Oakhurst, OK  

**** dinner break near Sapulpa, OK ****  

EM15 OK at 0100 UTC thru 0215 UTC Sep 11 Warwick, OK

EM15 OK at 0215 UTC thru 0300 UTC Sep 11 Choctaw, OK  

We finished near my home in rural Choctaw, OK about 12 miles ESE of Tinker AFB (SE of OKC).  

We spent too much time driving and didn't allow enough time to just stop and call CQ in different directions... There wasn't as many contacts to be had in south Texas near Houston as we had hoped.  Tropo was a zero - the storm had moved on to the east and laid waste to our hopes to talk across the gulf of Mexico from Pelican Island on the north tip of Galveston.  70cm beam had a little trouble - it was a new addition to the rover... and I don't think I had it completely "tuned".  

This was the second trip using the N8XJK voltage booster.  This device powered our radio and our 2m amplifier quite successfully on our last trip.  It brought the voltage up high enough to have the FT-847 put full power out on 6m.  Previously, I had noticed a garbling of the audio when the voltage sagged - forcing me to lower power to about 50 watts..  However, the day before the contest, enroute through the urban sprawl of Ft. Worth at rush hour on Friday, I was using the radio/amplifier to talk on 2m repeaters... I re-discovered that FM is a high duty cycle and I blew a fuze.  After a quick stop at Auto Zone, we had a plethora of fuze types including the 40 amp fuze that blew internally within the N8XJK.  Luckily, it happened before the contest not during.  

2 weeks before the contest, I added the M-Squared 2M7 beam and the M-Squared 432-12EME beams.  These went together quickly... and then I focused on building the PVC rack that I mounted on my Tahoe's luggage rack.  This rack, built in the lego style, allowed me to embed the antennas inside the PVC rack.  Zip ties hold the antennas to the PVC rack.  The rack is held to my luggage rack by mounting it to 2 1x6s that are bolted directly to the luggage rack with bolts.  A few strap tie downs kept everything rigid - even at highway speeds into a 30 mph wind!  We did have to tighten the straps with some zip ties to keep them from singing in the wind.  

Houston traffic and tolls were an unexpected negative on an 83 degree day!  Everyone was going where we were heading - to Galveston - to enjoy the weather!  Despite travelling all the way down to the island - no contacts on the island itself or across the Gulf.  However, we made several 2m FM contacts near NASA that bloomed into 70cm and 6m contacts as well, so all was not lost.  

A tactical mistake: we didn't allow enough time to stop and point the beams every new grid.  In Dallas we thought that the loops would do the work for us...  they did, but not enough... an hour stop on the south side would have netted many contacts, we think.  We made this mistake thinking that grid multipliers would make up the difference; next time we will mix our drive/stop time better.  

Eastern Oklahoma was the motherlode of VHF activity!  The moment we hit the Texas-Oklahoma border, we started getting 200+ mile contacts!  This continued through the 4 grid square corner near Tulsa....   

Another lesson learned... ham radio slows down for football games apparently!  

After Tulsa, we had a few sporadic contacts, but our shear road-weariness from the 900 miles of journey - and the 500 mile setup before that... had us just wanting to be back home instead of stopping and hilltopping like we should have been.  FYI - hilltopping in the dark is a lot different than hilltopping in the daylight.  People look at you weird in the light of day, but look at your differently at night!  Didn't want to wander down dirt roads at night...   As you can tell, we had an ambitious route, new antennas, and a lot of enthusiasm!  We had a great time and we are already planning our next trip to take advantage of our hard-won lessons-learned!  

The antennas, radios, and supporting equipment were disassembled in a half hour.  It took three solid hours to load everything up!  (I would have had it loaded a week earlier, but JUST before the trip, the transfer case was replaced on the rover vehicle... cutting it close!  The car worked flawlessly through the trip.

Randy Wing, N0LD & Nick Farlow, KB0YHT