N0LD/R and KG9DUK/R Soapbox Entry for the June 2019 ARRL VHF Contest

We are a group of VHF/UHF/Microwave rovers in Oklahoma.  We use the website http://WWW.OKROVER.INFO for general team rover information, but to primarily  share our planned route, as well as to provide tracking updates during the rove.

N0LD/R was operated by Randy Wing, N0LD and (daughter) Samantha Wing, KC0MTM.  Samantha and her Dad had operated in two contests a few years ago, with a much more limited set of just loops on the vehicle for 6m, 2m, and 70cm.  This year, we had 10 ft gain antennas on 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, 33cm, and 23cm – with a vertical for 2m and 70cm FM and a vertical for 33cm. We had a mast on the trailer hitch for the 6m Loop antenna. Samantha held up the lion’s share of the driving duties – which were considerable! A few times Randy drove between grid square corners and Samantha logged contacts.  Although Samantha is licensed, she prefers to drive and log.

KG9DUK/R was operated by Alex Naas, KG9DUK and Nick Farlow, KB0YHT.  This is Alex’s second rove.  This was Nick’s third year rovering, but the first time outfitting and driving his personal rover vehicle!  Nick borrowed loop antennas for 6m, 2m (dual), and 70cm (dual) from N0LD and had a vertical antenna for 2m and 70cm. Power was run from the battery to the two primary radios FT-991 (wow what a great radio! Was borrowed from KG9DUK) And an older Yaesu FT-100 (was borrowed from N0LD for 6m voice), I had purchased a PAR Electronics 6M stressed Moxon antenna but was unable to design a mount system to be able to use it during the rove. A few hand-held radios were added to the mix as well as a hand held directional antenna (borrowed from WQ0P) to help with the 900mhz contacts.  A laptop would be included to support digital contacts as well as logging support. N0LD and KG9DUK also helped with configuring the rover and preparing for the event.  KG9DUK was designated as the primary call sign we would use and decided to have two of us in the RAV4, a mid-sized SUV.

The Route for this rover trip started in Nebraska, we spent the night at WQ0P near St. Marys, KS.  On Sunday we continued south through Tulsa and then back home to OKC.  We essentially circled grid corners at every opportunity in between.  Tulsa has always been an excellent location to make several ham radio contacts!!  At the start of the contest, we made several contacts with local Nebraska hams and we did our grid dance.  As usual, the day grew short fast.  We opted to end a little earlier than planned, and replanned slightly to forgo one grid square corner on Saturday, but planned to pick it up on Sunday.  The weather on Saturday was great and we made several contacts, including 6M digital!!  We had an excellent dinner Saturday evening with AA0MZ.

Close Encounters with the Public - During most of our roves, we have people who ask us what we are doing, and this trip was no exception.  One of the more memoriable interactions was on a gravel road in the middle of Kansas early Sunday morning. We had pulled to the side of the road and was making contacts.  An old pickup pulled up next to us and we both rolled down windows.  An elderly gentleman asked in a gruff voice "Who ya spying on?".  We told him it was a radio contest and we were just out having fun. He gave us a look of disbelief and rolled up his window.  He pulled ahead and watched us for a few minutes before leaving. This seems to happen a lot.  

Another instance was Saturday morning on the way to the start of the contest – we had breakfast in a fast food restaurant in Holton, KS – a whole group of 50s and 60 year old men from Texas came out and pretty loudly asked us what this business was all about. After explaining, they seemed subdued, almost disappointed that we weren’t looking for UFOs!

Sunday travel was through good weather and through grid squares we have traversed in the past.  The team was experienced and we made good time.  However, because of stopping a grid square short on Saturday, we just did a grid line shuffle instead of a full dance near Caney, KS the EM26/EM27 border.  We gave up very few points considering that corner is only a 3 way corner and we were working the corner north and south of it.  We made up all the time we had lost and late afternoon found us near Tulsa - we made several contacts (long and short) as we usually do atop Turkey Mountain overlooking down town Tulsa!!  We quickly ran the grid corner south of there.  We were excited to be heading towards Oklahoma City while it was still light out!! It was around 8:30 or 9 when we reached OKC, and unfortunately we didn't make many contacts when we arrived.  We were able to make a few digital contacts before the end of the contest completed with a pretty good score. 

Tear down - The modifications to Nick’s vehicle were easily undone, and took about 15 minutes. Randy’s suburban took about 75 minutes to tear down – all set for his wife to use it to drive to work on Monday! After spending the night at N0LD's cabin in the woods, Nick prepared for his drive back to Wichita.  A quick car wash on Monday, and back to Wichita he went.

Lessons Learned – 1) 3 people in an unlimited rover is a lot more fun than 2 – Grid corners are hard work with only 2 people during a grid corner!  2)  We enjoy making contacts with other fixed contesters, but it is hard to do when you are trying to grid corner your way into an unlimited rover first and second place.  Look for us to return to limited and classic rovering in the future.  3) N0LD/R 6m Loop underperformed – need to replace it in September.  Too high an SWR.  4) There is a fine line between having fun and winning – always side with having fun.

Nick’s future roving plans - Nick has a few obligations that will take him away from rovering for a spell, but he does intend to return to the fold in the future.