02/02/2009 | N6TEB/R While it is always fun to get out and Rove the lack of activity in the Los Angeles area and Central Valley was disapointing. On Sunday we had the competition of ham radio vs football. It appears only about 4 of us dont care for Football.

If not for Wayne, N6NB and his team of rovers we would not have had half the contacts we did. Thanks Wayne for all your efforts.

This was also the first trip out for my new truck. A Ford F250 super duty replaced my Ford Excursion. This definitly made the dirt roads more passable. Since I purchased the truck 2 weeks before the contest we barley had time to run DC Power and just got a start on building in car furniture and antenna mounting points.

Glenn, KE6HPZ was my back seat op and handeled the bands when in motion.

We used one of Wayne's 10 band toolbox radios to fill in the bands we didn't have time to do proper antenna mounts for. We ran 100 watts on 6 and 2, 75 on 432, 6 on 10 GHz and 3 on 24GHz although we didnt make any 24 GHz contacts this time out. All the other bands we had about a watt through very short feedline into decent antennas. Pointing was accomplished by turning the truck.

It was kind of fun to go about it with a minimal set up.

Looking forward to June where we just may operate a hill top. It has been several years since a serious hilltop effort has been done in Southern California.

Kudos to all of you who braved harsh weather to make the trip and get on the air.
73, N6TEB Dave -- N6TEB