I can’t recommend a mobile-only rove – but it did make for a bit of fun as my son and I drove from Oregon to Iowa during June VHF. No contacts were made while stationary - all QSO were made underway. Variations in propagation, noise from power lines, and some kind of hash from every semi-truck were an ongoing challenge. Many contacts were started but not completed as QSB, QRN, or terrain got in the way.

The trip made for a nice Father’s Day gift for me – my son drove while I operated. We left on Saturday morning and started out with no contacts in DN05 and DN15 – turns out there would be many more grids like that, especially on Sunday. Many of the contacts were a struggle and search and pounce was the primary way to make contacts – hundreds of “CQ” went unanswered.

We drove through 24 grids but were able to activate only 14 – some grids we drove through very quickly, but there was also a great VHF dead zone across Nebraska and most of Iowa that I didn't expect - no one could be raised on the 6m or 2m SSB calling frequencies or 146.55 or 146.58 FM.

Considering that everything needed to fit into a carry-on bag for the plane trip home, the setup wasn’t disappointing for performance, but I could sure tell that the antennas were lacking. Two loops for 144 and 432 were great for their size, and a 2m 5/8 wave mag mount worked Ok on 6m for Es. The FT-100D hung off the driver's seat headrest. I also had a small whip and a 5W FM HT for 222MHz and made three contacts on that band. 

Most of my contacts came in a blitz with a fun opening to Southern California on 6m – 16 contacts in 12 minutes on Saturday afternoon. I learned that it’s hard to operate mobile underway – even while someone else is driving! There might be a more successful way to rove two dozen grids in a weekend – but I may not need to try it again myself.