START-OF-LOG: 2.0 CREATED-BY: TR Log POST Version 6.59 CALLSIGN: WM5R CONTEST: ARRL-VHF-JAN ARRL-SECTION: STX CATEGORY: ROVER CLAIMED-SCORE: 240 NAME: Kenneth E. Harker ADDRESS: 927 East 46th Street Apt. 102 ADDRESS: Austin, TX 78751 OPERATORS: WM5R CLUB: Central Texas DX and Contest Club SOAPBOX: This weekend had too much stuff going on to do a full-out SOAPBOX: VHF contest effort. Saturday morning, my fiancee and I competed SOAPBOX: in an orienteering meet held at the LBJ National Grasslands near SOAPBOX: Decatur, TX. So, we began the contest in EM13, about an hour SOAPBOX: after the start, and drove back to Austin, working stations as we SOAPBOX: could. SOAPBOX: The gear in the car is not well-suited to a VHF rover contest SOAPBOX: effort. It was an Icom IC-706MkIIG, a Larsen dual-band mobile SOAPBOX: whip on a trunk lip mount, and an MFJ six meter whip on a mag mount SOAPBOX: in the middle of the roof. When we first got rolling in EM13, I SOAPBOX: discovered that the six meter antenna had extremely high SWR, SOAPBOX: and did not put out any power, so I was limited to 2M and 70cm. SOAPBOX: I had brought a Super CMOS Keyer III I built years ago and some SOAPBOX: paddles, but despite checking out fine the night before, the keyer's SOAPBOX: keying line seemed to be shorted out. So, we went with phone-only. SOAPBOX: I started out using a brand-new Heil HS-706 headset mic, but it SOAPBOX: ceased working after just a half-day of use. I got it free with the SOAPBOX: purchase of the radio, so I suppose it's not a big deal that it SOAPBOX: died, but it reinforces my opinion on Heil's spotty record of SOAPBOX: mechanical quality. SOAPBOX: Anyway, with a tiny, vertically-polarized antenna less than a SOAPBOX: meter off the ground, there were a limited number of stations I could SOAPBOX: work. I had anticipated this, and as I could only operate a portion SOAPBOX: of the contest period anyway, I figured I'd just work what I could. SOAPBOX: I was happy to be able to say I worked at least one station in every SOAPBOX: grid we travelled to, although I would have been sweating it SOAPBOX: had N5TIF not been such a consistently strong signal in EM11, even as SOAPBOX: far south as Temple. He was the only station heard in that grid. SOAPBOX: As we drove into Austin, I heard not a single contester calling SOAPBOX: CQ. All of my CQs went completely unanswered until finally, less SOAPBOX: than ten miles from downtown and three minutes before we arrived SOAPBOX: at our destination, I heard W5DF/R. We tried to work each other SOAPBOX: for a couple of minutes, as we faded in and out of each others' SOAPBOX: receivers. Finally, we pulled up into the parking lot of our SOAPBOX: destination and all I can hear is one of the big gun stations in EM00 SOAPBOX: _conversing_ with W5DF/R! He's telling the rover who I am, from SOAPBOX: which station I normally operate, etc., etc., and basically prevented SOAPBOX: me from completing a QSO with W5DF/R. I waited around as long as I SOAPBOX: reasonably could before getting out of the car, but he just wouldn't SOAPBOX: shut up. I never did hear W5DF/R again. SOAPBOX: I got on again later in the evening on my drive to and from SOAPBOX: Georgetown (EM10,) where I put in a couple of hours in a multi-two SOAPBOX: effort in the North American QSO Party, and worked a couple more SOAPBOX: stations. On Sunday, we drove over to see friends near Johnson City, SOAPBOX: hitting EM00 in the process. We drove all the way through Austin and SOAPBOX: Dripping Springs, calling CQ on every hilltop, but heard nobody until SOAPBOX: we were almost at our destination. I was then able to work K5LLL on SOAPBOX: two meters, but we couldn't connect on 432, even though I heard him SOAPBOX: quite well on that band. It was weird - there was a sharp ridge SOAPBOX: right in front of our path to K5LLL, and sometimes he would peak SOAPBOX: to S6 or so - I guess the ridge diffractions were occasionally SOAPBOX: lining up just right. Much later in the evening, on the drive home, SOAPBOX: I worked another station on two bands in the last hour of the contest. SOAPBOX: I don't know if I'll be rovering again or not. It wasn't SOAPBOX: something I'd put a lot of preparation into. I just figured as long SOAPBOX: as we were travelling through so many grids, I would make a few SOAPBOX: stations happy. SOAPBOX: The real highlight of the weekend was working VP8THU on 15 SOAPBOX: meters phone :-) QSO: B PH 2002-01-19 2027 WM5R/R EM13 N5TIF em12 QSO: B PH 2002-01-19 2042 WM5R/R EM12 N5TIF em12 QSO: B PH 2002-01-19 2043 WM5R/R EM12 WA5VKS em13 QSO: B PH 2002-01-19 2043 WM5R/R EM12 WW2R em13 QSO: D PH 2002-01-19 2046 WM5R/R EM12 WA5VKS em13 QSO: B PH 2002-01-19 2148 WM5R/R EM11 N5TIF em12 QSO: B PH 2002-01-20 0106 WM5R/R EM10 KC5OLC em10 QSO: D PH 2002-01-20 0107 WM5R/R EM10 KC5OLC em10 QSO: B PH 2002-01-20 0110 WM5R/R EM10 K5LLL em10 QSO: D PH 2002-01-20 0111 WM5R/R EM10 K5LLL em10 QSO: B PH 2002-01-20 0132 WM5R/R EM10 WA5JEC em00 QSO: D PH 2002-01-20 0406 WM5R/R EM10 WA5JEC em00 QSO: B PH 2002-01-20 2341 WM5R/R EM00 K5LLL em10 QSO: B PH 2002-01-21 0314 WM5R/R EM00 W3XO/5 em00 QSO: D PH 2002-01-21 0315 WM5R/R EM00 W3XO/5 em00 END-OF-LOG: