I'm a Rover, Part Deux

Overview

About six years ago (!) I wrote an article here about “Rover” operating on the VHF-UHF bands: http://www.eham.net/articles/7590

That was based on my first experience at “Roving,” which is operating with a mobile station from various locations, using the VHF-UHF-SHF ham bands. It was fun as an experiment and my friend Wayne Overbeck N6NB has since put together not just a few, but twelve complete Rover stations for VHF-UHF contesting in southern California and other places. That’s an amazing effort requiring a great deal of work, time and money! Few people need to build twelve such stations, but assembling even one can be very gratifying and teach a lot about VHF-UHF-SHF propagation.

This year for the 2010 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, I finally took Wayne up on his offer to join the club and actually “rove” for a real contest. Of course, Murphy intervened big-time by rewarding us southern Californians with the most intense set of storms of the past four decades the week before the contest. We received six inches of rain in five days, from Sunday January 17 through Friday January 22, which was the day before the Sweepstakes began.

Six inches of rain in southern California is almost unheard of and represents about one-half our annual precipitation. We needed it after three years of drought conditions, but I really didn’t want it to come all at once after installing sensitive rooftop stations for several bands the weekend before the onslaught.

I visited Wayne on Sunday, January 17 with my van, for the installation of a 10-band rover station: 50 MHz through 10.3 GHz. The station consists of an FT-857D used directly on 50-144-432 MHz; a 25W ADI 222 MHz FM transceiver, used alone as our rover comm/chat line as well as for making contacts with each other and other stations; and six Down East Microwave (DEMI, http://www.downeastmicrowave.com/) UHF-SHF transverters for the higher bands from 902 MHz through 10.3 GHz. The transverters, as well as Rubidium frequency standards for the higher band units to keep them stable, various switching lines and a cooling fan system, are all installed in a “toolbox” that mounts on the vehicle’s roof along with antennas for all the bands except 6 meters. This keeps the feedlines for all bands above 902 MHz very, very short (just inches to a couple of feet), so we don’t need to use Heliax or waveguide on the upper bands and just settle for the loss of a foot or two of small coaxial cable in each case.

The entire “toolbox,” along with all the antennas mounted to it, rotate using a Yaesu G-1000DXA rotator LINK, modified to remove the mast mount bracket. The toolbox is bolted to a wooden platform that in turn bolts to the rotator. The rotator base is in turn bolted to a larger wooden platform that is securely clamped to the vehicle’s roof racks. This makes installing 9 bands’ worth of antennas and six UHF-SHF transverters in a weatherproof housing about a 30 minute job for any vehicle having substantial roof racks.

Wayne’s done a great job describing his “toolbox” stations on his website, here: http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/woverbeck/toolbox.htm, so I won’t bother re-hashing the details. Anyone interested can look them up.

Although the rover station hardware varies a bit, “my” particular roving station used an N6NB designed and built 2-element dual-band cubical quad for 144 and 222 MHz; a 3-element N6NB cubical quad for 432 MHz; a 4-element N6NB cubical quad for 902 MHz; an 8-element N6NB Quagi for 1296 MHz; a 21 element loop yagi from Directive Systems http://www.directivesystems.com/ for 2304 MHz; a 25 element loop yagi from Directive Systems for 3456 MHz; and a dual-band dish antenna for 5.7 and 10.3 GHz; plus a horizontal loop “halo” antenna for 6m. Only the halo is mounted on its own separate mast (still part of the roof “platform”) and not on the toolbox, since it doesn’t need to rotate.

We had the “big gain” antennas for 2.3 GHz and above, and lower gain (to zero gain) antennas for the bands 1.2 GHz and below, for obvious reasons. The 2L quads on 144 and 222 MHz have enough gain to make contacts (~6 dBd or so) but are broad enough to actually use while driving and still make contacts with stations in different directions.

Everything in the “front seat” (or, optionally, a “rear seat”) station is powered by 12-14Vdc, which is also routed up into the tool box to power the higher band stuff, and the rotator is powered by an AC inverter built into the operating console along with the main rigs and switching controls.

The try-out

Just as we were completing the van installation (and Jim AF6O was also there, completing his, on his SUV) of course it started to rain. The rain that wouldn’t stop for five days. Carrie W6TAI (a pretty new and very cute ham with her own 10-band rover station) was working feverishly in one of Wayne’s multiple workshops “taping up” all the toolboxes to make them as rain resistant as possible, using some really good freezer tape. It worked, as we found out later. If it hadn’t, an awful lot of hardware likely would have been rendered useless and we’d have to scrub plans for the contest altogether.

To try out my newly installed 10-band roving station, I drove up the street about a mile away from Wayne’s place and pulled into a parking lot. He activated his own van-installed rover station and we easily completed contacts on all 10 bands with very strong signals, confirming it all worked – at least over a mile!

(A last-minute photo snapped of me and my newly installed van setup taken by Carrie as I was about to pull out of Wayne’s driveway shows what the setup looks like from 40 feet away can be seen below. I was pretty bedraggled at this point after working outside in a drizzle for an hour or so…)

Then it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained. Marty N6VI was part of our club rover group and had his own station installed in his SUV in Chatsworth, only about 4 miles from my home, so we decided to check them both out on Friday night before the contest to see if everything still worked after the deluge. We parked about 2-3 miles apart, aimed at each other and “instant gratification” – all 10 bands worked for us on both ends. Whew.

The Sweepstakes

Almost last minute, Miguel W6YLZ joined our rover group. He had operated as a rover several times previously, but the decision to go this time was made only a few days before the contest. We decided Miguel and I would rove in a mini-pack of just two stations in two vehicles, while the “main” pack for SCCC would consist of ten other operators in nine vehicles roving mostly together to various grids in southern California. Miguel and I took the “northern jaunt” of the territory by heading up to grid CM94, which is mostly water and only a bit of land starting about 20-30 miles north of Santa Barbara.

While we parked on a Pacific overlook (maybe 200-300 feet above the ocean) in Gaviota, Wayne and his pack parked at Signal Peak in Orange County, about 175 miles to our southeast. Propagation at midday was terrible and we could hardly hear each other, making QSOs only on 50-144-222-432 MHz, and only with the very best equipped members of the pack. Ugh!

The plan was for Miguel and I to take a pretty long drive up to an overlook in CM95 in the great Central (San Joaquin) Valley, which was about 200 miles northeast of where we were. So, off we headed, monitoring only 50.125 MHz (6m) while en route, as it’s not very safe to drive and tune around at the same time. (However, during that drive, we both worked VE7DAY up in CO70, as well as K7AWB in DN17 and W7GJ in DN27 during brief but very workable Sporadic-E events. We also worked W7CE in CN87 once we were parked in CM95.)

While we took that route, Wayne and his pack of 10* were in DM13, driving up through DM03 and DM04 and then finally up into the very southeast corner of grid DM05. If all went well, Miguel and I would arrive and set up in CM95 about the same time as Wayne and the others would arrive in DM05, about 100-110 miles away from our site in a position to work us.

Well that didn’t quite happen. Wayne’s group did a lot of driving and making contacts and with such a large group I’m sure they got separated from time to time on the freeways and such. Miguel and I arrived at the CM95 overlook (a microwave tower site) around 5:00 PM local time. We worked each other on ten bands, of course, and then sat and made as many contacts as we could with anybody we could hear. That was fun, and we did make a lot of contacts…and Wayne’s “pack” finally got close enough where we could hear them on our 222 MHz “chat” frequency about 3-1/2 hours later, at 8:30 PM. Of course during that time, it got very dark and we were in the middle of nowhere. The only lights were from our vehicles and the distant twinkling lights of cities down in the valley and on the horizon (Bakersfield, Fresno) pretty far away. It was spooky and getting quite cold but we hung in there and waited for the pack to arrive at their intended operating place.

They finally got there about 9:10 PM and we started feverishly making contacts with everyone in the pack on as many bands as possible. This worked out much better, as propagation was good and we could work all of their ten stations on 1.2 GHz through 10.3 GHz easily, missing only one of them on 902 and 432 MHz, and missing one of them on 50 MHz. I completed 96 contacts with the pack of ten, using ten bands, all inside of 39 minutes. Signals were that strong, even on the microwave bands, from 110 miles away. (Then it was Miguel’s turn to work them all, with similar results.)

Actually, I should revise that: Signals were much stronger on the microwave bands than they were on VHF. The only “lost contact” on the upper bands was missing one QSO with KK6KK on 3.4 GHz, probably because Bob just wasn’t at the switch when it came his time to make contact. Conditions were so good we used FM rather than SSB to complete all the QSOs.

Moving fast

It was getting late, people were getting tired, and tropo propagation was fantastic, so we had to move on to the “next grid” for Miguel and me as fast as we could get there. We headed down the hill, found the road, and drove up past Kettleman City to find a spot in grid DM06, only about 10-15 minutes from where we were in CM95. We used a GPS to determine exactly where the grid lines were (they fall exactly on LAT/LONG lines), as when you’re close to a line it’s critical to know this within just “feet,” not miles.

At DM06 we set up in a small parking area alongside the California Aqueduct, surrounded by farms. Rather than work “50 MHz up” as most would do, we worked “10 GHz down,” since tropo propagation was favoring the microwaves. If you haven’t experienced such a phenomenon, trust me, it’s not only exciting but actually happens quite often – probably a lot more often than most think.

Starting at 10.3 GHz and still using FM, we completed contacts with all ten pack rovers on all bands from 10.3 GHz down through 1.2 GHz, not missing one. We missed two of them on 902, one of them on 432…one of them on 222…and then going down to 144 MHz signals took a nose-dive and we could only complete QSOs with four of them. On 50 MHz it was so bad the only station we could work was N6NB/R, who had the best equipped rover station of anybody, with a beam on 6m and a kilowatt amplifier in his van.

At that point it was 10:37 PM local, and Miguel and I hadn’t worked each other yet, or anyone else from this grid. We hung around another 15 minutes to complete contacts with each other and also with W6TV operating up near Fresno, who had been following our operation all along and was equipped for 50 through 2304 MHz. We easily worked him on those 7 bands, then headed about one mile west to cross over into still another grid, CM96. It was getting late, and cold, and was already pitch dark and we set up at a farm site (I think) to work whoever was still awake down in DM05.

Again, we worked “10 GHz down” rather than “50 MHz up,” based on propagation, and completed 77 QSOs with our “distant pack” – making absolutely zero completed contacts on 50 MHz, and only five completed on 144 MHz – but with great success on the microwaves, once again. Miguel and I worked each other and also W6TV who was still with us in spirit and on the radio. It was now 12:22 AM and we were tired.

The bustling metropolis of Kettleman City has two motels, a few gas stations, three fast food places. The fast food joints and gas stations were all “closed” at 1:00 AM, but thankfully the motels were open and we found lodging. At this point I’d developed a head cold (ACHOO!) and was going through Kleenex about as fast as QSOs. Got to bed at about 1:30 AM and to “sleep” at about 2:30.

Not giving up

Since we were only about a mile or two from a new grid for our operations (DM05), after breakfast at 8:00 AM Sunday we headed south down Interstate 5 into DM05 to see who we could work. Of course, we could work each other, and there was our “follower” W6TV who found us immediately and worked us on 7 bands again. We were not in a good location to work much of anything (flat, low part of the valley) so we just kept driving down to DM04, which is much more populated so you can make contacts from nearly anywhere if you try (about 3/4ths of Los Angeles is in DM04).

We stopped briefly at Tejon Summit, a place on Interstate 5 that is very elevated (about 4500 feet a.s.l.) but unfortunately not a good location because it’s in a “pass” that is much lower than the surrounding and very close mountains, which peak at 8831’ a.s.l. on Mt. Pinos. We worked each other from the new grid, and called a lot of CQs to see who else we could work. We did make some other contacts with N6RMJ and KG6DHQ, but not much was stirring. How many places up almost 5000 feet are crappy locations? This one is.

We headed over the mountain and down into the San Fernando Valley, setting up near my own home neighborhood at a point about 1500’ a.s.l. but much less obstructed, and made a few quick random contacts. Miguel had to return his borrowed SUV to Wayne and headed south to “rove” a bit more along the way, ultimately landing at Wayne’s (unoccupied) house in DM13. I went home, had a quick snack, and took some “Contac” for my cold.

After an hour I couldn’t stand sitting around while the contest was still going, so I made one last run to see who I could work. I drove up to Saddle Peak, a high spot in the Santa Monica Mountains (peak elevation 2830’), parking in the car-accessible “saddle” at about 2400’ but with a nice view in most directions. Quickly worked 33 stations on various bands and found my buddy Miguel W6YLZ/R now down in DM03, operating from Signal Hill in Long Beach (high point near the ocean). Found Mike on 432, and arranged to “run the bands” with him, where we completed QSOs on 9 out of the 10 bands (his 902 MHz station evidently died).

Among the stations worked from my final Saddle Peak run were Dick Norton, N6AA (our ARRL Division Director); Gordo West, WB6NOA (pretty well known for his talks and writings), who completed with me on 50-144-432-1296 MHz from down in DM13 about 80 miles away; and the Queen Mary station W6RO, operated by Larry WA9SVD, on 50-144-432 MHz.

Overall

Overall, it was a fun weekend despite having a miserable cold for most of it. I drove about 450 miles, Miguel drove a bit farther, and the “pack of ten” with Wayne probably put on 650 miles or so in their roves, as they roved as far east as Baker, just this side of the Nevada border. I tried to work them while they were there, but it was no-go, just too far (about 200 miles) over mountainous terrain. Being “up” 2400 feet or so in southern California actually isn’t very high. We have mountains at 11,500 feet in southern CA and many peaks well over 8000 feet.

The pleasant surprise for me was that everything still worked after five days of rain, and that we caught some good conditions on the microwave bands. That’s never guaranteed, but timing worked out for us Saturday night when signals from 110 miles away, generated by “mobile” stations, were literally meter-pinning on 10.3 GHz. Ya never know.

Now, go do it!

“Roving” isn’t for everybody. It takes time and dedication, and to build 10-band stations might take months –or years— and cost quite a lot of money. But people all over are doing it. There are active groups in the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest who are happily doing multi-band VHF-UHF-SHF “roves” and I hope this article encourages others to try!

In this day of HOAs and CC&Rs, “roving,” which is nothing more than really serious mobiling, can be an answer for those who really want to work new stuff, operate contests and so forth, and just have no way to do so from home.

(*Note: The 10 rovers in Wayne’s “pack” included: W6XD/R, N6NB/R, AF6O/R, W6TAI/R, N6TEB/R, K9JK/R, KK6KK/R, W6TE/R, N6VI/R and KJ6CNO/R. N6VI/R and KJ6CNO/R shared the same vehicle/station and thus could not work each other; the others were independent. They were all “10-band” rovers equipped for 50 through 10,300 MHz. Not everything always worked!)

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