--- /dev/null
+<head>
+ <title>CODE Rover Report - 1999-09 </title>
+</head>
+<body>
+<center><h1> September 1999 ARRL VHF QSO Party </h1></center>
+
+<h2> Bdale's Report </h2>
+
+Several things we had hoped to get done before the contest didn't get done.
+John ended up busy preparing to leave town on business, and Steve and I both
+had a couple of relatively intense weeks full of work and family chaos leading
+up to the contest. As a result, this became more or less a last-minute effort.
+
+<p>
+
+The roof rack and related antenna mounting stuff was still more or less in
+place on the Trooper from the UHF contest, which helped. Also, in the last
+month, I diagnosed the problem with my TS-790's 70cm section. It turned out
+to need a replacement Mitsubishi power brick (the driver for the final amp).
+
+<p>
+
+Derek WA0ZTI published an article recently on a PIC-based battery voltage
+monitor for 12 VDC batteries. Steve took it upon himself to build one up for
+the deep-cycle battery we use in the rover, and it worked out very nicely. I
+suspect we'll tweak on the software a bit to make it better suited for use in
+the rover, but even as-published it was a nice addition to the equipment in
+the Trooper. And Steve built it in the metal box from a package of Penguin
+Mints, which added to the coolness factor.
+
+<p>
+
+Saturday morning, Steve arrived at my place. He started out by borrowing
+some test gear to finish making the battery monitor work while I sorted out
+the antennas and cabling. My big addition this time around included a piece
+of plywood to stack the rigs on that let us go 2-wide on the rigs instead of
+ending up with a really tall stack in the back seat. It worked out nicely. I
+also relocated the 6m loop forward in an attempt to improve the SWR, but it
+didn't really work. I clearly need to do something different. I had planned
+to work on this, but work intruded. Oh well.
+
+<p>
+
+After the success of our strategy of leaving everything together on the mast
+for the quick move from DM89 to DM88 in the August UHF contest, we decided to
+try operating that way for the whole contest this time. So, instead of using
+the Portapol, we switched back to the 15 feet of Radio Shack steel mast. We
+mounted the antennas on the top 5 foot section, which gave us 10 feet across
+the top of the trooper, with all the antennas hanging down behind when we were
+in motion. This worked out marvelously, since we could pop the duct tape
+holding the assembly on the Trooper in about a minute, and turn the whole mess
+vertical and lock it into the bracket in about another minute. Tear-down was
+almost as fast, turning the mast horizontal and duct-taping it in three places
+to the roof rail assembly.
+
+<p>
+
+There's only one thing we got wrong. And it turned out to be a real mess. The
+coax bundle from the antennas was routed in through the back door of the
+Trooper, keeping it from closing. So, we closed it as well as we could and
+duct-taped it to keep it that way. That works fine on paved roads... but by
+the end of the rove, we had sucked an immense quantity of dust into the
+vehicle, covering everything! By the time we got home, Steve and I were both
+desperate for showers... Next time, if we do this sort of thing again, we
+need to either route the coax out through one of the windows so that we can
+close the rear door, or come up with some sort of quick-disconnect arrangement
+for the cables. Further study is in order!
+
+<p>
+
+We had a bunch of problems getting all the pieces together Saturday morning,
+most centering around a couple of U-bolts that somehow had nuts frozen to them
+requiring application of a hacksaw to resolve... and the fact that even though
+I knew we needed another feedline, I somehow got the connector combination we
+were going to need wrong in my head. The result is that we were a couple of
+hours later getting rolling than we had planned. In fact, we both got
+frustrated enough that if we hadn't been egging each other on... we might have
+just punted.
+
+<p>
+
+Once we got rolling, it got fun pretty quickly. We fired up the dual bander
+on the drive out to DM89, and Steve worked a dozen or so contacts while we
+were in DM78 and DM79, all on FM simplex. Once we got set up in DM89, we
+managed to make good contacts on every band we were running pretty quickly,
+which lifted our spirits substantially. It was frustrating not having my
+2304 gear ready for the contest, but with working gear on every band from 6m
+to 1296, it was hard not to have fun!
+
+<p>
+
+Once things started to slow down in DM89, we packed up and headed east. We
+made a quick stop at Arby's in Limon for sandwiches, but otherwise just put
+the hammer down and drove out to Kansas. Since we were running late, we
+missed working KB0CY from DM99, which was too bad. In fact, when we first
+set up a few miles south of Interstate 70 about 10 miles in to Kansas, we
+weren't sure we would find <b>anyone</b> to work. Eventually, we found N0LL,
+and then N0KQY found us, and between them we managed to scare up enough folks
+back in Colorado to make it a worthwhile stop. I gather the weather in the
+Denver area combined with it being dinner time conspired to reduce the number
+of folks available to work us.
+
+<p>
+
+The only real hassle in DM99 was that the
+location we picked was lousy with mosquitos! The number of them that ended
+up clustered around the dome light would have given Indiana Jones a shiver...
+Fortunately, we didn't get eaten *too* badly. While we were in DM99, we had
+a couple locals stop to see what we were up to, all of whom apparently decided
+we were harmless enough!
+
+<p>
+
+Just about the time it started to get really dark, we relocated south into
+DM98. It was seriously dark with just a tiny sliver of moon by the time we
+got set up, and there were some thunderstorms south of us lighting up the
+distant sky. We worked a reasonable number of contacts, but realized we were
+going to lose more folks to sleep if we didn't hustle on over to DM88.
+
+<p>
+
+We dropped south to US 40 and headed west just over the grid line into DM88,
+and parked on a dirt road just across the railroad tracks from the highway.
+We managed about the same number of contacts we'd had in DM98, plus picked up
+a couple of DN70 contacts which was a fun way to finish up.
+
+<p>
+
+It was a long drive back to Black Forest. We got to my house at about 1:48am
+local time. It took a few minutes for Steve to snag his stuff and head off,
+then I took a long shower and was in bed by about 2:30.
+
+<p>
+
+It was different. That was fun. We worked 6 grids instead of the 4 we've
+worked previously. We had a good time chatting with N0LL and N0KQY "out their
+way". On the other hand, this clearly was not the way to run up a big score.
+Since we weren't after a big score, that isn't a big deal... but a modest
+score is a reflection of a modest number of contacts, and we'd have been happy
+if there had been more folks to work, particularly on the higher bands!
+
+<h2> Steve's Photos </h2>
+
+Coming soon...
+
+<h2> Our Score </h2>
+
+All the contacts were manually entered into VHF DX after the contest, my logs
+were more readable this time than sometimes, but still treat the times as being
+only approximate.
+
+<pre>
+N3EUA CONTEST LOG FOR: ARRL SEP VHF
+===============================================================================
+Name of Contest: ARRL Sep VHF
+
+Call Used: N3EUA
+Call of Operator: N3EUA KC0FTQ
+
+OPERATING LOCATION
+ Grid(s) Activated: DM78 DM79 DM89 DM99 DM98 DM88
+ Location Name: Eastern Colorado
+ ARRL Section: Colorado
+
+Entry Type: Rover
+===============================================================================
+ Valid
+ QSOs Pts/QSO QSO Pts Mult
+50 MHz 10 1 10 4
+144 MHz 33 1 33 5
+222 MHz 15 2 30 3
+432 MHz 33 2 66 6
+902 MHz 1 3 3 1
+1296 MHz 9 3 27 4
+
+Total
+All Bands 101 169 23
+
+GRIDS ACTIVATED 6 Rover Scoring Used
+
+N3EUA CLAIMED SCORE: 4901
+===============================================================================
+I have observed all competition rules as well as all regulations
+for Amateur Radio in my country. My report is correct and true
+to the best of my knowledge. I agree to be bound by the decisions
+of the Awards Committee.
+
+Bdale Garbee N3EUA KC0FTQ 13.09.1999
+4390 Darr Circle
+Black Forest, CO 80908
+
+===============================================================================
+N3EUA CONTEST LOG FOLLOWS:
+
+column 1: frequency (MHz) column 6: complete exchange sent
+column 2: mode column 7: complete exchange received
+column 3: date (dd/mm/yy, UTC) column 8: indication of new multiplier '*'
+column 4: time (UTC) column 9: points claimed
+column 5: call of station worked
+
+note: Incomplete & Dupe QSO's in the log are listed with - 0 - points.
+
+N3EUA CONTEST LOG FOR: ARRL SEP VHF
+
+432 FM 11/09/99 1947 KB0CY/R DM78 DM78 * 2
+432 FM 11/09/99 1948 N9KC DM78 DM79 * 2
+144 FM 11/09/99 1949 N9KC DM78 DM79 * 1
+144 FM 11/09/99 1950 KB0CY/R DM78 DM78 * 1
+144 FM 11/09/99 1952 N0UVR DM78 DM78 1
+432 FM 11/09/99 1953 N0UVR DM79 DM78 2
+432 FM 11/09/99 1953 KB0CY/R DM79 DM78 2
+144 FM 11/09/99 1954 KB0CY/R DM79 DM78 1
+144 FM 11/09/99 1957 KA6IRT DM79 DM78 1
+432 FM 11/09/99 2000 KA6IRT DM79 DM78 2
+432 FM 11/09/99 2010 AB0IH DM79 DM78 2
+144 FM 11/09/99 2011 AB0IH DM79 DM78 1
+222 FM 11/09/99 2034 KB0CY/R DM89 DM78 * 2
+144 FM 11/09/99 2035 KB0CY/R DM89 DM78 1
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2044 N9KC DM89 DM79 2
+1296 SSB 11/09/99 2045 N9KC DM89 DM79 * 3
+222 SSB 11/09/99 2047 N9KC DM89 DM79 * 2
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2048 N9KC DM89 DM79 1
+50 SSB 11/09/99 2049 N9KC DM89 DM79 * 1
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2053 N0KQY DM89 DM98 * 1
+50 SSB 11/09/99 2056 KB0CY/R DM89 DM78 * 1
+50 SSB 11/09/99 2056 W6OAL DM89 DM79 1
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2058 N0LL DM89 EM09 * 1
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2058 W0AH DM89 DM78 1
+222 SSB 11/09/99 2101 N0LL DM89 EM09 * 2
+222 SSB 11/09/99 2101 W0AH DM89 DM78 2
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2102 N0LL DM89 EM09 * 2
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2103 W0AH DM89 DM78 2
+1296 SSB 11/09/99 2105 W0AH DM89 DM78 * 3
+50 SSB 11/09/99 2107 W0AH DM89 DM78 1
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2113 K0RZ DM89 DM79 1
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2114 N0VSB DM89 DM79 1
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2115 N0POH DM89 DM79 1
+222 FM 11/09/99 2116 KB0CY/R DM89 DM78 2
+222 FM 11/09/99 2118 N0VSB DM89 DM79 2
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2121 N0VSB DM89 DM79 2
+222 SSB 11/09/99 2123 K0RZ DM89 DM79 2
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2123 K0RZ DM89 DM79 2
+902 SSB 11/09/99 2125 K0RZ DM89 DM79 * 3
+1296 SSB 11/09/99 2129 K0RZ DM89 DM79 3
+50 SSB 11/09/99 2131 N0VSB DM89 DM79 1
+1296 SSB 11/09/99 2132 N0VSB DM89 DM79 3
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2140 KA0ULN DM89 DN80 * 2
+144 SSB 11/09/99 2150 N0UGY DM89 DM79 1
+432 SSB 11/09/99 2153 N0UGY DM89 DM79 2
+144 FM 11/09/99 2209 WD0HHQ DM89 DM79 1
+144 FM 11/09/99 2210 KA0DEH/R DM89 DM79 1
+144 FM 11/09/99 2212 KC0AMO/R DM89 DM79 1
+432 FM 11/09/99 2213 KA0DEH/R DM89 DM79 2
+432 FM 11/09/99 2213 KC0AMO/R DM89 DM79 2
+144 FM 11/09/99 2214 AB0IH DM89 DM78 1
+432 FM 11/09/99 2214 AB0IH DM89 DM78 2
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0040 N0LL DM99 EM09 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0047 N0LL DM99 EM09 2
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0049 N0LL DM99 EM09 2
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0113 N0KQY DM99 DM98 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0115 N0KQY DM99 DM98 * 2
+1296 SSB 12/09/99 0124 N0KQY DM99 DM98 * 3
+50 SSB 12/09/99 0127 N0KQY DM99 DM98 * 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0130 N0VSB DM99 DM79 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0131 N0VSB DM99 DM79 2
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0133 N0VSB DM99 DM79 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0135 KC0COU DM99 DN70 * 2
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0139 KC0COU DM99 DN70 * 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0140 W0AH DM99 DM78 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0141 W0AH DM99 DM78 2
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0141 K0RZ DM99 DM79 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0141 K0RZ DM99 DM79 2
+50 SSB 12/09/99 0149 N0VSB DM99 DM79 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0241 N0KQY DM98 DM98 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0242 N0KQY DM98 DM98 2
+50 SSB 12/09/99 0243 N0KQY DM98 DM98 1
+1296 SSB 12/09/99 0243 N0KQY DM98 DM98 3
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0248 N0VSB DM98 DM79 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0250 N0VSB DM98 DM79 2
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0251 N0VSB DM98 DM79 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0258 K0RZ DM98 DM79 2
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0306 N0LL DM98 EM09 1
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0307 N0LL DM98 EM09 2
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0308 N0LL DM98 EM09 2
+1296 SSB 12/09/99 0314 N0LL DM98 EM09 * 3
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0412 N0KQY DM88 DM98 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0413 N0LL DM88 EM09 1
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0413 N0LL DM88 EM09 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0414 N0LL DM88 EM09 2
+1296 SSB 12/09/99 0416 N0LL DM88 EM09 3
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0417 N0KQY DM88 DM98 2
+1296 SSB 12/09/99 0418 N0KQY DM88 DM98 3
+50 SSB 12/09/99 0419 N0KQY DM88 DM98 1
+50 SSB 12/09/99 0421 N0LL DM88 EM09 * 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0423 W6OAL DM88 DM79 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0423 W0AH DM88 DM78 1
+144 SSB 12/09/99 0424 N0VSB DM88 DM79 1
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0425 W6OAL DM88 DM79 2
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0426 N0VSB DM88 DM79 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0429 KC0COU DM88 DN70 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0429 W0KJY DM88 DN70 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0431 W6OAL DM88 DM79 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0431 N0VSB DM88 DM79 2
+222 SSB 12/09/99 0438 W0AH DM88 DM78 2
+432 SSB 12/09/99 0439 W0AH DM88 DM78 2
+</pre>
+
+<h2> Equipment </h2>
+
+For 6m, we ran my TS-430 and TenTec transverter driving the Teletec amplifier
+and Olde Antenna Labs loop antenna. The antenna mount needs work, we could
+only get about 2.3:1 SWR.
+
+<p>
+
+On 2m, we ran my TS-790 through the inactive DEM TIB to a Cushcraft 4-element
+yagi.
+
+<p>
+
+For 222, we ran John's IC-735 and DEM transverter, and his K1FO yagi.
+
+<p>
+
+For 70cm, we ran my TS-790, a Mirage amp making about 100 watts, and a
+Landwehr preamp mounted near my Rutland Arrays K1FO yagi.
+
+<p>
+
+On 33cm, we ran the TS-790's 2m section through a DEM TIB to a DEMI
+transverter making about 10 watts into a homebrew Kent Britain-style yagi.
+
+<p>
+
+On 23cm, we ran the TS-790 making about 10 watts into a homebrew Kent
+Britain-style yagi.
+
+<p>
+
+Power was from a 27DC-form-factor deep cycle battery for everything,
+feedlines were a mix of low-loss RG-8'ish sized cables with mostly N
+connectors. We logged on paper, and post-processed the logs using the
+VHF-DX software for Windows.
+
+<hr>
+<address>
+<a href="http://www.gag.com/~bdale/">Bdale Garbee</A>,
+$Id: index.html,v 1.1 1999/09/13 05:23:10 bdale Exp $
+</address>
+</body>
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