VHF Contest School — Information for Rovers
This post was originally written on 6/3/09.
I imagine you might get tired of hearing from me all the time. So here’s some links I found on roving, and VHF Contesting from K0NR Bob. If you re-broadcast this info Bob asks you give credit to him. http://www.k0nr.com/rwitte/rover.html There’s good info here, plus some pictures of rover setups.
K0NR’s article on getting started with VHF Contesting is at: http://www.k0nr.com/rwitte/vhf_contest.html
An article by a newer rover was in the Oct. 2008 QST. It was written by K4GUN, and is a good read.
I’d also recommend spending time going thru the ARRL Contest Soapboxes. After every ARRL VHF/UHF contest, dozens of stations send in detailed write-ups of their effort, and there are many pictures there.
The link is: http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/ and once you’re there, use the drop down menu to select soapboxes from Jan, June, Aug. and Sept. V/UHF contests from various years. Lots of useful info.
If you want to make the maximum impact on a VHF/UHF contest, consider roving. You can go where you want, operate from high places and work stations you might never hear from a home QTH. You also increase activity by a factor of how many grids you choose to activate.
In and near WI, there has traditionally been good rover activity. Some of my contest logs can have up to 30-40% of my total Q’s from rovers, which all fixed stations greatly appreciate. Rovers can also work other rovers as they move thru different grids, so the more rovers, the merrier.
When you do make rover plans, be sure to share them with other contesters. Email your VHF/UHF reflector, notify your local club, talk things up ahead of the contest and generate your own activity.