January 2007 ARRL VHF sweeps

Whew! That was a lot of work!

I'm just catching my breath after roving with KJ1K through New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Roving, here means driving to a hilltop, unpacking the car, releasing and setting the antennas and contacting as many people as possible on as many amateur radio bands as possible. Then packing it all up and doing it again.

Sigurd did the most wonderful job packing the car (his Honda Element). He was very prepared, and it was a genuine treat to be able to see him in operation. The operation was in two parts: I worked 3 of the low bands from the front seat using an Icom IC-706mkIIG.

• 6m, 100W, vertical whip tuned for 52.525
• 2m, 50W, log periodic beam on rotator on the roof (amp busted)
  
• 440, 100W? to the log periodic

Sigurd worked the rest of the bands from the back

• 220, 100W? to the log periodic
• 903 + 1296 off one feed to the 2 foot x 4 foot dish on the trailer hitch
• 3 & 5GHz off another feed to the 2x4 (had to get out and change feeds)
• 2GHz was busted :-(
  

The dish is pointed using the venerable Armstrong method (get out and turn it with your arm.) Sigurd has an ingenious mounting system with the dish clamped to a vertical mast, That mast has a bearing at top and bottom allowing the mast to rotate. A compass rose at the top helps pointing. The vertical mast is clamped to a piece of aluminum tube at the bottom which is bolted to the trailer hitch. At the top, a horizontal aluminum tube telescopes out of an assembly bolted to the roof rack. This allows for adjusting the mast so it's plumb. Very cool. The whole thing tucks up close to the back for driving, and pulls away to allow for some freedom of rotation.

My notes are sketchy at best and my memory isn't what I ever think it is :-) but here's my recollection:

20th January
Sandy Hook NJ. FN30. I believe we were at the south side of the peninsula because we had a beautiful view of the Twin Lights. I believe we were at the north east corner of this parking lot which has a great view of New England. Unbelievably, two windsurfers were whooping it up in the bay behind (west) us. They had enough wind - it was blowing gale force. There was a crowd of bird watchers searching for a rare Siberian LONG-BILLED MURRELET.

Ocean Gate NJ. FM29. Operated from a spot just off the beach that I believe is here. Facing New England again. One of the neighbours came out to see what we were doing. Nice guy; just wanted to make sure we weren't hoodlums. Much less wind, thankfully! Noticed that 903 had a pretty wicked buzz/hum/motorboating that we didn't notice at Sandy Hook. While driving to the next grid, activated FN20 in flight. That was sort of interesting, watching the GPS, the map and the logging program all at the same time :-) Drove to Lancaster, PA and stayed at a Holiday Inn there.

21 Jan
Lancaster PA. FM19. This isn't the exact location, but it's close. What beautiful country! We passed by several Amish people on their way to church in their horse-drawn carriages. It was surely a test of faith to travel like that in the cold, but there they are. We collected more than a few odd looks as we drove through the area (although this was pretty common everywhere!) We missed K1TEO which was disappointing. Went back to the hotel for a bio-break and checked out.

Quick drive to FN10 on the other side of town (close but not exact) when we discovered we were having trouble hearing on 1296. 144.260 was noisy too, although I think it was power line hum. Heard the WA1ZMS beacon in Virginia but couldn't work him.

Hazleton PA. FN10. Figured we'd try to get a few more while we were still here. Stopped at an industrial park near here. 2m has noise in the s5-s7 range. Yuck. Thinking that 1296 preamp failed, so Sigurd pulled it. No joy?! An alternate site might be near the Cracker Barrel Restaurant, but it needs to be surveyed. Thank heaven for modern topo maps! I have to add that as a Battlestar Galactica fan, I'm rather pleased that it's located in Frackville.

We were going to go up Camelback Mountain in Tannersville bue we discovered that the road was quite icy above the ski area. Was very lucky to reach N3NGE and K3TUF to let them know we had to abort. Made the QSOs under a metal gasoline station awning with the beam pointing into the building!

West Orange NJ. FN20 Eagle Rock Reservation. The Google map doesn't show it, but there's a memorial to the victims of September 11 there, and the trees are cut down to the east. One looks over Manhattan; almost directly at the Empire State Building. It's a beautiful site, and we made many QSOs here. We now realise that the microwaves are all gone. Wonder if it's from the new high power 3456 amp burning out the antenna relay?

Newburgh NY. FN21 near I-84. Stopped to activate the grid and make as many QSOs as possible before the contest ended. Only had the low bands but it was definitely a good idea to stop here. Was able to make a few QSOs in flight, logging on paper to save Sigurd's night vision. Was a good way to end the contest. Last Q was with K1TEO, whom we otherwise would have missed in this grid.

Thanks for all the Q's and for all the folks who showed me such patience and kindness. Was a very nice January rove, and I have the fever to do it again! 73 de KC2HIZ/r