2024 ARRL January VHF
After a 6m antenna failure during September VHF, the big station change leading up to January VHF was a 6m antenna upgrade. The 6m moxon has been replaced with a new Directive Systems 3el yagi. The moxon was mounted on a section of PVC conduit that I just happened to have laying around at the time and fit nicely down into the main aluminum mast. That worked fine for the moxon, but was nowhere near rigid enough for the yagi.
2023 ARRL September VHF
On the station improvement front, a Raspberry Pi with a custom OS image has been added to the rover. This will serve as the host for various station automation and general network services going forward. To start with, it has its own GPS with PPS output attached and is serving GPS disciplined time (NTP) and general gpsd data for clients on the network to consume as needed. A custom utility to automate grid changes in the WSJT-X instances was implemented as well.
2023 CQ World Wide VHF
Though the last outing was only a few weeks ago, there was one major upgrade to the rover setup prior to CQWW. I came across a Sierra Wireless MP70 router on eBay for a decent deal and couldn’t pass it up. It provides wired network ports for the main computer and radio, a WiFi access point for ancillary devices (phone, laptop, etc.), and LTE or WiFi connectivity for Internet access. Simply an amazing upgrade from the kludge of hand me down network gear and a MiFi hotspot that I was using before.
2023 ARRL June VHF
Not many changes to the rover since Jan VHF. Installed new N bulkhead connectors in the driver side rear quarter panel to eliminate the need for feedlines to come in through the back window. This is much cleaner and also eliminates a ton of work (and time) to weatherproof the window for each contest. Shortened all of the antenna feedlines and attached them to the new bulkheads and made new jumpers from the bulkheads to the bandpass filters inside.
2023 ARRL January VHF
Only a couple minor improvements have been made to the rover setup since Sept VHF. I finally got the cables made and the third N8XJK booster installed. There should now be plenty of excess capacity to keep from running the individual boosters near their load limits even at full output on any band. I also got a new cable to change one of the computer displays from Mini DisplayPort to USB-C.
2022 ARRL September VHF
No major changes to the rover setup since the last outing (CQWW). A little tidying up of the cabling, added a VESA mount for one of the computer displays in the operating position, and probably a couple other minor things that I have forgotten about. There are still improvements to be made to the setup, but life seems to be getting in the way lately. Leading up to contest weekend, the weatherman again was predicting poor weather in many of the spots I have frequented in the last several contests.
2022 CQ World Wide VHF
Even though the last outing for the rover was only a month ago, there were several changes to the setup prior to CQWW. New batteries dedicated to the rover station completely isolating it from the vehicle electrical system. A new inverter/charger to maintain the batteries and run AC loads. A generator for battery charging as needed while stopped. N8XJK boosters to stabilize the DC supply to radios / amplifiers. Probably something else I’m forgetting, but those are the major changes.
2022 ARRL June VHF
My last rover outing was the 2021 Sept VHF and over the winter I had acquired a fair amount of new gear that needed to be integrated into the rover setup. New bandpass filters for 6 thru 432, new (to me) amplifiers for 6 thru 432, and some other miscellaneous bits. Since I apparently didn’t think that was difficult enough to get going, I went and bought a completely new to me dedicated rover vehicle about three weeks before the contest.
2021 ARRL September VHF
The contest started off a bit on the slow side Saturday and mostly on FT8. Without much to speak of for band openings and hearing little activity outside of FT8, it really seemed like it could be a boring contest. Ended up getting home late Saturday to grab a few hours sleep holding out hope for a better Sunday. Woke up later than I would have liked and wondered into the shack to check on the propagation maps.
2021 CQ World Wide VHF
First contest entry as a rover. Some minor computer issues got things off to a slow start, but once that was resolved all went pretty well. Still some kinks to work out and plenty of room for improvements in the rover station and setup, but overall a good first outing. Sat: EN40 EN41 EN51 EN50 Sun: EM57 EM47 EM49 EM59 In a late change to the plan for Sunday I tried to get down to the EM46/47/56/57 grid corner, but mother nature had other plans.