Welcome the the VE3WCC VHF+ Rover Page

Big Plans!: 2005 ARRL September VHF QSO Party

Results and Soapbox for this contest

For the Sept 10-12 2005 VHF contest the West Carleton Amateur Radio Club (WCARC) is putting together a Contest Rover station. This project is being led by Tom, VA3NFA. Check out Tom's rover page here: VA3NFA Rover.

The Team

Rover Team Members:

Tom VA3NFA
Brad VE3BSM

The Goals

We have serveral serious and not so serious goals for this contest including:

Not to get lost without a GPS
To remember to pack water and bug spray
To avoid speed traps
To work all stations we hear
To have FUN!

The primary goal for this contest is to experiment with a modest Rover setup and to have a lot of fun! Idealy we want to make several QSO's per band from each grid.

The VE3WCC Rover is planning to operate from six grids: FN14, 15, 16, 24, 25, 26 and be active on 6 bands: 50, 144, 222, 432, 903 and 1296.

The Station

Here is an overview of the planned VE3WCC station:

Vehicle

Super-Charged Custom 2000 Ford Winstar proudly owned and operated by VA3NFA

Rigs

FT857 for 50(100w),144(50w),432(20w)
HR2600 IF and Demi Transverter for 222(10w)
FT817 IF and DownEast Microwaves Transverter for 903 (10w)
FT817 IF and LT24S transverter for 1296 (5w)

Mobile Antennas:

50: PAR Omni Loop
144: Horizontal Loop

Stationary Antennas:

50: Par Omni Loop
144, 222: Cushcraft 4 element yagi
432: Homebrew (by VE3CVG) 9 element yagi
903: Directive Systems 13 element looped yagi
1296: Homebrew (also by VE3CVG) 13 element looped yagi

The Route and the Plan

The approximate route/plan is to setup in FN16 and then FN26 at the begining of the contest on Saturday afternoon. Rick, VE3CVG, has found a great spot to setup in these grids. Details HERE. If conditions are good we hope to work many of the Ottawa area contesters from these grids.

Then, we plan on driving to the Gatineau Park and seting up at the Etienne-Brule Lookout. From this great FN25 location we will be able to work the local contestors and also hopefully work some of the big gun stations in the north-eastern US. This is our best chance to add a number of DX contacts and multipliers to the log.

On Sunday morning we will be driving to VA3MWK's QTH to setup on his property to work from FN15.

After lunch we then drive to a great spot in FN14 near Numogate and plan to operate from there in the afternoon working the locals and turning the antennas South to work into the states.

For the last part of the contest, Sunday evening, we will be setting up in FN24. Specific location yet to be determined.

To keep things simple we will be using paper logs for this contest. We expect that we will take numerous "survival" items along with us including a spare car battery, tool kits, spare coax, connectors, compas, GPS, water, pop, food, bug repellent, etc.

The Schedule

Here is the latest schedule: VE3WCC Schedule

The Results

Assuming we all make it back and that our results are not to embarassing, we plan to post of contest results here.

Wish the VE3WCC rover team LUCK!

Rover Resources

Here are a bunch of sites that we found very usefull in planning and setting up the VE3WCC Rover station:

VHF Site

So, you want to be a Rover?

Rover Resource Site