K3LFO/W3DIO Rover Site

The K3LFO/R Rover team will be out running 50 Mhz through 3456 Mhz for the June Contest. We are planning a medium rove starting on the eastern shore of Maryland and ending up on Skyline Drive. Our route and approximate times are listed below. We were going to leave out FM27 because we don’t get much activity there and it’s another 2 hour drive, but we decided to give it one more chance. So PLEASE look our way during the first ½ hour of the contest in FM27.

We’ve fixed the rover starter battery and taken care of a few other service problems. The RF systems have been checked out and all is working well. We even netted the transverters on frequency. It’s not perfect but within 1 or 2 Khz versus the 18 Khz off frequency we had on 3456.

Our run frequency on 2 meters will be 144.245. If you call us and don’t hear us try back in a few minutes as we will be returning back to this frequency often in between searching and pouncing.

DISCLAIMER: All times are relative and subject to change due to band conditions!

Saturday June 13

1800z-1900z – FM27bx (Crisfield, MD, Eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay)

2100 – 2230 – FM28aw (Queen Anne, Army Reserve Center)

2300 – 0030 – FM29aa (Rt 481 & 304, Community Center)

0100 – 0200 – FM18ux (Near Bay Bridge Rt 50 at Airport)

0200 – 0330 – Travel to FM19jj (W3DIO’s Home QTH Driveway and sleep)

Sunday June 14

1200 – 1400 – FM19kj (Mount Airy, MD)

1530 – 1800 – FM09ur (Sidling Hill near Hancock, MD, elv 1200’)

2100 – 0300 – FM08us (Skyline Drive – Hogback Overlook, elv 3385’)

Note: More details and updates to this may be forthcoming…

Equipment:

50 Mhz TS-2000x TE Systems Amp 400w out PAR MOXON 5.6 db

144Mhz TS-2000x TE Systems Amp 400w Out DS144-6RS 10.1db

222Mhz DEMI 222-28 Mirage Amp 110w Out DSFO222-10RS 11.4db

432Mhz TS-2000x TE Systems Amp 185w Out DSFO432-15RS 13.5db

903Mhz DEMI 902-28 30w Out DS3333LY 18.5 db

1296Mhz TS2000x DEMI Amp 120w Out DS2345LY 20.5 db

2304Mhz SSBE TV Spectrum Amp 50w Out DS1345LY 20db

3456Mhz DEMI 13-144 1w Out DS976LY 23.4db

Another contest looming near.  This past weekend we did a few things to prepare for the upcoming contest.  We went through all our transverters(222,903,2304,3456) and documented the current calibration on them.  Then we opened up the 3456 transverter on the table as it was the one furtherest off frequency and adjusted it to bring it closer into calibration.  We accomplished this by taking advantage of a harmonic of 432 Mhz.  The 8th harmonic of 432 is 3456 thus if you generate a signal on 432.0125 you should be able to hear it on 3456.1.   The transverter actually found this signal at 3456.085.20.  We adjusted it and brought it closer to 3456.1.  Unfortunately with temperature changes and such the frequency varies pretty much especially the first few minutes of the transverter being turned on.  The end result is we shouldn’t have to search far from signals on 3456 unlike previous contests.

We also did our monthly engine and generator test.  Both started although the battery was a little low so we will probably want to make sure that is charged up fully before the contest.  Fortunately in the RV we can always start the RV on the house batteries if we need to.

Next weekend we will be taking the RV to fill up the propane tank and we will be inspecting the mast to ensure all the parts are still in good working order.  We also need to reinstall the 3456 transverter back in the equipment closet.

BTW, whoever came up with the idea of using RCA plugs for 12 volt power adapters should be taken out back and shot.  Ended up blowing a fuse while disconnecting the transverter due to shorting the connector out.  A pain in the arse to be sure.  I’m very tempted to modify the DEMI transverter to replace it with a powerpole pigtail.

Unfortunately we still haven’t had time to integrate the 240watt 903 amp, nor either of the 3456 toshiba amps we bought.  We also have a brand new 2304 DEMI transverter and 60 watt amp board to integrate to replace the SSB electronics transverter and amp board we have presently.  We have just been tied up.  Hopefully we will get some of these projects worked on before the September contest.