W3DHJ/rover
VHF Contesting on S.E. Colorado's
High Plains
DM77 - DM78
- DM87 - DM88 
Where the rovers and antelope
play.....
In
mid-2005 I moved from a 'rare' grid (
DM68mn) to a not-so-rare grid
(
DM78rf). I always had a
ball working 6 Meter openings and handing out my grid from the
previous QTH in Gunnison, Colorado. I still enjoy working the
openings, but I was looking for that 'extra something' to add to my
VHF operating activities.
It turns out my new QTH is not that far from several rare grid
squares:
DM77, DM87, and
DM88. In a survey published
in 2007 (
PDF:
The Most Wanted Grids of the 488 ConUS Grids),
DM87 was listed as the #23
Most Wanted Grid of the 488 grids in the ConUS.
DM88 came in at #80, and
DM77 even shows up as #127.
Even before the survey, I had decided to add rover'ing to my bag of
tricks. Late in the Fall of 2005 I scouted out a route which would
allow me to rover in the 4-corner region of
DM78, DM77, DM87, and
DM88 (38°N 104°W). This is all
out in ranchland south of Fowler & Manzanola, and south of
US Highway 50.
In the 2006
ARRL June VHF
Contest I went out and played rover on Sunday. I did "ok" --
for selected definitions of "ok". I learned what 'stuff' I needed
and what 'stuff' was more nuisance than help, and I revised my
route and operating locations somewhat.
In the 2006 July
CQ WW VHF
Contest I started my rovering on Saturday during a return
trip from Gunnison to Pueblo (
DM68
→ DM78). Then on Sunday I went out and rovered around
the four corners of
DM78 - DM77 -
DM87 - finishing up in
DM88. This time I did Way Better than
"ok". Propagation was better than it had been back in June - with
contacts to both coasts being made at times on both days. Not only
were folks excited to get the extra multiplier(s) for the contest,
but many, many were ecstatic to add the new grids to their
VUCC total. Wow!, the
pileups on Sunday!! At times it was like 20M on Field Day! A Great
Time Was Had By All. I was taking a liking to this rover stuff!
On both days in my first two contests as rover I proceeded in the
sequence:
DM78 - DM77 -
DM87 - and
DM88.
Upon reflection, I decided to rove in that sequence on the
Saturday(s) of a contest, and then reverse the route on the
Sunday(s) of the contest. (Or, versy-vicey) That-a-way I may
re-jigger the odds of getting propagation from any one of my grids
to all comers. Anyway, that's what I started doing with the 2006
ARRL September VHF Contest
-- and, all in all, I think it was A Good Thing.
Of course, events sometimes overtake planning. In the Jun'09
contest I included
DM79 and
DM89 in my Saturday outing.
And, in the Jul'09 contest I did my Saturday rove from Gunnison
back to Pueblo via a circuitous route:
DM68 - DM67 - DM77 - DM78.
I'll update this page as I gain more experience, take better
pictures, make equipment changes, and (surprisingly) collect
"wallpaper" (see the bottom of the page.)
Environment
It's lonely out there! At least there's no Big Distractions for a
rover. During the times the band dies down, there is usually
something to observe through the binoculars:
antelope, coyote,
fox, rabbit,
prairie dogs, tarantula, snakes, lizards, turkey buzzards,
pheasant, grouse, quail,
hawks, eagles, and mountain lion. (Well, ok, maybe I
don't use the binoculars to
watch the tarantulæ.
HI!HI!)
Depending on the month and on the recent precipitation, the flora
can also be quite a sight on the Colorado high plains: yucca,
flowers,
cactus.
As well, depending on drought and recent precipitation,
wildland
fires happen. Nearly all the pictures on these pages were taken
within 15 miles of each other (38°N, 104°W). In some you'll
see fairly green, lush backgrounds; in some it's toasty brown.
The
sunsets
can be awesome. So, too, can be the
thunderstorms!
During the June, July and September contests, I don't believe I
ever see more than a half-dozen vehicles during my Saturday-Sunday
outings. And that's been only at my
DM78 and
DM77 (paved road) sites. I've
never seen signs of humanity while at my
DM87 and
DM88 sites.
All of this rover'ing is in
Otero
County. I would like to thank the county commissioners of
Otero County for the excellent shape I find the gravel roads in!
(And, for cleverly locating their county at 38°N, 104°W.
HI!HI!)
Equipment &
Operating
Contestting on just two bands --
6M and
2M -- makes it simple for a single-op
(solo) rover. (And, if you ever saw me in action, simple is what I
need.
HI!HI!) Higher bands
really don't interest me and I'll probably never add them. And,
beginning in 2008, the
ARRL
recognized my proclivities by introducing the
ROVER-LIMITED class in their VHF
contests.
My mobile setup is not something any
real rover would admire.
For
6M it is simply an
IC-706 MKII at 100W
into my
homebrew 6M Halo.
For
2M it is the same
IC-706 MKII at 20W into a
Mirage amplifier that
gives me approx 110W out piped into a stack of hombrew
2M Halos. (Real Soon Now
there will be a web page here covering the construction of my
homebrew stacked
2M Halos,
too .)
For the 2007
ARRL Sep VHF
Contest I added the
N8XJK 12 Volt Boost
Regulator.
That sucker is FANTASTIC! My
IC-706 MKII (Hell,
everybody's IC-706)
transmits like a squished rat when the supply voltage drops below
something like 12.5999 VDC. All my previous rovering involved
driving to a grid site - parking - and contesting for 5-10 minutes
with the engine off before someone would remark that my signal was
distorted. Then, I had to start the engine at high idle and suffer.
I'm sure I missed a few very weak signals due to that problem.
NO MORE!! Now I drive to a grid site - park - and operate for
at least 1 hour with the
engine OFF. Being curious with First Use, I was monitoring both the
input and output volts on the thing. The output held at a stiff
13.8 VDC, and the lowest that the battery sagged (after a 1+ hour
session in
DM87) was 11
volts.
Being a solo operator, I do not attempt contesting while underway.
I'll monitor while driving to the next grid site, and if I hear
someone I want to complete with, I'll pull over (if it is safe) and
attempt the QSO. Ergo my penchant for finding good sites where I
can park and operate for hours at a time.
I paper log. I have enough to fiddle with (and screw up) without
adding a computer to the mix. I enter my paper logs into
RoverLog in the days after a contest.
I have learned (the Hard Way) to stay away from
all power lines. The
QRN is almost always
unbearable, and there is no guarantee that conditions, if quiet
this time, would remain so
for the next contest. And, sigh..., it seems that the microwave and
cell-phone systems have already locked up the 'best' spots -- which
usually present
QRN and/or
QRM challenges.
Pictures
If you copy and paste the Lat-and-Longs into Google Earth, you'll
be taken to within 100 feet or so of my operating sites.
(Notice that I'm still driving a 1991 Mercury Tracer that
still gives me 38-42 MPG...) The narrative wrapped around
the pictures below outline my 'usual' Sunday route on contest
weekends.
DM78xa
38° 02' N 104°
02.5' W
The
DM78 location is about
5.7 miles south of
U.S. Highway
50 near
Fowler on
2 Road. This is the last
rise in the road before entering
DM77. This is as far as I can pull off
to the side - there being ditches on either side.
2 Road is probably the
longest paved, unused road I've ever come across.
HI!HI! 
DM77xw 37° 56.9' N 104° 02.5'
W
Going another 7 miles or so down
2
Road bring me to my
DM77 location - the last good rise
before there is a 'drop' into the Apishapa River valley -- just
about 150 yards past a microwave tower to the east.
(Don't look for flowing water in the Apishapa "River" bed.)
DM87bw
37° 55.8' N 103°
52.6' W
The
DM87 location is more
remote. Taking
2 Road on
south to its junction with
Colorado 10, I turn east and go approx.
11 miles to mile marker 54 and turn south on
11 Road - a dirt, gravel road. Then I
drive south for a couple of miles to the "high point".
Des-o-late! 
DM88bb
38° 02.95' N 103°
51.45' W
To move on to
DM88, I
retrace my route back to
Colorado
10 and continue north on
11
Road. It is still all gravel road from here on. After
approx. 4.7 miles, I turn east on (unmarked)
DD Road. Then, after a mile, I turn
north on
12 Road for a mile
and a half or so.
To get back to civilization, it's 6 miles north on
12 Road to
Manzanola and
U.S. Highway 50. Then it's back west
towards Pueblo and the home QTH. The whole rover'ing distance -
from home out and back again - is 118 miles. Or, 236 miles for the
weekend -- unless I do something different on Saturday.
If anyone should attempt to (re)trace my route above, and if you
should come upon a
large pile of peanut shells --
well, that's one of my spots.
HI!HI!
Here is a 170° fisheye lens view of my favorite DM87 site.
I wonder what this country might look like in the January
contest......
Is there any doubt why
DM87
is a hard-to-confirm grid square?
Click here to view a 44 sec., 4.0MB, MPEG video
of my DM87 rover site.
Experiences / Anecdotes
My tall tales, yarns, and whoppers were once all crammed into this
web page -- which is fairly large to begin with. No more. If you're
not too bored (yet), you can read over some of the experiences I've
had while contest rovering by clicking here:
Past Contests
My rover results since moving to S.E.
Colorado:
Sometimes I amaze myself.
Constructive comments
and/or discussions:
Last updated: 22-Jul-10
