One of the primary design goals should be noted up front. The car used for roving is a leased vehicle -- there are no holes drilled and there should be few scratches resulting from the roving operations.
The actual rove was a Sunday drive through FN15 (my home grid), the NE corner of FN14, the NW corner of FN24, and across FN25. I was following the VE3WCC/r along its route to make spotting easier for fixed stations while I gained an understanding of how to work stations with limited station.
The rove was expanded to cover FN16fc, FN06xe and FN15 on Saturday as a solo expedition. Sunday, I once again followed VE3WCC/r on its path though FN15, FN14, FN24, & FN25 with stops at several local amateur's QTHs to ensure we worked all the bands.
Here is a picture of the VA3CDD/r v1.01 in FN06xe (this was on a logging
road that was at least 3 lanes wide)
The new antenna rack (front and side view -- the 2m/70cm beam is on top, the
222 beam is in the middle with a 1296 looper on the drivers side and the 903
on the passenger side of the car, note the 6m loop got moved up
the mast part way through the contest)
The operating position of VA3CDD/r -- FT-857 on the dash, FT-847 (for
transverters) on shelf closest to dash, V7A on middle of shelf, transverter
stack near seatback, 300Ah of batteries under shelf in front passenger foot
well
The wooden rack was replaced with a larger PVC rack (PVC electrical conduit) with an extra level for the 220 antenna on top. The homebrew 220 antenna was moved to the top of the rack and replaced with a Directive Systems DS222-8R 8el yagi. The dualband 2m/70cm beam is in the middle of the rack vertically and only the 2m portion of the beam is used. A new homebrew 13el 70cm beam built by VE3EFF is now on the lower level between the 903 & 1296 antennas, connected via a diplexor to the 2m beam above it and the FT-857 via a coax switch. The borrowed 903 & 1296 antennas were replaced with Directive Systems 3318LYRMK (903 18el) & 2324LYRMK (1296 24el) loopers.
The 222 loop on the mast at the back of the vehicle was removed since it was not frequently used, allowing the elimination of 1 coax switch from the setup.
The only change to the inside of the rover was the addition of a dual coax switch
to allow the 903 & 1296 transverters to be disconnected from the antennas to
protect the front end of the transverters when the PA is added to the 2m setup.
At the start of the contest, I met with VE3OIL/r in FN14 (Numogate -- just north
of Smith Falls on Hwy 15). Here is his interior setup:
And here is the 2 rovers together on a backroad in FN25 near the FN25/FN15/FN14/FN24
grid intersection:
DONE: new 222, 903, & 1296 antennas -- the 903 & 1296 were borrowed from the VE3WCC/r and need to be returned, and the 222 antenna did not work as well as was hoped. (completed Sept/07)
DONE: new 70cm antennas -- this will happen as soon as I can find a good cheap diplexor to separate the 2m and 70cm signals. I found the 70cm part of the A270-10S antenna to be a little too low for my liking. (completed Sept/07)
Sept/08: new vehicle -- may happen sooner since the VW Golf does not have enough ground clearance to go where I like to rove.
???: another FT-857 to replace the FT-847 -- will happen as soon as I find a suitable radio, I need to move the batteries and equipment to the back seat to regain use of the passenger seat for a second operator, right now it could get really interesting if there is a good 6m openning while I am mobile.
???: PAs for 2m, 222, & 70cm -- not sure when this will happen, I need to get the diplexor to separate the 2m & 70cm signals and I need to figure out how much RF I can use without causing problems to the car and other radios. I have 120+W bricks for 2m & 222, need to find something for 70cm.
???: more bands -- this will happen as I find equipment to run the other bands
???: computer logging -- this will happen when I find a computer that will work well in the mobile and high RF environments, I am thinking of using an OLPC.