I am not ashamed to say that I started out as a captive rover by most
definitions. I no longer consider myself captive. I would not be into VHF
contesting if I had not been a captive rover first.
I was elmered into all this by a new friend, Ed, who took me out on a
contest for one day. He was actively pursuing contacts with other people,
even other rovers but he made sure he got his contacts with a BIG GUN. I was
a bit Mic shy at the time but I was fascinated. He then introduced me to
people who were building transverters and other equipment! Many of them
turned out to be part of a group I had seen operating once before so I knew
they were a big operation. I learned a lot and they showed me where the
vhfcontest list was. I was also introduced to other VHF contest clubs. I
discovered a lot of hams participating in VHF and up.
I have been in VHF contesting for 11 contests now and I love it! I am soon
going to try to make a contact on 5ghz of over 300miles! How could I do that
without the help of a Big Gun station? My next time out I want to do a VUCC
on all 9 of my bands. I can not do that without the help of several Big
Guns. (although I do not think the ARRL has a VUCC award for a Rover even if
all the contacts were made FROM one grid I am still going to do it for
myself)
I started out with a few of my own things, mostly on the low end of the freq
range. I borrowed most of the other stuff. Not just from the Big Gun, but
from Many, Many people in the VHF community. It is an amazing testament to
amateur radio when you can make so many friends just because you become
radio active! As time went by I have built many transverters. The 222 and
432 transverters I use are still on loan thanks to a ham who lives thousands
of miles from me whom I only met a couple of times but was a friend of a
friend. I have build my own 100watt amp for those two bands from a ~300mhz
amp I purchased from e-Bay and adapted with help from yet another ham
friend! Most of my equipment is home brew except for a TWT on loan from yet
another ham that understands my desire to get the LONG DISTANCE contacts. I
just purchased a new Rover Van and as its name implies it was purchased with
all the requirements of Roving in mind.
The VHF contest is the best place to find good friends. How many hams will
loan you a all mode 144mhz radio the day before a VHF contest because my IF
radio bit the dust? It is amazing once you let yourself into this VHF part
of the hobby how many people are willing to help you get more active. Even
if some of them are BIG GUN's I can't fault them. They only wind up helping
ham become better hams.
Thanks for listening to me.
73!
Tim Ertl (KE3HT/r Pennsylvania)
ke3ht@lmrgroup.com
Rover: http://www.lmrgroup.com/ke3ht/rover
Sept 2002 contest: http://www.lmrgroup.com/ke3ht/rover/sep2002
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