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W6TAI/R straightens an antenna by the sea in CM95...

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• Historical information about roving
• Roving coast to coast
• Photos of the September, 2003 Contest
• Photos of the January, 2004 VHF SS
• Photos of the June, 2004 high plains expedition
• Photos of the January, 2005 high plains expedition
• Photos of the January, 2006 VHF SS
• Photos of the January, 2007 VHF SS
• Photos of the September, 2007 Contest
• Photos of the January, 2009 VHF SS
• Photos of 2009-2011 contests, including the club competition
• Photos of the 2012 East Texas adventure
• More 2012-2013 results
• 2014-2015 results:  more gavels, roves and records
• 2016-2021:  last UHF Contest, first 222 and Up
• Senior roving with  "antenna-free" stations
• A final note
• A postscript:  a photo gallery of UHF rovers from coast to coast
  

     Ever since the advent of the Maidenhead grid square multiplier system in amateur radio, "roving" in VHF/UHF/microwave radio contests has been popular in North America. 
     Under the Maidenhead plan (so named because it was developed at a conference in Maidenhead, England), the world is divided into geographic units one degree of latitude high and two degrees of longitude wide that are identified by four-digit codes such as FN20 (in the U.S. northeast) or DM04 (in Southern California).  The system also provides for six-, eight- or even 10-digit codes that can be used to pinpoint a station's location more precisely.  The original idea was to facilitate calculations of the distance between two stations for contests with distance-based scoring.  That scoring system is widely used in Europe, but in North America the four-digit grid squares are used as multipliers in most contests.  The total number of points for two-way contacts is multiplied by the number of different grid squares worked. 
     Because many grid squares have little or no local activity (especially on the UHF and microwave bands), the Maidenhead system encouraged roving stations to travel to various grid squares during VHF/UHF radio contests.  What they do is akin to a road rally with amateur radio equipment aboard, and it has enormous appeal to people who might not otherwise operate a VHF contest. 
   Some amateurs spend months planning an itinerary that will take them on a 1200-mile trek through 20 or more grid squares during a contest.  And rovers have dramatically increased the activity level in sparsely populated areas, while providing otherwise unavailable multipliers to fixed contestants.  Starting when the grid square multiplier system went into effect in the 1980s, N6NB and many others have been roving.  The photos here show many of our early and more recent rover installations. 
    Although it's very popular, roving has been surprisingly controversial--for several reasons.  For one, questions have been raised about rover operating practices.  Many rovers attempt to visit as many grid squares as possible, a practice encouraged by the ARRL rules (which award an extra multiplier for each grid square visited during the contest period).  That forces rovers to keep moving, never venturing far off the major highways and rarely stopping to operate with high, directional antennas.  If they are to visit as many grid squares as possible, rovers have no choice but to leave rare grid squares quickly and go on to grid squares that are not rare.  Some fixed operators say this makes it more difficult to contact rovers in the rare and distant grid squares that they visit, defeating one purpose of roving.  There have also been perennial complaints about two other practices:  (1) "captive" rovers seeking out only one or a few stations while they're in each grid square and making little effort to be available to the general amateur community; and (2)  "grid circling" in which two or more rovers travel together and work each other as they move around a point where four grids converge.   Some object to rovers working each other in several grid squares even if they don't engage in "grid circling."  Two rovers will often travel together and work each other only once in a given grid square (as opposed to working each other multiple times as first one then the other of them circles around a grid convergence).  When rovers travel together, that has been called "pack roving." 
    The rover scoring system has also been controversial.  The system has been revised four times, and some rovers are still not pleased with the result.    Originally, rover stations scored their activity in each grid square separately.  For a time QST magazine listed all of these separate scores and didn't separate out rovers from single operators. The separate scores were very low compared to single operator scores, even if all of a station's scores were added up.  Rovers demanded better treatment.  The response was a rover scoring system, introduced in 1991, that some have called "megascoring."  The contacts and multipliers from all locations were aggregated and the sums were then multiplied, producing much larger total scores.  Even though that produced an enormous increase in rover activity, the higher scores stirred controversy, too. 
    A review of rover participation in VHF contests in the three years before and after "megascoring" was introduced illustrates just how much the recognition in QST and the new scoring opportunities increased activity.  In June, 1988, eight (8) rovers submitted logs.  In September, 1988, there were 11 rover logs.  In June, 1989, 21 rover logs were submitted, with 15 submitted in September, 1989.  In June, 1990, there were 20 rover logs, with 13 in September, 1990. 
     Then roving exploded, aided by the new scoring system.  In June, 1991, the first with "megascoring," there were 50 rover entries--more than double the number the previous June.  In September, 1991, there were 30 rover entries, a 50% increase from a year earlier.  In June, 1992, there were 64 rover entries--another big increase.  September, 1992, attracted 46 rover logs.  In June, 1993, there were 63 rover logs, with 62 in September, 1993--another very large increase. 
    Although roving was booming, some opposed the new scoring system. 
    To dramatize what they saw as the unfairness of that system, four amateurs (two father and son teams) in New England went roving in the January, 1993 VHF Contest in two vehicles, working each other on nine bands as they circled around the point where four grid squares came together.  Then they did the same thing at another convergence of four grid squares.  When the contest was over, each of the four had amassed one and a quarter million points:  four people in two vehicles had scored five million points.  The highest fixed station score in that contest was about 300,000 points.  Then the four added their scores with those of fixed stations in their radio club, the Hampden County Radio Assn., creating a club aggregate score more than triple that of the perennial winner, the Mt. Airy VHF Club in Philadelphia.  The Mt. Airy Pack Rats had won the club aggregate competition every year for more than 30 years, but the rover scoring system ended that tradition.  Fixed stations simply could not compete.  A further irony was that the Rochester VHF Group, the perennial number two club in the January contest, also topped the Pack Rats that year--but got upstaged by four guys in two vehicles.  RVG's long-sought triumph in the club competition was not to be--until later.  (As QST magazine pointed out, though, RVG's club aggregate score was also boosted by rover scores.) 
   The high-scoring foursome (Stan Hilinski, KA1ZE, and his son Kevin, NR1L, and Robert Cohen, K1CPJ, and his son Scott, KA1QAS) revolutionized VHF rovering--and demonstrated what was possible.  But because their monster scores overwhelmed the traditional club competition, there was an outcry for still another change in the scoring system, although many rovers defended the "megascoring" system by arguing that it made the contests a lot more fun and stimulated activity in many parts of the country.  The debate raged at club meetings and conventions, in petition-gathering efforts and on the air. 
    After several years, ARRL reached a compromise:  rovers could continue to aggregate their QSO points, but they could count each multiplier only once--with a single additional multiplier for each grid square activated.  This resulted in rover scores somewhat more comparable to those attainable by fixed stations.  However, it became clear over the years that rovers can still achieve high scores, especially when two or more rovers travel together so they all can work the rare multipliers that they are handing out to others.  By roving in tandem and sometimes circling a four-grid convergence, rovers can amass scores that only the top fixed single-operator stations can match.  This has enabled some rovers to achieve high scores even in sparsely populated areas where there may be no fixed stations. 
     After the rules were changed a second time, just about everyone thought the scoring record set by KA1ZE's team would hold up indefinitely, but the mark only stood for six years.
     Operating under the revised scoring system, a team formed out of the legendary Grid Pirates multioperator contest group, signing N3IQ/R, scored 1,391,942 points in the 1999 VHF SS.  Operators ND3F and WD8ISK (later K8ISK and then W8ZN) roved in tandem with K8GP/R, operated by K6LEW and KA3QPG, who posted a score of 827,372 points.  The two teams visited 15 grid squares and worked each other on an incredible 12 bands--and then set out to work everyone else they could hear in the activity-rich northeast corridor. But their record, too, was broken after only six years--rovers were achieving higher and higher scores.
     Many other teams of rovers from coast to coast have achieved good scores by roving in tandem.  At least seven of the top 10 rovers in 2004 VHF SS traveled with another rover.  In recent years rovers in Eastern Washington, Western Washington, Southern California, the upper midwest, East Texas/Louisiana, Rochester, NY and the high plains have all scored 250K or more (often much more) by roving together. 
     This led to still more controversy and another major revision of the rover rules.  In 2008, ARRL added two more categories to the rover competition.  In the unlimited category, rovers may work each other freely and may even "rove" by operating at two or more fixed stations in different grid squares during a contest weekend.  Large groups may also operate together in a bus, for instance, in the unlimited category because the normal limit of two licensed operators per vehicle does not apply.  However, unlimited rovers may not participate in the club competition--their scores cannot be counted toward a club's aggregate score.  In the classic rover category, rovers may only work any one other rover a maximum of 100 times and may not operate from a fixed station because the rules require that the rover vehicle transport the entire station, including antennas.  A third limited rover category was added in 2008.  This is a category for rovers who operate on no more than four bands (any four bands at first) with a maximum power that is the same as in the single operator low-power category (i.e., 200 watts on six and two meters).  In 2009, the limited category was restricted to the lowest four bands in any VHF/UHF contest.    Like classic rovers, limited rovers are allowed to work any other one rover a maximum of 100 times.  Classic and limited rovers are allowed to participate in the club competition. 
     The three-category rover system remains controversial, with some contending that rovers can still achieve excessively high scores by roving together.  Some have called for still more changes in the rover rules--even a return to the original scoring system where activity in each grid square was scored separately.  It remains to be seen how that might affect overall contest activity--and whether the resulting low scores might cause roving to revert to its original status as primarily a means by which some fixed stations could boost their scores. 
    Whatever the pros and cons of the scoring system, rover operating is still popular in VHF contests.

    The photos on this page show many different rover stations built by N6NB.  Building them was a logical outgrowth of building portable contest stations in campers during the 1970s and 1980s.  The first portable station, the so-called "Cabover Kilowatt," appeared on the cover of QST magazine in 1971.  The first dedicated rover, built around an Isuzu 4X4, was used with good success in the 1990s.  Its main innovation was a method of setting up relatively high directional antennas quickly.  It took not more than two minutes to go to the operating position with the antenna stack upright (top photo) from the travel position (photo at right, above).  The mast was secured to a rotator on the rear bumper of the truck with one bolt.  When the bolt was removed, the mast tilted forward into a cradle on the truck.  Then a coaxial cable and another bolt were removed to slide the 6-meter antenna off the mast and into a rooftop cradle.    For optional high power operation, starting a gasoline generator took another minute or two. 
    This installation worked well for someone who wanted to go to just a few grid squares and spend considerable time operating in each one, perhaps from a superior off-the-highway location.  That allowed more people to contact a few rare grid squares, but it made it impractical to visit 15 or 20 grid squares during a contest.  In the June, 1998 VHF Contest, the N6NB/N6MU team had the top score on the west coast, but we only visited eight grid squares. 
     The second rover station, used during the early and mid-2000s, utilized a Ford E350 15-passenger Supervan with all but the front seats removed.  Its antenna system was similar to the one on the Isuzu but with a longer mast to take advantage of the greater length of the van.  That permitted excellent separation between antennas for various bands, minimizing interaction.  This rover station made its debut during the 2003 January VHF SS Contest on the east coast.  The van was driven from California to the northeast and back just for the contest--a 6,500-mile trip that may rank as the longest roving expedition ever in total miles driven to rove in a VHF contest.  In the photo here, the van is shown at an overlook on Interstate 80 near Hackettstown in western New Jersey (FN20).  Was it worth a 6,500-mile trip?  Any dedicated amateur radio contester knows the answer to that question!  It was also a sentimental journey--N6NB/1 on Mt. Equinox, VT, set national scoring records in the June and September VHF contests as a single operator in 1979-1980. 
     The E350 van shown in these photos was replaced in 2008 by a new E350, which was configured similarly.  The new van appears in some of the later photos. 
     The photos immediately below show the N6NB/N6MU tandem roving team in the September 2003 VHF Contest, the first of many contest expeditions by a growing group of rovers, many of them members of the Southern California Contest Club.  In 2003, one 10-band station was installed in the Ford van and another 10-band station was installed in an SUV.  Later that year a third 10-band station was built for use in several different vehicles.. 
     Further down this page there are photos of the first three-rover operation in January, 2004.  It produced a combined score of more than three million points, with N6MI/R, N6MU/R and N6NB/R each topping a million points.  There are also photos of the June, 2004 "high plains expedition," during which three 10-band stations roved through 20 grid squares ranging from Midland, TX to the Nebraska border, with N6NB setting a new June record of 1.29 million points.  Further down there are photos from the January, 2005 Contest, when N6NB/R (operating with W6XD), N6ZZ/R (with N2IC) and N6MU/R (with K2MM) visited 22 grid squares in New Mexico and west Texas, scoring more than two million points each for another record.  Altogether, N6NB/R activated 52 grid squares from coast to coast between January, 2003 and January, 2005.
    As the rover building-boom continued, the N6NB rover fleet grew to eleven (11) different 10-band rover stations, most of them housed in large toolboxes that could be mounted on a rotor atop a roof rack on any SUV.  There is a separate page on this website describing the toolbox stations.  As the rover capability grew, the Southern California Contest Club began competing in the ARRL club aggregate competition and winning club gavels--something that no west coast club had done before. 

January (2004) photos...

     The January, 2005 VHF Contest was a memorable event for many participants.  The northern and eastern states experienced near-blizzard conditions, with impossibly high snow-induced noise levels.  Some rovers courageously went afield in this horrible weather, but the scores of both fixed stations and rovers were understandably lower than usual.  We roved in New Mexico and West Texas and experienced surprisingly good weather for January--no snow, only moderate winds, and clear skies much of the time.  We visited a total of 22 grid squares and traveled 1,000 miles during the contest, amassing three scores over two million points--the first ever to exceed two megapoints in VHF SS.  Here's the breakdown: 

Call                Qs    Q pts   Mult    Score

N6NB/R (+W6XD)    2040    9098    242   2,201,716
N6ZZ/R (+N2IC)    1957    8943    242   2,164,206
N6MU/R (+K2MM)    1937    8900    242   2,153,800

     These scores are directly attributable to the talents of the seasoned contest operators who joined us for this venture.  It quickly became clear why they're so successful in HF contests. 

     One of the highlights was spanning some seemingly impossible paths, working over high hills on 10 Ghz.  Another was working W5LCC 27 times from seven grid squares, including Qs on 1296 from five grid squares.  And we worked K5RHR 15 times (thanks for making Lubbock and Albuquerque so workable, guys). 

The rover expeditions kept growing in the 2000s.  In January, 2007, four stations traveled together from Orange County to Arbuckle, Calif. for VHF SS.  The group included K6MI and N6NB in the Ford F150 camper (at left), W6YLZ in the Lexus RX-330, W6TE and WA6LUT in the Subaru Baja, and KG6TOA and KI6AAY in the Ford E350 van, all shown here at the Madera convergence.  By then N6NB had added a new flagship station in the F150 that housed kilowatt amplifiers on six and two meters capable of full power while mobile in motion.  That station also included amplifiers capable of about 20 watts output on all the microwave bands.  The  homemade camper attracted a lot of attention, some of it unwanted.  It was eventually replaced with a less conspicuous (but also less roomy) commercial truck camper with a heavy roof rack. 
 
 

Miguel Ramirez, W6YLZ

Bryan Sorensen, KI6AAY (in the passenger seat), and Rob Hughes, KG6TOA

John Morrice, K6MI

Dave Smith, W6TE, with Larry Bettencourt, WA6LUT, operating in back

With a rule change imminent, we made an effort to achieve good scores in what turned out to be the last contest under the 1995-2007 rule structure.  Once again we followed our California route to the Arbuckle convergence northwest of Sacramento with three stations, activating 15 grid squares and posting scores of over 600,000 points for a new record in the September contest.  This photo shows the group at the northwestern end of the rove in CM89.  The operators included K6MI and W6TE in the Lexus and  KK6KK and KG6TOA in the van, with N6MU joining N6NB in the F150. 

These rover expeditions have continued to grow as the rules evolved.  By January, 2009, we had eight complete 10-band stations available--and all eight were on the road.  W6TE (with WA6LUT part of the way) and W6YLZ were in the unlimited category in which it's both acceptable and practical to "grid circle."  In the classic rover category, grid circling is not a good strategy (with only a limited number of QSOs allowed with any other rover, the savvy way to use those Qs is for multipliers--not to work anyone more than once in a given grid square).  We had four rovers in the classic category:  AF6O/R, KK6KK/R (with KG6TOA), N6NB/R and W6XD/R (who was the top-scoring rover overall a year earlier in the 2008 VHF SS).  This time we also had a talented newcomer in the limited rover category:  Carrie Tai, now W6TAI.  So who was the eighth rover?  Well, N6TEB bought a new Ford diesel truck shortly before the contest and borrowed one of the 10-band "toolbox" stations because he hadn't yet had time to install his own excellent station in his new truck.  Dave met us at the Bissell (Mojave) convergence and worked us on 10 bands there, but he did not travel on from there with us. 

     By Summer, 2009, we had enough hardware to outfit eleven (yes, 11) vehicles as 10-band rover stations, and four other members of our group (KE6HPZ, N6TEB, N6VI and W6TE) had built their own 10-band rovers.  Several of us who have been longtime members of the Southern California Contest Club decided to enter the newly announced club competition in the August UHF Contest.  We also submitted a club entry under the SCCC banner in several more contests.  The SCCC group had the highest club aggregate scores in the country in August and September, 2009, and in January, June, August and September, 2010, and January, 2011.  No west coast club had ever had the top overall score in the club competition in any VHF contest until the SCCC won these seven club gavels. 
     In addition to hardware, the SCCC has been blessed with talented operators and leaders.  Art Goddard, W6XD, has become the group's field commander, functioning as a combination quarterback and cat-herder.  Marty Woll, N6VI, has brought an accountant's expertise to the planning process, generating spreadsheets and documentation that have been a key contributor to SCCC's success. 
     To compete as a club, the SCCC rovers had to devise new routes that kept us entirely within the official boundaries of the club, as required by the rules of the club competition.  Each participating club must designate a center point.  Only members who live within 175 miles of that point can compete for the club, and rovers may not count any score achieved while operating outside this 175-mile radius.  There are elaborate rules governing participation by non-members along with members.  In general, a rover score may be counted by a club if there are two operators and one is a resident club member. 

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A noteworthy thing about the August, 2010 UHF Contest was WB2WIK's national first place score in the single operator low power category.  Steve guest-operated N6NB's home station in DM13.  The 70-foot tower, with antennas for all bands from 14 MHz to 10 GHz, is shown above.  It was the first time since the late 1970s that any west coast fixed station had been #1 nationally in the UHF contest.  (N6NB, operating fixed atop Mt. Pinos, won the first two UHF contests in 1978 and 1979).  August 2010 was also a very successful contest for the SCCC rovers.  N6NB and W6TAI both broke the rover scoring record and W6YLZ finished #1 nationally in the limited rover category. 

This station setup was used by N6NB in the single operator (QRP) portable category in September, 2010.  Because the antennas had to be installed on site to avoid damage from low trees along the 10-mile dirt road up the mountaintop, it made sense to use slightly larger antennas than in a typical rover installation where the truck is driven with the antennas in place.  If you look beyond the mountain, you can see an inversion layer forming.  It resulted in good tropo conditions up the San Joaquin Valley late in the contest, allowing N6NB to work some distant multipliers with 10 watts that had been unworkable earlier in the weekend. 

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The January, 2011, VHF Sweepstakes was the first rove for several newcomers to the SCCC group.  This photo shows K6AH and his wife Sally (both newcomers), W6YLZ (a veteran of many roves), N6UWW (on her second rove), KG6OKB (on his first rove), and N6HD (right) with his friend Evelyn (on their second rove).  The photo was taken by WB6BFG (on his third rove).  Others roving with the group at least part of the weekend were longtime rovers K9JK (+N6MU), KE6HPZ, N6HC, and N6TEB (+K6WCI).  Of this group, only three rovers were together all weekend.  WB6BFG and N6UWW began the contest in Del Mar Heights and quickly handed out the DM12 multiplier on 10 bands before joining the group.  This time most of the group gathered at Signal Peak (DM13) at the start of the contest to work a contingent from the San Diego Microwave Group who were atop Mt. Soledad (DM12).  The San Diego group included KB5MU, KD0IF, N6IZW, W5NYV and W6OYJ.  Thanks to them for so many microwave Qs!  When the results were compiled and published in QST, K9JK and N6MU had the top rover score in the country, followed closely by K6AH.  KE6HPZ won the unlimited rover category and W6YLZ was again #1 in the limited rover category.    N6NB broke the January single op portable scoring record. 

A highlight of January, 2011 was a DXpedition to CM94 by W6TAI/R, who provided 10 rare band-multipliers to the rovers as well as N6NB (in the single operator portable category).  This photo shows the 152-mile path from Signal Peak in DM13 to Carrie's site on a bluff near Gaviota State Beach.  As the Hepburn forecast had predicted, there was just enough over-water tropo to make this possible. 
     In June, 2011, the SCCC rovers visited 10 grid squares within club territory, with K6MI the national winner of the rover category, just ahead of K6AH.  A highlight was the debut of Art Goddard's daughter Amy, W6XDX, as a full weekend rover in a father-daughter team.  K6GEP joined the group for part of the weekend, as did N6HC and N6NC.  Meanwhile, W6TAI went on a solo rove to 10 grid squares on her own, covering 873 miles and providing many multipliers to the rover team and others, including  the N6VI multioperator group on Frazier Mountain and N6NB, again in the single operator QRP portable category.  The map immediately below shows the microwave paths over which N6NB worked the rover group or W6TAI in an effort that led to a third national record score in the QRP portable category, this time with a score of 295K. 

This photo, taken just before the start of the January, 2012, VHF Sweepstakes, shows eight rovers near Port Arthur, TX in EL39.  This group included 10 members of the Nacogdoches (TX) Amateur Radio Club and five visitors. 
     For some years we have been watching the VHF contest successes of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club.  Despite being in a town of only 33,000 people nowhere near any big city, this club has been turning in impressive scores year after year. 
     After talking with Army Curtis, AE5P, and Marshall Williams, K5QE, at the 2011 Central States VHF Conference in Dallas, several of us accepted their invitation to join them for a VHF contest in East Texas.  Six Californians traveled there.  Five of us roved with Nacogdoches club members, using their call signs and helping out wherever we could.  The sixth visitor (W6XD) joined the team at K5QE's well-equipped multioperator station. 
     We were amazed by what we saw.  This small club had more than 20 members active in VHF SS, including about 15 who roved and five who operated at K5QE.  Several others got on at home.  We met some wonderfully dedicated and conscientious people during our week in Nacogdoches.  We hope to stay in touch with them for the rest of our days in amateur radio. We are very grateful for their hospitality. 
     It was a banner year for the Nacogdoches club, the rovers and K5QE.  The club, moving up from the local club category to "Division I-A," had the highest club aggregate score in the country.  Nacogdoches had the top seven rover scores, and K5QE had the highest multioperator score anywhere. 
     Even the weather was perfect--with temperatures in the 70s, no rain, and evenings warm enough for outdoor station-building.  It was a memorable experience. 

     After the 2012 East Texas adventure, the Southern California Contest Club sent smaller roving groups afield for the June and August, 2012 VHF/UHF Contests.  In June, the club's rovers had the top six rover scores nationally, led by the two-person team of W6XD/R and AE6Z with 272,500 points.  Close behind were KI6FGV/R, K6AH/R, N6HD/R, the team of WA6WTF/R and W6TE, and K9AOG/R.  N6NB led the single operator portable category nationally with 136,840 points.  In the very competitive multioperator category, N6VI was fifth nationally with 509,922 points. 
     In the August UHF Contest, only four SCCC rovers ventured out, but they finished 1-2-3-4 in the country.  N6NB/R won, with W6XD/R a close second, W6TAI/R third and N6EY/R (paired with W6TE) fourth.  At the last minute, N6MU agreed to get on for a few hours at N6NB's home station--and he had the top single operator, low power score on the west coast, while the club won another gavel.
     In January, 2013, N6NB and W6TAI joined a small group of rovers in East Texas.  Perhaps the highlight was the first use in a contest of the tower trailer built from a kit (described elsewhere on this website).  The photo below shows the tower raised about halfway beside a hotel in the town of Center, TX (EM21).  The tower trailer proved its worth by making it possible to work K5QE on all bands through 10 GHz in six grid squares, even in places where other rovers could not get through because of trees and buildings in the near field.  The tower trailer was set up 10 times over two days in a rove that began near Port Arthur, TX and ended in northern Louisiana. N6NB and W6TAI finished first and second nationally in the rover category.

This is N6NB's new rover van and tower trailer, shown with the tower extended about halfway.  This setup was built in California during 2012 and driven as far as Cape Cod, MA before being returned to Texas for the January contest.  In a way, this was reminiscent of the late 1970s, when N6NB towed a tower trailer from California to Vermont for VHF contests.  Of course, that tower trailer was only set up once for each contest because there was no rover category then.  N6NB was competing in the single operator category in the 1970s.  The photo below shows the new tower trailer back home in Southern California for a single operator QRP portable effort in the June, 2013 VHF Contest.  The photo was taken just as the fog burned off at Signal Peak, a hilltop in Newport Beach, CA.

     The June, 2013 VHF Contest was a good one for the Southern California Contest Club, which won another club gavel--but just barely.  SCCC had a club aggregate score of 1.36 million points.  The Potomac Valley Radio Club had 1.33 million points.  In the individual results,  four SCCC members placed in the top five in the rover category.  K6AH was first, KI6FGV (now K6FGV) was second, N6HD was third and KJ5MSY was #5 overall.  In the very competitive multi-multi category, N6VI was #3 nationally.  It was the first time in many years that a west coast multioperator station had fared that well nationally.  W6TE was #1 nationally in the unlimited rover category, and N6NB won the single operator (QRP) portable category.

This group of rovers gathered for lunch during the 2013 UHF Contest.  They are (from left):  Wayne, N6NB; Jim, KI6FGV; Kris, N6KYS; Jason, N6EY; Dave, W6TE; Carole, W6TTF; and Jan, WA6WTF.  The group included two couples:  Kris and Jason Boyer (who had been married for all of three weeks when they roved together) and Carole and Jan Whitteberry (who had been married a little longer). 
     Certainly a highlight of the August, 2013 UHF Contest for the Southern California Contest Club was the extensive use of 24 GHz--by women, as the photos below illustrate.
 

Jan and Carole Whitteberry (WA6WTF and W6TTF) are the picture of concentration as they make a contact on 24 GHz, while newlyweds Kris and Jason Boyer (N6KYS and N6EY) observe the customs of chivalry--Jason holds the 24 GHz transceiver while Kris makes a contact!  Thanks to W6TE for these photos.

Here's Marie Tai (W1TAI, left, visiting from Boston, MA) with her sister Carrie (W6TAI), posing with the high-performance 24 GHz systems that they used during the 2013 UHF Contest.

...And this is what happens when the Tai sisters make contacts on 24 GHz.  Um, well, the truth is that this photo was staged after the contest, but anyone can see their unbridled enthusiasm for 24 GHz!

     In 2014, the Southern California Contest Club fielded small roving groups for the January VHF Contest and the August UHF Contest--and won two more club gavels.  In January, N6TEB (operating with K6WCI) had the highest rover score nationally.  K9JK (operating with local SCCC member N6HB) was second.  A well-known eastern rover team was third, while W6TE was fourth.  W6TTF and WA6WTF tied for fifth nationally.  Other SCCC winners were W6YLZ, who was #1 nationally in the limited rover category, K6MI, #1 nationally in the single operator three band category, and N6NB, who had the #1 single operator portable score in the country.  For all three, it was a good illustration of the value of having a group of rovers within range.  For example, N6NB, operating in a van with a tower trailer in flat terrain near Madera, had 123,000 points, while the runner-up in the single operator portable category had 8,000 points.
     In August, 2014, there were only four SCCC rovers, but they were the top four finishers nationally.  N6NB was first, followed by W6TE, W6TTF and WA6WTF.  W6TAI and her sister Marie, W1TAI (visiting from Boston), tied for second nationally in the single operator low power category while sharing the Panorama Heights fixed station.  As in 2013, they operated on all bands through 24 GHz, using one of the 24 GHz systems shown in the 2013 photos.
     The January, 2015 VHF Contest saw the Southern California Contest Club win another club gavel.  In the individual competition, K6FGV edged out N6VI for #1 in the rover category by a narrow margin, while N6HB (with K9JK) finished third.  W6TTF, WA6WTF and W6TE were #4, #5 and #6 nationally.  N6NB, operating near Madera again with the same hardware as in 2014, had the #1 single operator portable score, setting a new national record with almost 180k.
       The September, 2015 VHF Contest seemed like two separate contests for N6NB.  On Saturday I joined W6IT and W6TAI to rove through five Southern California grid squares, starting in DM12 (near Solana Beach), then roving through DM13 and DM03 before ending up in Monrovia for DM04 and DM14.  W6IT was using the white Ford van shown in various photos on this web page while W6TAI was using her Infinity rover, also shown in several photos.  In all five grids, we worked on 11 bands (50 MHz to 24 GHz).  Greg and Carrie were only available on Saturday, so they drove home while I headed over the mountains to the San Joaquin Valley late Saturday night.
     Sunday morning I met K6MI, N6MTS (with WA6OIB) and W6TE in Kettleman City.  Some of them were only available to rove on Sunday, so this plan worked well.  I had brought along two extra very compact 10-band rover stations that I lent to N6MTS and K6MI.  W6TE has his own excellent 10-band rover station (11, counting his new DB6NT system for 24 GHz).  It didn't take long to set up and check out the extra stations.  We started in DM05 and quickly worked each other, then worked multioperator station W6TV, operating fixed on a mountaintop east of Fresno, about 100 miles away.  We were amazed to see how easily the guys with the compact stations could work W6TV all the way to 10 GHz.  I worked W6TV on 24 GHz as well.
     Then we moved to a nearby hilltop in grid CM95 and did everything again.  W6TV was again able to work everyone through 10 GHz and work me on 24 GHz.  Next we moved to a site near the California Aqueduct at the boundary of DM06 and CM96--in totally flat terrain.  Once again, W6TV was loud and clear on all bands, including 24 GHz.  Finally, we made the 85-mile drive north to Madera to activate CM97 and DM07.  Our site in CM97 was next to an orchard--not good for microwave work.  We did manage to work W6TV on all bands but 5.7 GHz and 24 GHZ, then moved on to DM07 (with no orchard) and easily worked W6TV on all bands, including 24 GHz.  When the contest ended, we had all worked each other and W6TV from six grid squares.  I had worked W6TV from five grid squares on 24 GHz, making Pat and Rob (W6TV operators) eligible for VUCC on 24 GHz.
     Counting the separate rove with W6IT and W6TAI on Saturday, I had activated 11 grid squares and logged 132 total multipliers.  I've never before done a rove in quite this way (with a completely different group of rovers each day). but it worked.  I had the #1 rover score nationally, while W6TE was #3, K6MI was #4 and N6MTS was #5.  W6IT and W6TAI were #7 and #8, respectively.

     In 2016 there was another passage in VHF-UHF amateur radio:  the end of the ARRL-sponsored UHF Contest and the creation of the new 222 and Up Distance Contest.  It saw N6NB post the highest score in the last UHF Contest and the highest rover score in the first 222 and Up contest a year later--then follow up with a #1 finish in the rover category in the 2017 September VHF Contest.
     After a turbulent year in which the August UHF Contest was canceled by ARRL, the 39th annual August UHF Contest was rescued by a nationwide coalition of UHF-oriented clubs and concerned individuals.  ARRL had announced in March of 2016 that the UHF Contest was being removed from the contest calendar.  The leaders of the Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club, the Northern Lights Radio Society and the Pacific Northwest VHF Society joined many individuals coast to coast to take over sponsorship of the contest and hold it on its traditional date, the first weekend in August.  John Kalenowsky, K9JK, agreed to act as contest manager, taking over the administrative details that had been handled by paid ARRL staff members as well as volunteers.  The independently sponsored contest attracted more logs than any of the last four ARRL-sponsored UHF contests.
     The full results appear elsewhere on this website.  The 2016 winners' list included many familiar calls.   K1RZ had the top single operator high power score with 171,216 points while K2DRH had the #1 single operator low power score with 89,991 points.   N6NB posted the top rover score and top overall score with 278,418 points.  The K2LIM team won the multioperator category with 77,283 points.  The Southern California Contest Club won the gavel for the highest club score.
     Shortly before the independent UHF Contest was held, ARRL announced that it would launch a new 222 and Up Distance Contest on the first weekend of August in 2017.  The sponsors of the UHF Contest decided not to continue it beyond 2016 in view of ARRL's announcement.
     Although the new 222 and Up Contest includes the same bands as the UHF Contest, the rules are different in several ways:   1) it has no grid square multipliers;  2) scores are based on distances worked in kilometers times widely varying band multipliers (2x for 222, 1x for 432, 4x for 902, 2x for 1296, 6x for 2.3 GHz, 10x for 3.4 GHz and 5.7 GHz, 6x for 10 GHz, and 20x for all higher bands);  3) EME contacts are not allowed; and 4) there are no national awards but up to 90 first place awards are given in five categories in 18 newly defined geographic regions.
     A group of us decided that the new 222 and Up Distance Contest was a good occasion to do something new:  operate in Colorado, more than 1,000 miles from our homes in California.  So W6TE, K6MI and N6NB drove to Colorado in separate vehicles outfitted with gear for all bands through 10 or 24 GHz plus extra equipment for five more people who flew in.   Our team--we called ourselves "Californians and Friends Visiting Colorado"--included these people (in alphabetical order):  K6MI, N6EY, N6KLO, N6KYS, N6NB, W6JMK, W6TE, and WB6ITM.  It turned out to be a very talented group ranging from people who have been licensed for 60 years to someone licensed five years (16-year-old Kaylie Boyer, N6KLO--who proved herself to be a diligent station builder as well as a great operator).
     When the results were announced in early 2018, there were no national winners, as promised.  But the full results on ARRL.org showed that N6NB/R had the highest rover score in the contest with 116,639 points, The other members of our group had the six highest fixed scores in ARRL's region #4 (Colorado, Utah and Wyoming).  (Note that the results in the printed edition of QST erroneously showed another rover with exactly the same score, while the updated online results article showed that rover's correct score of about 14,000 points.)
     Although these were good results, they could have been better.  A broken SMA right-angle connector took N6NB's 3.4 GHz station off the air, forfeiting about 37,000 points for N6NB and costing each of the other stations in the group about 6,000 points. 
     It was fascinating to operate on the microwave bands in Colorado for the first time.  We saw things we don't often see in California, like rain scatter so bad that 10 GHz signals sounded like aurora-reflected signals.  We also saw violent tornado-like conditions with ferocious rain and fierce winds in August--a rarity at home.  The photo above shows N6NB's van and tower trailer in grid square DM89aa about 15 miles from Limon, Colorado.  In the background a storm is approaching.  The storm swept across the plains with very high winds and heavy rain just after the tower was lowered.
      After driving about 3,000 miles to operate the 222 and Up Contest, K6MI, W6TE and N6NB decided to rove in the September, 2017 VHF Contest, joined by N6MTS. 
     N6NB worked W6TAI/R in the four L.A. Basin grid squares on 11 bands (50 MHz through 24 GHz) and worked W6IT from the four L.A. grid squares on most of the bands through 10 GHz, then headed north.  I had agreed to meet K6MI, W6TE and N6MTS at the Kettleman City grid convergence. On Saturday evening we worked in DM05, CM95, DM06 and CM96 on all bands through 24 GHz. On Sunday we went further north to work DM07 and CM97.  A real highlight was again having W6TV, a well-equipped multioperator station on Bear Mountain, to work on all bands through 24 GHz in the six grid squares we activated Saturday night and Sunday.   I worked W6TV on 24 GHz from six different grid squares, as did K6MI/R. That means W6TV qualified for the VUCC award on 24 GHz from this one contest--twice over.
     When the September, 2017 results were announced, N6NB had the highest rover scoree nationally with 158,040 points.  K6MI had the #1 rover-unlimited score with 93,786 points.  W6TE was second in rover-unlimited and N6MTS was third in the classic rover category.  W6TV had the #4 multioperator score overall--and #1 on the west coast.
     The January, 2018 VHF Contest results were much the same.  N6NB had the highest rover score nationally with just over 280K points, winning the classic rover category.  W6TE was second nationally with 243K.  In the unlimited rover category, K6MI was #1 nationally with a score of 264K and N6MTS was a very close second with 263K.  The Southern California Contest Club won another gavel for the highest aggregate score in the medium club category.  W6TV had the highest multioperator score on the west coast, setting a new January Pacific Division record.  W6IT had the top single operator low power score on the west coast, setting a new Southwestern Division record.  Both W6TV and W6IT worked the rover group on many bands in multiple grid squares enroute to their record scores.
    The August, 2018 222 and Up Distance Contest saw a major effort by Southern Caifornians.  Operating as "An Orange County Quintet," a group of five stations here had the highest team score nationally with 309,030 points.  N6NB had the highest rover score in the country with 154,688 points.  W6IT had the highest single-operator score in the California-Nevada region with 51,977 points.  Greg's top score was followed by W6TAI's 38,212, N1BKB's 35,030 and N6HC's 34,759.  In the club competition (open to any size group), the Southern California Contest Club had 314,666, second only to the Mt. Airy Packrats' 349,765 points.
   The rover team ventured out as a large group only once in 2019--in the September, 2019 VHF Contest.  N6NB
had the highest classic rover score nationally with 162k points, while K6MI topped the unlimited rover category with 82K points.  W6YEP did a single-op, low-power operation at  the W6TV Bear Mountain station, traditionally a multiop, and set a new record of 38K in the San Joaquin Valley section.  NI6G had a score of almost 70K points, good for #5 nationally in the classic rover category, while WB6HYD was right behind and placed #6 nationally with 72 fewer points than Erik had!  Two other rovers joined in for four grid squares on Sunday afternoon, N6TEB and W6AMT (W6IT, operator).  Both had scores over 18K in about two hours of operating time.
    The January, 2020 VHF Contest saw one more successful venture for most of the same rover team.  N6NB had 290K as a rover, the highest score of anyone in any category.  K6MI was again the #1 unlimited rover with 154K, while W6YEP, again running single-op low power at Bear Mountain, had the highest single-operator low-power score nationally with 73K.  The January contest attracted 942 logs, the most of any January VHF Contest in the 21st century.  The group included WA6IPZ and NI6G, who both finished in the top five nationally as rovers, plus W6IT, W6TAI and N6HC, who operated in Southern California.  The Southern California Contest Club once again won the gavel in the medium club category for the highest club aggregate score in the country.  Thanks to everyone who helped make this all possible!
     The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown of 2020-2021 affected amateur radio and especially roving in many ways.  Travel and dining out were restricted.  Social distancing requirements made group events like Field Day a challenge.  Some people (including me) were reluctant to stay in hotels or use  public restrooms along major highways.  Weekend-long roves were difficult.  Despite that, I roved in the January, 2021 VHF Contest and again had the highest score of anyone in any rover category with a score almost identical to my score a year earlier.  I recruited W6TAI and her sister, W1TAI, to rove with me in the four L.A. grid squares (DM13, DM03, DM14, DM04).  Then I drove alone to the Central Coast, stopping to make some contacts at Gaviota Beach (CM94).  I avoided hotels by staying in the guest room at the home of Donna, WB6IDK, and outfitted her car with a 10-band rover (the kind that is self-contained and rides on a car seat, described elsewhere on this page).  Sunday morning K6MI drove down from Fresno to work Donna and me in CM94 and CM95.  Then I drove north with K6MI to meet WA6IPZ and work the Kettleman City grids (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06).  Finally, I went forther north with John to work CM97 and DM07.  Late Sunday night I drove from Fresno back home to Orange County, trying to hide from Covid-19 the whole way.`We really missed NI6G, who roved with us a year earlier but passed unexpectedly (not from Covid-19) a month after the contest.  A technical highlight in 2021 was the first use of my three new 122 GHz transceivers in a contest.  I lent one unit to W6TAI and W1TAI to share under the family rule, kept one for my own use and lent the third one to K6MI
     As of January in 2020, I had won at least an ARRL division-leader certificate in a VHF contest in SEVEN decades: the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and now the 2020s, with at least one #1 score nationally in six of those decades. 

     It was becoming clear by 2015 that climbing a ladder and then hoisting a "toolbox" station (a heavy and bulky three-dimensional object) onto a car roof wasn't getting any easier.  I began looking for a way to set up 10-band rovers without any climbing.
     The result was senior-friendly "antenna-free" 10-band rover stations like the one shown at right and the ones below.  By 2019, I had built four of them.  The one at right uses no exterior antennas at all and can be quickly installed on the passenger seat of almost any car. If the unit rests on something like a cardboard box, the antennas can be aimed out the passenger window. This entire station is housed in and on a 12 x 17 x 3" chassis. Five DB6NT transverters (for 1.2 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 3.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz and 10 GHz) are mounted inside the box along with many SMA relays for the necessary bandswitching. An FT-817 provides 50, 144 and 432 MHz plus the i.f. for the higher bands. An Alinco DJ-G29 HT provides 222 and 902 MHz. 
     The system is fully wired for a transverter in lieu of the HT for 902, but that adds to the unit's weight and was not needed when this station was first used during the September, 2015 VHF Contest.  However, a small SG-Labs 902 transverter was added in 2019.  The antennas are typical "rubber ducks" on the lower bands, with a WA5VJB log periodic for 902, 1.2, 2.3 and 3.4 GHz. That antenna also will work well on 5.7 GHz, but the dual-band 5.7 and 10 GHz dish was used for higher gain on those bands. The system has a Rubidium standard to assure frequency accuracy on the microwave bands. 
     This is not the place for a full-blown construction article, but this system certainly played well on its September, 2015 maiden voyage.  It worked everyone who could be worked with W6TE's elaborate rover with large exterior microwave antennas (the red Dodge truck shown elsewhere on this web page).  Best of all, this package is something that a septuagenarian can carry with one hand (just grab the antenna "mast" and lift!).  I devoted two weeks to building it in spring, 2015. That was time well spent.
     The people who used these "antenna-free" stations in September, 2015, did use external mobile whip antennas on 6, 2, 222 and 432, but these stations perform remarkably well with only the antennas shown in the photos. 
     An earlier version of an "antenna-free" setup similar to this one was used in several previous contests, including the East Texas adventure of January, 2012, when it was used by K5FAY and KJ6CNO, an all-YL roving team.  That station has transverters housed in a Pelican-type case with  transceivers, a Rubidium reference and a bandswitch box mounted on plywood atop the case.
     The 10-band station shown at left is larger and heavier than the one above.  It uses Downeast Microwave transverters instead of the smaller and lighter weight DB6NT transverters.  It is built on two 10 x 23 x 3" chassis with handles on each end to make the unit easier to carry.  Yes, it does fit on a normal car seat.  Most cars have more than 23" of clearance from the seat back to the dashboard to provide adequate knee room for tall passengers. 
     Instead of an HT for 222 and 902, this station uses a 25-watt Alinco mobile transceiver for 222 and a low power DEMI transverter for 902.  Other transverters inside the box cover 1.2, 2.3, 3.4, 5.7 and 10 GHz.  As shown, it uses an FT-817 for 50, 144 and 432 plus the microwave i.f.  However, a Yaesu FT-857 can be quickly substituted for the 817, providing 100 watts on six and 20 watts on 432.  The two meter power has to be limited to 5 watts even with the 857 to avoid overdriving the transverters.   Recipe for disaster #1 is to turn up the 857 to full power on two (50 watts), assuming that the operator will always remember to cut the power back to 5 watts every time the station is switched to a microwave band!  If an operator really, really wants more power on two meters, a Mirage amplifier can be added to the system with extra relays to switch the 857 from the amp to the microwave i.f. line.  In this higher power configuration, the station would always use external antennas on 6, 2, 222 and 432 (typically mag-mount whips on the car roof).  The FT-817's "rubber duck" antenna will not handle more than about 10 watts.
     This larger station has a separate bandswitch box mounted on the Alinco 222 transceiver.  There is only a current meter.  The smaller station has separate meters for current and for relative power output on the microwave bands (a feature not available in this unit).  It also differs from the one above in that it has no Rubidium standard.  The operator must tune the i.f. as much as 20 kHz on some bands to be on the same frequency as the other (Rubidium-stabilized) 10-band systems.  But aside from those differences, this station works exactly like the one above and even the larger toolbox stations.  In all cases, the operator uses transceivers straight through on 50, 144, 222 and 432 MHz, then uses a bandswitch to rapidly run through the higher bands.  Instant bandswitching has been a key feature of all of the 10-band stations.  Without it, the large groups shown in earlier photos on this web page would never have been able to operate at the fast pace necessary for successful 10-band roving.
     In 2019 a fourth senior-friendly 10-band station without external antennas was built.  It is shown at right.  It was the subject of a paper and presentation at the 2019 Central States VHF Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.  It differs from the others in several ways.  Most obviously, it uses a Vivaldi antenna for all bands from 902 MHz  through 10 GHz.  The antenna manufacturer, RFSpace, claims about 11 dBi gain from 875 MHz to 12 GHz, and practical experience with this station indicates that the antenna delivers something close to the advertised gain.
     The newest senior-friendly station was built on a 17 x 13 x 4" chassis, slightly larger than the station shown in the first photo in this section but small enough to fit in a roll-aboard suitcase for air travel.  The extra space was just enough to allow the addition of DB6NT amplifiers for 2.3, 3.4, 5.7 and 10 GHz for measured power outputs of 29 watts on 2.3, 22 watts on 3.4, 6 watts on 5.7 and 5 watts on 10 GHz.  The other small stations use only DB6NT or  DEMI transverters without amplifiers and have lower power outputs.  This station can be used with an Alinco HT for 222 and 902 as shown in the photo, but often a 902 transverter by  SG-Labs is used in place of the HT.  Like two of the other small stations, it has a Rubidium reference for frequency stability on the microwave bands. This station was first used in a contest in September, 2019, and it performed very well on longer paths.       
 

     By 2015, most of the group that did these roving adventures was, well, not young any longer.  Several of the key players had observed their 70th birthdays, with others soon to follow.  Sadly, NINE of the rovers shown on these pages have passed away (see below).  Perhaps the Southern California Contest Club will not again mount a roving effort as large as the biggest ones in 2009, 2010 and 2011.  But we have a lot of good memories of the times we shared--and we had 14 club gavels as of early 2018.
     In addition to helping SCCC win club gavels, thirteen (13) different people who roved with the group have been national first-place winners in one or more rover categories.  The #1 scorers have included:  K6AH, K6FGV, K9JK, KG6TOA, KK6KK, K6MI, N6MU, N6NB, N6TEB, W6TAI, W6TE, W6XD and W6YLZ.  Actually, a search of winning rovers who were SCCC members turns up a 14th call sign, KI6UZV.  That was the call Carrie (W6TAI) held for 11 days when she was first licensed.  As soon as her license was issued, she applied for W6TAI as a vanity call sign.  It was granted the Monday after the January, 2009 contest.  So she operated one contest as KI6UZV--and set a national record in the limited rover category with a call sign she was overjoyed to jettison the day after the contest.
 
 

Here are six of the seven gavels won by the Southern California Contest Club in VHF contests between 2009 and 2011.  Eastern clubs have won far more of these in VHF contests--the Mt. Airy VHF Club in Pennsylvania has more than 60 gavels in its collection.  But no west coast club had managed to win even one gavel in a VHF contest until recently.