We look forward to working you in the June 2025 VHF contest. We have two rovers, Dave (W5TN) in W5TN/R and Kyle (KA5D) & new participant Jim (WM5L) in KA5D/R. All are operating limited rover 6m-70cm SSB & digital modes. We will start at 1pm CST Saturday at the grid corner EL09 / EL19 / EL08 / EL18 in the oil fields near Falls City, TX. We’ll grid circle on SSB and look for fixed stations on both SSB and FT8 during that time. We will use the normal call channels. Band runs on SSB voice will start at 144.200, then 222.1, 432.1, and finally 50.125.
Once we’re done in the oil fields to the south, we’ll move to Devil’s backbone in EL09 by dinnertime on Saturday, then back to Austin to rest overnight. Sunday morning we move north from Austin to Hico, working MSK144 and FT8 as we move, and will circle using SSB voice in grid corner EM12/EM02/EM11/EM01, switching periodically to FT8 in each grid. We’ll stop at a high point in EM12 near Glen Rose. Below is the map of the route for the whole contest. We’ll head back to Austin Sunday afternoon.
We will be beaconing on APRS as KA5D-6, so look for us using this aprs.fi link. Connectivity permitting, we’re also on the VHF-Chat.slack.com Slack server in the “3-rover-raregrid” channel using the handle “Kyle KA5D”. We’re going to do our best to ensure that fixed stations get an opportunity to work as many rover & grids combos as practical. Our methods vary by band conditions. Generally we’ll look for new stations to work on 144.200 SSB when operating voice, and when in FT8 we’ll look for new stations at either 50.313 or 144.174. For band runs we typically start at one of these frequencies, work our way up to 222.174 and 432.174, and then return to 6m.
See you on the air!
ok ill try u from EASTLAND base station when ur at em o2 and em 12.. what day -time will u b there?
We’ll be there Sunday late morning to early afternoon. Look forward to it!