XJ Ham Radio Contest Rig

[WB9YZU]

So consider me dumb, but what would honestly be the point of this other than in a SHTF scenario? Don't get me wrong, I fault no man for any hobby that they find interesting, just wondering what it is exactly that you do with the setup on a regular basis.

Seems to me the purpose is Radio Sport.
Radio Sport (Contesting) can be fun, and gets people active in the Amateur Radio hobby. It combines technical knowledge with Operator skill.

The rules can be a bit hard to follow at first, but they try and give extra points to the Station that operates with the most handicaps over the Operator who is Operating his Station at home, on AC power, and permanent antennas.

As far as what to do with the setup on a regular basis:
Lets say you have a highly modified Jeep that you trailer to the Trail which is no longer street legal; same thing.
It's of no practical use, but you take it out when you want to have fun

Tom, looks like the trailer build went well. Good Job!

 

[xjtrailrider]

Update:

Did the September UHF/VHF contest. I did really really well. Not sure if I won, but if my score holds it would be the 3rd highest ever recorded in FM Only.





Yes, that is my SoCal hoodie. Still warm as get out and super comfortable. All the best dressed Virginia Hams wear them.

John

Nice set up John!

I'm studying for my Tech license now. I hope to take the test soon. I just have a handheld for now. Where I wheel, cell phones and CB's do not work. We have a repeater on Poor Mountain. Which is 5 miles from my house.

Jon

 

[GSequoia]

The goal here is to do it because John is a giant nerd.

:kissyou:

What? No. Those aren't four Baofeng UV-5Rs and a portable battery & solar powered simplex repeater in my rig.

 

[nosigma]

Adding 6M 12' boom. 5 element beam. I love my Yagi

John

 

[WB9YZU]

Hey John, I saw your Rig in a FB post by the ARRL advertising the upcoming VHF Contest

 

[Talyn]

Hey John, I saw your Rig in a FB post by the ARRL advertising the upcoming VHF Contest

I saw the same post. Were you the one that asked if he was on Naxja?

 

[nosigma]

That was indeed my rig they used for the fb and ARRL web site add picture. With the new partial exo cage and "shrimp boat" outriggers, pics to follow, it gotten even crazier.

John

 

[nosigma]

The outriggers make it look a bit like a shrimp boat.....

 

[Wayne Sihler]

Did you make this trip without breaking anything......?

 

[Coach Bruce]

My XJ has a hole for a mast also. My T-Hunt mast comes through it. It has a marine waste fitting machined out with a bearing in it to facilitate turning the beam while driving. The mast comes down into a cup holder with another bearing to carry the weight. Fortunately Anak keeps his Jeep stored in pieces most of the time as he is my navigator and beam turner.
:roflmao:

 

[nosigma]

Did you make this trip without breaking anything......?

Wayne,
Indeed, nothing broke. But I didnt go to Flagpole, I went to Reddish Knob so I did not trigger the green trail Flagpole curse.

Coach Bruce,
Love to see a picture of the set up. It almost never rains there, but have you had a good roof seal when it does? I had to rework mine several times to get it right and it still requires some maintenance.

John

 

[Anak]

Everything stayed perfectly dry on the last countywide hunt, which was December 31, and it was a rainy day. But the weatherproofing was a matter of a quick improvisation. Bruce managed to misplace his regular seal system (rubber bottom of a Viewtainer with a hole for the mast) so I punched a hole in the plastic cap from an aerosol can of orange peel texture and we fed that over the mast, added some Gorilla tap and crossed our fingers. It worked fine.

One of the LA hunters uses the business end of a toilet plunger as his weather proofing.

On my own setup I run a pair of trailer axle grease seals at the very top and have a double O-ring seal at the base. Sadly, as Bruce correctly pointed out, it hardly gets any use, so I don't know if it will actually seal or not. I think it will, but it has yet to see any real world testing in rain.

This is from one of the two times I have taken it out T-hunting:

Most guys run one bearing at the roofline and another in the console. Since I have a manual transmission I run one bearing at the roofline and a second bearing about 14" up above it. That way my mast can terminate above dash level so that it will not interfere with the shifter. It makes for a more complicated design, but it was fun to build. It also means that my coax doesn't get wound up or damaged so easily.

I don't have any good pics that show Bruce's setup, but the bearing assembly would not show up anyways since it is nearly flush with the roof.

 

[nosigma]

That is really clean. Nice, Quagi? antenna. 2 meter VV?

John

 

[Anak]

Thank you.

It is a 2 meter quad.

What is "VV"? I am not familiar with that.

Bruce's setup is a Yagi, although he has considered modifying things to run a quad (he has one, we often use it when hiding). The quads are more deaf to the sides. A yagi will be more likely to pick up a signal when you are not aimed directly at it. There are pros and cons to both.

 

[nosigma]

First V is the transmit polarization, Second V is the recieve polarization, So in this case VV is vertical in both, you can also have HH, VH or HV. VV is typical FM, HH is typical SSB. I know yours is receive only but I used the conventional two letter format.

V pol I assume?

John

 

[WB9YZU]

Quads are traditionally built vertically or horizontally polorized, and the polarity depends on where the feed point is. The 4el quad on the right is wired vertically polorized. The huge side node he is experiencing like most beams increases with gain. The more gain, the more pronounced the side node. Gainwise a 4el quad is roughly equal to a 8el yagi.

You'll have to educate me on the separate transmit/ receive polarity on a single dimensional beam.
I have heard of circular polorizarion, horizontal, and vertical but they apply to both Xmit and Rec.

 

[WB9YZU]

How did you guys do in the Jan VHF contest?

 

[Anak]

First V is the transmit polarization, Second V is the recieve polarization, So in this case VV is vertical in both, you can also have HH, VH or HV. VV is typical FM, HH is typical SSB. I know yours is receive only but I used the conventional two letter format.

V pol I assume?

John

Got it.

Yes, as pictured it is vertical, however I can rotate it to horizontal if need be. There are a couple of teams who have quads with both feedpoints and they can go back and forth with the flick of a switch from inside the vehicle. I haven't gone that fancy yet.

If the person who is hiding wants to be nice to the Doppler folks they will transit vertical. Doppler doesn't do well with horizontal.

 

[WB9YZU]

Got it.

.There are a couple of teams who have quads with both feedpoints and they can go back and forth with the flick of a switch from inside the vehicle.

Neat trick. Remote relays?

 

[Anak]

I think they are running two feedlines from between the antenna and the cabin and switching between them, but I have not looked into the details of making that work.