Will This Rover Site Make The Path?

摘要

Roving has been getting more and more popular in VHF contesting in recent years. Right after getting some equipment together, the very next question is "Where do I setup"? Now there are lots of strategies for choosing the general areas from which to operate to maximize one's score, but this paper will concentrate on the mechanics of picking the very best site in an area to make a specific path. I will admit right at the start, there is no new science in this paper. Rather, by combining one of a number of inexpensive mapping programs that have become available in recent years with an old troposcatter link calculation program, we can take a lot of the guessing out of selecting a rover site. The process for calculating how loud the signals will be along a link between 2 stations was very well described by Bob Atkins KA1GT in his article in Communications Quarterly. Although quite some time has passed since Bob's article was published, I have seen very little discussion in the amateur literature about path prediction. I guess we all like to JUST TRY IT and see if it works!.... Figuring it out first? Some will say that just takes all the fun out of it! Well, I'm sorry. I don't agree. I think we can save ourselves a lot of time and effort if we take a stab at doing some calculations first At least, we can improve our chances by selecting the best site in that new grid, even if we don't want to believe the numbers. Further, even if we don't want to go through all that trouble with each site and each path, then at least going through the process a few times will acquaint us with what really matters in site selection.