California QSO Party
Call: N8II
Operator(s): N8II
Station: N8II
Class: SOFixed LP
QTH: WV
Operating Time (hrs): ~18
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160: 0 0
80: 6 1
40: 51 15
20: 139 262
15: 73 111
10: 9 7
6: 0 0
2: 0 0
--------------------
Total: 278 396 Mults = 58 Total Score = 94,366
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
I had every intention of making a serious effort at the CQP, but despite
my best score, it was a bit disappointing. There seemed to be more of a
lack of casual ops than I remember from 2004 when I was last able to make
a serious effort. I didn't have any long runs on 20M phone, could run so
few on 20 CW that it was a waste of time, and was only able to run a few
on 15M despite some rock crushing sigs from the big guns on Saturday.
Perhaps the opening was a bit too early in the contest and most all the
casual guys were busy on 40 and 20M. Amazingly 10M opened around 1945Z,
but it was more of a distraction than a boost to the score with 7 phone
and 9 CW Q's made mostly S&P. I had to resort to S&P at about half of the
time thru the end of the 20M opening in order to keep a semi-decent rate.
The one positive from Saturday was fairly rapidly being able to find all
of the counties. When I reached about 15 left to go around 18Z, it looked
like I had a pretty tough task left, all of the remaining ones being
amongst the rarest counties. I had some good luck running on 20 phone,
working 4 of the last five needed. N6S from Sierra Co called in at 2114Z,
the next Q in the same minute was N6LAI in Butte, followed immediately by
another also in Butte! Maybe they were trolling the band together, but
I nearly dropped out my chair. I found N6DE for the last one, Trinity
on CW at 2257Z for the sweep. His SN was above 400, so I probably
should have been able to catch that one sooner.
Sigs on 40 were decent starting around 0030Z, but I could not run any
and I was getting so tired that it was a real effort to push onward, so
I stopped at 0247Z, much earlier than I had hoped. I could find no one
on 75/80M.
At sunrise Sunday, there were only a few stragglers around,
activity seemed to pick up around 1230Z, but it was still painfully slow
and I only managed 1 Q on 75M and 6 on 80 CW. Even after 20 opened
around 14Z, it was exceeding difficult to find anyone new, either
running or S&P, so I took off about 35 minutes and cleaned the car.
By 15Z, there was some new activity, but it was a very slow day,
working mostly S&P. Every run was just a few stations before the
activity dried up again. I did finally manage to run a few on 15 and
20 CW during around 19-21Z. The total QSO production for the whole day
was about 200 Q's. The last hour was one of the slowest, nothing much
new left to find or run on 20 phone. Running on 15 phone produced maybe
15 Q's all day. I probably should have spent more time looking for the
mobiles. The last 3 hours W6OAT/M found me several times on phone; we
made 8 total QSO's. I worked him in Butte, only have him call from
Sutter the next time on phone where I joked about the move from Butt
to Sutt. I found K6AQL/M nine times for the most with a mobile.
I should have chased the mobiles a bit harder, but the only incentive
to work them after 23Z Saturday was a new QSO; I suggest a mobile
window of 3-5 kHz on CW and 10 kHz on phone be established to make
finding them easier amongst all the huge fixed signals. Many thanks for
the Q's! It will be more fun once 10M returns; N6BV was huge from his
mobile on 10M two years ago. Some of the mobiles were S9 on 20 this
year and some were pretty weak. As in other state QSO parties, most
were impossible to find CQ'ing on phone, they answered my CQ's.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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