Michigan QSO Party
Call: K8IR/M
Operator(s): K8IR KG9GH
Station: K8IR/M
Class: Mobile Multi-Op LP
QTH: UP NORT
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 95 35
40: 260 20
20: 96 3
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 451 58 CW Mults = 69 Ph Mults = 35 Total Score = 99,840
Club:
Comments:
This has to go down as the best weather on a MIQP weekend since I started
mobiling 6 years ago. It was a beautiful day in Mackinaw City and the U-P.
We did see some remnants of winter in the woods in Alger and Marquette
Counties, and KG9GH, my driver, took the opportunity to throw some snowballs
at one roadside stop along Highway 41. Temperatures were in the 60's and
70's, and we had to flip on the AC in the car for a while.
The contest got off to a much better start than last year
up here. I decided to run with 3 antennas this year, so we had 80 CW from the
start, and it helped. We also stopped frequently to put the 75 meter antenna
on for a few minutes. By 2000, I decided that I wanted to put the 75 antenna
up for good, as 20 was starting to slow, and to get as much done as possible on
75 before the QRN came up. I listened Friday night, and suspected the QRN was
going to be awful in the evening, and I was right. We were heading towards the
western U. P., and would be fairly close to the storm line coming up into
Minnesota. Between the static, and some of the world's worst power lines in
GOGE and ONTO, it got very slow. Sorry for all the repeats, but it was really
tough catching numbers between the static crashes and buzz. By the time we got
up to KEWE, 40 was mostly gone, and 80 and 75 were very noisy. It also seemed
like a lot of people went to bed early.
Our only mishap was in ALGE where we put the 75 meter Hustler on my brand
new MFJ triple-mag mount, unguyed. I should have known better, and we hadn't
gone 5 miles before the mount peeled off the hood and the antenna was being
dragged along the road at 55 MPH (or so). Luckily, it was dragging on the
shoulder side, and there was no traffic behind us. We were quite amazed that
other than some road burn, the antenna survived, and after retrieving one
magnet that had broken free of the mount, that was more or less intact, too.
We then guyed the antenna four ways, and it worked fine the rest of the way.
My thanks to Eric, KG9GH for driving and navigating. We got into the final
county at 0310, right on schedule. A Boy Scout leader, Eric's knot tying
abilities were also much appreciated as we repaired our errant antenna.
Thank's to all who called in, and apologies to those we couldn't quite dig
out at times.
We got some nice pictures of the mobile at the Mackinac Bridge before the
contest, and will do a colorful QSL card for anyone interested.
Jim, K8IR and Eric KG9GH
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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