West Virginia QSO Party
Call: N8II/M
Operator(s): N8II W0BH
Station: N8II/M
Class: MobileMixed LP
QTH: 15 WV counties
Operating Time (hrs): 8.5
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80:
40: 370
20: 280 34
15: 3 2
10:
--------------------
Total: 653 36 Mults = 47 Total Score = 34,082
Club:
Comments:
Scoring note from W0BH
----------------------
Score includes 1500 county activation bonus points and 100 bonus points for
working W8WVA. We worked 47 unique mults (including WV), but found out from
Jeff, KZ8E that scoring requires each county to be calculated separately with
mults starting over in each county, so the total score shown here is a sum of
those scores. Calculating our score in the "normal" way would give us 64674.
----------------------
Bob, W0BH, and I planned to get together to work the WVQP mobile and see a few
sites along the way. It took us 4 hours to arrive at Blackwater Falls in Tucker
county, about 30 minutes longer than planned. The falls are spectacular, perhaps
West Virginiaâ??s most precious gem. By the time we toured the roaring falls,
had lunch and completed some last minute set-up, it was 45 minutes into the
party. We made our way through Tucker up to the Preston county line and ran the
line for about 15 minutes in a school bus turnaround, which kept if from being a
dangerous stop.
It took over a hour to traverse Preston on some of WVâ??s â??finestâ?? roads.
Bob got a real taste of the back country. The rest of the route was pretty
smooth sailing. Sorry, to the phone guys, the only counties where we had time
for phone in any volume were Preston and Monongalia. We had such a good run
going in Monongalia on 20 phone that we missed quite a few of the CW regulars.
We did try Monongalia on CW the last few miles but it wasn't until we crossed
into Marion that the CW gang found us again.
>From that point onward, we were seldom lacking in rate. By the time we hit the
Lewis/Upshur line, our 40 meter following was pretty large. Bob patiently
taught me the line running routine, and eventually it started to get pretty
easy. He said the rate meter hit 300 while we were there on 40 CW, but I find
that one hard to believe. His system can review which bands and modes we have
worked anyone for the whole test. Having a computer science prof on board is
â??cool," as he would say. We hadnâ??t worked anyone on 40 when we hit the
line, but several ops were confused by earlier Qâ??s in a good 20 CW run in
Lewis and thought we were duping them. We also stopped at Upshur/Barbour to
give everyone a shot at us on CW.
We were 2 hours behind after a dinner break in Elkins. I needed a pit stop in
Upshur and Bob chose the Huddle House diner. By that time, things normally not
so humorous started seeming pretty funny, so Bob can blame the delay on me for
spending too much time in the Huddle House. East of Elkins are at least 6
mountains over a 33 mile span. Surprisingly, even in a few spots completely
surrounded by towering mountains, we were still able to make Qâ??s including at
least one with PA3ARM! That defines being â??in a holeâ??. Bob and I enjoyed
the day; a bit too long of a drive to not tire a bit. We covered about 500
miles.
As Bartles and James used to say, â??Thank you for your support!â?? K9EU and
NY4N worked us the most with a sweep of activated counties, but many others
followed us around for most of our route. Special mention to PA3ARM, DL3GA for
multiple Qâ??s. Night owls DL3DXX and UA3AGW stayed with us to the bitter 02Z
end, which is around sunrise in Moscow! And thanks to the county hunter crowd
who must have spotted us often. K8QWY, K9EN, W4YDY, KN4Y, and N4CD worked us
numerous times. The pile-ups at new counties were almost instantaneous most of
the time. Sorry we were not set up better for SSB; Bob climbed onto the CRV
roof to switch antenna lengths between modes. When we got behind schedule, it
was just a bit too time consuming to switch.
We didnâ??t have too much time for 15m, but guys it was open most of the day.
K4BAI and W0VX worked us 2 times up there. 20m sporadic E was great with skip
as short as OH, PA and KY at itâ??s best. NT2A was loud for hours around NYC.
Bobâ??s very calm easy going demeanor was a real asset as was the GPS running
Delorme and the nicely set up version of NA. There was no tension/dissention.
We divided up the operating about 40% Jeff, 60% Bob and being able to switch
off really helped prevent exhaustion. So now I guess I have no excuse .. N8II
will have to plan for the PAQP and VAQP. The sometimes large pile-ups were fun
to run. A tip to the callers .. calling a little off zero beat preferably on
the high end will get you through faster. Sometimes we heard only a blur of
dits and dahs. Surprisingly, we didnâ??t have to repeat our intended
caller/exchange very often. The antennas were a triband set of 40-20-15M short
Hustler whips. Any comments on the strength of our signal or lack thereof
compared to the other mobiles would be appreciated.
So thanks for making our day! Time goes by very quickly in the operatorâ??s
seat, the 28 mile trek across the new Rte 55 seemed like about 5-10 minutes.
And donâ??t forget the KSQP the last weekend of August where Bob is sure to
delight the faithful with some tri- and quad-county lines with a generous
awards program.
73 Jeff/n8ii
When I found out I was going to a computer workshop at Duke University in NC, I
noticed that the WVQP was on the Saturday after the workshop and the rest is
history! Jeff was planning a run and graciously allowed me to help out. He
provided the comfortable ride, rig and antennas, and I packed along two
computers (GPS and logging) and the CW interfacing. Jeff had to do a quick
soldering job on my travel paddle, but otherwise, all equipment worked great.
Since the antennas were new for Jeff, we did some "tweaking" on Friday evening
and finally found the right combination of position and length for all three.
All my Hustler antennas are a number of years old, so I was really surprised to
find that Hustler had changed from the easy to adjust nut and sleeve arrangement
to twin set screws. I'm assuming it was a cost-cutting measure because it
certainly makes repeated adjustments a chore. All set screw antennas I've ever
owned have either a lost, stripped, or rusted set screw. Hint to Hustler!
Jeff did a great job of describing the trip, so I'll simply add that roving
West Virginia is quite different from roving the midwest. The mountain vistas
are amazing and so are the winding roads. A front was blowing through around
noon on Saturday, and we caught some pretty powerful wind gusts at times. Lots
of shredded leaves and small branches on the roads, but nothing big came down
in our path. Jeff is an excellent op and his call sign recognition is amazing.
It was fun to listen to him work through the county line pileups, and yes, the
NA rate meter really did hit 300 on one occasion. We had two keys hooked up, so
once in awhile I could pick up the slack when the computer needed a little bit
of extra attention, but I'd say Jeff is now ready for some three and four
county lines as well!
I usually combine ham radio and photography, but this trip, my SLR digital
camera of many years bit the dust after taking a few photos at spectacular
Blackwater Falls, so I will have to remember this trip from pictures in my
head. That won't be hard to do. Thanks to all for the fun, and thanks
especially to Jeff and his family for their friendly West Virginia
hospitality.
73 Bob/w0bh
Some stats:
Mults = 47
----------
US 37
VE 2
DX 5 (DL ZP PA UA OK)
NE 3 (KAN PLE TAY)
Special thanks to the ops who worked us 10 times or more:
--------------------------------------------------------
25 K9EU
22 NY4N
21 NT2A
16 AD5WI KN4Y W2LHL
13 K4BAI W1END W6RLL
12 WA2VYA
11 N9FC W4NZ
10 ---
County Totals
-------------
43 TUC Tucker
75 PRE Preston
25 MON Monongalia
52 MRN Marion
23 TAY Taylor
27 HAR Harrison
52 LEW Lewis
60 UPS Upshur
46 BAR Barbour
65 RAN Randolph
31 PEN Pendleton
43 GRA Grant
77 HDY Hardy
38 HAM Hampshire
32 BER Berkeley
N8II/W0BH Award Winners Honorable mention
----------------------- -----------------
Most Qs: K9EU (25) NY4N (22) NT2A (21)
Most CW: K9EU (23) NT2A (21) NY4N (20)
Most Counties: K9EU NY4N (15/15) W2LHL(14) AD5WI W6RLL NT2A (13)
PS Thanks to Jim, K8MR/m for giving us a call from PA after finishing his run.
We didn't hear each other during the QP.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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