Texas QSO Party
Call: WB0TEV/M
Operator(s): WB0TEV, KK5MR
Station: WB0TEV
Class: Multi-Op Mobile LP
QTH: NTX
Operating Time (hrs): 16
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80:
40: 36 41
20: 370
15: 40
10:
6:
2:
UHF:
----------------------------
Total: 36 451 0 Mults = 68 Total Score = 104,680
Club: North Texas Contest Club
Comments:
First off a giant round of applause to Houston's Northwest Amateur Radio Society
in general and Chuck Sanders NO5W in particular for their tireless organization
and promotion of the premiere state QSO party in the country. Getting
announced operations for all 254 Texas counties is no mean feat.
2011 was to have been the year we turned in our best score ever. After all
Iâ??d put together an ambitious route to cover more counties than ever before
(36), and the sunspots had come back. Whereas in the past all our logging had
been done with pencil and paper, usually with me driving and operating SSB
while Mark (KK5MR) logged, this year Iâ??d use a computerized logging program
for the first time and so for the most part Iâ??d be riding shotgun operating
and logging while Mark drove the 700+ miles our route would take us through
much of Northeast Texas. I was even going to bring my modest CW ability to the
fray, although we would be primarily an SSB operation.
Murphy made his first appearance early when it was discovered that the computer
program I was to use to key the rig for CW wasnâ??t working right. As a result,
all the CW from WBÃ?TEV was sent with a pair of Bencher paddles, not an easy
trick sometimes while bouncing along a twisting east Texas Farm-to-Market Road.
In order to put a lot of counties on the air, you have to make a route plan and
time line and stick to it. Thus my apologies for no SSB from Rains county.
Looking back at the log I saw that I did nothing but 40m CW from there but had
to keep rolling down the road into Van Zandt to try and stay on schedule.
One thing that became apparent early on was that I wasnâ??t picking up Texas
county multipliers at the rate I had last year. Part of reason Iâ??m sure was
that you need 40m for that, and most of the time I had my 40m antenna set for
the CW end of the band, where I wasnâ??t having that much luck. On Sunday I
spent more 40m time on SSB, but even then the mults just werenâ??t there to be
found, at least from my perspective.
I thought it may have been just me, but in reading the comments of others,
Iâ??ve seen that Iâ??m not alone in not getting near the number of Texas
counties from an in-state position. Some of this I think may be attributable
to the absence of one of the primary multi-op mobile teams this year. Team
K5NA and the â??Traveling Burrito Brothers & Little Sisterâ?? who usually are
good for 40 or so counties mobile, had to stay at home this year and their
absence was felt. Bob, W0BH who usually makes the trek down from Kansas to
light up a few dozen counties in the panhandle wasnâ??t able to join the fray
until late Saturday and his presence too was sorely missed.
Propagation on 40 for those of us trying for in-state contacts may not have
been up to par either.
On the plus side, 15m had some appreciable activity for the first time in a
LONG time. I was even able to get a pretty decent run going on 15m SSB around
sundown while rolling through Panola county.
In the final 3 hours Saturday, after a supper stop in Longview we made a loop
down south from Gregg county through Harrison, Panola, Shelby, the extreme NW
corner of St. Augustine and barely into Nacogdoches before turning around and
heading back to Longview to our hotel from which weâ??d begin anew Sunday
morning. We didnâ??t get back to the motel until about 10pm. I didnâ??t sleep
that well and was pretty weary when the alarm went off the next morning. I may
be getting too old for this! Next year I think Iâ??m going to aim for fewer
counties with more time in each and be close to a bed when Saturdayâ??s session
ends at 9pm. Maybe too, go mobile only on Saturday. Weâ??ll see.
Once the gun went off at 1400Z Sunday AM my spirits were refreshed when the QSO
count started climbing. Had a number of stations following us as we knocked off
several counties in rapid succession that morning. We actually got ahead of
schedule and arrived at our final destination (a 3 county intersection) for the
grand finale. While there we were able to give out 3 counties in succession (to
those who hadnâ??t already worked us in one of them earlier) and in so doing
pushed a couple of folks like N5JB & K8JQ over the 5 QSO threshold for bonus
points.
Looking over our log when it was all done I saw that our biggest â??customerâ??
by far was KK7AC who worked us in 18 counties. His QSL request and those from
several others in the county hunting community have started to show up in the
mail box, so am happy we could fill in a few squares for those folks. Iâ??m
not a county hunter myself (I think they must all be a little nuts, but that
may be the pot calling the kettle black), but am happy to indulge the
obsessions of others, especially if it caters to my own. WB8LBZ in El Paso
worked us 14 times. About 2 dozen stations worked us 5 times or more.
Equipment rundown was a follows:
Rig: 1985â??ish Yaesu FT-757
Rolling Shack, power supply and antenna ground plane : WB0TEVâ??s 1986 Pontiac
Parisienne
Antennas: Hustler vertical on the right fender with 20m/15m/10m coils/whips on
a 3 way mount all held down by a 40m coil/whip. 80m & 7m coils in the trunk,
but not used this year.
Computer: A little Acer Netbook running N1MM logger.
Operators: WB0TEV & KK5MR, both of which are more than twice as old as the
radio and vehicle used.
When it was all over with, the score and especially the multiplier count were
down from 2010. Score was only about 105k versus 125k last year. Made
slightly more Qâ??s (487 vs. 443) but the multiplier count was way down, only
68 versus 105 last year. The number of Texas counties really took a hit. This
year we only worked 24 versus 71 last year. Part of the reason was that 20m was
where the rate was, so didnâ??t spend as much time on 40m. Considering that
NO5W reported his numbers were also down from last year, I donâ??t feel so bad.
Did make 5 or more QSOs from all 36 of our covered counties so made 36k in
bonus points.
Hope to see you next year.
Victor (WB0TEV)& Mark (KK5MR)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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