Michigan QSO Party
Call: WI9WI
Operator(s): WI9WI
Station: WI9WI
Class: Mobile Solo Op LP
QTH: 4 counties
Operating Time (hrs): 6
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 0 0
40: 113 9
20: 102 28
15: 0 0
10: 0 0
--------------------
Total: 215 37 CW Mults = 52 Ph Mults = 22 Total Score = 34,558
Club: Minnesota Wireless Assn
Comments:
This one didn't quite work out the way it was planned. The initial plan was to
drive up from Madison Friday afternoon to Manitowish Waters and have dinner and
spend the night with the NE9U crew at KK9K's cabin. I would then make a loop
counterclockwise through IRON, DICK, MARQ, BARA, HOUG, ONTO and GOGE returning
to the cabin at the end of the QSO party. About 1330 on Friday I called NE9U
and he said that they were about an hour from departure from KK9K's place near
Wisc. Rapids. I left Madison about 1430. The snow started just north of Wausau,
and by the time I got near Manitowish Waters it was near whiteout conditions. It
was wet heavy spring snow and the roads became very slippery quickly. When I got
to the cabin at 1830 no one was there. I called NE9U and got voice mail. About
30 minutes later he called back and said they had some problems with their set
up and got held back several hours but were on the way. I went to the nearby
Bear Restaurant to get something to eat, and while there KK9K called and said
they had had a major vehicle problem and were turning back and would come up
the next morning in a different vehicle. The long drive downhill to the cabin
from the road had several inches of ice on it covered with about 4 to 6 inches
of new heavy wet snow. I worried that if I drove down it I might not get back
up, so rather than opting to carry all my gear down on foot that night and back
up the next morning I drove to Hurley, just on the WI side of the WI/MI UP
border, and got a motel room. The 40 mile drive took over an hour due to very
slippery roads. The next morning it was bright and sunny. I started the trip
toward IRON County about 8 AM. The roads were quite icy due to the traffic
packing the snow down during the night. By the time I got to Wakefield it was
obvious I couldn't drive more than 35-40 mph safely. Parts of US 2 were
unplowed at that hour. I figured it would take me at least 2 hours to get to
IRON Cty and then another to DICK. So I turned around and went up to Hwy 28. It
was in better shape than 2 so I drove to the BARA/HOUG line. What should have
taken about 80 mins took over 2 hours. I usually operate from waysides, boat
landings, county parks and off the highway on town roads. None of these were
plowed and most still had 2 to 3 feet of winter snow on them. I have no driver
and don't operate while moving. I don't feel safe doing it. So I found a
snowplow turnaround and parked out of the way and got set up. Everything worked
fine except the 40 meter antenna but that was easily fixed by changing the coax.
Conditions were good. Over the next few hours I worked my way back through HOUG,
ONTO to GOGE, operating from plow turnarounds. While in GOGE my RV battery
started dying. My options were to hook up to the car's electrical system, which
only takes a few minutes, and continue in GOGE, hook up to the car and move on
to IRON Cty back through Wakefield, or go home. By mid afternoon after plowing
and some sun the roads were in very good condition, and highway speeds were
fine. I figured it would take me about 80-90 min to get to IRON. But it was in
the wrong direction, and after operating there I would have to backtrack nearly
100 miles to get to the cabin or continue on home. So I packed up and drove the
300 miles back to Madison arriving an hour before the contest ended. In
retrospect I probably should have hooked up to the car battery and operated
another hour or so from GOGE. That means running the car while operating. There
is a bit of noise, but it is not intolerable.
Gear: K-3 running about 50 watts (RV battery lasts longer)
Microham keyer
Netbook computer with Writelog
Hustler whip for 20
Texas Bugcatcher for 40
A few stats:
County Time 20 meters 40 meters Total QSOs
BARA 51 min 24CW/0P 23CW/0P 47
HOUG 58 26CW/0P 18CW/0P 44
ONTO 113 42CW/27P 22CW/8P 99
GOGE 47 11CW/1P 39CW/2P 53
Hopefully next year the weather will be better.
Thanks for all the QSOs.
73
Jim
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