Kansas QSO Party
Call: N0U
Operator(s): NU0Q
Station: N0U
Class: Mobile SO CW LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
80:
40: 168
20: 417
15: 5
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------
Total: 590 0 0 Mults = 49 Total Score = 86,730
Club: Iowa DX and Contest Club
Comments:
Thanks to all who helped make the 2013 Kansas QSO Party another success.
My goal for this year was to transmit from all of the counties in southeast
Kansas and to provide the "U" suffix for as many as possible. My XYL
Karen drove us around to 20 counties. We planned to end our 2-week vacation
with the Kansas QSO Party and a visit to Karen's parents. As it turned out, a
funeral for a good friend of ours was scheduled for Saturday in Harvey County,
so we rearranged our schedule so we could attend. Consequently, we were off
the air for much of Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, I was able to transmit
from all of the counties in the southeast part of Kansas, either in the QSO
Party or the day before.
We arranged to stay in Joplin on Friday night so we could take in the hamfest.
We ran into Chuck (NO5W) and Alan (N5NA) at the hamfest and had an enjoyable
chat. To make sure we kept on schedule, we started early on Saturday so we
could start in Labette County. We crossed through the Flint Hills in
Chautauqua County and stopped for lunch at the Subway in Winfield. Afterwards,
we could hear N0R (NO5W and N5NA) catching up with us before we headed north.
Later in the afternoon, we headed east across the Flint Hills again, this time
along US 50, to our hotel in Ottawa. We stopped an hour early to try out the
famous ribs at Guy and Mae's tavern in Williamsburg. Wow! If you like ribs,
check this place out on Google and add it to your bucket list. Afterwards,
there was just enough time left to find a Hawaii station to add to the mult
count before we got to the hotel.
On Sunday, we started out on time and made it to Linn and Bourbon Counties
before heading west again on US 54. After lunch in Allen County, I noticed a
nearby signal swamping my IC-706MkIIG and found N0R getting louder. I gave
them a quick call as they went by heading east. Then, with plenty of time left
and not many counties left on our route, we detoured around Toronto Lake and
ended up on gravel roads in Greenwood County. Eventually, we got back to US 54
and stopped in Eureka, where Karen checked out the mural on the wall inside the
post office. (We had checked out the depression-era murals in a few other
Kansas post offices a few days earlier.) Finally, we crossed the Flint Hills
one more time, ending the party in Butler County. From there we stopped in to
visit the in-laws before heading back to Iowa the next day.
We started on time on Saturday, but it was really slow. It took several
minutes before we made any contacts at all. Activity seemed to pick up in
Chautauqua County. QSO rates on Sunday seemed to be much better, with more DX
also.
I've read a lot of comments about how 15 meters was open, but few stations went
there. I went to 15 meters three times on Sunday, but only worked one or two
stations each time. Even though the band was open, it wasn't as productive as
staying on 20 meters where most stations seemed to be. I did make sure I went
to 40 for a few minutes in each county because there were a few stations that
were almost always there when I called.
I had good intentions of making some SSB contacts to make sure the
"U" suffix was available to all. However, I had a high noise level,
in part due to the laptop computer that usually isn't running outside of the
QSO party. I did try to find an empty frequency, but every time I asked, the
frequency was busy. So, I ended up being in the CW-only category. I'm glad
that the other "U" stations came through for the SSB folks.
I think the assigned frequencies for CW mobiles worked well, although perhaps
not everyone was aware of the plan. There were times when the frequency was
occupied by Ohio stations, a Kansas fixed station once, and an east coast
station calling CQ Kansas (briefly).
There are 200 unique callsigns in my log. Here's a brief summary of QSO count
by county, in order of our route:
Labette (9), Montgomery (14), Chautauqua (37), Cowley (37), Sumner (21),
Sedgwick (15), Harvey (32), Marion (13), Chase (29), Lyon (19), Coffey (28),
Osage (15), Franklin (19), Anderson (34), Linn (27), Bourbon (31), Allen (47),
Woodson (61), Greenwood (66), Butler (42).
Thanks again to everyone who hunted me down and made a contact. I hope I added
a few counties to your multiplier count or helped you with USA-CA.
Bill
N0U/NU0Q
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