7th Call Area QSO Party
Call: N7XU
Operator(s): K4XU
Station: K4XU
Class: MobileCW LP
QTH: OR
Operating Time (hrs): 17.30
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 38
40: 158
20: 481
15: 156
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------
Total: 833 0 0 Mults = 66 Total Score = 164,934
Club: CODXC
Comments:
N7XU Mobile. 14 ID and 8 OR counties. States missed: AK LA MS ND SD.
Charlie and I have been doing this 7QP mobile route with minor variations for
the past four years. Charlie is KI6Y, my pilot. He keeps us between the lines
and under the radar. On Friday before the contest we drive east 600 miles to
Twin Falls, ID. There is no good circular route that will hit as many counties
as the 650 mile return trip from Twin Falls.
We start at 7AM local time and go east, picking up Cassia and Minidoka before
rejoining I-84 and heading west. We follow I-84, taking some side trips to hit
Lincoln, Owyhee, and Boise. Just before the Oregon border, we leave I-84 and
head north to catch Gem and Washington and then across the Snake River into
Oregon and Malheur County. It's a short leg to Baker up Rt26 and then a very
long stint over Dixie Summut into Grant and Harney. Lake and Deschutes are the
last two before meeting at WS7N's place for dinner. We have done 650 miles in
just over 12 hours.
After dinner, Charlie heads back to Portland and I go solo. It's 02Z, 7PM. I
re-arrange the lap desk and knock off a few more Deschutes Qs in Bob's driveway
before making the 28 mile trip up to the little state park on the canyon rim in
Jefferson County. I often get a visit from a state or county cop wondering what
I'm up to with my headlamp and stuff. This location is very quiet and I can hear
a pin drop. I arrive about 8PM and spend my time flipping between 20 and 40m.
The W1s are plentiful and hungry. 20m is almost dead but surprising signals
show up. 0330Z DL5MU is watery on but he's happy for the mult. By 0430Z things
have dried up on 20 and 40m is going long. I put the computer on the passenger
seat and drive 20 minutes to the Crook County border.
Crook is rare. Here I am 'fresh meat' and the rate picks up to more than 100/hr
for a short spell. 20m is dead so I work between 80 and 40m. This requires going
outside in the wind and rain to swap the 15/20/40 pitchfork to the 80m Hamstick.
This 80m antenna probably puts me in the QRPp category because it's so
inefficient but I snag 28 Qs on 80m as far away as K2SSS in NY. He has good
ears. By 06Z things are down to 20/hr and there are no new victims for S&P.
I've been sitting in the same seat for the past 17 hours. It's 11PM, time to
head for home, 40 minutes south.
This was a fun run. The solar flare on Friday did not help much. But there were
times on 15m when I felt like I had a 5 el stack working Europeans, though more
likely the result of a packet spot. OH6NIO made it in seven counties, DL6KVA in
six.
The rig is a TS-480SAT, 100W with a tuner- necessary if you are going to work
both modes. This was CW only but it came in handy on 80m. The antenna is a
Hustler 58" fold-over mast on a sturdy ball mount on the Jetta TDI's
fender. It has three resonators on the top so switching bands 40/20/15 is
instant, no thinking required -- except -- the computer is an old IBM ThinkPad
running DOS and for some reason it would not let TR talk to the 480. So even
though changing bands was effortless, it required remembering to switch bands
on the logger too. Keying was via the LPT port. The reason for this computer
choice is simple -- it runs on 12V. Most newer computers, Dell and HP, have an
insidious third wire in the charger plug that goes to a little one-wire ROM.
Without it, no charge. I was originally going to run a modern laptop with Win7
and N1MM. This would make logging and post-contest a breeze but when it was all
hooked up with the AC adapter and the 100W AC inverter, the 40kHz switching
noise was intolerable. Without time to evaluate other power options, I reverted
to the old reliable 12V IBM.
We use two Garmin GPS units for navigation. One is a Street Pilot that Charlie
has for general navigation. The other, an old GPS3+, is on my lap desk. It has
a route programmed with all the county border crossings set as waypoints. While
it's all "as the crow flies", on a straight road it will tell
reasonable time and distance to the next county. These waypoints are very
useful for instances where the county line marker has died from target
practice.
Jobs for next year:
- Design an antenna that hits the 13'6" maximum, and will also work on
80m.
- Find a 12" Win7 laptop that will run on 12V, or a truly quiet inverter.
- Get the TS480 on the program.
- Get more mobiles active in the 7QP. There are 259 counties out there just
waiting for you.
73,
Dick - k4xu
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