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Re: [3830] [QSOParty] K4OJ Multi-Multi-Mobile 2021 FQP Results

To: ktfrog007@aol.com
Subject: Re: [3830] [QSOParty] K4OJ Multi-Multi-Mobile 2021 FQP Results
From: Christopher Blake <cqdenx4n@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:08:58 -0400
List-post: <mailto:3830@contesting.com>
Tnx Ken - appreciate all the QSO's.  Glad you enjoyed the read; (the gator
and iguana stories are 100% true)

vy 73/OJ,
Chris, NX4N


On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 6:01 PM <ktfrog007@aol.com> wrote:

> This is the Great American QP Road Trip story.  Right up there with Huck
> Finn, On the Road and Robert Frank's America.
>
> Rollickin', frolickin'' fun.
>
> Thanks for the Qs.
>
> 73,
> Ken, AB1J
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NX4N Chris <cqdenx4n@gmail.com>
> To: FQP@groups.io; fcg new <FCG@groups.io>; QSOParty@groups.io
> Notification <QSOParty@groups.io>; 3830@contesting.com
> Cc: cqdenx4n <cqdenx4n@gmail.com>
> Sent: Tue, Apr 27, 2021 6:56 pm
> Subject: [QSOParty] K4OJ Multi-Multi-Mobile 2021 FQP Results
>
> Hi FQP Fanatical Friends,
> After the Virus Apocalypse last year and a truly "special" visit from
> Murphy in 2019, the K4OJ/m team was hungry to get back on the road for some
> FB FQP action.  We we're not disappointed; wht a blast!  This was our 7th
> outing and we had great fun.  Much to tell - read on...
>
> First, the results:
> *K4OJ - SCORE SUMMARY:*
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Band     QSOs     Pts  Mul  Pt/Q      7    1792    7168   37   4.0     14
>    2548   10192   53   4.0     21      45     180    1   4.0  Total    4385
>   17540   91   4.0 Score: 1,596,140 1 Mult = 48.2 Q's*
>
> Please note this is a higher claimed score than in our first year 2014
> with four stations, and within a hair of our best year 2015 running three
> stations.  Much of this year's results is due to our Outside-of-Florida
> Friends rabid participation - thank you you all!
> And of course, my friends and Monster Ops Kevin N4KM and Red K0LUZ took
> big advantage of all the activity. GRIN
>
> *Other Stats:*
> *20m - K4OJ Max Rates (K0LUZ Op):*
> 2021-04-24 1704Z - 5.0 per minute  (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by *K0LUZ*
> 2021-04-25 2100Z - 4.0 per minute  (10 minute(s)), 240 per hour by *K0LUZ*
>
> 2021-04-25 2126Z - 3.2 per minute  (60 minute(s)), 194 per hour by *K0LUZ*
>
>
> *40/15m - K4OJ Max Rates (N4KM Op):*
> 2021-04-24 2311Z - 5.0 per minute  (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by *N4KM*
> 2021-04-25 1222Z - 3.7 per minute  (10 minute(s)), 222 per hour by *N4KM*
>
> 2021-04-25 0049Z - 2.9 per minute  (60 minute(s)), 174 per hour by *N4KM*
>
> *TOTAL (Two Stations Combined) - K4OJ Max Rates:*
> 2021-04-25 0027Z - 10.0 per minute  (1 minute(s)), 600 per hour by *N4KM
> & K0LUZ *
> 2021-04-25 2159Z - 7.2 per minute  (10 minute(s)), 432 per hour by
> *N4KM & K0LUZ *2021-04-25 2126Z - 5.7 per minute  (60 minute(s)), 340 per
> hour by *N4KM & K0LUZ*
>
> It was pure bedlam at times, but *soooo* much fun!  And the pileups were
> generally very orderly; a real tribute to the quality of our ops outside FL.
> Considering the conditions, we all were amazed at the *many* positive
> things we observed/experienced this weekend.
>
> *B4 THE BALL - DANCING WITH THE RFI STARS:*
> In 2019, I switched vehicles to my current SUV, a 2017 Toyota Sequoia -
> and, along with frequent Murphy visits, it was a disaster.  Despite my best
> efforts and hundreds of hours of work, the 20m station experienced S5-7 RFI
> from 40m.  I even blew up my K3 front-end during RFI experiments (ya know,
> cracked eggs to make an omelet...).
> K0LUZ lived with the RFI but at those levels we were missing an entire
> layer of small signal to work.  Frustrating!
> So we agreed we would not do this again in 2021 until two conditions were
> met-
> 1.  All ops were fully vaccinated (that was the easy part)
> 2.  RFI has been abated to more managable levels
> As team lead and VP of Latrines, my job is basically to keep Kevin and Red
> happy, drive them to counties on time and not get lost, and just let them
> run wild on the bands.  They were watered, fed and (somewhat) rested but
> the chief challenge was the dadgum RFI.  So I set out again to try to tame
> this tiger, and have worked on RFI abatement daily for the past two
> months.  I've learned a lot and had some successes, and have relied on
> brilliant engineers like my friend K4SAV, VA6AM and K0BG's brilliant mobile
> website.  Their inputs, direct or indirect over the years, have proven
> invaluable.
>
> In the end, the 20m RFI was improved to a manageable S2-4 - not optimal
> but workable!!  And of course the K3's we use have clean TX, robust RX
> filters and super NB/NR functions to really aid this.  And with zero RFI on
> 40m or 15m, so we declared it "good enough"!
> So, we hit de road, Man...
>
> *TAILS FROM THE ROAD - Positive, Negative and Just Plain Weird:*
> *Highlights:*
>
>    - Ain't no Meters...40m was *huge* with nearly *1800* QSO's (wow!)
>    that kept Kevin busy day and night.  Kevin made a Whopping 1000+ 40m QSO's
>    on Saturday alone!
>    - REDY ON 20:  Big numbers on 20m too - Red made 2500+ QSO's despite
>    Henny Penny's Solar Event with ESP signals and plenty of QSB.  This is
>    where the reduced RFI levels really paid off!  I'm absolutely convinced Red
>    would have put at least 300-500 Q's more if conditions had been better and
>    signals stronger (he's done it repeatedly in the past).
>    - Terrific Teamwork:  Ex. - Red would be trying to pull out a weak EU
>    and asked Kevin to QRX until the QSO was complete; these two are simply
>    wonder operators and team players.  Much fun to watch them work together
>    like that.
>    - Get your Game-Face On:  The new Sequoia was not nearly as roomy as
>    my old trusy/rusty Suburban, so ergonomic sacrifices were required.  One of
>    the changes was switching to 87 key Gaming Keyboards.  These are smaller,
>    tactile but not too loud (I had to learn about red, blue and brown switches
>    - I like brown); and they are waterproof and tough as nails.  And my ops
>    love that they have backlit keys - great for nighttime operating.  Good
>    enough for weekend Online and HF Gamers alike!
>    - Traffic:  In the 9 years I have been doing FQP mobile, this was the
>    lightest traffic I've ever seen.  Not much police activity and much of
>    the*endless* road construction on our route was completed.  So nice!
>    - Come back another day:  Very little rain and love bugs - just a
>    scattering of each.  One 10min downpour near BRE was it. and no biting
>    flies in MON (1st year ever).
>    - Rock solid station/antenna/power reliability - during the contest
>    nothing stopped working, period.  Almost boring, but careful what you wish
>    for!
>    - *The Pile ups!*  Both Red and Kevin enjoyed some Texas-sized pile
>    ups, with truly A1 operators on both ends that kept it manageable and fun!
>    With the higher activity we worried less about 'schedule' and often stopped
>    in smaller counties to let 2nd and 3rd tier signal work us for the mults.
>    Huge, extended pileups included stops in NAS, CLM, LAF, HEN, HIG and OKE.
>    Hope you got what you wished for...
>    - *MONROE!*  We headed through the Grand Dragon County of CLR for
>    almost an hour before getting to that sweet little swath of paradise at
>    MON.  We stayed in MON for a full half-hour as headphones crackled with
>    dx-style pileups espcially on 20m; Red was exhausted but happy!
>    - *Activity Levels *were off the charts (thanks to all of you!).  We
>    were driving in CLR for about an hour and we *still* had a steady stream of
>    callers - WOW!  It was like that all weekend - thank you!
>    - Murphy was largely kept at bay (see lowlights below).  You may
>    recall that in 2019 we lost our first hour, both stations, when a K3 died
>    five minutes after the start of the contest and had to be
>    replaced/rewired.  BRO county-wide roadblocks cost us another hour.  Gennie
>    fuel line failure - you get the drift for 2019.  But not this year!
>    - Driver was permitted to operate both stations during Gas/Nature
>    breaks; oh my, I missed those sweet pileups!
>
> *Lowlights:*
>
>    - We Be Jammin' Red Hot:
>    Red had to put up with intentional, persistent QRM, as well as
>    multiple FIXED STATIONS IN THE MOBILE WINDOW (bad dogs!).  Red fought
>    valliantly but repeatedly was driven to QSY - really, really frustrating.
>    Oh well, hope we can all respect the window next year.
>    - There Ain't No Meters; really!
>    15m was open Sunday but only the smart few checked it out.  As we
>    traveled big counties in SFL, Kevin would QSY to 15m to chum for QSO
>    sharks.  We had 45 takers - all with good signals from East to West coasts,
>    VE and everywhere in between.  Even worked an LU... Where was everyone
>    else?  Hopefully folks will try our forgotten band next year.
>    - No LUCK, LAK - Murphy gets cute:  Massive road construction near our
>    starting point meant we missed our first county of LAK; we made up enough
>    time to add PIN at the end of the first day instead.  So 47 total counties
>    instead of 48.  Hopefully next year we'll be more prepared (and the
>    roadwork finished!).
>    - Murphy PowerPlay:
>    So I pull into the Publix parking lot meeting point and our ops get
>    inside to familiarize themselves with the stations.  When Red hits his
>    first DIT, the generator dies...Noooo!  Kevin and I start debugging.  I
>    accuse Red of secretly smuggling an SB-220 into his setup thus killing the
>    gennie.  His denials seemed genuine so Kevin and I keep debugging and
>    figure out that the fuel cap to the gennie from the external tank was not
>    tight and thus leaked air (so no syphon). UGH
>    Well, here we are - empty 50lb gen and full 35lb external fuel tank
>    next to it; and no way to get gas from one to the other...yikes!
>    The brilliant station engineer says, "We can use gravity!" and
>    promptly asks his bestest buddy Kevin to hold the 35lb tank above his head
>    while we draiin some fuel into the Gen. "Kevin, the fuel line it too short;
>    can you please squat a little bit?"  Tnx Kevin.  With some gas in the gen
>    once again and a retightened fuel cap the generator cranked up and kept
>    going strong the rest of the weekend.  But I still don't trust that 20m 5KW
>    DIT!
>    -
> *BREAKING NEWS - FQP DOPING SCANDAL! *Three weeks before FQP I was
>    working on the SUV and stations and wrenched my back - ouch!  So the first
>    week it was Ibuprophen and cold/hot packs.  The 2nd week I start to worry
>    and go to my chiropractor but no treatment is working. Stiff as a board...
>    The week of FQP I break down and talk to my doctor and beg her for good
>    drugs - she prescibes a muscle relaxer *and* prednisone.  Five day
>    treatment on steroids finished Sunday and kept enough of the pain away to
>    allow me to function and drive.  FQP Leadership has demanded that I submit
>    to a random drug test before FQP 2022...
>
>
> *STRANGE BUT TRUE ROAD TALES/TAILS:*
> This driver really enjoys operating FQP but the Stations management, route
> planning and especially driving the road rally can be both challenging and
> very rewarding.  Our state is so beautiful and the endless green fields,
> huge trees and inviting lakes/ponds make this part of FQP fun for me.
> However, I also noted some real weirdness including the following, *all*
> near the MON/DAD/CLR tri-county line:
>
>    - LOST HIS HEAD:
>    After our trip at the MON line, we start into DAD and within a mile I
>    see a 10-11ft alligator with a huge belly - and *no head*.  Some of our
>    local swampfolk must have enjoyed the souvenir.  Or had a really tasty
>    meal...(er, tastes like chicken?).
>    - I GWANNA FQP, MON:
>    So just as we started heading north on US27 in DAD after seeing our
>    headless buddy, I'm going at a pretty good clip when I see something long
>    in the road.  Is it a branch? A Boa? Another Gator?  NOPE!
>    Just chillin' there in the right hand lane across from the Seminole
>    Casino is a 3-4ft Iguana.  I had no time to react so I just aim the tires
>    on either side and hope we both stay still.  Immediately looking in my
>    rearview mirror, both Guana and I say YIKES and he runs back to the edge of
>    the road and into the grass unharmed...only in South FL.
>    - These are *not* Steroid delusions - promise!  My grown children
>    still don't believe me...oh Dad!
>
>
> So there you have the 2021 FQP K4OJ MM/m adventure - it was a heck of a
> lot of fun and we'll be back next year when (hopefully) 15m will grace us
> with her presence.  We may or may not add a 3rd station accordingly.  Red
> and Kevin and perfect teammates; we have great synergy and encourage and
> help each other.
>
> We'd like to offer special thanks to our own FCG past president and VP FQP
> Dan Street K1TO, who has been the Foundation of and Leader for FQP since
> 1998 - tnx Dan for all you've done for us including providing such amazing
> scoring results and analyses!  You are the heart and soul of all things FQP.
> Thanks also to our FCG president Chris W4WF; he is a superb, effective and
> practical leader who motivates all of us to give our best for FQP and FCG -
> tnx Chris.
> KU8E is our new FQP Webmaster and it's been a pleasure to work with him;
> sure appreciate it Jeff!
>
> Also a *must* - sincere appreciation to Bob K0RC and Chuck NO5W for their
> super-duper county tracking tools - these are indispensable for working the
> sweeps, planning routes and more.  Bob/Chuck - you guys are the best!
> Thanks for your major support.
>
> A tip of the hat to our fellow road warriors, each of who do an amazing
> job of getting cobwebs off antennas, rigs, pc's power plants and performing
> vehicle and routing set up to make the first contact.  I sincerely am in
> awe of your enthusiasm for hitting the road and am proud to call you fellow
> FQP mobiler/expeditioner.
> Also have to give huge kudos to our terrific Fixed and 1x1 Spelling Bee
> partners - you all are the foundation of our way-cool QSO Party - thank you
> for standing strong on all the bands representing our Sunshine State.
>
> Red and Kevin - let's do this craziness next year!  I already have top
> secret plans in the works!  Batteries not required...steroids optional.
>
> Finally - our biggest, loudest applause is for all of you *out-of-state
> operators *who are the real heros. Whether you make a dozen or several
> hundred QSO's, your enthusiastic participation and support help make the
> FQP fun for all.  We can throw the party, but it is you that keep coming
> back every year - thank you, thank you, thank you!
>
> Next year will be our *25th Anniversary edition *of the Florida QSO Party
> - wonder what surprises await?!?!?!?!
> *See you in FQP 2022!*
>
> *FQP - So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades!*
> 😎
>
> vy 73/OJ,
> Chris, NX4N - K4OJ MM/m Team Lead
>
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