Minnesota QSO Party
Call: N0IJ
Operator(s): N0IJ
Station: N0IJ
Class: Mobile/Portable LP
QTH: MN
Operating Time (hrs): 10
Summary:
Band CW-RTTY Qs Ph Qs
-------------------------
160:
80: 321 0
40: 386 0
20: 41 0
15:
10:
6:
2:
-------------------------
Total: 748 0 Mults = 67 Total Score = 100,232
Club: Minnesota Wireless Association
Comments:
It appears that we will have an entirely new set of leaders in all divisions
of this contest, but it sure was fun--even though we didn't defend the
mobile title. I'm sorry to be slow in posting, but have had church or family
company all day Sunday.
My biggest concern this year was my TOB (tired old butt)! I injured myself
last fall when I inadvertently put the seat of my rowing shell on backwards
(it's easy to do--looks better that way) and rowed hard two days over Labor
Day weekend. Significant therapy has not helped, but discovered some liquid
IB
and together with the tablet form managed to get through. SS and other
contests aren't that bad, cuz you can at least get up and stretch now and
then.
I had 3 four minute breaks! My driver is tough! Except for those 3 breaks,
I was in the car seat for over 13 hours!
We drove to Grand Rapids (about 100 miles) for the start and finished 2
miles NE of the Lake/Cook county border near Lutsen. Miles during the contest
were 527 and over all about 720. Terry's (W0TVD) venerable Chev Tahoe has
251K
miles on it, but ran beautifully, if not economically, 100% of the time
(gas=$150).
As others have written, the 8-noon portion was pretty difficult from our
northern locations. Near the start I could hear W0ZQ and AC0W doing pretty
well
on 80, but couldn't hear many of their callers. Happily Jon did hear me on
several occasions (5) but Bill and I only hooked up prior to the start. 20
seemed like a waste land, and our primary skip zone on 40 clientele seemed to
be skipping over us. Around noon, I removed my noise canceling head phones
(he has twin glass packs with that big V8) and mentioned to Terry that 75% of
our Q's were with MWA folks in MN/WI and a very few regulars with good
systems. It seemed like a MWA QSO party!! What a difference in the 80 meter
production. Last year we had 27 QSOs prior to 3 pm on 80. This year we had
170.
As we turned the corner and starting heading South and some East through
Norman, Clay, Becker, Otter Tail, and Wadena, things did start to pick up a
bit,
but it was still hard work keeping the rate up after (on 80) the basic 6-8 MN
stations like W0BV, KR0B, N5IN, N0AT, K0TK, KB9S checked in. Shocked to
pick up N2CU 3 times on 80 during early hours.
I picked up a 20 meter Ham Stick type antenna which I mounted on a mast I
built on a bike rack into the trailer hitch. We grounded it good to the
frame.
It's too directional, but seems to work pretty well and allows the instant
switch we miss with the Screwdriver on the top of the Tahoe. The signals
just were not there to make much use of this, however. When we got back to
Crow
Wing around 2 o'clock we had our only mini run on 20. Even with constant
checking and CQing we made only 41 Q's on 20.
At that point, I told Terry that I figured the southern group was probably
ahead of us, but that we might just make a contest out of it during the last
3-4 hours. The finish was good, but not spectacular. We had our only Murphy
visit when we crossed into Cook, and went to our usual elevated parking
place. I had a super pile up on 40 and Terry shut the engine off to let me
enjoy
the perfect, quiet conditions. This went on until about 5:35 when I said I
wanted to go to 80 to make sure BV, AT, KR0B, etc. would get COO. We had no
output at all on 80--spent 5 minutes trying to figure out why with no luck.
Went back to 40, and started a new pile up but was really feeling bummed about
not getting the county for the faithful group of friends. Terry all of a
sudden remembered that during testing we measured the output at only 60 watts
with the engine off! Hold on! We started the engine, went back to 80--full
output. Holy smokes--WHY? Low voltage, I suppose. Anyway, I found a spot,
set the keyer to 38 WPM and made the first qso at 5:52. The guys I wanted and
many more were picked up. Clearly I was looking for the regulars, but the
rate meter went to 234 and I made 25 QSO's in that hyper mode in 8 minutes.
As
Jon mentioned the chorus of "tu" at the end was memorable and very much
appreciated.
One thing that the fixed stations don't get that we mobiles do is the
personal connection between the "core" group. These guys (that aren't
already)
feel like old friends, and it's kind of brain tease to see how often you pick
up
one with just a letter or two--a short call starting with N and containing a
U is clearly N2CU if he's strong or N0UR if he's weak! (sri, Jim). Same
with parts of ABD, JUI, WN, RC, TK, BV, 0B, IN, AT, etc. I'm sure that I just
sent a full call of a station 25 times without much confirmation of who was
there and don't think I was met with silence once. It's nice to avoid the
question mark and get the whole group going again. This, plus the pile-ups
(!)
are probably what keeps the mobiles coming back.
A big congratulations to those above us who did so well--Pat, K0PC, Scott,
NE9U, and Jon, W0ZQ. Jon might just have had the perfect answer for these
conditions--drive and park with an improved antenna (12' whip) and locate
South!
An observer mentioned to me that after some monitoring, Jon and Scott could
hear everything on 80 and I missed quite a few. Sorry for what I suspect
were mostly the other mobiles that I missed. I would have loved those mults
which was my downfall. I think that the lack of 20 meter Q's was the biggest
shortfall for me whether that was caused by propagation or my missing the
openings.
Band QSO
80 321
40 386
20 41
Total 748 Q's 67 mults 100,232 points
Hours:
14:00 49
15:00 71
16:00 54
17:00 71
18:00 76
19:00 68
20:00 67
21:00 108
22:00 92
23:00 92
total 748
Stations worked 10 or more times:
24 KR0B (22 counties) and W0BV (all 24 counties)
22 N0AT
19 WB8JUI
17 KB9S, N5IN, N2CU,
15 WA3HAE
14 W0AAA, NY4N, VE3NBJ,
12 K0HW, K4AMC, K8IJ,
11 W9IU, W4AU
10 K0FVF, K0TK, W0BH, WB9CIF
Huge thanks to all our pals for all these QSOs.
And I can't say enough about my great friend and driver, Terry. What a guy!
Kept us on track, no wrong turns, no tickets, almost 100% on APRS, and
within 2-3 minutes in all counties from proposed times. We even managed to
supply NW Division director, K9JF, with his last two counties for MN within a
couple of minutes of our suggestion to him prior to the contest.
Whew! Thanks for reading this far!
73
John, N0IJ
Terry, W0TVD
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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