7th Call Area QSO Party
Call: K5YAA/M
Operator(s): KO7X K5YAA
Station: K5YAA/M
Class: MobileMixed HP
QTH: 15 Counties
Operating Time (hrs): 18
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 83 33 0
40: 149 9 0
20: 682 86 0
15: 240 2 0
10: 0 0 0
6: 0 0 0
2: 0 0 0
----------------------------
Total: 1154 130 0 Mults = 62 Total Score = 230,764
Club: Oklahoma DX Association
Comments:
Alan, KO7X and I had a very good run in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho! Montana and
Idaho were bonuses from us to the party goers. They were not on our original
plan but became necessary due to road closures in Yellowstone Park. We were in
Park County Wyoming for what seemed like half the party. Alan had checked the
WYDOT website Friday evening and found no mention of road problems up to the
Northwest where we were going to be on Saturday. A few miles ahead of
Yellowstone we saw a sign that had "paths" noted with Xs. The path to
Jackson, WY was marked with a Red X. The other two, don't remember which they
were now, had Green Xs. As we went past the sign Alan said "That shows
Jackson is closed!". Half a mile up the road Alan said "Let's go back
and double check that sign." He is the expert on Wyoming and other areas
out West so a U-Turn later we went to inspect the sign again. Yep, Red X next
to Jackson our party escape from Yellowstone. What to do? Again, the expert
said "Let's ask the ranger when we get to Yellowstone if that is
right." Sure enough, the ranger confirmed the road to Jackson was closed.
OK, Alan decided to go to the West exit of the park and we wouldn't be much out
of our way. Miles and photos later we come upon a roadblock. The West exit out
of Yellowstone is also closed. Hmmm, somebody has it in for us we decided. We
had already been on the air from Park County WY for some time and the bands
were drying up. Alan, did an about face with the van and started thinking
what's the way out of this place? We backtracked our path around Yellowstone
Lake with it's frozen cover and Bison along side the lake. Many tourists
taking pictures and we supposed seeing their first ever Bison. Several miles
back along our route Alan turned to the North and told me we would have to go
through Montana then a part of Idaho if we were to ever make it to Jackson, WY
and be back on our planned path. Gallatin County, MT then Fremont County, ID
plus Teton County, ID and Jackson, WY was in our sites as long as we made it
through the Teton Pass. We did, hot brakes on the van and all, then Teton
County, WY and we were back on schedule. A look at the time told us we could
make it to all our proposed counties as long as we didn't find another
"closed" road. We did make it to all our WY counties so MT and ID
were bonuses. While in Park County we decided to venture to SSB and figured we
could just become a Mixed category entrant. 20 SSB produced some good runs for
us. In Lincoln and Uinta counties Alan almost had more than he could do to
handle the callers on 20 SSB. Another novelty effort was 80 SSB. I found a
frequency 3.804 among the various rag chewers always found on 80 SSB and called
a CQ. Much to our surprise a good run occurred. 80 was quite good both CW and
SSB. The band was fairly quiet and both coasts were coming in quite well. I had
the pleasure of a short ragchew with my longtime friend K5RX. In addition, I had
QSOs in the party with K5KJ and AK5X two more longtime friends. All three of
those guys are Texans which I don't hold against them since I spent the first
35 years of my life in Texas. In my heart Texas is still home.
40 CW never really did much for us. Not one contact on 10 meters even though it
sounds like the band did open for a while. I think we were too busy with 20 and
15 to even take a look at 10 so we missed a few Qs down there I suppose.
We live in a large and beautiful country for sure. Wyoming is proof of that.
Animal life across most of the state and some of the most beautiful scenery in
the world. I was fortunate to have a "native" share the mobile with
me. His knowledge of the countryside came in handy especially when we got
"stuck" in Yellowstone. Herds of deer and antelope were seen several
times in Wyoming. The mobile made a 3,200 mile round trip to and from Wyoming
going through Kansas and Nebraska. Some of the most beautiful herd of cattle I
have ever seen are in those two states. It is calving season and there were many
many little fellows with their Mamas in those vast herds. I was tempted to stop
and see if one of the little guys would come over and let me scratch their head.
Over a 100 photos and all those miles later I made it back to Oklahoma ready for
the next QSO Party adventure.
Here are a few numbers on the stations that contacted us out there in the wild
wild west.
We worked every state except VT, AK and ND. 21 countries made it in the log
including DL, ER, G, HA, HB, HK, I, JA, LY, OH, OK, OM, ON, PY, SM, SP, UA2,
UA3, UA9, UR AND YV. SP9LJD had incredible signals every time he called and of
course Jonas LY5A was stout as usual. OH6NIO kept us knowing that Northern
Europe was coming in still on both 15 and 20. Thanks to all the DX that called
and made us our maximum of 10 multipliers. I get a special pleasure at giving
county QSOs to DX.
Stateside callers were of course many. As one op called my listing in the
Florida Party "The Honor Roll" here are the stations that made the
Honor Roll with more than 10 QSOs. W0BH, N6MU (How many times have we seen
those two calls in the parties?) K5KDG, K7REL, AF6O, K3DSW, NU0Q, KC3X, K2SSS,
N2JNE, K8MFO, W7GF, KQ3F AND N8II. KH6LC called us a handful of times - always
fun to work the Aloha state - thanks for the calls.
Canadian provinces included VE1, VE3, VE4, VE6 and VE7. VE3KP and VE3KZ seemed
to be going head to head as in practically every county we made they both called
in. Thanks to the Canadians for their QSOs and FB activity.
A special thanks to Dick K4XU and his crew for organizing the 7QP. One of these
times they will get all the counties out there covered. A monumental task
considering the size and count they have to deal with.
Thanks to everyone for the Qs. Each of you made our run a fun experience.
Finally, I want to thank Alan, KO7X for his companionship in the 2014 7QP. It
was a pleasure to have such a well known and accomplished operator drive and
operate with me in this one. After 18 hours on the road, and some good CW and
SSB the both of us were feeling very well and figured we could go even further.
It was a long party but surprisingly a very enjoyable one.
73, Jerry K5YAA
The rig: The Oklahoma Land Rush Mobile with 4 HP Hustler resonators and a
Tarheel antenna. A K3 and AL811H amp powered by a Honda eu2000i generator.
N1MM logging on a Dell Laptop that has seen "newer" days. To those
that have given me their kind advice about the "choppiness" of my CW
signal my thanks and you will be glad to know I am installing a Solid State
Amplifier in the next week or so that I have high hopes for as far as improving
my CW output. Your words of advice have been appreciated.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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