2001 Ohio QSO Party
AD1C Single-op, Low-power
CW SSB
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80: 28 16
40: 80 46
20: 37 11
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Total: 145 73 (including 2 dupes)
QSO Points: 360
CW Counties: 73
SSB Counties: 39
Claimed Score: 360 x (73 + 39) = 40,320
10.5 hours of operation
ICOM 756pro (100W), G5RV at 35', HyGain AV-640, DX4WIN for logging
Once again, another opportunity to try to finish out all the counties
in a state for USCA. I'm happy to report that OH is now done, but I
didn't think it would happen this year.
I had been planning to operate, and had permission from the wife to be
at the radio full-time. Unlike my effort in the GA QSO party (see
http://lists.contesting.com/_secc/200107/msg00102.html ), I was
relatively unprepared for this one. I had printed out the necessary
forms and list of active mobile stations at work on Friday, but
Saturday a.m. I was out running errands and didn't get home until just
one minute before the start of the contest at 16z. I hadn't even gone
through my county list to see which ones I needed that might have a
mobile operator driving through.
However, Old Sol gave me time in spades! I remember working N9AG on
20 CW and Scott's signal was an honest S9. A couple of minutes later,
it was a fluttery S1, and a minute later all signals were gone. My
log shows no QSOs between 1630z and 1800z. In fact, I spent the
blackout installing some new hardware in my wife's computer, so the
time wasn't a total loss. When I got back on, it seemed the mobiles
were still weak, and I had to cross off a couple of marginal QSOs. I
made 5 QSOs in the first half hour after getting back on, and only
another 9 in the next half-hour after that.
After taking a break for dinner, I had three counties left to finish
the state: Ashland, Henry and Highland. I knew that both AF8A and
W1NN were planning to be in Ashland towards the end of the contest, so
I was not worried about this one. Henry had been on during the solar
flare, and I was sure I had missed KU8E in Highland. At 0155z I was
shocked to hear KU8E in Highland and worked him right away. Later I
was calling AF8A in Richland (just before he was to arrive in
Ashland), and saw a packet spot for NN1I in Henry at 0240z! I dropped
everything and picked him up at 0244z, he was on 40 SSB and weak
throughout the contest. Then at 0249z I found W1NN in Ashland for my
last county in Ohio - 14 needed, 14 worked! Oh, I finally worked AF8A
in Richland at 0258z, and Ashland at 0301z.
Overall, I missed the following 9 counties: Brown, Clinton, Coshocton,
Crawford, Knox, Paulding, Perry, Pickaway and Sandusky. Several of
them were scheduled to be activated near the beginning the contest,
but I guess the solar flare swallowed them up.
Here is the count of mobiles I worked:
W1NN: 23
K8CC: 21
AF8A: 20
K8MR: 20
KU8E: 13
NN1I: 2
My sincere gratitude goes out to all the mobile stations who make this
contest interesting, and the fixed stations who fill in the gaps, both
geographically as well as in time.
73 - Jim AD1C
--
Jim Reisert AD1C, 7 Charlemont Court, North Chelmsford, MA 01863
USA +978-251-9933, <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.com
--
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