Georgia QSO Party
Call: K4BAI/M
Operator(s): K4BAI, KU8E
Station: KU8E/M
Class: Rover LP
QTH: GA
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 0 0
40: 232 0
20: 1383 0
15: 225 0
10: 5 0
--------------------
Total: 1845 0 CW Mults = 40 Ph Mults = 0 Total Score = 147,600
Club: South East Contest Club
Comments:
Jeff, KU8E, and I shared operating and driving in his Saturn. He had his TS850S
installed in the back seat, so the operating was done from there. We used the
NA logging program with a Dell laptop powered from the cigarette lighter plug
with a transverter. We used a tri-mount Hustler for 10/15/20 and QSY was very
easy from one CW frequency to another. But, to go to 40 meters, we had to stop,
change the antenna to a Hamstick clone and change the cables to insert an
external antenna tuner in the line. The rig had no ATU and the tuner had no
straight through position.
Our intention was to operate in all the 42 counties in SW GA from Harris (north
of Columbus over to just south of Macon, down I 75 to Tifton, and then one or
two counties east of I-75 down to the Florida line and everything south and west
of those counties. We intended to operate on both SSB and CW and to work 40
meters for those close in stations where contacts seemed to be possible.
However, the first attempt to change to SSB on 20 meters took so much time and
was unsuccessful, so we decided to make it an all CW contest and to try for a
quicker change-over system for the next mobile trip. For the same reason, we
did not QSY as often to 40 M. It required stopping and going QRT and changing a
lot of stuff to go between the other bands and 40 and back again. We did
activate all 42 counties as planned and got back into one of them for the second
time at the end as well as going through Muscogee (my home county) 3 times and
Talbot twice as we ended one day and then started the next.
The support by the contesting community was great and we'd like to thank all
those who called and made those great rates possible. In return, we hope
everyone had a great time and worked many still needed Georgia counties. We
hope all will send in their contest entries to KD3UC at jshort@mindspring.com.
There are a lot of certificates and plaques to be claimed.
Conditions generally were pretty good on 20 M, fair on 15 M, and good at night
at least on 40. The Europeans really made the contest a lot of fun with a lot
of Europeans worked on 15, 20, and 40. Apparently, not too many realized that
15 was open. We worked W9RE and K5YAA and once KG5U (QRP) close in on 15 when
the band didn't generally seem to be open to those areas. On Saturday afternoon
about 2345 UTC, 15 opened good for short skip and we worked K8MR, WA3HAE, and
maybe a few others. Most of our 28 mhz contacts were with W6OAT, Rusty Epps,
who originated the first GQP in the early 1960s when he was K4BVD in Columbus,
GA.
We sincerely apologize to those who were disappointed by our inability to QSY to
SSB and 40 meters as often as was desired and I especially apologize to HA0DU
for giving him the wrong day for us to be in Mitchell County causing him to miss
another new one. We expect that KU8E or N4PN will be able to give HA0DU that
Mitchell County contact by sked soon.
I always insist on having my keyer and paddle handy. I detest the delay when
there is a problem typing the call into the computer correctly so the answer to
the call can be instantaneous and I have a lot of problem getting into keyboard
mode and back out again using the ALT K commands. Jeff went to a lot of trouble
to make it possible for me to use the paddle, but it wasn't conveniently located
for my right hand (the rig was side mounted to the left and the laptop was on
the knees of the operator), so the paddle was never used. As a result, I am now
a lot better at getting into and out of keyboard mode in the contest programs,
but I still make a lot of mistakes and wonder why the logging program appears to
be "locked up" when it is just in keyboard mode.
We doubt that we got quite all counties active this weekend, but we haven't
heard from everyone yet. I think W6OAT worked about 136 counties with 299 QSOs
from California. With just a little more effort, next year we may have all 159
counties QRV and it could be possible for someone to work them all in one
contest. We failed to properly communicate to KN4Y and W3DYA about the date
change in time for them to be QRV with us in Georgia and we hope that they and
others will join in next year and we can get all counties active.
There are many very good ops out there and they certainly demonstrated it this
weekend. Thanks to one and all.
Look for KU8E (with W8UE) in the Florida QSO Party on April 26 and 27. No doubt
Jeff will make some small improvements and they will be out to do better than we
did this weekend. Unfortunately, most of the FL counties are larger than most
GA counties, but the extra miles south may make for better skip on the higher
bands.
73,
John, K4BAI.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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