Michigan QSO Party
Call: WI9WI/M
Operator(s): WI9WI
Station: WI9WI/M
Class: Mobile Solo Op LP
QTH: 4 Counties
Operating Time (hrs): 4.5
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80:
40: 111
20: 45
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 156 0 CW Mults = 43 Ph Mults = 0 Total Score = 13,464
Club:
Comments:
Since my cabin where I do much of my contesting is located in Northern Wisconsin
only an hour and a half from Ironwood in the UP of Michigan, I've thought I
would like sometime to run a few counties in the UP during the MIQP. The stars
were aligned properly this year so I decided to go for it. I drove from Madison
to the cabin on Friday afternoon. The weather was great and when I got there I
sat outside for an hour and had a beer. Then I cooked chicken on the grill, and
was in bed by 2200L. Up at 0730L, and got on the road about 0900L. After looking
at the map I decided I would start near the border of GOGE and ONTO, so I drove
to the boat landing on Little Beaton's Lake just west of the county line in GOGE
and set up the gear. The first QSO was on 40 at 1710Z. Signals on 40 were weak
and long and there were lots of atmospherics, pops, growlers and whistles.
Twenty was better, but there wasn't much activity. After a bit more than an hour
and 40 QSOs in the log, I drove back down the road from the boat landing into
ONTO and set up at the side of the road. An hour there netted 51 more QSOs, and
conditions didn't seem to improve. By this time it was 1945Z, so I stowed the
gear and made the long drive down route 2 into IRON where I parked at the boat
landing on Hughes Lake. This whole exercise took about 2 hours, and I was back
on the air at 2210Z. It had been predicted to be a sunny or partly cloudy day,
but a mist had started which soon became rain. Forty was much better by this
time, with much stronger signals and less noise, but it was long and activity
didn't seem much better. After about an hour and 48 more QSOs, I drove across
County Line Road to DICK. At this point my computer refused to key the
transmitter. After several reboots, and some troubleshooting I gave up and just
sent everything with the paddles. About 2250Z (1850L) it was getting darker, it
was pouring, I was tired after 8 hours cramped up in the car and I had a 5 hour
drive back to Madison in the dark and the rain, so I quit, stowed the gear and
drove home arriving about 2300L.
>From reading the other reports I should have tried 80, at least later in the
day. I don't seem to usually get out well on 80 with my mobile setup until it is
nearly dark, so I didn't really consider it. I only worked 13 MI counties, all
on 40, and only had 2 MI QSOs after I left the GOGE/ONTO area in mid afternoon.
Both of those were with K8IR/M as he crossed the DICK/IRON line about a mile
south of me when I was at Hughes Lake.
All told it was an instructive exercise. I spent about 19 hours in the car and
drove 720 miles to make 156 QSOs. If I do this again I'll have a bit different
strategy. Try to do a bit less driving, and stay at the cabin on Sat nite too
before the drive home.
Gear: IC-738, laptop with WriteLog, Texas BugCatcher all run off a RV battery.
By the way, I drove our new Toyota Sienna, and although I run off an RV battery
on the floor and not the vehicle's electrical system, there was no RFI/hash or
apparent interference problems between the vehicle and the radio/ computer gear.
Thanks for the Qs.
73
Jim
WI9WI
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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