Michigan QSO Party
Call: W1NN/M
Operator(s): W1NN
Station: W1NN
Class: Mobile Solo Op LP
QTH: 10 Counties
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 96 17
40: 128 30
20: 107 36
15: 0 0
10: 0 0
--------------------
Total: 331 83 CW Mults = 57 Ph Mults = 40 Total Score = 72,265
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
These are preliminary numbers.
As others have noted, it was a tough weekend. However, I think it could have
been a lot worse. I don't remember any times when there were zero signals
on the bands, which can happen.
In addition to the awful condx, my big problem was dirt roads for the first
half of the contest. The route I planned in STCL, MACO, LAPE, GENE, SHIA
and LIVI turned out to be about 75% dirt roads. Fortunately, there had been
a lot of rain earlier or dust could have been a huge problem. It's hard to
drive over 30 MPH on these roads and sometimes you have to slow to a crawl,
so my driving times were much longer than expected. Often it was like
driving on rumble strips. I think I spent more time moving this time than
ever before, which is not good for the score. The only good things were
that there was not much traffic on these roads and the scenery was nice. I
made a few changes to my route but I managed to get to all planned counties
except INGH and WAYN.
The WX was nice but the best WX for a mobile is an overcast sky and chilly
temps. Bright sunlight makes driving harder (especially late in the day)
and sometimes you have to park in a spot where the sun shines directly on
the rig, making it very hot. The inside of the car gets as hot as a
greenhouse. My theory is that more fixed stations get on when the weather
is bad, so I always hope for bad WX in these events! But it was nice having
that nearly-full moon after dark.
In marginal conditions like we had, it's always tough for mobiles to be
heard by in-state stations, and that sure was the case this year, although
last year was pretty bad too. I called N8M and K8XXX a million times but
they never heard me until 80 meters opened, and even then the contacts were
difficult. One time I actually had a decent run frequency on 75 SSB and
K8XXX came right on top of me and took over the frequency. He couldn't hear
me at all, even though I was in SHIA, at most 70 miles away. I never could
make W8RC hear me, on phone or CW. K8MFO in OH said I was 599 on 80 meters
but many in-state guys couldn't hear me, so I found S&P almost useless. 80
was up and down, at times being very good and at other times very bad. I
would have a really good run from a county and then the next time I'd come
back I would get very few responses to my CQs. The most interesting QSO was
with WI9WI/M in DICK on 40 meters. This was at about 2:30 PM local and he
was nearly 599. I was in MACO at the time. This is a distance of about 250
miles, so I guess that was probably the length of the skip zone.
There was almost no DX this year. I called GW4BLE, who was operating the EU
Sprint, on 20 SSB, and CU2JT called me a couple of times and that's it! In
the FQP last year, nearly 10% of my contacts were EU DX, so if DX stations
get interested, they can make a big difference. Of course, propagation to
FL is a lot easier for EU.
Improvements to the station this year were a tip-over mast for my Hustlers
and the high-power resonators for 80 and 75. The former made changing
resonators much easier and the latter give a much wider usable bandwidth.
They seemed to work quite well. They are quite heavy, however.
Well, that's about it for this year. In spite of the problems, it was fun.
One of these years we'll have perfect conditions and it will be all the
better for having endured these bad years, so be patient and hang in there.
Thanks to all and hope to see you next year.
73,
Hal W1NN
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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