Missouri QSO Party
Call: W0BH/M
Operator(s): W0BH K0OU
Station: W0BH
Class: Mobile/Rover LP
QTH: 24 MO counties
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160:
80: 17 0
40: 135 6
20: 197 143
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 349 149 Mults = 59 Total Score = 49,973
Club:
Comments:
After so much fun in Oklahoma, it was an easy decision to run Missouri. Lorna
couldn't fit this trip into her busy grad school schedule, so I invited Steve,
K0OU, to multi-op. Steve lives in the Kansas City area and is in my log in
virtually every major contest, so a "mobile contesting" expedition with him was
a chance I couldn't pass up.
The 91 Chevy Astro van and ICOM 706MkIIG worked great in Oklahoma, but I
tweaked the antenna system by adding a third triple-mag mount for 80CW and
added 10M to the back Hustler "array" which left me with the following setup
(all Hustler verticals): front 40CW/20CW/15, rear 40SSB/20SSB/10, center 80CW.
Two Dell laptops were used, one running NA for logging with keying and rig
control enabled, and one running DeLorme GPS software.
Saturday
The QP started at 1:00pm, so I left Hesston, KS about 8:30am enroute to Kansas
City to pick up Steve. Enroute, I checked out the GPS and worked a number of
stations on 20m SSB with encouraging conditions. The GPS got me within a block
where I found Steve waiting for me in his front yard. After visiting a few
minutes and giving me a short tour of his antennas, Steve climbed into the
operating seat for a quick intro before we headed north.
I'd planned a 16 county triangular route covering northwest Missouri using two
Interstates as up and back routes. We crossed the Missouri River into Clay
county at exactly 1:00pm. New rig, strange computer, new experience operating
CW while mobile (Steve did plug in his own paddle) .. one would think it would
take awhile to get comfortable, but I didn't have to coach long before Steve
figured it out and we were off! With so many of you saying hi, I wanted to be
able to respond, so at the first stop, I added my own travel paddle to the mix
of wires and it worked really well.
As the "gang" grew, county lines became more and more fun. Steve soon learned
why we take the shack out for a drive. By the time we left I-29 heading for
Atchison County, I'd learned something really interesting about Steve .. he
appeared to be "allergic" to pileups! The bigger the pileup, the more his nose
would run and his eyes would water. ATC is the furthest northwest county in
Missouri. I was pretty sure it would light up the band and it did. The smile on
Steve's face and the growing pile of tissue said it all. All of us who have come
out on the short end of the score to Steve in a contest should now see the
obvious strategy, but don't blame me if it backfires!
With all the flooding the past few weeks in Missouri, I kept looking for
problems along the way. One finally got us. After pulling over, we came to an
unexpected abrupt stop when both wheels sunk to the hubcaps in what looked like
firm shoulder. Totally stuck. I tried once to drive out and of course buried it
deeper. A few minutes later while we were still trying to come up with a plan,
a 4-wheel drive pickup came along. I flagged it down, and two curious but
friendly locals pulled us out with a chain. While explaining to them what we
were doing, one of them mentioned that he knew a ham operator. No further
explanations were apparently needed!
Steve's turn to drive, and he had to slow down since the goopy right side tires
were rather out of balance. We were now more than an hour behind schedule and
Steve had promised his XYL, Kathy, (a most avid KU fan and alum), that he'd be
home in time to help her root for KU in the NCAA tournament. I'll confess that
I also wanted to see the game, so we skipped a two-county line on the way home,
caught most of the game, and saved Steve's marriage. Call Day 1 a success with
almost 300 Qs in the log and KU on its way to the Finals. After the game, I
also enjoyed my tour of K0OU.
Sunday
My Day 2 plan was a solo-op back home via the western border counties of
Missouri. A 1:00pm start time has a lot of advantages, one of which is a
leisurely breakfast as Steve took me out to a favorite breakfast spot. I spent
some extra time in his driveway swapping an intermittent 40m resonator (a
really old one) for a new one. With so many antennas on the roof, tuning can
be interesting and the stinger needed to be cut, but finally got it right. I
headed out and crossed the northern border of Cass county right at 1:00pm.
My route ended up taking me through 10 counties. Some parts I recognized
because of turns I'd missed last year before installing the GPS. One bridge in
particular was full of Sunday fishermen. I saw a van with quite a few antennas
on it including satellite and thought maybe I'd found W5TM/m who was also in
the vicinity. The van turned out to be the fishermen's link to the outside
world. All the comforts of home. A really nice Sunday afternoon drive!
The long dark 200 mile solo drive home through eastern Kansas after the QP was
the hardest part of last year. As it turned out, the drive was still long, but
not dark. It was perfect pasture burning weather in the Flint Hills, so the
night was lit up with numerous huge prairie fires. Home at 11:30pm.
Stats
We operated 12:06, 498 combined Qs, 185 unique calls, 3 dupes, 965 miles.
States not worked: AK AR HI KS KY MS ND RI SD UT VT
Canadian mults worked: BC AB ON QC
MO worked: BUC CAS CED COL DAD GEN HAR HWL JAC JAS NOD POL SLC STL TAN WOR
(missed W0MA)
DX worked: OM2VL
CW PH
--------------
80 17 0 = 17
40 135 6 = 141
20 197 143 = 340
--------------
349 149 = 498 Qs and 59 mults Final score: 49973
County Breakdown (in visited order)
Saturday
1 CLA Clay : 24
2 PLA Platt : 16
3 BUC Buchanan : 30
4 AND Andrew : 18
5 HLT Holt : 37
6 ATC Atchison : 37
7 NOD Nodaway : 38
8 WOR Worth : 11
9 GEN Gentry : 15
10 HAR Harrison : 18
11 DVS Daviess : 9
12 DEK KeKalb : 3 (in county for only a few minutes enroute back)
13 CLN Clinton : 5
14 JAC Jackson : 22
Sunday
15 CAS CAss : 27
16 HEN Henry : 36
17 SCL St Clair : 19
18 BAT Bates : 23
19 VRN Vernon : 25
20 CED Cedar : 23
21 DAD Dade : 15
22 LAW Lawrence : 20
23 JAS Jasper : 19
24 BTN Barton : 8
Special thanks to the following ops for 5 or more contacts:
38 N6MU
26 KO1U
24 N4PN
13 N8NA
11 AA5JG N4IG W7GVE
9 K7PWL W8WVU
8 NT5O
7 N4GOA N9FC NU0Q/m (Bill drove down from IA) W1DWA W4IHI W7OM
6 W5TM/m WA4PXP WB8JUI
5 K3TW KN7T N3RJ N4VA W4SHG
W0BH Award
Most Overall Qs : N6MU/38 KO1U/26 N4PN/24
Most CW Qs : N4PN/22 N6MU/21 KO1U/15
Most PH Qs : N6MU/17 KO1U/11 K7PWL/9
Most Counties : N6MU/20 N4PN/17 KO1U/15
Steve and I both want to thank the St. Louis BEARS for sponsoring the NQP and
all of you for a fun ride! Also thanks to Ron, AF5Q,for working with me on the
mobile route to clear our overlapping counties. Congrats to N6MU and N4PN for
the W0BH Award win. Look for me again in the Nebraska QSO Party on April 26-27,
the same weekend as the Florida QSO Party. Details on my QRZ.COM listing as we
get closer to the event. Work two QSO Parties at once and win BOTH plaques!
73, Bob/w0bh and Steve/k0ou
PS Sorry for the late post. I know my priorities are out of order, but taxes
came first! -- Bob
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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