Michigan QSO Party
Call: N8MR/M
Operator(s): N8MR
Station: N8MR
Class: Mobile Multi-Op LP
QTH: MI
Operating Time (hrs): 10.5
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 126 1
40: 211 51
20: 86 27
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 423 79 CW Mults = 63 Ph Mults = 37 Total Score = 92,500
Club: Livonia Amateur Radio Club
Comments:
I've only been doing the Michigan QSO Party for four years, but this was the
best propagation I've seen for this event. The weather was great for driving
through different areas of the state while playing radio.
Our original route was to drive along I-94 from Detroit to M-25 and then take
US-23 all the way to Mackinaw City. That route passes through 16 counties. We
chose that route so that, if propagation was bad, we'd at least see some parts
of the state that we hadn't seen previously. We didn't realize how long it
would take to drive from MONR to AREN. By the time we reached that point, the
sun was starting to set and we realized that it would be dark by the time we
got to ALPE on US-23. At that point, my intrepid driver/navigator decided to
take an alternate route - a route that would take us through a 17th county -
MTMO. Surprise!
We were limited in the number of bands we could switch to on the go. I bought a
second mag mount two days before the QSO Party and had little time for
experimenting. We kept the 40 Meter Hamstick on the trunk the whole time, but
the mount on the roof held a 20-Meter Hamstick from MONR to AREN. Sure wish I
had a third mount, as 80 CW was already hopping by the time I switched the 20
Meter antenna with the 75 Meter antenna. Many thanks to K8MR and K8CC for their
top hat suggestions for the 75 Meter Hamstick. SWR was great on 80 CW, but the
best SWR in the 75 Meter Phone portion was at 3.700 - 100kHz too low! The
AT-7000 wouldn't tune it at 3.800, so we had to remain on 80 CW.
After the first 100 or so QSOs in the log, our old Pentium II 233 running
N3FJP's MiQP logger seemed to get slower as we added QSOs to the log. This
caused delays in responding to the stations calling. It also caused momentary
delays in the CW sent via the COM port. By the time we got to about 350 QSOs,
the delay between keyboard entry and program response was pretty bad. It also
started giving us erroneous "dupe" warnings.
We arrived at our hotel in Mackinaw City at 0130 UTC. After checking in and
getting settled, I spent the rest of the MiQP handing out EMME QSOs parked
under a street light, beside the Mackinac Bridge. A reading light is a must for
night time operating.
Getting in more Phone QSOs, having an antenna resonant at 3.800MHz, doing more
S & P and stopping in more rare counties would have helped our score. But, as
always, it was a great time. Lots of in-state, out-state and DX activity make
it really fun. Thanks to the MRRC for sponsoring this event.
MONR 5
WAYN 33
OAKL 7
MACO 13
STCL 38
SANI 33
HURO 69
TUSC 14
BAY 31
AREN 26
IOSC 17
ALCO 32
ALPE 24
MTMO 22
PRES 20
CHEB 38
EMME 80
----- ---
Total 502
73,
Mike, N8MR
Lynette, KC8NAH
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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