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[3830] FlQP NO5W SO Mobile + Driver CW - Revised

To: 3830@contesting.com
Subject: [3830] FlQP NO5W SO Mobile + Driver CW - Revised
From: Chuck-NO5W <no5w@consolidated.net>
Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 16:56:51 -0500
List-post: <3830@contesting.com">mailto:3830@contesting.com>
                  Florida QSO Party

Call: NO5W
Operator(s): NO5W
Station: NO5W
Class: SO Mobile+DriverCW LP

QTH: TX

Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:

Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs

--------------------
 40:   662     
 20:   911     
 15:           
 10:           
--------------------

Total:  1573    0  CW Mults = 60  Ph Mults = 0  Total Score = 377,520

Club: NARS

Back in Houston now I'll try to repost this report that was truncated due to 
failure 
of the poor internet connection where we were staying after the FQP.

Station Setup
Vehicle: 2002 Pathfinder
Radio: IC-7000
Antenna: HI-Q 4/80 with MFJ-1924 Controller
Power Supply: 75 AHr AGM battery with Super PowerGate
GPS: Garmin 18PC DLX
USB Interface Box: Navigator by US Interface
Logging Software: CQ/X version 1.7.4
Mapping Software: Streets & Trips

Comments -

Wow -- that was intense. My first outing as a mobile in the FQP was in 
2007 where I had around 1100 Qs but fell considerably shy of my goal of 
1500 Qs. So this year I was really pleased to exceed the 1500 Q goal and 
to also increase my mult count from 40 to 60.

At dinner Sunday night on the beach at Seaside my driver, aka my wife 
Keri, asked why the results in 2008 were so much improved. Of course my 
first response was "more time in the chair thanks to your driving and the 
fact that we stayed with it until the closing bell each day" -- as 
opposed to shutting down two hours early in 2007. There were other 
reasons including, it seemed to me, increased participation and somewhat 
better conditions. Here are a few of the memorable moments, one of which 
I'd like to forget.

Here Comes One
With so many mobiles on the road in FQP it's likely that, if you're 
mobile also, you'll pass another mobile on the road. Keri is in charge 
of mobile-spotting. In Taylor as we were headed west she announced "Here 
Comes One". Looking up from the radio activity I spotted a pickup with a 
heavily guyed antenna rising out of the bed approaching at about 65 mph 
and commented, "that might be NF4A, I think he is scheduled to cover 
Taylor also." Sure enough about 5 seconds after passing each other NF4A 
responded to a CQ and we had a quick QSO about just passing each other. 
That was fun.

Counties Everywhere -- Watch Where You Step
Last year I discovered it's fun to travel through Fanning Springs since 
Dixie, Gilchrist, and Levy counties all come together there and you have 
to be careful where you move or you might enter a new county. Coming up 
from Levy in the south we entered Fanning Springs and crossed into 
Gilchrist and found a convenient parking spot in the front parking lot 
of a Shriner hall under a shade tree. I continued operating and signing 
Gilchrist while Keri got out and enjoyed one of our fine QSO party ham 
sandwiches. Suddenly she got back in the SUV and said that the antenna 
was touching a tree branch and thought we should move forward (south) a 
few feet, which she did. She then returned to her lunch only to get some 
frantic waving of hands from me -- we had crossed the invisible 
Levy-Gilchrist county line back into Levy and the software was 
broadcasting "NEW LEV NEW LEV". Backing up a few feet corrected the 
problem and I was back on the air in GIL.  

Murphy Comes A-Calling
Everything went smooth and as planned for almost the entire trip until 
we entered Gulf county. The preceding county (Franklin) had been one of 
the longer ones so I was ready for some new activity and I still needed 
about 50 Qs to reach the 1500 goal as we entered Gulf. After the first 
announcement of the new county the pileup appeared to be huge. About 
that time Murphy showed up, tapped me on the shoulder, and said "Hey 
radio guy lets show the multitudes what a lid you are when trying to 
send 35wpm CW from a paddle while managing a pileup". I'm not sure what 
he did but I suspect he injected a little RFI into the WinKey interface 
of the Navigator because all of a sudden I couldn't control the WinKey. 
I could enter QSOs into the logger and send from the paddle but no 
messages were reaching the WinKey. So I struggled and the pileup grew 
larger and more restless until finally, possibly thinking it was a lost 
cause, the pileup subsided and I decided to restart the WinKey 
interface. Happily it came right back up, I was again in business, and 
sooner or later the pileup returned. Of course I understand that 
real-ops like K1TO eschew the use of a computer and handkey and paper 
log the entire FQP -- that's awesome, but requires more work and skill 
than this op can muster.     


Some County Statistics - 
For those who like numbers here's some county stats in the order in 
which the counties were covered:

Session 1
Cty    TimeInCty     40M Qs  20M Qs  TotalQs TenMinRate AvgRate
ESC    00:42:40        12       50    62        72        87
SAN    00:22:33        3        29    32        108       85
OKA    00:21:42        7        17    24        72        66
WAL    00:41:02        0        39    39        102       57
HOL    00:13:33        0        28    28        102       124
WAG    00:14:46        0        30    30        72        122
JAC    00:17:32        1        15    16        84        55
BAY*   01:13:29        20       64    84        102       69
CAH    00:27:05        21        9    30        102       66
LIB    00:29:27        13       20    33        108       67
GAD    00:23:39        6        31    37        138       94
LEO    00:20:42        13       23    36        84        104
JEF*   00:23:50        18       19    37        114       93
MAD    00:27:32        16       17    33        96        72
SUW    00:31:44        8        33    41        144       78
HAM    00:16:29        4        25    29        150       106
CLM    00:26:40        8        19    27        60        61
UNI    00:20:19        21        5    26        108       77
BRA    00:24:50        37        7    44        102       106
CLA    00:06:37        21        0    21        60        190
DUV    00:58:03        76        0    76        54        79
BAK    00:15:26        34        0    34        144       132
NAS    00:22:06        59        0    59        162       160
STJ*   00:49:26        66        0    66        192       80

Session 2
Cty    TimeInCty     40M Qs  20M Qs  TotalQs TenMinRate  AvgRate
PUT    01:17:01        12        60    72        186        56
FLG    00:17:22        40        0     40        174        138
ALC    00:17:45        10        10    20        78         68
MAO    00:36:21        10        26    36        54         59
SUM    00:38:09        7         28    35        132        55
HER    00:30:55        13        36    49        54         95
CIT    00:30:18        13        29    42        168        83
LEV    00:47:03        10        45    55        60         70
GIL    00:20:04        2         24    26        96         78
DIX    00:28:11        7         37    44        144        94
TAY    01:01:36        14        60    74        72         72
WAK    00:31:54        17        25    42        144        79
FRA    00:48:49        24        59    83        162        102
GUL    00:24:04        0         49    49        156        122                 
       

TimeInCty = hh:mm:ss accumulated time in county
TenMinRate = hourly rate during first ten minutes after entering county
Dupes have not been removed from this data                         
*Includes operating time in both sessions.

As you can see there was a good bit of excitement at most of the county 
changes, 
STJ and PUT in particular were fun at their start.

Session 1 had the best route in terms of time in each county. Session 2 
was more of a struggle in counties like Putnam, and Taylor which seemed 
as if they would never end. Although Putnam had an exciting start we 
were slowed down somewhat by construction areas eventually resulting in 
a mediocre average rate. We also lost some momentum in Marion and Sumter.

We covered a bunch (38) of counties in this outing missing only one 
(Lafayette) of the scheduled counties due to the gate on the road we had 
chosen being locked -- I guess in the future we need to make sure we've 
chosen public roads! Meeting this schedule would not have been possible 
without the excellent driving of my partner, Keri, who keeps us moving 
down the green line in more ways than one. The route and total road time 
was the most demanding we have attempted. On Saturday night we arrived 
in San Augustine worn out and just managed to grab dinner before closing 
time -- I wasn't a very popular guy at that point since we hadn't eaten 
a real meal since breakfast. Tension was pretty high so I thought it 
best to revise our Sunday route to eliminate a couple of the most 
out-of-the-way counties and shorten the trip. When I announced my 
revised plan on Sunday morning as we pulled out of San Augustine, she 
would have none of that and we went back to the original plan -- now 
that's a trooper.

Thanks to all the stations that followed us around the entire weekend. 
Without the time you spent in the chair our time in the chair (as well 
as our gas money --  $3.72 at one fillup) would have been non-productive 
and much less fun. Here are some of the frequent callers who contributed 
half of our Qs and the number of Qs with each (possibly including some 
dupes): VE3KZ(43), K9LJN(38), W8MJ(38), K3WW(31), K8MFO(29), VE3UTT(28), 
WA3HAE(28), K5UV(27), K4LTA(25), VA3DX(24), CT1ILT(24), VE3DZ(23), 
AA4NC(21), K9QVB(21), N9FC(20), N8II(20), K7SV(19), K3TW(19), W4NZ(17), 
N5PO(17),K5WO(17), W4PM(17), W1UE(16), NM2L(16), AA3B(16), W1UJ(15), 
WB8JUI(15), WI8A(15), KG5U(14), KT4LF(14), N9CK(14), WB2ABD(14), 
W1ZT(13), WB9CIF(13), N3DXX(13), K4BSK(12), N3RJ(12), N2BJ(12), 
VE3GSI(12), N8NA(12), K8IJ(12). 

The VE3's were really out in force and all with good signals - thanks.

Thanks also to the other Florida stations, mobile and fixed, whose 
participation and enthusiasm for the FQP help to make it a great party. 
And thanks to all the fixed stations for observing the mobile window as 
there were only a few occasions in which I felt QRMed by an in-state 
fixed station.

Finally thanks to the FQP for running an outstanding party and always 
making us feel welcome.

73 es hope to see you at Dayton,

Chuck/NO5W

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