Louisiana QSO Party
Call: NO5W
Operator(s): NO5W
Station: NO5W
Class: Rover LP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 7
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs CW Mults Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
160:
80: 6 4
40: 199 29
20: 250 30
15: 13 4
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------------------
Total: 468 0 67 0 Total Score = 126,224
Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club
Comments:
Radio: K3/100, Hi-Q 4/80
Laptop: Dell D400, XP, CQ/X 1.7.9
Vehicle: 2002 Pathfinder
When N5NA sent me a link to his parish coverage map showing that the rovers
(N5NA, K5END, KU5B, and W3DYA) that had already signed up had committed to
activating all but fifty-eight of the sixty-four parishes I knew I should try
and fill in the remaining six. As luck would have it this was possible since
the missing ones were all in Southeast Louisiana where I grew up and still have
family and therefore free lodging.
So after getting my wife to come out of QSO driver retirement, with the
condition that the route be held to under 300 miles (it came in at 288) and
that we stop for a casual lunch, which we did (the oyster po-boys and gumbo at
the Magnolia Cafe in St Francisville are highly recommended), we were all set.
It was a fun trip with great participation from outside the state, much
increased over what I remember from previous LAQP trips, but it was not without
a few problems -- some might say excuses.
1. Just as we entered Washington parish the computer, which has a virtually
dead battery, abruptly shut down when we keyed the radio. And of course this
was in the middle of a pileup.
2. After getting it restarted it happened again and we decided to resort to
hand-keying and logging. We did about 30 Qs this way but it wasn't pretty.
Finally it occurred to me that maybe the auxiliary battery was not able to
support the laptop and the radio in transmit mode. So we shifted everything to
vehicle supply and we were back in business but not after losing a good half
hour.
3. In order to get to Pointe Coupee we had to take a ferry across the
Mississippi River at St. Francisville and the timing didn't work out just right
costing us another half hour. Entering the ferry a sign said no cell phones so
we didn't operate /MM during the crossing, and lost additional time.
Once on the west bank of the Mississippi things returned to normal and we
managed to spend time on 40 and 20 in most of the parishes with a frequent QSY
to 15 where I would usually get a call from N6MU. Usually I would stay there
and call CQ for several minutes but without any callers. As 15 opens up it
would be a good idea for folks to give that band a try.
Even with the problems we managed to cover our advertised parishes with the
following results: Tangipahoa(73), St.Tammany(46), Pointe Coupee(40),
St.Charles(39), East Feliciana(35), St.John the Baptist(33), Ascension(28),
East Baton Rouge(26), Jefferson(26), Iberville(25), West Baton Rouge(25),
St.Helena(24), Washington(22), West Feliciana(19), St.James(14),
Livingston(12).
Thanks to the following operators for accounting for 50% of our QSOs: N6MU(24)
K5WAF(20), NT2A(19), KV8Q(19), K9EN(15), N5XG(14), W8CAG(12), KC3X(12),
KO1U(12), W0GXQ(12), AB7RW(12), W4SIG(11), W9OP(10), K8QWY(10), K4YT(10),
K4AMC(9), W0ZQ(9), W5ESE(9), WA2VYA(9). Dupes have not been removed from these
numbers.
Thanks to the other mobiles in the group who created a considerable amount of
excitement for the LAQP and to the Thibodaux ARC for sponsoring the LAQP.
Congratulations to KU5B and N5NA for putting up some impressive scores.
As Colin, KU5B, mentioned in his writeup he and I will be teaming up for the
MSQP in a couple of weeks with plans to drive the Blues Highway (US61) north
out of the Vicksburg area almost to the Tennessee line and then back down I-55
to Jackson. This will, no doubt, be a full-bore effort so Jake and Elwood hope
to see you in our MSQP log.
73/Chuck/NO5W
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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