California QSO Party
Call: W6ML
Operator(s): W6KC
Station: W6ML
Class: SOCntyExp HP
QTH: Mono County
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160:
80: 105 132
40: 165 80
20: 203 332
15: 264 237
10: 97 119
6:
2:
--------------------
Total: 834 900 Mults = 58 Total Score = 249,516
Club: Eastside Contest Group
Comments:
This was my 20th anniversary CQP Trip...20 consecutive county expeditions to
Mammoth Lakes in Mono County...I tried to make an extra push for a competitive
score because I am not sure how many of these very physical trips are going to
be possible as the years are starting to add up. I made the 300 mile drive to
Mammoth on Sunday night, the weekend before CQP so I could have some extra days
to setup. In addition to the usual wire beams for 15m & 20m and 40/80M dipoles,
I brought a 3 el 10m mono band beam. I spent most of the next 4 days setting
up my 5 antennas. The wire antennas were spread though the pine trees and the
3 element 10M mono band beam was mounted on a 30ft mast on my deck. During the
week as I installed and tested each antenna I was getting great signal reports
and working lots of DX too. I was very optimistic about the upcoming CQP
weekend.
At the beginning of CQP I spent the 1st hour on 15M and then went to 10M. I
soon realized that 10M SSB was fine, but on 10M CW I was getting too much RFI
and the transmitter was locking up. As a result I only had 3 QSOs on 10M CW on
Saturday. On Sunday morning, I put a bunch of toroids on all the lines and
solved the RF problem, but I never quite caught up on my total CW QSO goal.
All of the mults came pretty easy until all I needed was UT & SK. I was excited
when VE5KJS called and gave me his #2...I never heard another VE5 for the rest
of the weekend. I worked K7UT a bunch of times and others to cover the UT
section and get the sweep. I worked so many Canadian stations, that I started
"awarding" somw of them by using my special phonetics "W6 Maple Leaf" at the
end of each Canadian SSB QSO...nice, eh?
When I quit for a 6 hr sleep break at 0748Z I had 1262 QSOs which was my best
ever mid-point QSO rate (81/hr). Sunday was not as productive as my rate for
the balance of the contest was 56/hr. This was my first time using my new K3
for a CQP. I particularly enjoyed it on CW...once I setup on a run frequency,
I almost never heard anything but the station replying to my CQ. And to go
with the "state or the art" K3, my logging software was still CT running in DOS
under a Windows 98 PC. I know that it's pretty obsolete, but using it with the
DVP voice card that I have had since 1992, it still provides a sweet interface
for SSB QSOs. Maybe next year I'll make the jump to the N1MM bandwagon.
It was nice to have dinner with Larry (W7AB) and Don (W7FD) at W6M. They
operated from further south in Mono County at Larry's cabin and this was the
12th year that we have met at the local Chart House restaurant for a pre-CQP
Friday night dinner. And special thanks to Hank (W6SX), a very contest active
ham in Mammoth, that always gives me good tips and encouragement.
Even the weather cooperated...on Monday through Thursday while I was working
outside putting up antennas, the weather was perfect...On Friday when I was
working inside setting up my station, it rained heavy off and on all day. Then
when I had to take down all the antennas on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning
the weather was clear, but it started raining again just as I was leaving to
drive home...the forecast was for snow beginning on Tuesday/Wednesday.
I was happy to do my personal best in this CQP and beat my prior high score
from 2006 (235,480) by about 14,000 points.
Thanks for all the QSOs and great ops in CQP!
73, Jim, W6ML (W6KC)
http://www.vistasierra.com/w6ml
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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