Minnesota QSO Party
Call: W0ZQ
Operator(s): W0ZQ
Station: W0ZQ
Class: Rover LP
QTH: MN
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band CW-RTTY Qs Ph Qs
-------------------------
160:
80: 96
40: 386
20: 329 151
15: 2
10:
-------------------------
Total: 813 151 Mults = 78 Total Score = 150,384
Club: Northern Lights Radio Society
Comments:
------ CW ------- SSB
15m 20m 40m 80m 20m Total
KNB 42 26 6 3 77
PIN 38 28 6 11 83
CHS 29 36 5 44 114
ISA 37 38 5 1 81
WSH 2 10 17 29
ANO 50 28 24 102
RAM 27 37 64
HEN 15 30 6 51
DAK 34 34 21 14 103
SCO 18 53 25 48 144
RIC 29 59 28 116
TOTAL 2 329 386 96 151 964
Score: 964 x 2 x 78 mults = 150,384.
Soapbox:
The Polar Vortex took a short break from hanging out over MN on Feb 1. The car
thermometer showed 5 (above!) leaving the house at 1230 utc and it actually
rose to 24 degrees (above!) at one point. I had a little light snow around
1500 utc but it did not amount to more than a dusting and all the roads that I
drove on were in good shape.
Just before the contest started at 1400 utc I had a succesful sked with SM7ZDI
from KNB to give him one of four remaining MN counties he needed; that was fun.
After that I got out of the car to change bands and hence my antenna and I
found out my antenna's quick disconnect was frozen solid. It seems that when I
mounted the antenna onto the quick disconnect that I had layed the bayonet part
of the quick disconnect on the ground where it ingested some snow. Having been
inside the car the antenna had been warm and unknowing to me melted some of this
snow and when I mounted the antenna it refroze to the antenna mount. My quick
disconnect was no longer a) quick or b) a disconnect. So, a few minutes before
1400utc and the start of the contest found me disassembling my antenna mount and
placing it in the car under the car heater to thaw. Note to self: throw in a
small tourch in my MnQP Go Bag. After a few minutes I was able to take the
antenna mount apart, dry it, reassembly it, and we were off and running again.
For the rest of the contest I was careful to make sure that I never put the
bayonet part of the hamsticks on the ground in order to keep them snow free.
I started the contest at the KNB/PIN/CHS/ISA boundry with hopes of makes some
Q's from all four ctys on 80m before 1430 utc. As you can see in my summary
above it was not a good strategy netting me only 22 80m Q's combined. In past
MnQPs I have been able to work into OH and out west into WA, etc, during this
time period on 80m but not this year. Only N2CU was "DX" and Tom was
my last
80m Q before going to 40m. I may need to change my strategy for next year in
regards to starting out on 80m.
20m phone was a nice surprise. I think the N0HJZ/m SSB run along with the
addition of the Phone Only mode has made this more and more popular. I had a
"long" drive down 35w through CHS where I ran on 20m phone, and then
again
moving from HEN/RAM down 35w to the DAK/SCO/RIC line. When I was driving my
plan was to nest up next to Rich who was hanging out on 14.255. I could hear
guys working Rich on that freq but just above him and just below him it was a
mess, so I ended up higher up the band around 14.270 or so. 20m phone in the
mid to later afternoon hours always seems pretty good and I had a small pile up
from SCO county netting me 48 Q's in 20 minutes ... not bad for 100 watts into
a 8' hamstick.
Over the full contest I had 48 DX contacts as follows: DK2CF(2), DK3BN(1),
DL3GA(6), DL4CW(3), DL4FN(2), DL5ME(5), DL8MLD(1), HA8IB(5), OK2EC(6),
OM2VL(10, 3 of these on 80m), SP5SA(5), UA3AGW(1)and YV5OIE(3). I did try 15m
mid day from
WSH county netting me two lonely contacts ... I called CQ MNP on 21.050 for ten
minutes. The band did not sound very active and I did not go back any more
after that.
Thanks eveyone for all the Q's. Weather permitting, see you from the WiQP next
month.
73, Jon
W0ZQ/m
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