Iowa QSO Party
Call: WI0WA
Operator(s): N0XR N0AC
Station: WI0WA
Class: Multi-Op Mobile LP
QTH: Rover
Operating Time (hrs): 9
Summary:
Band CW-Dig Qs Ph Qs
------------------------
160:
80:
40: 164
20: 244
15: 12
10:
6:
2:
222:
432:
------------------------
Total: 420 0 Mults = 50 Total Score = 42,000
Club:
Comments:
First, thanks to the Ottumwa Amateur Radio Club for sponsoring the 2016 Iowa QSO
Party.
Second, thanks to all the stations that QSOed with us.
Third, thanks to Dean, N0XR, for operating, driving, and putting up with me all
day.
The HF mobile bug bit me pretty hard earlier this year with news of the NPOTA
program. With visions of activations in the Rocky Mountain National Park I
improved my mobile station by following the suggestions of the K0BG.com
website. The biggest improvement was bonding various parts of my truck body to
the frame. In the past inverter noise was the biggest downfall so when I found
a small gas powered generator at a garage sale I snapped it up. Needless to say
“you always get what you pay for” so I also upgraded the generator. Now
thoughts of mobile contesting danced in my head and a need for quick band
changing so I added a second antenna. Here is the rundown of the mobile station
we used for the IaQSO Party:
2003 Dodge Ram Diesel Truck, 185,000+miles
Elecraft K3 at 100w
Tarheel 200A-HP antenna, driver’s side
Ameritron SDA-100 antenna, passenger’s side
K1EL Winkeyer with Vibroplex paddles
Old HP Laptop running Win7
N1MM+ logger
Honda EU2000i generator
Our plan was to activate 19 counties which required us to keep moving all day
but as it turned out we were able to activate a 20th county (more below). We
figured our money bands would be 20 and 40m with QSYs to 15m on request. We
started out in Polk County on 80m but Dean found the band to be noisy and moved
to 40m quickly thanks to our two antenna setup. Our first QSO was with Jim,
AD1C, in Colorado at 1403z. After re-tuning the other antenna to 20m we spent
the rest of the day bouncing back and forth between 20 and 40m. N6MU was the
only station to ask us to QSY to 15m so every time we worked him we would
re-tune the opposite antenna to 15m preparing for the quick QSY. John was
usually loud on 15m but CQing there didn’t yield any activity so we usually
went back to our running band. Conditions were not outstanding but decent with
a marked improvement in the afternoon. I did some work with Google Maps and
used their mileage and travel time between counties to setup a schedule.
Surprisingly we keep on track most all day. A bonus was activating Johnson
County. We found a section of road that was on the county line of Iowa and
Johnson counties. As we drove North we activated Johnson then as we turned back
West we went to Iowa County. This turn West was the only time we got off route
but it really didn’t matter as we would run into our next county anyway just
not on our planned road. It was a mad dash to our last county, Jasper. With 15
minutes before the ending bell Dean put 17 QSOs in the log including one QSY to
15m with N6MU. Our last QSO was with John, K4BAI, in Georgia at 2259z.
Notable are the stations that QSOed us multiple times:
N6MU, 29
N3RJ, 12
K5GE, 10
N3RM, 10
WB5JID, 10
KF3G, 9
N0LY, 9
K4XU, 8
NG7Z, 8
VA2CZ, 8
KE0L, 5
Dean, N0XR and Bill, N0AC
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