Oklahoma QSO Party
Call: W0BH
Operator(s): W0BH
Station: W0BH
Class: Mobile AssistedMixed LP
QTH: 27 OK counties
Operating Time (hrs): 15.7
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 1 0
40: 319 183
20: 335 384
15:
10:
6:
----------------------------
Total: 655 567 0 Mults = 63 Total Score = 207,737
Club:
Comments:
Score includes 12500 bonus points.
2018 Oklahoma QSO Party by Bob Harder, W0BH
After my dad (age 93) went SK earlier this year followed by his sister (my aunt
age 95) a week later, Lorna and I really needed some relaxing time away. A
weekend OKQP and bird watching trip sounded just right, so we decided to take it
easy and enjoy Oklahoma. I made up a schedule which included 27 northern
counties and associated birding stops. We decided to run flex time compared to
our usual "keep to the minute" run.
We went down a day early and started out at the Great Salt Plains wildlife
refuge. It was really dry with many marshes completely evaporated. Fire had
burned most of the underbrush surrounding the marshes, but we did see good birds
clustered together in and around the remaining water. Lorna didn't think she'd
see anything new if we went there again to start off the OKQP, so, after an
overnight in Enid where my dad used to live after he moved off the farm, we
headed directly for our first three-county line.
Conditions weren't good at first, but making three contacts each time someone
called kept the rate from getting really depressing. Things picked up a bit as
the day went along, but we certainly missed John/N6MU who alone gave us 76
contacts last year. 20 opened for awhile and 40 was good all day, but I didn't
hear any OK mobiles and only made a few contacts with OK fixed stations, usually
across the state but several times same county. DX was really sparse. I only
worked OM2VL on 40m and was really surprised to see he'd worked everyone but me
on 20, usually a number of times. It could have been my northern route, but I
also wonder if my 20m antenna was working properly. It seemed like I could hear
fine when the band was in and I got good reports at times, but I really wonder.
If anyone remembers anything interesting about my 20m signal strength compared
to other mobiles, let me know. I'll do some checking on this end, too.
The highlight of the trip was Osage County and the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.
Osage county is one of the biggest if not the biggest county in Oklahoma on the
northeastern border with Kansas. We drove many miles up and down on
well-maintained but very dusty gravel roads to get there. We were greeted by a
no fences short and tallgrass prairie with bison (buffalo live in Africa my
biologist XYL tells me) roaming free and crossing the road in front of us. Wow,
absolutely spectacular. Light winds, clear blue sky, the American West as it was
a hundred years ago. Worth the trip right there.
I usually avoid long times in counties because the rates drop off dramatically
after working the "regulars." While Lorna dodged bison heading to the
Visitor's Center, I worked out 20m and 40m CW and 20m SSB. I hadn't had much
luck on 40m SSB earlier, but with plenty of time I gave it a try and hit the
jackpot. Everyone came out of the woodwork for a total of 142 Osage county
contacts as I described what we were driving through! We stopped for a few bison
photos through the window and someone wanted me to post one on my QRZ page so I
will. The Visitor's Center was closed by the time we got there, so Lorna took a
birding trail instead and I had some supper.
After an overnight in Miami in the farthest northeastern county of Ottawa, we
started back and picked up several counties we'd missed the day before.
Conditions were much better on 40m to start. Another birding stop in Bernice
State Park gave us extra time in Delaware County. We threaded our way through
some new counties before reconnecting with I-35 for a fast trip north into a
rather stiff headwind. The time change always throws me off as I forgot to set
the van clock ahead, but I knew we couldn't be an hour ahead of schedule! Our
last stop was a favorite three county line near my dad's farm, where I had over
an hour to rack up some Qs. Didn't happen. Lots of CQs and what seemed like fair
signals, but no real run. I just hung in there in the middle of nowhere until
time ran out. It seems like I'm complaining, but actually the trip really was
relaxing, no equipment or van problems, and great company! Some day the sunspot
cycle will improve.
Stats
Operated 15.7 hours, 1257 Qs, 437 unique calls, 35 dupes, 743 OKQP miles.
States not worked : DE HI ND NE NV
Canadian mults worked : AB BC MB ON QC
OK worked : 7 counties : CLE COT CRA OKL OKM ROG TIL
DX worked : 7 countries : HC DL EA F I OH OM
Six-hour W0BH Rates (includes dupes)
Block QSOs/hr -- 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
--------------------------------------------------------
1550-2000 358 = 86 ---76--79---95---104--51---119--66 (Sat)
2000-0200 429 = 72 ---99--87--108---126--97---104--78 (Sat)
1418-2100 469 = 71 ---91--98---97---101--71----82--79 (Sun)
County Breakdown (in visited order)
01 ALF 58 Alfalfa
02 WOO 25 Woods
03 MAJ 25 Major
04 BLA 62 Blaine
05 DEW 57 Dewey
06 CUS 36 Custer
07 KIN 56 Kingfisher
08 CAN 25 Canadian
09 OKL 39 Oklahoma
10 LOG 64 Logan
11 PAY 43 Payne
12 NOB 61 Noble
13 KAY 78 Kay
14 OSA 142 Osage
15 WAS 18 Washington
16 NOW 41 Nowata
17 CRA 59 Craig
18 OTT 24 Ottawa
19 DEL 41 Delaware
20 MAY 31 Mayes
21 ROG 26 Rogers
22 TUL 26 Tulsa
23 PAW 35 Pawnee
24 CRE 24 Creek
25 LIN 22 Lincoln
26 GAR 52 Garfield
27 GNT 52 Grant
Special thanks to my top scorers:
28: WB2ABD
20: K2DSW N6HC W6OUL
19: K0PV K1RO
18: NU1O
17: K0TI W7OM
16: KA5VZG WZ6ZZ
15: K1IB NA2X
14: K4AWM KM4FO
12: KK4AND
13: K7TM
12: KK4AND
11: K4AMC W2RR WB9HFK
10: K2HVN K4MIJ N4CD N9NM NC4H W7GF WA1SAY
09: AA1ON AH6AX KF3EB KG4CRJ NW8U
08: K9CW
07: AB7RW K6OWS KA3CZY KD2HZI KN4Y N0EMU NK7L NW0M WA2WAP WE6C
06: K0RJW K4JP K4MM K7SEN VA2CZ W0SEB W9DC
05: K0OO K0SN K3DMG K5OT/2 K6PGH KD8DEU KE6TUH N5NA W6GMT WA3QNT WD5CSK WE7G/M
OK Mobiles Worked
none
Bonus Counties
25 counties had 5 QSOs or more on 40/80 meters
W0BH Award Winners
----------------- First Place ----- Very Honorable Mention -------------
Most overall Qs - WB2ABD/28 ------- K2DSW/W6OUL/N6HC/20 --- K0PV/K1RO/19
Most CW Qs ------ WB2ABD/28 ------- K2DSW/20 -------------- K0PV/19
Most PH Qs ------ WZ6ZZ/16 -------- KK4AND/12 ------------- K1RO/12
Most counties --- WB2ABD/K2DSW/20 - K0PV/19 --------------- W6OUL/18
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afterwards
Thanks to Connie/K5CM (and Pam/N5KW) for managing the OKQP and getting us all
organized for another fun run. And thanks to all of you for the contacts!
Oklahoma has its really beautiful parts, and we found some of them again this
year.
The 2018 Tenth Anniversary Kansas QSO Party is scheduled for August 25-26. With
105 counties, we need all the help we can get, so mobiles, head this way!
Everyone else, thanks for the Qs in Oklahoma, and see you down the log in 2018
...
73, Bob/w0bh and Lorna/k0why
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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