Tennessee QSO Party - 2020
Call: K4O
Operator(s): AC6ZM WK9M WW5C
Station: AC6ZM
Class: Multi-Op MobileCW LP
QTH: Rover
Operating Time (hrs): 6:09
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs Mults
-----------------------------------
160:
80: 168 44
40: 317 47
20: 81 28
15:
10:
6:
2:
222:
432:
-----------------------------------
Total: 566 0 0 119 Total Score = 206,848
Club: Tennessee Contest Group
Comments:
Our 1st time operating mobile and what an experience it was! Nothing can prepare
you for the onslaught of calls coming in at the start of the contest. It
definitely gets your adrenaline going and you have no choice but to put your
game face on. After the initial shock wave, you improvise-adapt-overcome, narrow
down the CW filter, and use the heck out of RIT to pluck calls from the pileup.
I appreciate so many of the ops that were patient and followed CW best operating
practices. It surely made it easier to keep moving through the never ending
pileups.
Now, for the challenges that we faced this time out. I have been ducking Murphy
for a long time. However, this Sunday, he showed up with reinforcements. An hour
into the TNQP the brand new 4Runner (23k miles on the odometer) decides to have
electronic transmission issues. The vehicle would not move out of 1st gear no
matter what driving mode we put the vehicle in. Several attempts at trouble
shooting didn't get us anywhere. Luckily, we installed the radio system to be on
independent power (not connected to vehicle battery) and installed easily
removable antennas since this was not a permanent installation. We limped into a
Toyota dealership while still continuing to operate.
Despite the big disappointment, we decided not to lay down and give up without a
fight. We quickly found the nearest airport (tri-cities in Blountville) and
called enterprise to rent a van. We called an Uber, headed to the airport and
rented a van. We worked like the Luigi Pit Crew in Toy Story and quickly swapped
out all the gear at the dealership and was back on-the-air by 2308Z. The pileup
was still there lurking and waiting, so we pressed on with the onslaught.
Murphy decided to show up one last time before the evening was out. The laptop
battery died with 12 minutes to go <LOL>. We did not have an inverter in
the van like the 4Runner. WB9HFK, don't worry, I did get you in the log on 80
meters in Union county.
Thanks to all the OPS that were patient as I requested repeats insisting on
working a few weak signals to get them in the log. I remember being the small
fry and didn't like it very much when runners would not waste time to work me.
Top QSO's - (count in parenthesis):
DX: OM2VL (11) and DL3DXX (9) both LOUD everywhere, VE3NNT (7)
USA: K1RO (15), K3WJV (12), K5CM (11)
TN: N4ARO (8)
P.S. A big thank you to TCG Ops (AD4EB-W4NZ) that helped me through the endless
questions about mobile operations, route planning, and mobile antenna
installation over the past several months. They gave me personal advice very
willingly. This would not have been a successful event without their wise
counsel and tips.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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