Virginia QSO Party - 2022
Call: W4GO/M
Operator(s): W4GO
Station: W4GO
Class: SOAB/CWMobile LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 21:26
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 98
40: 559
20: 389
15: 27
10:
6:
2:
UHF:
----------------------------
Total: 1073 0 0 Mults = 97 Total Score = 258,412
Club: Fauquier ARA
Comments:
This was a multi-op mobile operation. The driver was W4GO. The radio operator
was also W4GO. This year we also welcomed a third operator, W4GO, who is
assigned the support jobs like pumping gas, running in the store for food, and
talking to curious passers-by. He has to ride in the trunk for now. You can't do
this without teamwork.
Seriously, though. Thanks for riding along on my fifth consecutive mobile run in
the VAQP. I missed the familiar voices from the last four years of SSB but
enjoyed working many new chasers on CW this time.
CW isn't my native habitat, and it shows. Managing a big and very
"eager" CW pile-up is ... interesting! Still, I was pleased with how
things went. I was not using any decoder but the one between the ears. While CW
is perhaps more taxing for the mind than SSB, it is easier on the ears over long
periods. Pretty easy on the voice, too.
Another change this year was to put considerably more time into the bands open
to Western NA and EU. This meant trading off VA county/city mults for states,
provinces and DX entities. As anticipated, my total multiplier count is quite a
bit lower than previous years, although that not only reflects the difference in
band selection but also fewer VA counties/cities active on CW than on SSB by
fixed stations.
An additional wrinkle was the use of a different vehicle this year in which I
installed an HF station the week before the contest. Thanks to KA4RRU for
lending a heavy-duty magnet mount on short notice. This vehicle posed some new
RFI challenges. The hat-less antenna, smaller vehicle body, and use of a
mag-mount (though bonded to the body with radial wires) resulted in a less
efficient antenna system than my usual rover. I was running a bit less TX power.
Even so, the equipment performed well.
In any case, I was happy with the volume of QSOs from Western NA and EU. Time
spent in previous mobile VAQP runs looking for those regions on SSB had
generally been disappointing, but this year on CW it was very productive.
The EU participants in this contest are not numerous but they are enthusiastic.
OM2VL was my most frequent flyer from any region with 32 QSOs, followed closely
by DL3DXX (30) and LY5W (25). KA6BIM and W5TM (both 20 QSOs) rounded out the top
five chasers.
In total, 318 stations were worked, of which 27 were worked ten or more times.
Much as on SSB mobile runs, as the weekend progressed and the recurring call
signs made their way into the log and my head, I benefited from picking up on
their individual operating styles and from being able to guess, usually
correctly, who was calling by catching only a couple of characters out of a
pile-up.
To give an example, at one point I realized that if I heard a "2" or
"Q" low in audio frequency near the cutoff of my 300 Hz filter, while
on a band open to NY, it was always WA2JQK. He took the express lane around the
pile-ups by offsetting from zero-beat, and the fact that he was consistent
worked further to our advantage.
28 counties/cities were activated in the following order: RIC, LAN, NUM, MID,
MAT, GLO, KQN, KWM, NEW, JAM, WMX, NNX, PQX, YOR, HAX, NFX, VBX, POX, CPX, SUX,
IOW, SHA, SUR, SUS, PRG, PBX, HOX, CCY.
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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