Georgia QSO Party 2010 - Welcome to Mark, Gary, Erik and Ted's (almost)
Excellent Adventure!
Saturday-
operators: Erik N5WR, Gary K4VIG and Ted W4NZ
Started the party from Dade County, in the parking lot at Covenant College
atop Lookout Mountain (el. 2100 ft). Headed South through Walker, Chattooga
and Floyd counties where Murphy caught up with us by crashing our logging
computer at what seemed random intervals. By a process of elimination we
found that RF was getting into the computer via the external keyboard's usb
interface. Snap-on torroids would not fix it so we eliminated the external
keyboard and used the laptop's. This sometimes made for interesting typing
and explains why we would ask you to wait to get it straight (thanks!)
After an initial 129-QSO hour(N5WR) the rate tanked in the next two as we
had to make some unscheduled stops to chase away Murphy. But as we continued
on through Polk, Paulding, Haralson in spite of somewhat poor propagation,
the rate climbed back over the 100 mark and held for the remainder of the
trip, peaking at 170 Q's in the 0000Z hour. Continued on through Carrol,
Heard, Troup, Meriwether, Pike, Spaulding (Hi, Rick!), Coweta, Fayette and
Clayton where we picked up I-75N to I-285 West. Exiting 285, we cut through
a corner of Douglas on the way to Fulton County. The plan was to work our
way toward Smyrna or Marietta and Cobb County to I-75 North. Well, Murphy
threw up a roadblock, literally. There was a traffic accident which
completely closed Route 5 so we had to pull out Erik's GPs and navigate a
way around the accident. What the GPS didn't show were the several detours
put up due to construction! Eventually we made it I-75, Cobb, Bartow,
Gordon and Whitfield counties. We had planned to also catch Catoosa county
but ran out of time. But not to worry, we would start in Catoosa on Sunday
anyway. So, after 10 hours we had 1129 QSO's in the log, covered 425 miles
and 22 counties. But wait...Murphy was just getting warmed up, read on.
Sunday -
operators: Mark K0EJ, Erik N5WR and Ted W4NZ
An absolutely georgous day! Starting in Catoosa County (1.5 miles from my
QTH) we continued on through Whitfield, Murray, and Gilmer. Again, rates
were good. Mark had 118 Q's the first hour. On to Fannin, Union, Towns,
Rabun, Habersham, Stephens, Franklin and Hart. Hart County...crossing I-85,
the plan was to travel through Lavonia and into Hart just long enough to
work the pileups and then backtrack to I-85, travelling Southwest to catch
Banks and Jackson. It was in the middle of Lavonia that we got the first
clue that Murphy wasn't done. The van's engine quit while sitting at a
traffic light right in the middle of town. It did restart, idling rough but
we were able to drive the 5 or 6 miles into Hart county, stopping at a
convenience store/gas station to check things out. Leaving the van idling
(very roughly!) we continued to operate. At 1435Z we logged what turned out
to be our last QSO as the van quit...fini...dead! Checking the odometer's
trip counter, 225 miles, it was our farthest point from Chattanooga on the
planned trip. Naturally! Murphy! Ok, it's Sunday afternoon, we're stranded
in the middle of nowhere with a dead vehicle. Mark's a member of AAA so he
got on the phone with them about arranging towing. I went into the store and
asked the lady behind the counter if she knew of any mechanics that might be
willing to take a look at our vehicle. She said she might and made some
phone calls. So we wait. Around four o'clock two men drive up in a pickup
and said they had been called by the lady in the store. The mechanic, a
fairly young guy, had a T-shirt on that said "I can't hear you without a
beer in my hand". I was having thoughts that we were being rescued by
Goober. (not to mention the $$$$ signs) But, at this point, I didn't care if
it was Goober, Gomer and Barney, too, if they could fix the van. Around the
same time a tow truck sent by AAA arrived. Adding more to the local flavor,
the towtruck driver had his wife and young son with him. As for the
van...after doing some testing, taking the inside cowling off and checking
the fuel line, the mechanic decides the fuel pump is gone. He made a call to
a local O'Reilly auto parts and found a pump, we agreed on a price for his
labor and it looked like we had a plan. The tow truck loaded the van and
followed the mechanic and all of us (in his extended cab pickup) to his home
and "workshop"..umm..actually it was a concrete pad behind his
"single-wide". We waited while his wife took the log chain off their female
Pit Bull and put her inside the house. With the van sitting on the concrete
pad, the mechanic's buddy was getting the vehicle ready to remove the fuel
tank while we went to get the new pump. After returning with the needed
parts, Mark, Erik and I could do nothing but hang around and watch. Actually
this turned out to be better than TV. In spite of all appearances to the
contrary, these two guys seemed to know what they were doing, mechanically
speaking that is. It got a bit interesting when, after removing the gas
tank and partially draining it, one of them stood not 6 feet away smoking a
cigarette. You could taste gas fumes from 15 feet away. Then there was the
Natural Lite beer in the cuzzi holders and two shotgun blasts from a passing
truck on the highway about dusk. Our friends didn't react at all to the
gunshots. Maybe that was just a celebration (instead of fireworks) and we
just misunderstood their meaning <G>. Still, I was glad we were behind the
house! With the new fuel pump, it was about 2330Z when the guys got the van
cranked and running, idling a little rough still, but running nevertheless.
Erik pointed to the time and said we might still get in a few more QSO's and
another county. Just then the van unexpectedly quit..and failed to start.
Spirits sank!! This time it was traced to a very a dirty, clogged fuel
filter, easily fixed. With the filter cleaned, the van started with no
problem, running smoothly...we looked at the time...almost exactly 0000Z!!
Coincidence? Hmm. After a "Thank you", handshake and the agreed monetary
exchange with our new-found friends, we were rolling again. Unfortunately
the QSO party had ended about 15 minutes earlier. Well...there is always
"next year". BTW, the ride home was totally uneventful.
Thanks!!!...
- To everyone for the QSO's and for riding along with us. It was maximum
fun!
- To Mike NE4S and all the folks that make the GQP possible. Thank you for
letting us come play in your yard again this year.
**Last, and certainly not least, thanks to Steve and Keith, the two men who
were willing, on a Sunday afternoon, to help three stranded strangers get on
their way home.
A few statistics:
Band QSOs Pts Sec Mul
3.5 254 508 3 0
7 1280 2560 30 1
14 108 216 14 0
21 1 2 0 0
Total 1643 3286 47 1
Operating time: 14:37
Estimated Score : 157,728
High QSO's:
W0BH(33),WB2ABD(30),W9OO(30),K9UIY(27),N8II(27),KC3X(27),RE..um..W9RE(26)<g>
,N9CK(26),K3ONW(26),K5WE(23)-Erik's dad!,N9FC(21),WB8JUI(20)
And a special mention to OM2VL - 20 QSO's and the lone 15M contact.
Outstanding signal on all bands!
Congrats to the SECC and SEDXC on a great QSO party!!
73, from the entire W4NZ/m team: K0EJ, K4VIG, N5WR and W4NZ.
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