[3830] TxQP NX5M Multi-Op HP

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                    Texas QSO Party

Call: NX5M
Operator(s): NX5M, N5XJ, WA5GVE, K5WTR, W5MN, KA5BKG
Station: NX5M

Class: Multi-Op HP
QTH: TEXAS
Operating Time (hrs): 16

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:    0       0     0
   80:    0       1     0
   40:    8     583     0
   20:  165     801     0
   15:   51     567     0
   10:    0      59     0
    6:    0       1     0
    2:    0      10     0
  UHF:    0       0     0
----------------------------
Total:  224    2022     0  Mults = 295  Total Score = 1,407,520

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

First time to do TQP from home.  I had gone mobile for 3 or 4 hours a couple of
times in the past but I just don't have much of a mobile setup.
I took this opportunity to let some new guys come over and operate for the first
time. They had never operated contest-style before so this was totally new to
them.  I think they had a good time and walked away having learned something. 
This also gave me the opportunity to give the station a run to make sure
everything was properly working after I had repaired several antennas; the
result of storm damage in August.
We had to shut down after the first hour to fix a computer meltdown.  I will
take full credit for the meltdown.  After about half and hour we were back on
the air.  I had told everyone that we were going to shut down at 1830z and go
into town and eat at the steakhouse.  They were a bit busy so our hour off ended
up being a bit longer.  While in the steakhouse W5MN walked in.  What a
surprise.  I had not seen him in 5 years.  I offered him something to eat but he
opted for a glass of tea.  I asked him to come back and operate for a while so
he ended up putting in about 3 hours on 20m.
Later in the evening one of the guys (Bill, K5WTR) left. Bill had been trying to
work some stuff on 10m off and on during the day.  Shortly after Bill left
KA5BKG (Brian) walked into the shack so he sat down and ran 40m for 2 or 3
hours.  In the meantime WA5GVE (Dale) was still operating on another station. 
Dale worked hard but was not able to log directly to the computer so he was
writing down calls and exchanges on paper and then entering them into the
computer before he made the next qso.  It was wild seeing all that paper on the
table.  Reminded me of the old days of paper logs and dupe sheets.  I could tell
that he got better and faster as time went by. Mike, N5XJ was working hard. 
Mike pretty much shared the 20 and 40m duties with me most of the weekend.  
It all started out very casual. That is obvious due to the fact that we went qrt
after operating 4.5 hours.  As time passed I think we all started to get into it
and get more serious.  Perhaps the unanticipated qso rates were fueling the
fire.
Saturday night some guy kept qrming me on 20SSB. This went on for the better
part of an hour.  No matter where I went he would show up.  I hope that what he
was beating and rubbing against the mic was not a body part because he was
probably bruised and raw Sunday morning.
It was indeed fun to work all the mobile guys.  Quite a few mobiles outside of
Texas were even on the air. I was able to find 33  Texas mobiles in the log that
were worked in at least 5 different counties.  That was a 16,500 point bonus.  I
may have missed a couple but I have researched the logs enough.  Worst case is
that I have bonus points that I did not claim but that is no big deal to me.
My most memorable qso was with one guy on 20 who said, "If you want me to work
you we are going to have to exchange rig and antenna info as well as your name
because to me that is the required qso information I want to hear".  OK, so it
slowed the rate down a bit but what the heck....it was a qso party.
Hope you did well in the TQP.  I really wasn't planning on playing or staying...
just dropped by to say "howdy", but it was nice seeing everyone after a long
time.  It's hard to believe it's been five years.
Now for a few comments from the operators: 
W5MN- All your gear seemed to be working perfectly and that always makes for a
better time, and the bands were pretty cooperative, too.  TQP is a nice, no
pressure exercise, much like Field Day.  I was surprised at the great ten meter
opening to Europe and the Middle East on Sunday morning.  Looking forward to the
next event.
WA5GVE- I feel we had an exceptional operations setup with all the antenna
switches and computer networking as well as the overall co-ordination(thanks to
you).
A lot of people we worked tried to help us any way they could, i had a feeling
that they knew we were making a real effort to score points and they wanted to
be involved.
I had a lot of fun and tried to work as hard as possible to
do my share and I feel that I am a better operator now than I was before.
I am glad the time was split up where we could get some rest between days,
thanks for letting me participate.  
Thanks for the camaraderie and the tea!!
K5WTR- I love the time I spent there and the experience of "Contesting" . I hope
to get to do it again ,my only regret is that I could have produced more score.
I at least did more then serve cola's.
You have outstanding Station, Bob  Thanks for the chance.
N5XJ- Super job Bob on all the work and time you spent getting everything ready
to go for the TQP contest. THANKS for letting me help shake the station down!
It was fun , and thanks Brian, Conrad, Bill, Dale  for helping  operate this
contest, it sure does make it more fun when there are more operators. The
two 40 meter beams worked well and it sure did help that the WX allowed for
a quiet band made working a lot of weak ones fairly easy. 
KA5BKG- I'll second that Mike, enjoyed the 2.5 hours I was there also.
Great job once again by NX5M!

As for my comments, I think the operators deserve a great deal of the credit.
And I don't just mean the operators that were here but the operators from
everywhere that took the time to dial around and work us Texas guys.  The
participation level exceeded my expectations in a major way.  I had set a goal
of 1500 qsos but thought that was probably going to be too high. I was wrong!

The TQP seems to be gaining popularity and this is a good thing.


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