[3830] OhQP AD8P/M Mobile LP

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                    Ohio QSO Party

Call: AD8P/M
Operator(s): K8GU, AD8P
Station: AD8P/M

Class: Mobile LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
   80:   25     0
   40:  540     0
   20:  156     9
   15:    0     0
   10:    0     0
--------------------
Total:  718     9  CW Mults = 57  Ph Mults = 6  Total Score = 91,791

Club: 

Comments:

Equipment:
Chevy Astro Van
Ten-Tec Omni VI+
Drake MN-2000 tuner
Hamsticks for 20/40/80 on 3 multi-magnet mounts for quick bandswitching
Three deep-cycle lead-acid batteries
Toshiba laptop running TRLog
Schurr Profi Key (this thing is AMAZING...I'm going to get one as soon as I'm
not poor anymore)

First off...thank you to everyone who worked us and hung in there while we
pulled you through the QRN!  It was a good time.

After doing the QRP thing for two years in the OhQP, I decided wanted to do
something different this year.  Bill expressed interest in doing the mobile or
rover category...and I just got hooked on mobiling after the Minnesota QSO Party
in February.  So, we decided to give it a go.  The whole process was complicated
by me being a grad student in Minnesota and unable to arrive in Ohio until the
Friday before the contest.  But, Bill got the station set up and I planned and
publicized our route.  Thanks to a tip from K8MR, we added Fulton and Knox
counties at the last minute, a move that certainly helped our totals.

About phone...we knew that the ability to make QSOs on phone, particularly on 40
meters, would be crucial to our score.  However, Murphy "blessed" us with a
pretty nasty RF feedback problem on 40 phone.  Every time the VOX tripped and I
stopped talking, the radio continued to show power.  I only once got a nice
little run going on 20 phone, netting 8 of our 9 there.  We also had high SWR on
80, which kept us off that band until late in the contest.  A problem to solve
for next year.

As others have noted, conditions were very long.  This did provide a number (32,
I think) of fun DX contacts.  It was especially cool to work several on 40
through the static crashes from nearby storms.  On the flip side, the long
conditions constrained our operation mostly to 40 meters where we didn't have
phone.

Speaking of storms...the last six hours of the contest were pretty much spent in
thunderstorms or surrounded by them.  When we stopped in Wayne county, the sky
was churning and I got a little uneasy.  But, once we hit the road again, we
drove out of it.

Bill did an awesome job with the driving and navigating in the occaisional
torrential rain and on unfamiliar roads for 95% of the contest.  He operated
while we were parked.  He wouldn't have operated at all if I hadn't told him
that he needed to experience it.  

Now, some numbers...

Counties visited:  24

Miles driven:  413 from Bill's driveway to Bill's driveway

Top workers:  
18 - KU8E, K4BAI, K8IR
17 - N9JF, K9WA
16 - WA4PGM (QRP, no less!), W2LHL, VE3NBJ, K2PS
8 - SP4JWR (top DX worker)

Number of stations showing only one QSO:  84  (I find this number
amazing...thanks for dropping by to give us a shout!)

Number of unique calls:  197

Thanks again for all the contacts.  We had a lot of fun.  According to Bill,
this is going to be annual thing.  See you on the bands...

73,

--Ethan, K8GU/0 for the AD8P/M team.


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