[3830] MiQP K8MQP M/M HP

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                    Michigan QSO Party

Call: K8MQP
Operator(s): K8BB, K8CC, KE8OC, W8MJ
Station: K8MQP

Class: M/M HP
QTH: CHEB
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
   80:  161    119
   40:  213    344
   20:  134    369
   15:    3      4
   10:    2      4
--------------------
Total:  513    840  CW Mults = 95  Ph Mults = 102  Total Score = 367,302

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

The K8MQP multi-op effort from Cheboygan county was a combination of the W8MJ
and KQ8J/N8OS multi-op teams from past MiQPs.  We operated from a vacation home
on the eastern shore of Burt Lake near Indian River, MI.  The goal was to put
forth a maximum multiop effort for maximum MiQP exposure.  This was from a QTH
which has no permanent ham station or antennas, so everything had to be carried
in and back home again.

Antennas are the key to any portable operation, and we had that covered in
spades.  Don, K8BB owns a 48' aluminum tiltover tower which is mounted on a
modified boat trailer.  The tower supported 3L yagis for 20M, 15M, and 10M, plus
held up our 40M inverted vee, while the 80M inverted vee was held up by a rope
shot into a nearby tree.

Inside, we had a station for 40M (FT-1000MP/Titan), a station for 20M
(FT-1000Field/AL-1200) and a station shared between 10M, 15M and 80M
(TS-940S/SB-1000).  This gave us full time coverage of the main MiQP bands (40M
and 20M) with a separate rig with which to attempt making something happen on
10M and 15M.  The third rig also allowed us to go to 80M early, long before 20M
was finished.  Indeed, we still made a few 20M QSOs even in the last hour of the
contest.

KE8OC, K8CC and W8MJ left Detroit at 9:00 AM and arrived at the QTH around 1:00
PM.  We immediately started to set up the inside equipment.  K8BB arrived with
the portable tower around 3:00 and the serious antenna work began.  By dark, all
the antennas were up in the air and tuned, the rigs set up and we were on the
air.  This allowed us to sleep in Saturday morning and get a leisurely breakfast
in town before the contest started at noon.

Our comments about the contest echo those of others - 40M was horrible early,
with weak signals and QSB.  After dark, signals to out of state picked up but
in-state signals were bad all weekend.  20M was good all day until the last hour
of the contest.  80M was our salvation for in-state QSOs and all the mults they
bring.  K8BB went to 80M as early as 4:00 PM local and found people to work.

In the end, we finished about 30 QSOs ahead and about five mults behind what
W8MJ and K8CC did from W8MJ's QTH in LIVI last year.  40M was way down on both
modes, but 80M more than made up the slack.  20M was about the same.  We really
tried to make 10M and 15M play, going there at all of the recommended activity
times and CQing our brains out.  But you can see from the totals that we did not
accomplish much.  Actually, we think that with the condx the way they were, 10M
and 15M (particularly with scatter) could have provided a lot of in-state QSOs
if people had gone up there.

Sunday AM we repeated our leisurely breakfast in town, then started taking down
the antennas around 10:30 AM.  By 1:00 PM everything was packed and we were on
the road home.  By 5:00 PM we were back in Detroit.

The trip was a lot of fun, and worked out pretty well.  We forgot to bring
certain pieces of equipment, but between the four ops, we had enough stuff to
get the job done.  Our thanks go to John/KN8S for the use of his vacation QTH,
and to everyone who participated in MiQP.

73,

Don/K8BB
Dave/K8CC
Tim/KE8OC
KEn/W8MJ


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