[3830] TxQP K5NA/M Multi-Op Mobile LP

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                    Texas QSO Party

Call: K5NA/M
Operator(s): K5NA, K5DU, K5OT, W5ZL
Station: K5NA/M

Class: Multi-Op Mobile LP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:    78     0      0
   40:   303   286      0
   20:  1281   148      0
   15:     5     0      0
   10:     0     0      0
    6:     0     0      0
    2:     0     0      0
  UHF:     0     0      0
----------------------------
Total:  1667   434      0  Mults = 135  Total Score = 792,315

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

With bonuses our final score will be 832,315. 

We had our usual great TQP team made up of K5NA, K5DU, K5OT, and W5ZL. Our TQP
team is known as the "Driving Burrito Brothers" and each of us had a unique
outlook on the weekend. Below is what each operator had to say.


K5DU - Our driver says:

Statistics
Miles driven: 1108
Texas counties: 39
Personal QSOs: 0
Speeding tickets: 0
Warnings: 1

Impressions
Hams are interesting travel companions. I could not have wished for better.
Texas has some beautiful scenery and miles of sky.The Caprock is very flat.
FM 669 in Borden County is a breathtaking ride down from the high plains.
State Police Officer Robles is efficient, professional, and sweet.

Every year on the way home I say I'll never do the TQP again. I want to
participate in the RTTY contest. But maybe we do need a bigger SUV for the 2009
TQP.


The operator in the front passenger seat is K5NA operating on 15M and 80M, and
he says:

This year was an especially frustrating year for me because I spent much more
time than any previous year trying to address station intermod issues before
the TQP weekend. This included making new coax stubs, checking the grounding
strap and its connections to the frame, re-adjusting hamstick antennas, etc. I
put in hours and hours of preparation.

Before we left on Friday night, everything seemed to be working pretty well.

But to my horror, once the burrito-mobile started moving down the road, nothing
seemed to work right anymore. Intermod problems would come and go, as well as
having problems with intermittent coax, coax stubs, and antenna problems. One
minute every station would be working great with no problems and the next
minute, everyone was getting clobbered on receive. And sometimes the station
would just lose the antenna on transmit and moving cables around would
miraculously cause the station and antenna to recover.

Maybe the Burrito-Mobile is getting older and its joints getting more corroded
and intermittent. I really don’t know. I do know we had more problems than
normal with coax jumpers and coax stubs. However, the biggest blow to our score
was when we lost the use of the big 40M screwdriver antenna with a motor
failure.

The Burrito Brothers pack a lot into one vehicle to get four stations on the
air while trucking down the road. Each operator and operating position has
equipment, computers, cables, coax, and filters completely surrounding them. It
is almost impossible to move in one direction or the other without bumping into
something. I think we had a lot of coax problems because of stuff being moved
around. There just isn’t enough room to isolate the hardware from the
operators.

The front seat where I operate is the 15M station. Last year I made the fewest
QSOs ever on 15M by getting only 17 QSOs. This year was worse and I only made 5
QSOs and 4 of those were with local, nearby stations. The only exception was a
WB2 from NY that answered one of my hundreds of CQs on 15M.

Almost as an afterthought, we had added 80M capability to the front seat
station this year. W5ZL brought a baby Tarheel antenna over and I clamped it to
the top of one of the doors. I didn’t expect much from this antenna, but
imagine my surprise when it provided us with 79 QSOs on 80M. Most of those QSOs
were made around sunset on Saturday evening. This was a high point of the
weekend for me.

I have the best seat in the house up front in the passenger seat. I get to see
all the nice scenery without the worry of doing the driving. Since I am not
making many QSOs either, I don’t get distracted from the scenery at all. It
is always fun to see a part of Texas I haven’t seen before because around the
next curve is usually another beautiful sight to behold. This trip was no
exception to that.


The middle seat operator is K5OT operating on 40M and K5OT says:

The TQP never seems to disappoint me, but this one sure had it's moments along
the way.   I retired my venerable TS-850 from mobile multi-multi service, and
replaced it with an Elecraft K3 this year.  What a delight!  I love this new
radio, and it's noise blanking and DSP noise reduction capabilities are truly
impressive in our challenging mobile environment.   A last-minute hiccup with
the primary 40M screwdriver antenna was discovered outside of the local cafe
after breakfast on Saturday morning, and we hustled back to the K5NA/K5DU QTH
to figure out a quick PLAN B without losing too much time in our finely
orchestrated route-plan. The solution was a 40M Hamstick on a mag-mount on top
of the Tahoe, which didn't perform quite as well as the longer Tarheel ... but
it kept me in the game and did a fine job with a bit of help from the tuner.
 
Lowlights:
The 40 meter band was long and noisy for most of the test.  My total QSO count
and multipliers were way down from last year, as I just couldn't hear many of
the mid-range mobiles that usually provide a wealth of mults.  Band noise and
interstation interference - even with our extensive filtering - seemed a LOT
worse this time around the state.  I know there were many callers that I just
could not pull out of the muck after trying to ride out the QSB swings.   And
then there was the overlapping CQWW-RTTY contest.  After dancing around the
extremely loud RTTY signals in the recommended 7040-7060 band segment, I kept
slipping my slot down - and down - and down - as Saturday wore on.  During the
last couple of hours, I hung out around 7020 during my CW runs.  I didn't want
to go that low in the band, but it was my only choice (other than staying on
SSB.)  Thanks to many of you that found and followed me on Saturday evening
during this congested time.   My ears didn't bleed, but they did ooze a bit.  
 
Highlights:
The West Texas scenery all along our route is breathtaking.  Some of the vistas
are so beautiful that you forget all about the other issues you are battling
while trying to keep the rate up.  One of the best parts of QSO Party mobile
operation is the rush of callers that you pick off quickly at the start of each
new county.  Thanks to our many friends - old and new - that always seem to show
up in the pileups.  I'm not sure how many K3's have made it into mobile service
yet - but this one definitely earned it's keep this trip.  And listening to
Susan K5DU manage the Texas state trooper during the brief roadside stop: 
Priceless!


The backseat operator is W5ZL operating on 20M and W5ZL says:

This contest continues to be my favorite ham radio activity of the year. It has
everything – drama, a fresh pileup of really great ops every few minutes,
jaw-dropping scenery, exquisite food (OK, so I lied about the food), and an
incredibly talented team committed to mounting a serious multi-multi rover
operation. In contrast with last year, 20 meter conditions this year were quite
good. Super openings to EU (even Scandinavia), including great DX sigs from
DL3DXX, LY2ZZ, HA7UG, G4BUE, and a number of others. This was our fourth year
to charge all over Texas in Richard and Susan’s BurritoMobile, but
unfortunately we had some extra gremlins along for the ride this time.
Interstation interference, always something of a challenge with our very
complicated Multi-3 SUV operation, was really terrible. By the time we had
finished 18 hours and 1100 miles of TQP hilarity my eardrums were bleeding. I
know I missed a lot of weaker stations calling me, and am sure they must have
wondered why I was so deaf at times, but if they could have ridden a mile in my
shoes . . .
 
Lowlights: 
Trying to copy weak stations calling me through sometimes S9+40 (no kidding)
remnants of Larry and Richard transmitting on 40 and 15 simultaneously.
Wondering why Susan was pulling to the side of the road just after a West Texas
pit stop Saturday afternoon, then looking through the back window at the
flashing red/blue lights of a Texas state trooper vehicle. 
 
Highlights: 
Watching the trooper walk back to his car after issuing Susan (only) a warning
ticket for speeding.
Getting called by my good friend Rune SM5COP Saturday afternoon
The awesome scenery in Garza County.
Discovering I had a “police escort” maintaining order on my 14.043 run
frequency running off would be interlopers. Talk about feeling like royalty!


That's it for the 2008 TQP.

73 from "The Driving Burrito Brothers"


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