[3830] CaQP N6D M/MCntyExp HP

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                    California QSO Party

Call: N6D
Operator(s): AC7ZG KI7Y NE7D NC7M W7YAQ
Station: N6D

Class: M/MCntyExp HP
QTH: Del Norte
Operating Time (hrs): 30

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
  160:   22      0
   80:   98    294
   40:  264    187
   20:  243    490
   15:    1      1
   10:    0      0
    6:    0      0
    2:    0      0
--------------------
Total:  628    972  Mults = 57  Total Score = 218,196

Club: Willamette Valley DX Club

Comments:

Last years snowfall seemed desirable compared to this year….

We setup N6D in Del Norte on a remote mountain at 5400 feet late Thursday and
Friday – we built the CW station in the tower, the SSB station in the cabin,
and a 160m station a stone’s throw from the cabin. Severe winds and rain were
a constant factor that tired us much more than the previous year’s snow.

Friday night after 8 pm, gale force winds and heavy rain arrived….something
that often occurs on the Oregon coast (and likely Del Norte County as well). 
We had significant damage overnight…fortunately no one was hurt. 
Damages…
•	the CW station suffered greatly -  the gale winds blew out one window and
drenched the K3, ALS600 amp, and laptop. The laptop was inoperable, and the K3
and small amp(400w) needed to be completely dried over the next two days. The
carbon fiber mast holding up with 80m and 40m antennas was shredded. The
20m-15m gain antenna (Spiderbeam)  with at least 5 spreader sections sheared
off, although it had been brought down to ground level. 
•	The SSB station  remained intact, but the 2 element steppir at 22 feet was
moving so violently in the wind by 10pm that we decided we could not drop it
without a high probability of someone getting injured. It remained standing
until just after midnight when the mast sheared off (3 inch aircraft tubing in
a force12 mast).  This also took down the 80m dipole and 40m antenna. 
Fortunately the southwest facing window of the cabin did not blow in although
it was seriously bowing in.
•	The 160m station with its vertical somehow survived, as did the 80m/40m
vertical. Jim in his camper reported he’d never had the camper rock so much
as this evening.
Recovery
Saturday morning as the sun came up at 7am we surveyed the damages. 
•	The CW station was down permanently – we moved the cw op to the 160m
station and started the contest.   Running barefoot with no good antenna
(Loading the 160m antenna for 20m and 15m meant a great loss in CW QSOs)
•	The SSB station was delayed over an hour by having to put back the 20m/15m
antenna. As the SSB op started up, the remainder of the crew put back the 80m
and 40m antennas.
•	Everyone was very tired after this second exercise in assembling
stations(or disassembling the cw station).
•	Putting CW on verticals for all bands meant that the SSB station suffered
interference during the contest while on same band.

Additional comments from this tired group.
•	We figured we’d just go on and put out Del Norte…and forget about any
hope of winning the contest.
•	80m SSB at night turned out to be the nighttime money band – lots of
activity…sleeping was never an option.  40m seemed somewhat productive in the
evening, but less so in the morning due to the many broadcast stations coming
from across the big lake (Pacific). We were surprised to be called by a number
of DX stations in Europe and Asia that weren’t in the contest.  Unfortunately
we missed NT although we looked for stations frequently, they were not heard in
Del Norte.
•	Various attempts of jammers had no effect on the QSO count.
•	An excellent contest never-the-less. Q’s count was not as great as last
year due to these problems, but we still enjoyed extremely loud signals across
the eastern USA (reports on 20m of “loudest 6 in Georgia”, “s9+30”, and
“covering other 6’s” for only 300-500 watts but having a 3000 foot drop to
our east meant we were in effective freespace just 2 wavelengths from the
antenna. 
•	All of us gained weight, in spite of just having a coleman stove for most
meals. N7MQ (thanks Mark!) came through with three dinners prepared  for
reheating although he couldn’t attend this year….leaving us with only 2 ssb
ops for the 30 hours. (He’s taken on ARES leadership for his Oregon County for
the city of Eugene).
•	The celebration dinner following the contest (not for our score, but for
surviving!).  A great evening of grilled rib-eye steaks, potato salad, fresh
corn and Dutch oven biscuits with another Dutch oven treat of pineapple
upside-down cake.  All washed down with beer and wine, of course.
•	Four days of severe winds plus constant rain, sometimes quite heavy,
combined with the fatique factor of assembling antennas twice made us very
tired over the 30 hours of the contest. We stayed over until Monday – and
dawn arrived bright and sunny with fog in the valleys pouring over low spots
was an eerie effect. The trip down the mountain was highlighted by clearing a
tree across the road, another casualty of the storm.


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