[3830] CaQP K6Z M/MCntyExp HP

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                    California QSO Party

Call: K6Z
Operator(s): W6PH, KI6VC, K6VR, K6ZZ
Station: K6Z

Class: M/MCntyExp HP
QTH: INYO
Operating Time (hrs): 27

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
  160:    58     45
   80:   150    163
   40:   350    466
   20:   380    750
   15:   140    101
   10:             
    6:             
    2:             
--------------------
Total:  1078   1525  Mults = 57  Total Score = 358,188

Club: Eastside Contest Group

Comments:

Another very fun CQP.  We decided to forgo our usual expedition to Fossil Falls
this year in favor of another location in Inyo County.  Kurt, W6PH usually
operates from his QTH in Lone Pine but this year he offered to let us use his
cabin in the Alabama Hills on the west side of Lone Pine directly under Mount
Whitney.  Not wanting to let US a have all the fun, he decided to join our
small group at the cabin this year.

We decided to make an effort to win the Multi-Multi County Expedition category
this year.  Reviewing the past several years results (we were third the past
three years) and looking at anticipated solar conditions, we decided on a goal
of 280K points.  We were shooting for 1000 QSO’s on both modes and a sweep of
all 58 Mults.  We were very pleased to have met most of our goals by 7am Sunday
morning but we managed to miss NT for the third year in a row.  We made an
effort to find NT on 20M SSB in the last few hours of the contest but we
couldn’t manage find them and they didn’t find us.  When we got home we
checked DX Summit only to see VE8EV had been spotted a mere 20 KHz from where
we were CQing on 20M SSB.  Oh well, there’s always next year.

Our set up consisted of two full time stations and a third part time station. 
We used a Cushcraft A3 and a Cushcraft 40-2CD on two AB-577 military surplus
masts and another Cushcraft A3 on a 33’ homebrew tower trailer.  On 80M and
160M we had verticals and a few wire antennas to choose from.  The rigs were a
TS-930 driving an SB-200 to about 400 Watts, an FT-2000 driving an LK-500 to
about 700 Watts and a 756PROIII driving an FL-2000 to about 600 Watts.  Logging
was done with a wireless network using Milog logging software.  We had a few
equipment problems but nothing too drastic.  We had to take down one of the
A3’s in the middle of the contest to fix a loose connection, one of the amps
gave out on 15M and we had some software glitches to deal with.  Overall we
ended up having one station on for about 27 hours, and the other two on for an
average of about 20 hours each.  We started out with 4 Ops but ended with 3
when one person had to depart early Sunday morning.

It was an enjoyable experience even with the cold, wind and multiple earth
quakes to keep things interesting.  The cabin doesn’t have heat and one
station was out on the porch with no protection from the elements.  In
hindsight a propane heater would have been a real asset.  We were logging with
one hand while holding the other over the amp to stay warm.  Can we do this
again next weekend!

Thanks to the NCCC for sponsoring a great contest and especially to the
Non-Californians who put a lot of effort into working us CA stations.

73, Bob K6ZZ


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