[3830] TxQP N3BB SO Mobile LP

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                    Texas QSO Party

Call: N3BB
Operator(s): N3BB
Station: N3BB

Class: SO Mobile LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 4

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:                   
   40:                   
   20:                   
   15:                   
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
  UHF:                   
----------------------------
Total:  250     0       0  Mults = 60  Total Score = 51,000

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

A total swag on the score. Did my little loop starting two miles from home on a
hill just inside TRAV and then drove through HAYS into BLAN and into GILL. Then
on a lovely rural road from Stonewall to Blanco passing back into BLAN, then
driving a few miles out of the way along the Blanco River into KEND, then back
into BLAN. Then from Blanco to Wimberly hitting COML, then back into HAYS and
home.

The single biggest pileup was when I hit the COML line. Wow. The receiver
exploded. It took almost a half hour parked beside the road on a grassy
shoulder to work through the crowd. 

My mobile TQP ranks as the most simple possible. I drove, I operated, I logged.
No computer. Used a paper log and a ballpoint pen. Sent all CW with my little
Palm Paddle velcro'd to the console near the gear shift. The rig is a barefoot
FT-857 and a simple ATAS-120A screwdriver on the trunk deck of my sedan. I
always pull off when I enter a new county as the pile ups are too thick to
drive and log. But when I get to the bottom of the pile up, I go out on the
road and drive, and operate, and log on paper while in motion. I know, it's not
recommended but I seem to be able to multitask. 

One interesting moment occurred when I pulled off entering BLAN. There was a
picnic table at a small side rest stop. I noticed another vehicle, with an
antenna. It turned out to be Jim, KE5LQ, based in Houston, who was out for the
entire two days. His wife and perhaps a daughter were the drivers while he was
ensconced in the back seat with a nice SSB station. He had a hard time
understanding how someone would do what I was doing. Jim, you are correct. I am
the whacko. So he operated twenty meters SSB and I operated twenty meters CW for
a while from the same little area. Amazing. 

Thanks to all the stations who were following us around, and to Chuck, NO5W,
whose organizing abilities are surpassed only by his passion for the event and
by his skill with software. It's a priviege to know Chuck. 

Jim N3BB


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