[3830] KsQP W0O(W0ZQ) Mobile SO CW LP

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                    Kansas QSO Party

Call: W0O
Operator(s): W0ZQ
Station: W0O

Class: Mobile SO CW LP
QTH: KS
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
   80:    4              
   40:  364              
   20:  581              
   15:                   
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
----------------------------
Total:  949     0       0  Mults = 50  Total Score = 141,100

Club: Minnesota Wireless Association

Comments:

Score reflects nine dupes and 100 point bonus for working K0A.  

     20M  40M 80M  TOTAL
DON  31   39   0    70
ATC  31   37   0    68
BRO  31   34   0    65
JAC  34   26   0    60
NEM  35   11   0    46
POT  60   11   0    71
WAB  50   33   2    85
RIL  36   22   1    59
GEA  34   26   1    61
SHA  41   32   0    73
OSA  41   27   0    68
DOU  26   17   0    43
FRA  23   13   0    36
MIA  59   19   0    78
JOH  49   17   0    66
    581  364   4   949

It was an honor to help the great state of Kansas celebrate 150 years of
statehood by operating as W0O. On the Friday afternoon before the contest I
grabbed my trusty FT897, my netbook, and my collection of hamstiks and headed
for Kansas from my home in Bloomington, MN. I had spent a few hours pouring
over the KS map planning a route.  Operating a state QSO party is part contest,
part road rally, part strategy and tactics, and part luck.  Also, I operate solo
doing all the driving, navigating, and operating myself.  I decided to drive to
Atchison, KS, so that I could be near the Atchison/Doniphan/Brown county line
for the 9:00 am start on Saturday.  On the drive down, Hwy 59 in MO that runs
SW out of St. Joseph was closed due to the Mighty Mo still being at flood
stage, so I had to double back up to Hwy 36, then down into Atchison.  Although
it made for a longer drive, driving through the green and lush Flint Hills was a
treat .... I had forgotten how beautiful this part of KS is. Once in Atchison I
was able to find a hotel on Hwy "73" ... a good omen.
 
Saturday was sunny and warm.  By about 3:00 pm the temperature was the highest
that I saw on my car thermometer of 101 ... I was reflecting on one of the MNQP
contests when it warmed up to -10.  It was hot and I fried a bit.  That night I
stayed over night in Topeka and had thought of running 80m from the hotel
parking lot at around 8:00 pm, but when I got set up the noise was S9 and I
think I was having noise issues with their sodium vapor outdoor lights.  That,
plus I saw a Golden Corral across the street, I had not eaten much all day, I
was a bit fried, so that was when my "fun index" bottomed out and I QRTed for
the day to go eat and to cool down.  Sorry for those that I may have missed on
80m, but the chicken fried steak and air conditioning were wonderful.
 
Sunday morning I started from the south side of SHA and then ran five new
counties after that.  The weather was about 5 to 10 degrees cooler than
Saturday, so about 90 for a high, and there was a bit more of a breeze.  On one
of my last stops I found a nice quiet county road with a beautiful cotton wood
tree that I parked under and ran the county from .... nice.  At 3:00 pm when
the contest ended I was wheels up. I had a nice drive back home watching a
beautiful sunset crossing the IA/MN boarder pulling into my home driveway
around 10:30 pm.  So yes, I burned up some gas, put some more miles on my 2004
Subaru (147K now), but it sure was fun.  

Regarding conditions, I had thought that 40m might be noise with Irene going up
the east coast, but 40m on Saturday morning and Saturday evening was pretty
good.  The noise level was definitely noticeable on Sunday morning however. 
20m was the money band with good signals all day long except for a dip mid-day.
20m was so good that 91 of my 581 20m contacts were with "DX" ... that's 16%.  I
did CQ a few times on 15m from mid day until about 3:00 pm, but I only heard one
weak KS station that was doing the same thing.  I do wish I had been able to
spend a little more time on 80m Saturday night, but it just did not pan out
that way.  

Many thanks to the KSQP sponsors and for allowing me to help represent the "O"
in SUNFLOWER.  My last stop on Sunday was at a spot on Sunflower Road, how
fitting was that?   Thanks for all the Q's.  

73, Jon
W0ZQ/W0O


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