[3830] OkQP W0BH/M Rover-Assisted LP

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                    Oklahoma QSO Party

Call: W0BH/M
Operator(s): W0BH
Station: W0BH/M

Class: Rover-Assisted LP
QTH: 26 OK counties
Operating Time (hrs): 16.8

Summary:
 Band  CW-Dig Qs  Ph Qs
------------------------
  160:                
   80:      7        0
   40:    404      101
   20:    343      471
   15:     10        1
   10:                
    6:                
------------------------
Total:    764      573  Mults = 68  Total Score = 233,784

Club: 

Comments:

After spending Spring Break at home cleaning house this year, Lorna and I were
extra ready to head south and run Oklahoma. With the high gas prices, I had a
short but county-rich route planned. That all changed after a flurry of emails
with Connie and some of the other mobiles. In order to try to cover all 77
counties (with fewer mobiles this year), we swapped around counties and came up
with a plan.  The W0BH/m route included the Oklahoma panhandle counties except
Cimarron which was being covered by a fixed station.

My equipment didn't change from last year with the exception of a wire tie. I
put one around my MFJ travel paddle in order to decrease the contact spacing
and it really helped my keying. I also accidentally put one of my Hustler
triples on "backwards" and couldn't figure out at first why 40m was suddenly
showing a high SWR.  When you have seven resonators that close together on top
of a van, it takes a long time to tune everything because they all interact
with each other. I found only one combination that worked for all. Turning the
antenna back around made it work once again.

Rather than a narrative this time, I'll just make some general comments.

1. 15m was wide open both days, but I got only a few answers to many CQs.

2. The Russian DX contest generated lots of activity but only a few Qs for me.
At times, Virginia stations were also really loud in the VAQP.

3. There was some fierce cloud to ground lightning while we were running the
Canadian / Kingfisher county line. QRN wasn't too bad and I kept working
stations, but I probably shouldn't have been on the air. The weather stopped as
fast as it started and we moved out of the storms as we headed west.

4. Activity generally seemed down from previous years, but I did have a great
run at the Woods / Alfalfa county line. The abbreviation for Woods is WOO and
Woodward is WDW. The counties are also close to each other, so it's easy to get
them confused. A number of stations asked to work Lorna while we were parked at
the line, but she was sound asleep and I didn't want to interrupt her
well-deserved nap. The SSB didn't wake her, but the sound of sandhill cranes
flying overhead did, so the stations eventually were able to log her.

5. I don't pretend to understand all the awards the county hunters are after,
but apparently some of the awards involve working Lorna (and thankfully me as
well!). QSO Party trips are one of the few times I can get an HF mike in
Lorna's hand, so it's really fun for me to hear her making those contacts and
I'm glad we can both help everyone out.

6. I wanted to put out calls on 80m throughout the day, but my 80m mag mount
base developed a problem. I had spares of almost everything along except
another triple mag mount. The spare is now ordered. I was able to work some
80CW at the end by moving the 80m antenna to another base.

7. This year, an extra hour was added to Saturday but everyone was required to
take an hour off in 30 minute time blocks sometime during the day. We used the
break to avoid two long stretches in counties we'd already worked out, and even
stopped for a quick lunch. One disadvantage was finishing up an hour later. The
last hour on Saturday turned out to be really slow. I also hope no fixed
stations missed us in a county because they were taking a break.

8. Lorna and I finished Saturday with 902 combined Qs in the log.

9. We found ourselves on a new stretch of highway which ran parallel to the old
(closed) road and county line but in a different county than planned. And no, we
weren't lost!

10. Western Oklahoma counties are big. We ran Ellis county the long way south
to north and I figured rates would really be slow at the end. They weren't, and
the country was also really beautiful. A rather stiff tailwind helped us, except
when Lorna narrowly missed a coyote which ran flat out across the road right in
front of us.

11. It was fun to say "59, Texas" while in Oklahoma!

12. We decided to continue on out to Cimarron because a) I'd never ran CIM in
the OQP, and b) I wanted to make sure the CW-only gang also had a shot at the
sweep. We finished on the Texas / Cimarron line in a dry dusty field.  Sounds
bad, but at least we were away from all power lines and noise.

Stats

We operated 16.8 hours, 1391 combined Qs, 305 unique calls, 3 dupes. Lorna
ended up with 50 contacts in her log.

States not worked : AK CT HI LA MT ND SD VT
Canadian mults not worked : NL NT SK
OK worked : 20 counties
DX worked : DL EI HK LY OK PA SP TI XE

Six-hour Rates (W0BH only)

1300-1900  66/hour
1900-0200  78/hour (with one hour break)
1300-1900  79/hour

County breakdown (in visited order)

Saturday (420 miles)

01 GNT : 60 Grant
02 KAY : 50 Kay
03 GAR : 50 Garfield
04 NOB : 31 Noble
05 PAY : 29 Payne
06 LOG : 52 Logan
07 OKL : 37 Oklahoma
08 CAN : 44 Canadian
09 KIN : 46 Kingfisher
10 BLA : 37 Blaine
11 MAJ : 90 Major
12 WOO : 57 Woods
13 ALF : 58 Alfalfa
14 WDW : 20 Woodward
15 DEW : 33 Dewey
16 CUS : 29 Custer
17 WAT : 37 Washita
18 KIO : 40 Kiowa
19 GRE : 32 Greer
20 BEC : 49 Beckham

Sunday (244 miles)

21 RGM : 52 Roger Mills
22 ELL : 99 Ellis
23 HRP : 61 Harper
24 BEA : 73 Beaver
25 TEX : 117 Texas
26 CIM : 54 Cimarron

Special thanks to the following ops for 10 or (way) more contacts!
 
57 N4PN N6MU
51 K4YA
43 W4YWX
42 WA6KHK
36 K0HNC NT2A
32 W5ESE
27 K0DEQ
23 W0GXQ W4NT W5FIT
18 N5MLP
17 LY5A
16 N3RJ
14 K0FG K2HVN
12 KE7HTL N4CD VA3GKO
11 AA5JG KG8N NJ4X W0ZQ WB2ABD
10 W0PAN W9MSE

OK Mobiles worked: K5CM/m (6), N5UM/m (5), W3DYA/m (3)

Consistently loudest signal: N4PN

W0BH Award Winners

----------------- First Place -------- Very Honorable Mention--
Most overall Qs - N4PN/57 N6MU/57 -- K4YA/51 --------- W4YWX/43
Most CW Qs ------ N4PN/38 ---------- N6MU/35 --------- K4YA/33
Most PH Qs ------ N6MU/22 ---------- WA6KHK/20 ------- N4PN/19
Most counties --- N6MU/26 (all) ---- K4YA/25 --------- N4PN/24
---------------------------------------------------------------

Lorna and I drove a total of 1091 miles from Kansas round trip and the 80+
degree temps on the Sunday ride home were much better than the snowstorm that
kept us home last year. Thanks to Connie (K5CM) and Pam (N5KW) for coordinating
the event, Gene (W5LE) for the web site, the OKDXA for sponsoring the OQP, and
of course the mobiles and Oklahoma base stations that made it all happen.

The Kansas QSO Party is once again scheduled for the last weekend in August.
It's our sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of statehood, so join us for
something special!

73, Bob/w0bh and Lorna/k0why


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