[3830] 7QP K7EAR Cnty Exped M/M LP

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                    7th Call Area QSO Party

Call: K7EAR
Operator(s): N5IA, N5BG, N7AM, N2IC, WA5Y, NI5L, W5CF, AI7AZ, K7JEM, W7AZY, AA7NW, KB7CSE,  KF7JCJ, KF7SOU, KB7BFG, KF7SOR, KF7SOP, KF7UFK, K7LON, JASON,
Station: K7EAR

Class: Cnty Exped M/M LP
QTH: AZ GHM/GLE
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:    67     26      
   40:   251    194      
   20:   660    677    69
   15:   468    527     1
   10:    75    158      
    6:                   
    2:                   
----------------------------
Total:  1521   1582    70  Mults = 71  Total Score = 1,127,054

Club: Arizona Outlaws Contest Club

Comments:

The planning for this operation began after the 2010 7QP when I asked the
question, "Would it do any good to call 1-800-BIG-WIND and request a few days
without wind?"

The 2011 operation was cancelled a few days before the event due to
circumstances beyond our control.  So the 'no wind' request and other planned
improvements had to wait until the Cinco de Mayo, 2012.

The weather request was mostly honored and 'breezy' was the maximum air
velocity delivered by Mother Nature.  Well, there were a gust or two that
played havoc with one camping canopy and felled the 5BTV for the digital
station.  Temperatures were ideal, coupled with the normal low humidity.  Temps
at sunrise were in the mid-40's and topped out at 90 in the mid-afternoon.

In the overall picture, Murphy stayed up in the White Mountains and his cousin
did not visit the K7EAR operation.  Oh, we won't count that one digital
operator had to cancel mid-day Friday due to a family emergency.  Or that one
Band Captain was conspicuously absent due to being more interested in an exotic
DX Pedition.  Other than those couple of MIAs, and the fact that the tower
erecting device was 4 hours late on Friday (a long story by itself), all went
well in EAARS-land.

The two operating buses were prepared beforehand with the stations and
networked logging computers, and were carefully driven out the dirt ranch road
to the Graham/Greenlee County line operating site.  There were no casualties.

The rehabbed (new for this operation) 18 kW diesel powered genset was towed
into place midway between the two operating buses by K7JEM.  250 foot runs of
#6 stranded aluminum URD Triplex cable was run to each bus.  Generator coughs,
refueling in the dark, and varying AC frequency that the UPSs don't like became
things of the past.

The antenna systems were deployed without incident and all was in place by
sunset Friday evening.  Then it was off to get some sleep and be ready to Rock
and Roll at 6 AM Saturday.

The sunrise over the mountains in New Mexico 30 minutes before starting time
was incredible.  It was a portent of how the contest day would play out.

The first hour of operation yielded 276 Qs in the log.  The lower 48 states
were in the log in one hour and 25 minutes.  Hour two yielded 268 more Qs. 
Hour three put 203 in the log.  The next 8 hours averaged 160 Qs per hour.

Hours 12, 13 and 14 yielded log additions of 220, 224, and 212 respectively. 
The only hour below 100 was the very last one, hour 18, which finished up the
fabulous day with 196 to complete the log of 3,103 contacts.

Our best clock hourly rate was 329.  The best 10 minute rate was 444 per hour.

The EAARS group has some great operators but the most important part of the
whole operation was the training of and operating by the newly licensed people,
most of whom had never seen an HF radio.  It was inspiring to see some of these
new ops running stations on 15 SSB by mid-day and knocking 'em dead by late
afternoon.

But all was not easy.  Ten Meters was open, both E layer and F layer, but there
just weren't that many stations on the air for the contest.  When the 7O6T
expediton showed up on 10 CW the entire east coast of the US was being heard
off the back side of their beams.  But none of them wanted to contact a measly
county line expedition.  :-)

20 Meters and down was noisy from mid-day on.  The low bands suffered,
especially 75 & 80 Meters.  15 CW closed early.

But, 20 Meters again was the money band for all three modes.  The late evening
opening to EU added a tremendous amount of DX to the K7EAR log.  We worked 29
Russian, 24 German stations, and 17 Italians.  We logged 101 Canadians and 21
Hawaiian stations.  Overall, not including Alaska and Hawaii, we worked 43 DXCC
entities.

State wise California led the way with 323 contacts.  Others in order of
quantity of contacts were Oregon-214, Washington-203, Texas-137, Florida-127,
our own state of Arizona-116, and Ohio-102. Ontario led the Canadian Provinces
providing us with 37 contacts and BC was 2nd with 27 contacts.

Of significance for us is the highest Multiplier total our group has ever
accomplished.  Of the 73 total mults possible, we missed only Nunavat and
Northern Territories in Canada.

Particular recognition and thanks go to Grace, KB7CSE and Beth, AA7NW, for
heading up the mid-day meal crew.  We really celebrated Cinco de Mayo with
crock pot prepared chicken green chili, with sides of frijole beans and Spanish
rice.  Fresh tortillas topped of the menu.

The evening meal was 'Garbage Pizza' from the Mom n' Pop Humble Pie pizza shop
in Duncan, 7 miles distant.  This was the fuel needed to push everyone to the
finish line at midnight.

At midnight operations ceased and the logs were synced and rescored.  Even that
portion went well, as all nine logging computers and N1MM reported the same
final score.  Then is was off to the sack for a too short 4-5 hours sleep, but
with a smile on everyone's face.

Tear down started at just before 6 AM.  Everyone and everything was gone by
noon.  The team work for the dismantling and loading of the antenna systems was
poetry in motion.

Thanks to the CODXC for sponsoring the 7QP.  Thanks to every station that gave
us a call.  A special thanks to the mobiles and other county line expeditions
for all their efforts.

73 to everyone.  De Milt, N5IA


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