[3830] GaQP W1NN Rover Single OpCW LP

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                    Georgia QSO Party

Call: W1NN
Operator(s): W1NN
Station: W1NN

Class: Rover Single OpCW LP
QTH: 38 counties
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  CW-Dig Qs  Ph Qs
------------------------
  160:               
   80:     160       
   40:     893       
   20:    1425       
   15:               
   10:               
    6:               
------------------------
Total:    2478      0  CW-Dig Mults = 51  Ph Mults = 0  Total Score = 252,756

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

For several years I have been looking for a chance to make a mobile run in the
GQP and this year I was finally able to set aside the necessary time to make
the trip.  It is quite a time-consuming project to operate a mobile contest,
especially one located over 800 miles away.  There is route preparation, car
and equipment preparation, travel arrangements, the drive (or flight) to and
from the target state, the actual operating, and the log preparation after the
contest.  Since I operate from a rental car, I need some extra time to set
things up.  I spent many hours planning my route, two days driving to and from
Georgia and two days operating the contest, driving 2,000 miles in total (and
spending three nights in hotels).  Keyboarding my recorded log took another two
days!  One really needs about a week to put in a major effort in one of these
events.  

I have done quite a few mobile contests over the years and for the last decade
or so I have especially enjoyed the challenge of doing everything by myself â€"
both the driving and the operating.  I have not figured out a safe way to log on
a computer while driving so my practice has been to log on paper and try to plan
a route that minimizes the driving so I can operate much of the time while
parked at the side of the road.  But this approach has its limits and I have
been trying to find a way to move to the next level.  Last summer in the Ohio
QSO Party I recorded the whole contest on a digital voice recorder while still
keeping a paper log.  After that contest, I listened to the recording and found
that it was easy to decipher and reliable.  For the GAQP, I decided to eliminate
the paper log and go with the DVR only.  This would allow me to keep moving
throughout most of the contest and cover more counties.

I started setting up the car on the Thursday afternoon before the contest and
finished up departure preparations on Friday morning.  The station consisted of
my K3, an old AEA CK-2 memory keyer, a paddle, two magnet mounts (one on the
roof and one on the trunk lid) and two ham sticks.  I would have 20 and 40
during the day and after dark my plan was to replace the 20 meter antenna with
an 80 meter Hustler antenna.  This was the first time to use my K3 in the car
and it was a great improvement over the ICOM 706MKII + outboard antenna tuner
that I previously used.   The equipment was placed on a custom-made
two-by-three foot plywood table set up in the passenger seat at elbow height. 
I fastened the paddle where I could easily send with my right hand while
keeping my left hand on the steering wheel.  The memory keyer was right next to
the paddle where I could push a single button to send CQ, my exchange and the TU
message.  This had to be reprogrammed when entering each county, a very
troublesome procedure that I would like to improve in the future.  I could
reach the K3 if necessary but I set the bandwidth at around 700 Hz and found
that I only needed to touch the radio to change bands.  The speaker was on the
whole time and no headphones were used.   

I departed my home in northern Ohio around 1 PM Friday and drove straight
through to Charlotte - about 500 miles â€" where I spent the night.  This left
me with a three hour drive to the Georgia border on Saturday morning.  I
arrived at my starting point with an hour or so to spare before the 2 PM start
time and checked out the equipment.  I also ate what would be my last meal
until the end of the contest 10 hours later.   

Things started off reasonably well on Saturday, although conditions did not
seem to be very good.  By changing counties every 30 minutes in the beginning,
I was able to keep the rate at a good level.  The first hour produced 123
contacts but the rate fell to 101 in the second hour declined further when I
got lost in my fifth county (Madison) and ended up staying there too long.  I
realized too late that although my operating style had changed, my route was
still planned to keep me on narrow country roads with little traffic, which is
suited to someone logging on paper while driving but not to someone freed from
this task.  Some of these roads looked fine on the map but ended up being
unpaved and there were very few road markings.  This was a problem on both
Saturday and Sunday and probably cost me 100 contacts or more.  I realize now
that I should have spent more time on the main highways and Interstates.

One problem with logging on a DVR is that you do not really know how well you
are doing.  I didn’t learn how I did until I got back home and had the time
to type out the log.  It turns out that on day one I ended up with 1,029
contacts, barely maintaining a rate of 100 per hour for the 10-hour session. 
Things really declined during the last four hours of the contest and the rate
fell below 80 during the last two hours.  The table at the end of this report
provides hourly rates.  I made it to 20 counties on the first day.

Day two was significantly better, something that I could tell even without
having detailed data.  As mentioned, I got lost again as I encountered unmarked
dirt roads and ended up spending too much time in a couple of counties.  To make
up for this lost time, I had to shorten my route so I only made it to 18
counties on Sunday.  But even with this problem, the rate on Sunday was nearly
40% better than on Saturday, and the worst hour was still 122.  The last four
hours were fantastic, with the rate during the last two hours reaching 184 and
182. 

Adding up all of the periods in which I did not operate at all, I see that I
lost 1:05 so if there is a next time, I should be able to do a good deal better
by improving my route.  There is no doubt that I need to buy a GPS.

As I planned my GQP operation, I was very conscious of the fantastic record
that N5WR set in 2011 and I was wondering if I could even come close to his
score.  Eric ended up with 2,547 contacts and 49 multipliers for a final score
of 249,606 (his claimed score was 2,567 X 49 = 251,566) with a setup similar to
mine, operating with no driver.  As I keyboarded my log from the beginning, I
was pretty sure that I would fall short of his score but began to have a little
hope as I typed in those final hours.  When I was finished, I was surprised to
see that because I had two more multipliers than Eric, my claimed score ended
up 986 points above Eric’s.  It will be interesting to see if my score is
still above his after log checking.  But even if it is, I will still consider
that his extra 89 QSOs entitle him to the record, for multipliers are pretty
much a matter of luck in these contests and the real skill is in maximizing
those contacts.  

The GQP is truly one of the best US QSO parties, on a par with Florida and
California.  I would like to congratulate and thank the South East Contest Club
for doing such a great job.  

Of course, a contest is only as good as its participants, and most of all I
would like to thank the many stations that followed me and the other mobiles
around the state.  Special thanks to the following ops who gave me 20 or more
contacts during the weekend:

43 contacts:  N9CK, OM2VL
38 contacts:  DL3DXX
37 contacts:  K4SAV
31 contacts:  VE9HF
29 contacts:  K3ONW, KI0I
28 contacts:  K5LH, KE9I, W4NZ
26 contacts:  AA3B, WA6KHK
25 contacts:  W1END
24 contacts:  W6RLL
23 contacts:  VE3KP, W1FJ, WD5IYT
22 contacts:  K9UIY, W4UCZ
21 contacts:  W9IU, DL3GA
20 contacts:  N9AUG, W1UJ, W8WVU, G3XVR, K4MM

QSOs by Hour (including 20 dupes)

Saturday

1800  123
1900  101
2000   82
2100  134
2200  136
2300  127
0000   95
0100   82
0200   79
0300   78  
      
Sunday   

1400  128
1500  142
1600  122
1700  124
1800  124
1900  147
2000  163
2100  145
2200  184
2300  182

73, Hal W1NN


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