[3830] 7QP N7WA MobileCW LP

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                    7th Call Area QSO Party

Call: N7WA
Operator(s): N7WA
Station: N7WA

Class: MobileCW LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 16

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:    0     0       0
   80:    0     0       0
   40:  110     0       0
   20:  381     0       0
   15:  144     0       0
   10:    0     0       0
    6:    0     0       0
    2:    0     0       0
----------------------------
Total:  635     0       0  Mults = 57  Total Score = 108,414

Club: Western Washington DX Club

Comments:

This was a challenge year. In the past, I have always operated as a multi when
going mobile. At the very least, I've had a driver if not another operator.
This year I was going alone. I spent a fair amount of time figuring out which
county lines I could sit on and their coordinates. Doing all the driving was
different. Instead of a radio contest, it became more of a rally drive with
short rest periods involving radio. 

Usually, when we talk of BIC, we talk of home operations. This one became BIC
simply in terms of driving. After 12 hours, I was pretty much ready to head on
home but I kept telling myself there was 1/3rd of the test still to go. In the
end, I did bag it after 16 hours simply because it was another 3 hours to get
home to my own bed. It also gets REALLY dark out in the open spaces stretches
of eastern Washington. (And no, I was in no mood to go out and look at the
stars.)

Being able to count two Q's for each contact was a plus when on a county line.
On this run, I approached contact totals similar to my two-day Salmon Run
trips. I think if the Douglas/Grant county line had not been so noisy (I am
pretty sure it was some nearby sodium vapor street lights) and it hadn't been
so dark I couldn't find another safe location, I could have broken 700 Q's.

There was disappointment. I was working with Vic SM7ZDI to get him Columbia and
Garfield counties(non-contest). We were coordinating by SMS but found ourselves
with no cell service on the COL/GAR line. I finally moved on to Pomery in
Garfield county and we chatted but couldn't make it work. I probably chewed up
an extra hour in the attempt but it was worth trying. Overall, the European
presence was good throughout the test. Maybe at the next Salmon Run.  

There is a lot of nice country out in eastern Washington in the Spring and
Fall.
My favorite moment of this run was sitting high in the hills of the Colville
Reservation northeast of the Grand Coulee Dam and on the OKA/FER line. The sun
was near setting and the clouds were perfect. It was real quiet outside and
there was no hint of an outside world or anybody else in it except an old
IC-706 radio bursting at the seems with signals... many looking for me.

There are quite a number of regulars I work every year. I thank you all for 
coming along again and keeping me company. 

cheers
dink, n7wa


p.s. I did work some (not many) guys phone in between the county lines. You
aren't reflected in the summary totals above but you'll be in the log as zero
pointers (for me). Hopefully, that won't mess up the bean counters too much.


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