[3830] OkQP W0BH Mobile Assisted LP

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                    Oklahoma QSO Party

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

Class: Mobile Assisted LP
QTH: 29 OK counties
Operating Time (hrs): 17.9

Summary:
 Band  CW-Dig Qs  Ph Qs
------------------------
  160:                
   80:      5        0
   40:    277        4
   20:    528      691
   15:    139      149
   10:                
    6:                
------------------------
Total:    949      844  Mults = 66  Total Score = 312,810

Club: 

Comments:

Score includes 13500 bonus points.

2015 Oklahoma QSO Party by Bob Harder, W0BH

Saturday

I always enjoy heading south for the Oklahoma QSO Party, and this year was no
exception.  The route was planned with a trip down to the southwest corner of
the state. The Astro van with 294,000 miles on it was tuned to perfection as
was the Icom 706MkIIG with Hustler vertical stacks.

XYL Lorna/K0WHY drove for me again this year. We headed out from our Kansas
farm about 6:00am for the 8:00am start at the Oklahoma state line. At first it
was slow going with some lingering ground fog, but visibilities gradually
improved as we continued south. The weather was forecast to be good QSO party
weather, which means cloudy (so we can see the GPS and computer screens easily)
and relatively cool (since A/C in the van quit several years ago). Both
conditions turned out to be true for Saturday and the recent rains had
basically dried, leaving the back-county roads to three and four county lines
passable.

I'm going to fast forward a bit. I usually jot notes down for a write-up as we
drive along, but Saturday was so uneventful, smooth, and relaxing that for most
of the day the note would read "simply fun". Activity was a bit down
from last year, especially in the morning, but it picked up nicely as the
higher bands opened up. DX conditions never did improve and the few DX contacts
I made were difficult.

I know how important it is to make those 40m contacts for our close in stations
and for in-state multipliers. The OKQP even rewards us with bonus points for
trying. My goal was at least five 40m contacts per county and I came pretty
close with 40m contacts in all 29 counties and five or more in 27 counties.
Special thanks to N4CD who generally picked me up first on 40m and spotted me
to let everyone know I there.

Let's continue the story from Harmon county, the furthest southwest county in
Oklahoma. I originally left Harmon off my route because it was out of the way,
but I got several county-hunter requests to go there and added it at the last
minute. You all rewarded me with a huge pileup, the best of the day! We also
experienced a one lane "paved" road. The quotes around paved are
deliberate because the road was barely wide enough for our van, and the
potholes in the pavement were epic! We bumped along for a number of miles that
way until finally making it back to civilization. While I was operating at the
stop, Lorna, who is constantly bird watching, spotted sand hill cranes wheeling
around the sky.

Other than a short QLF on the wrong 15m sideband and getting lost in Elk City
trying to find our hotel, no complaints. We ended the day with 1219 contacts in
the log.

Sunday

A peek outside the hotel early Sunday morning again showed fog. As we ate in
the hotel dining area, a group of students and their instructor were discussing
their "hunt" for prairie chickens. After they left, Lorna and I
chatted with one of their pilots. It turns out they were doing a prairie
chicken survey and had three Bell Jet Ranger helicopters in use as part of the
survey. The helicopters were grounded because of the fog, so the students left
in vans instead.

Sunday always goes too quickly with only 6 hours of operating time. After a
relatively unproductive three county line stop (too early, I guess), we headed
north through some big counties up to the Panhandle. We set up shop on the
Beaver/Harper county line knowing that Jerry/K5YAA would come along in his very
FB KW mobile setup. Sure enough, splatter on multiple bands as he got close, but
I couldn't find him even though I tried. I must have been working stations as he
went by (we were a bit off on a side road), because I didn't see him, but for
sure he was there!

I was working SSB with a nice pileup as we turned east approaching Woodward
county. Suddenly we were back in Ellis county for about a mile as we cut the
corner (I had forgot to mark it on the GPS). I realized almost everyone I had
just worked needed Ellis, even though I'd already spent almost an hour in the
county. Lorna made an unscheduled stop on the ELL/WDW line and I worked
everyone again for two more counties!

Our last 45 minute stop of the day was listed as Alfalfa/Woods/Major. After
some dirt road maneuvering and only 30 minutes left, we made a final turn with
one mile to go to the line. A cow appeared up ahead on the road and three
pickups were "herding" it back to where it belonged. We had to stop
and let that scenario play out as the clock ticked down. When they went by,
Lorna hoofed it to the line only to find powerlines everywhere and powerline
noise so bad that I couldn't hear on any band. Since we had already been in
Woods county, we looked for a noise-free spot on the Alfalfa/Major line. While
heading that way, Lorna slammed on the brakes, backed up, and checked out a
roadrunner sitting in a bush! We finally made the line and the CW pileup
commenced. Those are the choices WE make :-)

Stats

I operated 17.9 hours, 1793 Qs, 535 unique calls, 3 dupes, 959 total miles.

States not worked : AK HI ME NH VT
Canadian mults worked : AB BC ON QC SK
OK worked : 10 counties : ATO CHO COA LAT MCU MUS OKL PON PUS WAG
DX worked : 7 countries : HA OK DL SP F LY XE

Six-hour Rates (includes dupes)

block QSOs/hr -  2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
----------------------------------------------
1300-1900   569 = 95---104--51---119--66 (Sat)
1900-0100   648 = 108--126--97---104--78 (Sat)                  
1300-1900   579 = 97---101--71----82--79 (Sun) 

County Breakdown (in visited order)

Saturday (434 miles)
----- Tot (40/80)
01 KAY 36 -- 7 -- Kay
02 GAR 41 -- 11 - Garfield
03 GNT 41 -- 11 - Grant
04 NOB 70 -- 14 - Noble
05 PAY 37 -- 9 -- Payne
06 LOG 56 -- 8 -- Logan
07 OKL 48 -- 7 -- Oklahoma
08 KIN 91 -- 7 -- Kingfisher
09 CAN 60 -- 7 -- Canadian
10 BLA 49 -- 8 -- Blaine
11 CUS 84 -- 10 - Custer
12 DEW 31 -- 4 -- Dewey
13 CAD 51 -- 5 -- Caddo
14 WAT 47 -- 12 - Washita
15 KIO 113 - 12 - Kiowa
16 COM 64 -- 11 - Comanche
17 TIL 72 -- 11 - Tillman
18 JAC 65 -- 12 - Jackson
19 HAR 71 -- 11 - Harmon
20 GRE 81 -- 11 - Greer
21 BEC 27 -- 19 - Beckham

Sunday (271 miles)
(ran CUS/WAT/BEC again first)
22 RGM 42 -- 14 - Roger Mills
23 ELL 101 - 17 - Ellis
24 HRP 94 -- 9 -- Harper
25 BEA 51 -- 9 -- Beaver
26 WDW 87 -- 9 -- Woodward
27 MAJ 64 -- 3 -- Major
28 WOO 65 -- 7 -- Woodward
29 ALF 54 -- 5 -- Alfalfa

Special thanks to the following ops for 5 or (way) more contacts!
 
44: N6MU
36: K9WA KQ3F
32: N9WKW
31: VE5KS
30: WB2ABD
24: N4CD N4RS
23: KC3X NU0Q
20: W8KNO
19: N8II W8CAG
18: KC0ZVN
17: K0PC VA3GKO
14: KN4Y W0EAR W5QP
13: HA9RE K7TQ N4PN N4SSD WA7JUJ
12: K0HNC K7SEN N2CU W8QM  
11: KE0G N3KR
10: K4XI K5WE K7YMA KF9D ND3R VA3ATT W7GF
09: AA8R K0PFV K5TIA K9CW KB6NU KE7GKI N3RM NA2X W0ZQ W8FNW 
08: AA8GP AB9CA K3TW K7ZYV KF7WNS N1API W1ATV W3DLM W3DYA/M W7SLY WB0CFF WE7G
07: K5BZH K6LJC KB8LWU KC9JML KD8OCZ N9NBC W7GDK W8BFX WB0IWG WQ7A
06: AC0CU K2MF K5GE KC9NFJ KD8ZWI KQ6P KW3F W2UDT W4NT W5CW W8BZY
05: AD1C K4LRP K7REL K8NYG K9QR KE8C KJ6YAP N4QM NM1G W4YWX

OK Mobiles Worked
W3DYA/M (8)

Bonus Counties
27 counties had 5 QSOs or more on 40/80 meters

W0BH Award Winners
----------------- First Place - Very Honorable Mention ----------- 
Most overall Qs - N6MU/44 ----- K9WA/KQ3F/36 ------ N9WKW/32
Most CW Qs ------ N6MU/44 ----- K9WA/36 ----------- KQ3F/WB2ABD/30
Most PH Qs ------ KC0ZVN/18 --- VE3GKO/17---------- VE5KS/15
Most counties --- N6MU/29 ----- N4CD/N4RS/24 ------ WB2ABD/23
------------------------------------------------------------------

Afterwards

Thanks to Connie/K5CM for once again putting this together for us all. Sorry
Pam/N5KW was under the weather and couldn't drive for you this year, but I know
she helps out in numerous ways.  Thanks to the mobiles and fixed stations who
put all 77 counties out there, and congrats to John/N6MU for working them all
once again (including all 29 of my counties).


The 2015 Kansas QSO Party is scheduled for August 22-23. With 105 counties, we
need all the help we can get, so mobiles, head this way!  Everyone else, thanks
for the Qs in Oklahoma, and see you in the log in Kansas!

73, Bob/w0bh and Lorna/k0why


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