[3830] 7QP K5YAA/M MobileMixed HP

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                    7th Call Area QSO Party

Call: K5YAA/M
Operator(s): K7BG K5YAA
Station: K5YAA/M

Class: MobileMixed HP
QTH: 22 Counties
Operating Time (hrs): 18

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:     0     0      0
   80:    92     5      0
   40:   392    19      0
   20:  1187    72      0
   15:   190     3      0
   10:     0     0      0
    6:     0     0      0
    2:     0     0      0
----------------------------
Total:  1860    99      0  Mults = 74  Total Score = 400,062

Club: Oklahoma DX Association

Comments:

So where to start telling about this 7QP QSO Party. I will begin by
first stating my thanks to my operating partner Matt, K7BG. He and his
wife Kerrie welcomed me to Montana by taking good care of me for two
evenings in their home. Thanks to them both for their generosity and
kindness.

Matt had never used a K3 nor N1MM but within ten to fifteen minutes
after the start of the party on Saturday morning he was well on his way
to mastering what is needed to get Qs in the log. All day long and for
the entire 18 hour marathon run both of us stayed focused on the objective,
wrestle with the pileups, log the Qs and avoid any navigation problems
while keeping an eye on the gas tank. 

Before getting to Montana I had been on the air a good deal and hoped 
I had not used up all the fire power the mobile had. I had some concern 
with generation of AC to charge the battery bank and keeping the laptop 
perking. All unnecessary concerns on my part as every piece of equipment 
and all antennas performed flawlessly for the entire run. Fortunately it 
has been some time since I have had to replace anything in the mobile with 
one of my spares.

Matt and I rolled out Saturday morning and headed North. Action started 
up right away and continued for the entire day only dropping off a bit 
the last couple of hours. I had suggested to Matt 1,800 QSOs should be our 
target but as the day progressed it started looking like 2,000 might be 
possible. 

Moving into Judith Basin County, the second to last on our planned route 
I was operating and started pressing for a final couple of hundred QSOs 
to reach the 2,000 mark. As I mentioned above activity seemed to diminish 
the last two hours so rate was no were near as good at the closing bell 
as it had been all day. Regardless as I closed the log at 1AM local time 
Sunday morning, in Cascade county, we had 1,959 QSOs in the log. So, as 
Matt had said, 2,000 was just a goal and sometimes goals are only set as 
targets. We were both pleased with the result and thank all who
"rode"
with us all day long.

Round trip mileage during the party was near 1,150 miles. Montana is a 
BIG state. In the Eastern part of the state cell coverage with my 
particular cell phone provider is tower poor so driving duties became a 
good deal easier on this run compared to other parties I have operated in.
Spotting duties were non-existent most of the time. Thanks to all who 
might have spotted our moves. I am certain some spotting was done for us 
as the pileups, when we moved into a new county were "deep". It was
rare 
we ventured to SSB and in a county or two we never got to leave 20 meter
CW the big producer, at least for us, in this party.

What a pleasure it was for me personally to have Matt, a Montana native,
drive, operate and ride with me. In addition to being a great operator of
the Morse he knows the roads like the back of his hand referring to my 
Atlas only when double checking our planned route.

Late Saturday however one of his - we will get around the center of town
moves - did cost us the planned time in Big Horn county. We were almost 
exactly an hour behind our schedule which we discovered in Wibaux county.
As we approached Petroleum county all of a sudden we were back on schedule.
Both of us wondered how that could be. A look at the route Sunday morning
exposed the fact that we did not turn South to run Big Horn. As we were
motoring along the interstate in Yellowstone county we heard somebody send 
"BIG BIG?" We both were puzzled by the statement but again didn't tie
it 
to anything until today when we discovered we "missed" Big Horn
county. 
Regardless, all worked out well because we had a few more minutes in 
Petroleum county versus the 4 minutes the plan called for and we were able 
to complete our run within a few minutes from Matt's home which was the 
late night target after the party. Both of us stayed so busy we never 
even referred to our county list which would have exposed our Big Horn bypass.


The bands were in pretty good condition. As I was coming to Montana I worked
quite a bit of DX from the mobile especially midday on both 15 and 20 meters.
The same occurred for us during the run Saturday. Very large signals from,
especially Europe, were present for most of the day. Montana is far enough
North to make JA and Asian QSOs a tad easier than from Oklahoma. We worked
a number of JAs and had an HS0 call in. Nice from a mobile. Similar to the
VU2 that broke through the pile last summer in the Kansas QSO Party.  

We visited 10 meters a number of times, looked around and then called a few
CQ 7QPs but found no one and had no takers.

Our thanks to all the European callers that stayed with us the entire day.
Many call signs too numerous to list. Usually I do a "Land Rush Mobile 
Honor Roll" listing, as John N6MU calls my tallies, but not having Excel
available to me on this WiFi capable laptop I will skip any attempts to
do the Honor roll listing for DX and US stations this time. 

Rates were really quite good as we maintained well over a hundred an hour 
all day. I have read here on 3830 where this is the best ever 7QP experienced 
by the "locals". That is a credit to the organizers and especially
Dick N4XU 
aka N7XU/M the Chief Bottle Washer and Cook for the 7QP.

We managed to work many 7th area counties and even had quite a number of
Montana stations give us a call. I do not remember the call sign but
one Montana station was in Ravalli County - MTRAV. Matt got a kick out 
of me calling it Ravioli County, the only Italian County in Montana. 
I have to think the lack of Montana coverage in past 7QPs got placed 
way back on the list of needed multipliers in the 7QP this year.

Again, both myself and Matt want to thank all who gave us a memorable
Saturday on the radio. I personally want to thank Matt again for his
joining me in this one. It could have been "very" lonely especially
in
the nighttime hours all by myself in this one. 

Lastly, even though there is wildlife around every corner in Montana we 
had no experience having to duck an Elk, deer or antelope and not one 
pheasant or grouse became a Hustler antenna ornament. Amazing if you could
see the amount of wildlife I have seen on my journey through one of the 
most magnificent states in the union. Montana has a vast landscape of 
beautiful mountains, valleys and livestock of various kinds grazing the 
fields.

73, Matt, K7BG and Jerry K5YAA

Our rig: A K3, solid state amplifier loafing along at 6-700 watts, 
three Hustler antennas, 10/40 15 and 20 meters and a Tarheel for 40
meters daytime and 80 meter nightime radiation. N1MM+ logging on a Dell
laptop that is one of the ugliest and most damaged laptops in the country 
but still ticking as long as the Hoonda generator keeps running to charge it. 
Fortunately the generator purred without much attention all day long though 
the high altitudes gave it a tad bit of COPD at times.


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