[3830] TxQP NO5W Multi-Op Mobile LP

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Texas QSO Party

Call: NO5W
Operator(s): K5OT NO5W
Station: NO5W

Class: Multi-Op Mobile LP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 17

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:                   
   40:   459    2        
   20:   656    0        
   15:                   
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
  UHF:                   
----------------------------
Total:  1115    2       0  Mults = 89  Total Score = 340,061

Club: Central Texas DX and Contest Club

Comments:

Score includes a bonus of 42000 for activating 42 counties with five our more
Qs

K3/100, HI-Q 4/80, Dell D610 logging, Sony Vaio navigation, MS Streets &
Trips, and CQ/X 1.8.0.12, 2002 Pathfinder

This was the third consecutive year that Larry-K5OT and I have done a mobile
trip in the Texas QSO Party running the same route of 40+ counties with some
fairly minor tweaks. This year, even though we stuck very close to the
schedule, we missed the final county on each day arriving just as the closing
bells rang. Saturday Harris was missed and Sunday Bastrop. We could have
covered Harris first thing Sunday morning since our Saturday night lodging was
in that county but we elected to get on down the road deep into Brazoria before
the opening bell since Harris seemed to have adequate representation and we knew
the Sunday schedule was going to be tight with some under-represented counties
toward the end of the day. 

Weather was more a factor this year than in previous years with Saturday
afternoon finding us in the path of a significant thunderstorm in Lee county
with tornado-looking clouds. Fortunately no twisters materialized. Sunday there
was rain in the morning and more in the afternoon, mostly just rain but there
was what seemed like a very close lightning strike on Sunday afternoon.
Propagation was some of the poorest we have experienced and had a serious
impact on our multiplier count. In previous years we have used S&P on SSB
to seek out fixed stations in new counties but this approach netted only two
SSB contacts this year. In addition to poor propagation it seemed, and several
have commented, that participation was down from previous years. There is a lot
of obvious competition for TQP operating time on the current weekend with the
main distractions being: CQWW RTTY, NCAA and NFL Football in full swing. At one
point for an hour or two on Sunday afternoon it seemed like everyone had left.
Truth be told there was also a little operator error involved in that segment
with the operator on duty not realizing that the filter had somehow gotten
shifted by about 150 Hz. Finally the operator realized why he was having to
engage so much RIT and things returned somewhat to normal. Apologies if we
CQ-ed in your face during parts of Goliad and Bee. So much bouncing down the
road can lead to an inadvertent touch of the filter shift knob that it would be
nice to have a way of locking it similar to what is done for the main VFO knob.

Even though participation seemed light, as we worked only 240 different calls,
we had a number of frequent callers and appreciate the following stations for
providing us with enough QSOs to account for more than half of our contacts:
N6MU(48), VE3KZ(39), WB9CIF(34), NW0M(27), K8QWY(27), WA6KHK(26), WJ9B(23),
K2ZR(22), K4MM(22), NR5M(21), WB5JID(21), KN4Y(20), VE5SDH(20), WN4AFP(19),
K4QPL(19), N8UM(19), K3TW(18), DK2OY(18), WB8WKQ(15), K4BAI(15), WC5D(15),
AE5GT(14), N4PN(14), N3RJ(13), W5DXS(12), SP9LJD(12), K9GDF(12), and AH6AX(11).
Note that this list may include some duplicates.

As always it was a pleasure operating with K5OT and being hosted on Friday
night with a very fine dinner prepared by Larry's XYL, Leona. Thanks to both of
them for their fine hospitality. Staying over Monday and delaying the drive back
to New Orleans until Tuesday allowed time for K5OT to show me around K5TR's fine
station in the Hill Country and also time to attend a CTDXCC meeting to visit
with some old friends from my previous time in Texas. 

That just about winds up the QSO party circuit for us for 2016. We hope to make
the usual ones LAQP, MSQP, FQP, and TxQP again next year with perhaps a surprise
one thrown in there somewhere. In the meantime good luck to all and have fun in
the upcoming contests.

73
Chuck-NO5W
Larry-K5OT


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