[3830] KsQP N0U(NU0Q) Mobile SO CW LP

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Kansas QSO Party

Call: N0U
Operator(s): NU0Q
Station: N0U

Class: Mobile SO CW LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 15

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
   80:                   
   40:                   
   20:  517              
   15:  276              
   10:                   
    6:                   
----------------------------
Total:  793     0       0  Mults = 49  Total Score = 116,571

Club: 

Comments:

Thanks to W0BH for organizing another great Kansas QSO Party and thanks to all
who worked me.  The weather was relatively cool, but we did have to deal with a
few storms.

We made 793 QSOs, all CW.  There were 517 QSOs on 20 meters and 276 on 40
meters.

I rarely encounter other mobiles on the road, but this year was an exception. 
As we passed the Seward/Meade county line, we could see N0Y just south of the
highway stradling the county line.  Then in Harper county, we worked K0S going
the other way on the highway.  Late on Saturday, we spotted W0E on the other
side of the median on I-35.  Of course, in all of these instances, I knew
someone was close, as my IC-706MKIIg was swamped, even with the attenuator on. 
I guess with so many mobiles around, we were bound to encounter a few on the
road.

About two hours into the party, my computer decided to shut down suddenly
without warning.  Fortunately, it only happened once, and I have no idea what
happened.  I don't think I lost any data.  We were only about ten minutes away
from our planned lunch break, so I was able to let the computer restart while
we ate our Subway sandwiches in Medicine Lodge.  Otherwise, the CQ/X software
written by NO5W worked reasonably well.  All three of my USB ports are in use
by the GPS, rig interface, and K1EL keyer.  And I run Street Atlas in a
separate window so I can see the county lines approaching.

The assigned CW frequency plan for mobiles worked well most of the time, but
there were a few times that an Ohio station or a Kansas 1x1 fixed station
showed up below 040.  The bigger problem was the DX on 14034 (I didn't listen
long enough to find out who it was, but it looks like it was VP6J on Pitcairn)
that was listening up.  This was a problem on both mornings for a few hours.  I
went up to around 14043, and most people seemed to find me.  I'm sure others had
to deal with this also, and I hope I didn't end up on someone else's frequency.

We thought our planned Saturday route was aggressive, but we got to the end of
the route about three hours early.  So, we decided to extend the route eastward
into Franklin County so we could eat some famous fall-off-the-bone ribs at Guy
and Mae's tavern.  As we arrived, the skies were threatening, so I took down
the antenna (Little Tarheel II) and thought the day was over, but after dinner,
the storm was gone, so we reran a few counties on the way back to our hotel in
Emporia.  Sorry for the confusion.

Sunday went according to plan for the most part.  However, we saw a storm south
of us when we were in Elk County.  Following our plan, we turned south to
Chautauqua County, but when we got into the rain (and lightning!), we decided
to turn around.  We did make some contacts there, but we would have made more
if the weather had been better.  As it was, we arrived at the end of our route
at our hotel only five minutes before the end of the party.  It was really busy
at the end.  I was surprised that Sedgwick County would be so popular!

I tried to run both 20 and 40 meters in every county, but I somehow missed 40
meters in a few counties.  Sorry about that.  Both bands worked fairly well,
with a little bit of DX showing up both days.  I was pleased that there was a
fair amount of activity on 40 meters, more than I remember in prior years.

Thanks to my XYL Karen for doing all the driving.  She does seem to like to
listen to the CW, and she's starting to figure out what I'm sending.

Having used the N0U call sign for four years now, I finally printed up some
special QSL cards.  I plan to be mobile in the Iowa QSO party in October, so
you might want to hold off on sending QSLs or MRCs until late October.  Thanks
again for all the contacts.  73,  Bill, NU0Q.


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