[3830] TxQP WB0TEV SO SSB Mobile LP

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                    Texas QSO Party - 2019

Call: WB0TEV
Operator(s): WB0TEV
Station: WB0TEV

Class: SO SSB Mobile LP
QTH: TX
Operating Time (hrs): 18:00

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:                   
   40:         100       
   20:         200       
   15:                   
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
  UHF:                   
----------------------------
Total:   0     300      0  Mults = 25  Total Score = 50,000

Club: DFW Contest Group

Comments:

The score above is just an estimate for now.  I plan on re-posting later with an
update after I process the log. 

The TxQP is a very much CW-centric contest, but I try and make a good showing
for the mixed and SSB only participants as well. 

The last time I went mobile in the Texas QSO Party was 2016.  Ever since then
I've been running off to Belize the last weekend in September to do the CQ WW
RTTY contest as V31VP.  This year the TxQP contest date was moved two weeks
earlier, a move I applaud as I can now do both and the CW ops don't have to fit
with the RTTY on 40 late Saturday.

My operating conditions are rather retro.  The vehicle I use for mobile HF
contesting is "the olde grey lady" my aging 1986 Pontiac Parisienne. 
Unlike the boxy modern SUV's, a sedan like this works better antenna wise with a
long Hustler whip mounted on a fender with minimal vehicle body blockage.   The
rig is of similar vintage, a mid-1980's Yaseu FT-757 mounted on the transmission
hump.   I run the contest solo and almost constantly in motion.  In order to
produce a log I record all the contest audio using a tiny Sansa Clip mp3 player
/recorder clipped onto an old sock tied onto the inside rearview mirror with its
microphone pointed down towards the FT-757 speaker.   I also record the trip
using a dash cam with audio as a backup. 

In most contests, using recordings like this to make a log would be verboten,
but when I asked the TxQP sponsors a few years ago if they would accept this,
they agreed.  So, I've got 18 hours of recordings to play back over the next
couple of weeks so as to transcribe a log and put it in Cabrillo format. (Why do
I do this to myself??!!)  Next time though, I think I'll bring along a capable
CW op to put the 40+ counties I traverse on CW and also log for me when I'm
doing SSB, taking turns at the radio.

I had a very ambitious plan to do 46 counties, but I fell behind schedule on
Saturday and had to take a short cut to catch up to my time line plan and had to
forgo Leon county.    

Saturday was painful.  Conditions seemed poor.  Seemingly not being able to get
much traction on 20m, I spent the bulk of Saturday on 40m.  In hindsight that
was a mistake and I learned my lesson the next day.  Its hard to do 20m mobile
as you often end up calling close to or on the same freq as another Texas
station and you can't figure out why no one is coming back to you.  The
competition from the WAE SSB contest was also a factor.  Sunday I figured out
that I needed to go really high in the band and once I settled in a bit above
14300 things got a lot better.   A lesson learned for next time. 

My performance on Saturday was also hindered by yet another bird strike.  If you
go read my write-up from my last TXQP mobile foray in 2016 you'll see how I
creamed a buzzard.   This year I had another avian incident.  (Time to stencil
another buzzard silhouette on the old grey lady, 3 more and I'm an ace!)  Around
2225 Z I see a big buzzard come across my field of view followed by a WHOMMPPFF!
 I see the base of my spring loaded fender mounted HF antenna wobble and a burst
of  feathers in my rearview mirror, but nothing seemed to have fallen off so I
just kept on truckin'.    Thing is, I didn't seem to be getting anywhere.  Doing
Search and Pounce, stations would CQ in my face.  I was hearing a funny noise
from the rear of the car at times too.   A quick check of VSWR showed that
forward and reflected power were essentially the same so I knew it was time to
stop and investigate.  I needed a bio break anyway.  

Once I parked outside a convenience store in Walker county I saw the first
problem.  The 2m/440 mag mount that had been on my roof was hanging by its coax
over the right rear fender.  Looking up at the Hustler HF vertical I could see
that the 20m coil and stinger mounted on the triple plate adapter had gotten
bent from the bird strike folding it up closer to the 40m coil and detuning both
bands.  The bird likely first clipped the VHF mag mount before colliding with
the HF whip.  I stuck the mag mount back where it belonged.  After bending
things back and making some length tweaks on the HF stingers I got the VSWR on
20 and 40 back where they should be and got back on the road with improved
results.

My last county for Saturday was slated to be Bastrop and I was concerned that
even with bypassing Leon I was still running behind.  Luckily I made it to
Bastrop in plenty of time.  I'd still managed to activate 29 of my planned 30
counties that day, but there were a couple where, for the first time, I hadn't
been able to scare up the 5 QSOs needed for a 1000 point bonus.  One thing I
re-learned (that I now remember experiencing in 2016) is that AT&T cell
coverage in far SE Anderson county is non-existent.  My route only had me in
Anderson for but a few miles too.  If/when I do this again I'm going to modify
the route to avoid that cell-forsaken spot. 

While Saturday was primarily a 40m day, Sunday was almost all 20m.  40m
conditions on Sunday also really went down the tubes.   

On Sunday I was aided greatly by KK7AC in Arizona who followed along with me all
day Sunday acting as "mission control".  Andy would help me find (and
keep) clear frequencies and could always be relied on to get me one of the
minimum 5 QSOs I needed for the 1000 point bonus for activating each county.  He
didn't have internet at his shack, so couldn't aid in spotting me, but when I
needed to I pulled over and did that myself.  

After starting off the morning at the Hays/Caldwell county line on 7222 (where I
found KK7AC  waiting for me), by mid-morning I was primarily up on 14304 (later
moving to 14307 to avoid a net) and gained a growing following.  Unlike Saturday
where I fell behind schedule I ended up as much as 30 minutes ahead of schedule.
 This was largely due to the fact that I didn't have to use the extra time I'd
budgeted to linger in counties where I just clipped the corner in order to scare
up at least 5 QSOs.  With a dedicated following I could get a good pileup going
and clear it in much less than the 12-15 minutes of stop time I'd figured in.  

The tail end was to be a 4 mile dash through the SW corner of Wood county and
then park at the Wood/Rains county line in the closing minutes.  I had a
tremendous pileup at the Wood/Rains line which I eventually cleared. Looking at
the GPS and clock I realized that I had a shot at getting across Rains and back
to Hunt county (where I'd started Saturday AM) with a few minutes to spare.  
Announcing my intentions, I put threw the Olde Grey Lady in gear and sent the
gravel flying from the shoulder as we headed northwest at 70 mph (except where
the speed limit was lower).   Would we make it?  I made a few more Rains county
QSOs as we rocked up US 69 from Emory Texas headed for Lone Oak just across the
Hunt/Rains county line.   

I made it with several minutes to spare, pulling into the parking lot of Lone
Oak High school (just across the county line) and made several more QSOs with
"the deserving".

Then it was just a 20 minute drive to my QTH and some much needed refreshment. 


It had been quite a ride.  Ever since I bought the Chevy Tahoe last year, the
Olde Grey Lady hasn't gotten out much, but this weekend I put about 1000 miles
under her wheels and feed her about 50 gallons of gas and quart of 10W30.  Her
AC was nice and cool, she ran well and got almost 19 mpg.  As I unloaded her and
parked her for the night, I could have sworn that I saw her wink a turn signal
at me and whisper from under the hood: 
"I may be old, and I've been around the block a few times, buy you know
I've still got it."   Had 18 hours of mobile SSB contesting incited an
auditory hallucination?  Had WB0TEV's mind finally been flung off the edge of
the Smith chart?  

CQ THE TEXAS QSO PARTY, CQ THE TEXAS QSO PARTY, from Hunt county Texas,  whiskey
bravo zero tango echo victor mobile...........


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