[3830] Salmon Run N7WA/M MobileCW LP

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                    Washington State Salmon Run - 2020

Call: N7WA/M
Operator(s): N7WA
Station: N7WA/M

Class: MobileCW LP
QTH: 
Operating Time (hrs): 

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs  Dig Qs
----------------------------
  160:                   
   80:  134              
   40:   60              
   20:  425              
   15:                   
   10:                   
    6:                   
    2:                   
----------------------------
Total:  619     0       0  Mults = 61  Total Score = 113,277

Club: 

Comments:

For personal reasons, I couldn’t do a full-bore effort on Saturday and needed
to be home. So, I split the mobile effort into a Saturday portion into EWA and a
full day Sunday in WWA. After all the wildfire smoke and dry weather, it was
really nice to drive over the pass to EWA in heavy rain. Getting into EWA there
was still some haze but it was looking good. I started the contest on the
Yakima/Klickitat county line and it began with a bang running locals on 80M 
before switching to 40M, which had no activity, then 20M which was open across
the country and even a couple European DX. This was the pattern for the rest of
the day. Work locals on 80, nothing much on 40, then pretty good activity on
20M. I could only spend 40 minutes at each stop and it was usually to 40-60
minutes to travel to the next location. 

There were several new EWA locations this year since I was running a shortened
route. The first, the Franklin/Adams County line was great! No noise and even a
side road so I could pull off the main highway safely. This one goes on my
keeper list. Usually, there is something “animal” related that happens on
every Salmon Run. This time it wasn’t a personal encounter but, as I sat on
the Franklin/Adams line, a car pulled alongside and wanted to know if I would be
able to take care of a cow on the wrong side of the fence on the main highway.
They thought I might be a farmworker (with my headphones on and three strange
antennas in the truck bed). I laughed and explained what I was doing and that
they might want to try further down the way. Both my Royal City stop (Grant
County) and the Rye Grass rest stop (Kittitas) were noisy. I stuck with the
noise in Royal City but after working the locals on 80M at Rye Grass, I headed
down the hill to the city of Kittitas. That location was much quieter AND 40M
opened up finally. Probably would have been nice for the evening but, alas, I
was headed home from Kittitas.

I’ve never done Salmon Run mobile from WWA. This was going to be a sweep of
rural SW Washington along the coast and back up north along I-5. Except for the
I-5 portion, it was long drive times between stops. The operating pattern
matched Saturdays on 80M and 20M. 40M was of no use.  It all went well until my
second to last stop in Cowlitz county. The SWR started acting strange, 
I was tired, and my enthusiasm was waning. I even got my computer in some kind
of audio mode where it spoke my every Key press. Everytime I called CQ pressing
F1, it said "F1". I couldn't shut it off. Still, I headed north to my
last stop. In an attempt to jump my flagging spirits, I stopped at the best
milkshake shop in the state along the way (Mrs Beesleys in Toledo). 

The effects from the milkshake were very temporary and my troubles continued at
the Lewis/Thurston County line. Then, in the middle of my working the locals on
80M, the rig shutdown. What? Then I turned off my voltage booster and saw that
my battery (separate from the truck) was at about 10 volts. Every time I keyed;
the voltage was dropping under load from the boosted 14V to 10 volts. I quickly
realized the input to my battery charging system had likely become disconnected
in my days travel (it ended up being a pushed back Anderson Power Pole pin) and
I hadn’t noticed. My SWR problems may have been related to operating the K3 at
such low voltage. I quickly connected the radio to the truck battery and
everything started working fine, even my SWR problems went away. My apologies to
the guys waiting on 80M. I did work a couple by hand because the computer locked

up too and had to be rebooted. Watch out when you shut down N1MM with a
COUNTYLINE setup but you don't have any contacts yet. It reverts to the last
COUNTYLINE or ROVERQTH.

It was good to head home. I forgot (I always do) how hard it is to drive and
operate as a single op over 800 miles. Still, I can say a day later that it was
fun. Hope everyone got the counties they needed.

Interesting observations related to COVID-19: 

- I can't go through a drive-thru because of my mobile antennas and no fast food
dining rooms are open. If I wanted to eat, it was gas station food for the most
part. (Mrs Beesley's was a fortunate exception.)

- No dining rooms, no restrooms. Same with most gas stations.

- My brand of pepperoni sticks now come individually wrapped.

- I went out with three antennas for 80/40/20. Only way to go! Instant
switching.


Hoping things get back to normal for 7QP.

cheers
dink


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