[3830] FlQP K4OJ/M(@NX4N/M) Multi-Op MobileCW LP

[webform at b4h.net]

                    Florida QSO Party - 2021

Call: K4OJ/M
Operator(s): N4KM K0LUZ NX4N
Station: NX4N/M

Class: Multi-Op MobileCW LP
QTH: FL
Operating Time (hrs): 20

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
   40:  1792     
   20:  2548     
   15:    45     
   10:           
--------------------
Total:  4385    0  CW Mults = 91  Ph Mults = 0  Total Score = 1,596,140

Club: Florida Contest Group

Comments:

Hi FQP Fanatical Friends,After the Virus Apocalypse last year and a truly
"special" visit from Murphy in 2019, the K4OJ/m team was hungry to get
back on the road for some FB FQP action.  We we're not disappointed; wht a
blast!  This was our 7th outing and we had great fun.  Much to tell - read
on... 
First, the results:K4OJ - SCORE SUMMARY: Band     QSOs     Pts  Mul
 Pt/Q
     7    1792    7168   37   4.0
    14    2548   10192   53   4.0
    21      45     180    1   4.0
 Total    4385   17540   91   4.0
Score: 1,596,140
1 Mult = 48.2 Q's
          Please note this is a higher claimed score than in our first
year 2014 with four stations, and within a hair of our best year 2015 running
three stations.  Much of this year's results is due to our Outside-of-Florida
Friends rabid participation - thank you you all!And of course, my friends and
Monster Ops Kevin N4KM and Red K0LUZ took big advantage of all the activity.
GRIN Other Stats:20m - K4OJ Max Rates (K0LUZ Op):2021-04-24 1704Z - 5.0 per
minute  (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by K0LUZ 
2021-04-25 2100Z - 4.0 per minute  (10 minute(s)), 240 per hour by K0LUZ 
2021-04-25 2126Z - 3.2 per minute  (60 minute(s)), 194 per hour by K0LUZ  
40/15m - K4OJ Max Rates (N4KM Op):2021-04-24 2311Z - 5.0 per minute  (1
minute(s)), 300 per hour by N4KM
2021-04-25 1222Z - 3.7 per minute  (10 minute(s)), 222 per hour by N4KM  
2021-04-25 0049Z - 2.9 per minute  (60 minute(s)), 174 per hour by N4KM
TOTAL (Two Stations Combined) - K4OJ Max Rates:
2021-04-25 0027Z - 10.0 per minute  (1 minute(s)), 600 per hour by N4KM &
K0LUZ 
2021-04-25 2159Z - 7.2 per minute  (10 minute(s)), 432 per hour by N4KM &
K0LUZ
2021-04-25 2126Z - 5.7 per minute  (60 minute(s)), 340 per hour by N4KM &
K0LUZ
It was pure bedlam at times, but *soooo* much fun!  And the pileups were
generally very orderly; a real tribute to the quality of our ops outside
FL.Considering the conditions, we all were amazed at the *many* positive things
we observed/experienced this weekend.  

B4 THE BALL - DANCING WITH THE RFI STARS:In 2019, I switched vehicles to my
current SUV, a 2017 Toyota Sequoia - and, along with frequent Murphy visits, it
was a disaster.  Despite my best efforts and hundreds of hours of work, the 20m
station experienced S5-7 RFI from 40m.  I even blew up my K3 front-end during
RFI experiments (ya know, cracked eggs to make an omelet...). K0LUZ lived with
the RFI but at those levels we were missing an entire layer of small signal to
work.  Frustrating!So we agreed we would not do this again in 2021 until two
conditions were met-1.  All ops were fully vaccinated (that was the easy
part)2.  RFI has been abated to more managable levelsAs team lead and VP of
Latrines, my job is basically to keep Kevin and Red happy, drive them to
counties on time and not get lost, and just let them run wild on the bands. 
They were watered, fed and (somewhat) rested but the chief challenge was the
dadgum RFI.  So I set out again to try to tame this tiger, and have worked on
RFI abatement daily for the past two months.  I've learned a lot and had some
successes, and have relied on brilliant engineers like my friend K4SAV, VA6AM
and K0BG's brilliant mobile website.  Their inputs, direct or indirect over the
years, have proven invaluable.
In the end, the 20m RFI was improved to a manageable S2-4 - not optimal but
workable!!  And of course the K3's we use have clean TX, robust RX filters and
super NB/NR functions to really aid this.  And with zero RFI on 40m or 15m, so
we declared it "good enough"! So, we hit de road, Man... TAILS FROM
THE ROAD - Positive, Negative and Just Plain Weird:Highlights:
Ain't no Meters...40m was *huge* with nearly 1800 QSO's (wow!) that kept Kevin
busy day and night.  Kevin made a Whopping 1000+ 40m QSO's on Saturday
alone!REDY ON 20:  Big numbers on 20m too - Red made 2500+ QSO's despite Henny
Penny's Solar Event with ESP signals and plenty of QSB.  This is where the
reduced RFI levels really paid off!  I'm absolutely convinced Red would have
put at least 300-500 Q's more if conditions had been better and signals stronger
(he's done it repeatedly in the past).Terrific Teamwork:  Ex. - Red would be
trying to pull out a weak EU and asked Kevin to QRX until the QSO was complete;
these two are simply wonder operators and team players.  Much fun to watch them
work together like that.Get your Game-Face On:  The new Sequoia was not nearly
as roomy as my old trusy/rusty Suburban, so ergonomic sacrifices were
required.  One of the changes was switching to 87 key Gaming Keyboards.  These
are smaller, tactile but not too loud (I had to learn about red, blue and brown
switches - I like brown); and they are waterproof and tough as nails.  And my
ops love that they have backlit keys - great for nighttime operating.  Good
enough for weekend Online and HF Gamers alike!Traffic:  In the 9 years I have
been doing FQP mobile, this was the lightest traffic I've ever seen.  Not much
police activity and much of the*endless* road construction on our route was
completed.  So nice!Come back another day:  Very little rain and love bugs -
just a scattering of each.  One 10min downpour near BRE was it. and no biting
flies in MON (1st year ever).Rock solid station/antenna/power reliability -
during the contest nothing stopped working, period.  Almost boring, but careful
what you wish for! The Pile ups!  Both Red and Kevin enjoyed some Texas-sized
pile ups, with truly A1 operators on both ends that kept it manageable and
fun!  With the higher activity we worried less about 'schedule' and often
stopped in smaller counties to let 2nd and 3rd tier signal work us for the
mults.  Huge, extended pileups included stops in NAS, CLM, LAF, HEN, HIG and
OKE.  Hope you got what you wished for...MONROE!  We headed through the Grand
Dragon County of CLR for almost an hour before getting to that sweet little
swath of paradise at MON.  We stayed in MON for a full half-hour as headphones
crackled with dx-style pileups espcially on 20m; Red was exhausted but
happy!Activity Levels were off the charts (thanks to all of you!).  We were
driving in CLR for about an hour and we *still* had a steady stream of callers -
WOW!  It was like that all weekend - thank you!Murphy was largely kept at bay
(see lowlights below).  You may recall that in 2019 we lost our first hour,
both stations, when a K3 died five minutes after the start of the contest and
had to be replaced/rewired.  BRO county-wide roadblocks cost us another hour. 
Gennie fuel line failure - you get the drift for 2019.  But not this
year!Driver was permitted to operate both stations during Gas/Nature breaks; oh
my, I missed those sweet pileups!Lowlights:We Be Jammin' Red Hot:  
Red had to put up with intentional, persistent QRM, as well as multiple FIXED
STATIONS IN THE MOBILE WINDOW (bad dogs!).  Red fought valliantly but
repeatedly was driven to QSY - really, really frustrating.  Oh well, hope we
can all respect the window next year.There Ain't No Meters; really!
15m was open Sunday but only the smart few checked it out.  As we traveled big
counties in SFL, Kevin would QSY to 15m to chum for QSO sharks.  We had 45
takers - all with good signals from East to West coasts, VE and everywhere in
between.  Even worked an LU... Where was everyone else?  Hopefully folks will
try our forgotten band next year.  
No LUCK, LAK - Murphy gets cute:  Massive road construction near our starting
point meant we missed our first county of LAK; we made up enough time to add PIN
at the end of the first day instead.  So 47 total counties instead of 48. 
Hopefully next year we'll be more prepared (and the roadwork finished!).Murphy
PowerPlay:  
So I pull into the Publix parking lot meeting point and our ops get inside to
familiarize themselves with the stations.  When Red hits his first DIT, the
generator dies...Noooo!  Kevin and I start debugging.  I accuse Red of
secretly smuggling an SB-220 into his setup thus killing the gennie.  His
denials seemed genuine so Kevin and I keep debugging and figure out that the
fuel cap to the gennie from the external tank was not tight and thus leaked air
(so no syphon). UGH
Well, here we are - empty 50lb gen and full 35lb external fuel tank next to it;
and no way to get gas from one to the other...yikes!
The brilliant station engineer says, "We can use gravity!" and
promptly asks his bestest buddy Kevin to hold the 35lb tank above his head while
we draiin some fuel into the Gen. "Kevin, the fuel line it too short; can
you please squat a little bit?"  Tnx Kevin.  With some gas in the gen
once again and a retightened fuel cap the generator cranked up and kept going
strong the rest of the weekend.  But I still don't trust that 20m 5KW
DIT!BREAKING NEWS - FQP DOPING SCANDAL!
Three weeks before FQP I was working on the SUV and stations and wrenched my
back - ouch!  So the first week it was Ibuprophen and cold/hot packs.  The 2nd
week I start to worry and go to my chiropractor but no treatment is working.
Stiff as a board... The week of FQP I break down and talk to my doctor and beg
her for good drugs - she prescibes a muscle relaxer *and* prednisone.  Five day
treatment on steroids finished Sunday and kept enough of the pain away to allow
me to function and drive.  FQP Leadership has demanded that I submit to a
random drug test before FQP 2022...

STRANGE BUT TRUE ROAD TALES/TAILS:This driver really enjoys operating FQP but
the Stations management, route planning and especially driving the road rally
can be both challenging and very rewarding.  Our state is so beautiful and the
endless green fields, huge trees and inviting lakes/ponds make this part of FQP
fun for me.However, I also noted some real weirdness including the following,
*all* near the MON/DAD/CLR tri-county line:LOST HIS HEAD:  
After our trip at the MON line, we start into DAD and within a mile I see a
10-11ft alligator with a huge belly - and *no head*.  Some of our local
swampfolk must have enjoyed the souvenir.  Or had a really tasty meal...(er,
tastes like chicken?).I GWANNA FQP, MON:
So just as we started heading north on US27 in DAD after seeing our headless
buddy, I'm going at a pretty good clip when I see something long in the road. 
Is it a branch? A Boa? Another Gator?  NOPE!
Just chillin' there in the right hand lane across from the Seminole Casino is a
3-4ft Iguana.  I had no time to react so I just aim the tires on either side
and hope we both stay still.  Immediately looking in my rearview mirror, both
Guana and I say YIKES and he runs back to the edge of the road and into the
grass unharmed...only in South FL.These are *not* Steroid delusions - promise! 
My grown children still don't believe me...oh Dad!
So there you have the 2021 FQP K4OJ MM/m adventure - it was a heck of a lot of
fun and we'll be back next year when (hopefully) 15m will grace us with her
presence.  We may or may not add a 3rd station accordingly.  Red and Kevin and
perfect teammates; we have great synergy and encourage and help each other.
We'd like to offer special thanks to our own FCG past president and VP FQP Dan
Street K1TO, who has been the Foundation of and Leader for FQP since 1998 - tnx
Dan for all you've done for us including providing such amazing scoring results
and analyses!  You are the heart and soul of all things FQP.Thanks also to our
FCG president Chris W4WF; he is a superb, effective and practical leader who
motivates all of us to give our best for FQP and FCG - tnx Chris.KU8E is our new
FQP Webmaster and it's been a pleasure to work with him; sure appreciate it
Jeff!
Also a *must* - sincere appreciation to Bob K0RC and Chuck NO5W for their
super-duper county tracking tools - these are indispensable for working the
sweeps, planning routes and more.  Bob/Chuck - you guys are the best!  Thanks
for your major support.

A tip of the hat to our fellow road warriors, each of who do an amazing job of
getting cobwebs off antennas, rigs, pc's power plants and performing vehicle and
routing set up to make the first contact.  I sincerely am in awe of your
enthusiasm for hitting the road and am proud to call you fellow FQP
mobiler/expeditioner.Also have to give huge kudos to our terrific Fixed and 1x1
Spelling Bee partners - you all are the foundation of our way-cool QSO Party -
thank you for standing strong on all the bands representing our Sunshine State.
Red and Kevin - let's do this craziness next year!  I already have top secret
plans in the works!  Batteries not required...steroids optional.
Finally - our biggest, loudest applause is for all of you out-of-state operators
who are the real heros. Whether you make a dozen or several hundred QSO's, your
enthusiastic participation and support help make the FQP fun for all.  We can
throw the party, but it is you that keep coming back every year - thank you,
thank you, thank you!  
Next year will be our 25th Anniversary edition of the Florida QSO Party - wonder
what surprises await?!?!?!?!See you in FQP 2022!
FQP - So Bright You Gotta Wear Shades! 

vy 73/OJ,Chris, NX4N - K4OJ MM/m Team Lead


Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/