[3830] OkQP W0BH Mobile AssistedMixed LP
webform at b4h.net
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Sun Mar 20 13:00:04 EDT 2022
Oklahoma QSO Party - 2022
Call: W0BH
Operator(s): W0BH
Station: W0BH
Class: Mobile AssistedMixed LP
QTH: 27 OK counties
Operating Time (hrs): 15.1
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80:
40: 362 2
20: 930 618
15: 136 55
10:
6:
----------------------------
Total: 1428 675 0 Mults = 67 Total Score = 390,978
Club:
Comments:
Logs have been submitted to the QSO party sponsor. Score includes 13,500 mobile
bonus points for working at least 10 stations in each county.
2022 Oklahoma QSO Party by Bob Harder, W0BH
It was pre-COVID when we last completed an entire two-day QSO party. This year,
the first two days of the OKQP coincided with the first two days of my Spring
Break from Hesston College. We decided to run both days and then spend a few
more days hiking in the beautiful Wichita Mountains in south-central Oklahoma.
Weather was forecast to be nice after a bit of snow the day before. That really
didn't materialize, so it turned out to be a non-issue even though we saw a few
patches on the way down.
I planned a route to include the usual northern counties west of I-35, ending up
in Lawton overnight. Sunday's route went east and south to Love county, the
southernmost county in Oklahoma, before returning back to the Lawton area and an
AirBnB near the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
Last year, I replaced some Hustler antennas, this year it was batteries. For two
days, I need four deep-cycle batteries (110 amp-hour), one for the electronics
and three for the radio. Each radio battery, when used with a power booster,
will run about 6 hours of continuous operation without running it down too far.
The accessories battery (CW keyer, voice keyer, band decoder and logging
computer) runs the entire two days. The GPS/route computer runs from the Astro
van battery. Last time out, one radio battery died early and two more had the
same manufacture date (3/2016). I bought one new one last year, and this year
swapped out the next two, so three good ones for sure. My big AGM battery (which
I use indoors during power outages) continues to run the electronics even though
it's aging out.
Saturday
Saturday morning was a brisk 17 degrees, but no snow on the ground and bright
sunshine. I put the antennas on and guyed them before we left. With Lorna ready
to go, we were off from the farm in Kansas at 7:30am with a 90 minute drive to
the border and a 9:00am start time. I usually drive the first leg south on the
interstate, then we stop to switch at the border in Kay county. This year there
was road construction and we decided to go on to the Oklahoma rest area. My log
shows first contact with AD1C at 1532Z (9:32 CST) and immediately afterward with
NU0Q on 40CW. We were off! There was lots of leeway built into the route and the
first hour is usually slow, so all things considered, not too bad a start.
I planned lots of county-line stops and things really picked up a half hour
later when we got to the first line. 20 was wide open and a new band for
everyone, so a terrific run ensued. I stayed well past my scheduled departure
time to work down the CW and SSB pileups, then broke free and continued on 15m
as we drove away from the line. Lots more counties to go, but what a start. 15
was even louder than 20!
The only real disappointment was not being able to use the FunSpots web site
this year. Both Connie and I noticed that it was up but not posting. Emails went
unanswered so I hope all is well with the FunSpots hosts. We really appreciate
that spotting site and you all have gotten used to using it. This year, pileups
were so fierce that I didn't really need to spot, but it would have been handy
on quick checks of 15, 40SSB and 80CW at times. If anyone has any additional
information on why it's not working, let me know!
Since we were also "camping," I didn't bring along my usual backup
equipment this year in order to leave more room in the van. I did, however,
bring along a new power adapter cable in case my intermittent power problem came
back. Things ran great until mid-afternoon. We were on a bumpy sand road when a
particularly big bump caused the radio to go dark. The usual problem. Wiggling
the power adapter cable usually brings it back, but not this time. Of course it
was during a pretty good pileup. With my fingers crossed, I swapped out the
adapter and we were back. It ran great for the next few hours so I cautiously
thought "problem solved." Nope, Murphy was still there and suddenly
all went dark again without even hitting a bump. I was really out of ideas at
this point, so we stopped, disconnected and reconnected all the power cables and
even the remote head cable. I polished those pins on my jeans, hooked everything
back up, and no more problems the rest of the day or Sunday. Is the problem
finally solved? No idea!
The rest of the day was really a blur for me and I can't remember much. Because
of the pileups and to get us back on schedule, we dropped Woodward county since
it had already been covered. There was another detour which cost us about 15
minutes. Near the end, the GPS computer quit because the power connector was
loose. Luckily we were on the interstate and knew where we were going. We also
had fun putting Lorna's call out there. It reduces my OKQP score a bit, but
helps out the county hunters who have special YL call and BINGO awards and gets
everyone else more contacts in the log. We ended the day with 1793 combined Qs
in the log.
Sunday
Sunday was a repeat of Saturday. Lorna got some good birding in at the stops,
and we both enjoyed working the Love/Carter line in the Lake Murray State Park.
There were a few 15m contacts in my Sunday log and the band seemed open, but ops
didn't find me there. I was able to work some Idaho and Wisconsin QSO party
stations along the way as we kept to the planned route (mostly on schedule). It
was really fun to hear N6MU call in and report a county Sweep. Congrats, John!
We ended Sunday with another 1,131 combined Qs in the log, bringing our combined
total to 2,934 contacts.
At the closing bell, we switched drivers and headed towards the Wichita
Mountains. To my amazement, the wind was pushing the van all over the road. I
suddenly realized how hard Lorna had to work this weekend since it was windy the
entire weekend. She needed both hands on the wheel most of the time and a lot
more concentration than usual to drive. I was pretty much oblivious. Lorna kept
the van in the lane and didn't miss a single turn the entire weekend. Amazing
job! Two days of beautiful weather and hiking in the Wichita Mountains was a
great way to end our adventure ..
Stats
Operated 15.1 hours, 2165 Qs, 462 unique calls, 62 dupes, 565 OKQP miles (1105
total miles).
States not worked : AK HI RI
Canadian mults worked : AB BC MB NB ON QC SK
OK worked : 7 counties : CAN CAR CHE MCI MUS OKL OKM
DX worked : XE DL HA LY OK PA SP
W0BH Rates (includes dupes) 2166/15.1 = 143 Qs/hr
Block QSOs/hr --- 2022 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------------
1500-2100 745 = 149----0--111--76---79---95---104---51--119---66 (Sat)
2100-0200 653 = 119----0---72--99---87---108--126---97--104---78 (Sat)
Sunday 767 = 140--142---71--91---98----97--101---71---82---79 (Sun)
County Breakdown (in visited order)
Saturday
01 KAY 110
02 NOB 103
03 GAR 78
04 GNT 69
05 ALF 121
06 WOO 94
07 MAJ 94
08 BLA 94
09 DEW 71
10 CUS 71
11 KIN 95
12 CAN 75
13 OKL 91
14 LOG 61
15 CLE 22
16 MCL 22
17 GRA 54
18 CAD 14
19 COM 12
Sunday
19 COM 44
20 STE 62
21 CAR 201
22 GRV 72
23 MUR 79
24 LOV 110
25 JEF 68
26 COT 65
27 TIL 51
2104 **
Special thanks to my top scorers:
58: K9RS
47: VE7CV
44: NS2N
42: N6MU N8II
35: AA4TI
29: W8PI
28: NE8P WB9HFK
25: KY7M
24: K9CW
22: N4IJ W2TB
19: K5XS KF6HI W3US
17: K4BAI K6PBF
16: N9NM W9DC
15: AC7GG KB4CG KC3X W7GF
14: NW0M W1SSN
13: AC3D K0AP K4AMC KE8PX N1CGP N2JJ VE3AQ W0XG W7OM WA8ZBT WD4FMG
12: K4FT K6TQ N6GP W3LL
11: AA4DD K5KDG W0ZQ W4NQX W5TM
10: K0RJW K4VIG KC9JML VE3YT W1END
OK Mobiles Worked: K5CM
Bonus Counties: 27
W0BH Award Winners
----------------- First Place -- Very Honorable Mention -------
Most overall Qs - K9RS/58 ------ VE7CW/47 ------------ NS2N/44
Most CW Qs ------ N6MU/42 ------ K9RS/40 ------------- N8II/27
Most PH Qs ------ VE7CW/21------ NS2N/19 ------------- K9RS/18
Most counties --- N6MU/27 ------ VE7CV/NS2N/K9RS/23 -- W8PI/22
---------------------------------------------------------------
Afterwards
Thanks to Connie/K5CM (and Pam/N5KW) for organizing us all once again! It
obviously paid off with a county Sweep by at least one op. This was, in terms of
total contacts, the best OKQP I've participated in so far. Let's keep that trend
going for next year!
The 2022 Kansas QSO Party is scheduled for August 27-28, the last weekend in
August. With 105 counties, we need all the help we can get, so mobiles, head
this way! Everyone else, thanks for the Qs in Oklahoma, and see you down the
log in 2022 ..
73, Bob/w0bh and Lorna/k0why
QPC #8
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