[3830] CaQP N6WT SO(A) Cnty1DayExp LP

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                    California QSO Party - 2022

Call: N6WT
Operator(s): N6WT
Station: N6WT

Class: SO(A) LP
Class Overlay: Cnty1DayExp 
QTH: Avenal, CA
Operating Time (hrs): 8

Summary:
 Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
  160:            
   80:            
   40:   65      3
   20:  138     94
   15:   71      3
   10:   43      2
--------------------
Total:  317    102  Mults = 56  Total Score = 64,680

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Comments:

Rig: Flex 6500 with a Maestro
Antennas: BuddieHex and a 40-meter dipole at about 8 meters
Logging Software: N1MM+

N6WT CQP 2022

My adventure in the CA QSO Party 2022 started a few years ago. I noticed that
Kings County had not been very well represented over the years. The top score of
258,738 was set in 1986 S/O HP. And the S/O LP score of 33,966 was set in 2001.
I wanted to do Kings, but I never really had a way to do it. 

I recently purchased a BuddieHEX beam from BuddiePole. I am very impressed with
this antenna, and it is very portable and easy to set up. This would be the
antenna for this years CQP. Also, there was a new category for CQP this year, a
one-day expedition. This would be perfect for trying out my setup.
  
Looking at Kings County, I noticed there are not a lot of high mountains. To the
South West, there are some, but they are on private property. I wanted a height
advantage, so doing it from the San Joaquin Valley was not going to work. I
started looking at SOTA summits along Highways 33 & 41. There was one,
W6/SC-268, Flattop, it is on private property owned by the Hewiston Farm and
Cattle Company. I contacted them and had high hopes they would let me camp on
the summit and do CQP from there. They turned me down because they thought I
would interfere with the Count Sheriffs repeater that is there. I had almost
given up at that point. 

I had been looking along Highway 41 and decide to drive out and look. I found a
fair-sized turnout but decided it would not work because of the size of my
motorhome. The only other turnout was at the top of a small pass. The only
problem was it was in a bowl, and I thought I would not be able to get a signal
out very well. Well, that was my only choice.
 
During my planning, I was replacing the house batteries on the motorhome with
lithium batteries. It turned into a huge rewire job. CQP was approaching, and I
had a lot of work to complete. I finished the batteries with five days to spare.
Then I had to replace the chassis batteries, UGH! I got it all done and had the
oil changed by the shop. 

My plan was to head to the gas station at Highways 33 & 41 and spend Friday
night in the parking lot. I left Friday and got about 15 miles from the house,
and a check engine light came on. There were no noticeable signs of anything
wrong, so I kept going. I arrived at the gas station at around 9 pm. I was the
only one there. It is a noisy place with traffic going by. I did not sleep well.
I woke up at about 05:30 and got moving. I parked at the turnout and started to
set up. The BuddieHex and 40-meter dipole went up in about an hour. I then set
up the Flex 6500 and computer in the motorhome. I finished up with about 10 mins
to spare!

I am so glad I brought the motorhome, it got up to about 90 degrees, and the AC
was great to have! I called the CHP and asked if I could park in the turnout.
They said I could be there for 72 hours before they would tow me away. The
traffic going by was loud, not to mention I was on a curve, so if someone missed
the turn they would fly off the road and hit me! Thankfully that did not happen.
 

I started out on 20 meters CW. I had the BuddieHex pointed at about 70 degrees.
It worked great! The small hills around me did not seem to have much effect. The
first contact in the log was K2ZR in NY. I had a fair run on 20 with 53 Q’s. I
switched to 15 and did about 120 Q’s in 2 hours. It was great to switch to 10
meters and hear something. 47 Q’s in an hour. I kept going with a couple of
breaks till about 5 pm. I stopped to eat something. I decided to go to 40
meters. I started having computer problems. My computer would stop working. It
may have been RF. Then I started with one of my migraine headaches. It was very
painful to listen to the radio. I slowed down, but it was no use. I could not do
it. My head was ringing, and I decided to stop at about 7:20 pm. I just thought
I would pack up and head home. It took me an hour and a half to take the antenna
down in the dark.  I hit the road and made it home by 11:30 pm.
 
I wish I could have made the whole 12 hours, but it just could not happen!
 
Thanks all for the Q’s. It was fun while it lasted. I look forward to next
year. 

I would like to thank Dean Wood N6DE, for the encouragement and for setting up
such a fun event!


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