[Mldxcc] AD6E S/O county expedition to MEND

[Alan Maenchen]

Now that was a GREAT weekend!

Many thanks to many people, but especially to N6WM for getting the activity
up there, and especially to Fred N6YEU for joining forces and making a "two
for one" expedition. A little explanation:

I've been doing CQP expeditions for many years, and while I've honed in on
what it takes to be successful with the minimal amount of work, it's still
a LOT of work. After pushing myself to the physical limits doing solitary
expeditions so many times, I've been looking for ways to ease the work load
and still have a great CQP.  In 2009 I joined with NI6T and did a two
station GLEN/MEND expedition. That was a success, but WX, QRN, and poor
propagation combined to make it far less of a positive experience. Yet, the
idea of sharing antennas to put two counties on the air from the same QTH
was worth another attempt.

This year I noticed that Fred, N6YEU was again heading to rare GLEN for a
single-handed expedition. I asked to join him and set up two stations on
the MEND - GLEN county line. He agreed, and we did it. Unlike in 2009, WX
cooperated. If anything it was a bit too hot, but otherwise beautiful!
Some photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/117668077218135394042/CQP2014GLENMEND

This QTH is one that I've used 4 or 5 times now over the years. It's about
a six hour drive from San Jose, and the last hour is on dirt roads. With my
move to KH6 this past summer, I shipped my SUV so I had to rent a car for
the weekend. So far, I haven't heard any feedback about how dusty the car
got.  ;-)

I got back home last night at about midnight and promptly crashed (after a
quick shower). This morning I see some 150 emails that need attention, but
before diving through all those, I thought I would put out this quick
summary:

AD6E S/O HP CE
160      0        0
80       50      64
40      113      99
20      183    170
15      288    235
10      130    203
tot:    764     771     or 1535 total QSOs   x 56 mults = 214,704 points
Missed VE2 and NM (!)

Fred was LP and made a clean sweep, but I'll let him give his own summary.

Rig:  K3 / P3  + TenTec Hercules II amp   500W output most of the time
Antenna:  A3S  at about 30ft.  Shared inverted Vees for 80 and 40
Time:  22 hours (per confuser) Took many short breaks and slept in Sun
morning.

Club: MLDXCC

Note:  I see some grousing about club competition. Fred and I showed what a
joint operation can do to promote this friendly competition. For those
feeling put out, sit back, get a cold one, relax (!) We're all friends.
Start planning for next year.

73, Alan  AD6E