[NCC] Fw: [3830] OhQP W8O Mobile LP

[Dan Kovatch]

                    Ohio QSO Party

Call: W8O
Operator(s): W8CAR K8NZ
Station: W8O

Class: Mobile LP
QTH: Ohio
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:
Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
   80:  175      0
   40:  231     22
   20:  175     20
   15:    0      0
   10:    0      0
--------------------
Total:  581     42  CW Mults = 81  Ph Mults = 28  Total Score = 131,127

Club: North Coast Contesters

Comments:
Ron K8NZ and Dan W8CAR had a blast running the OQP this year. I have a new 
vehicle this year so the old setup changed somewhat. The new Equinox proved 
to be not too noisy RF wise and getting power was easier than any other 
vehicle I've had. The car has a post for 'jumping' and a ground point since 
the battery resides under a heat sink that the salesmen advised has 'most of 
the computer stuff that runs your engine' in it.

Our route took us to 23 counties and for the most part we were good to go 
with the GPS guidance. However, early on about our third county the state of 
Ohio arranged a detour and the GPS went a little nuts when we followed the 
state detour instead of the GPS routing. After that it routed us in a circle 
and then was being very nasty about getting us to the next county in a 
timely manner. After ignoring the little bugger (usually referred to my my 
wife and I as 'Roada') I pulled over and marked several points in the route 
as 'visited' so the GPS would again track. Other than a right turn direction 
followed by a u-turn direction it worked pretty well after that. (note: 
paper maps are still good to have!)

As usual the earliest hours had slower rates but at 1700 the rate picked up 
with hour 2200 being an 86 hour. It is very annoying that 40 gets wiped by 
RTTY when we should have some of our best rates-seems like people leave the 
band or don't tune lower. We were surprised at how many Qs we made on 80 but 
alas we had no antenna for 75 SSB and all attempts to call stations 
there(the K3 will tune the hamstick ) were meant with nary a QRZ?

We had 23 DX QSOs, 38 FL QSOs for the most state award, 23 Qs with Lorain 
county (mostly due to KW8N and many moves-tnx Bob!) W7GKF wins the most out 
of state Qsos award with 17-he moved us whenever he heard us and had great 
ears. We had 19 stations with over 10 or more Qs thus making it clear that 
mobiles and rovers have lots to be thankful for!!!

Had most QSOs in a county, 60, in DEFIance due to a great location in a 
school parking lot that seemed to just pull signals out of the woodwork. 
Never heard any in state mobile stations as per usual-even on 80.

We had lots of fun and a BIG thanks for Mr. NZ for the trip up from Columbus 
to do the mobile route. Thanks to all the in state and out of state Qs that 
make this so great a test.


Experiments: I recorded the entire test on a digital recorder only to find 
out there is no way to get it into the computer but I can still listen to it 
on the little tiny tiny recorder. Asking K8MFO to QSY to SSB (sorry Don -we 
couldn't resist!) Asking guys to QSY SSB? and getting our report sent again.

RIG:K3 with tuner
Antennas: Hamsticks for 80,40,20 with grounding straps to the grab handle 
hardware in the back seat
Dell laptop running N1MM with true sinewave inverter (very low noise) and 
Microham USBII interface (one of the best purchases ever made!)
Vehicle: 2012 Chevy Equinox with 6 cyclinder and 6 speed automatic
Ops: W8CAR and K8NZ
EVIL GPS:TOM-TOM

Dan W8CAR






Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: 
http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830 at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830