[SCCC] K6Z CQP 2009

[Glenn Rattmann]

Great report, Bob!
It sounds like you all had a blast.

--Glenn K6NA

At 06:04 PM 10/7/2009, you wrote:

>                     California QSO Party
>
>Call: K6Z
>Operator(s): W6PH, KI6VC, K6VR, K6ZZ
>Station: K6Z
>
>Class: M/MCntyExp HP
>QTH: INYO
>Operating Time (hrs): 27
>
>Summary:
>  Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
>--------------------
>   160:    58     45
>    80:   150    163
>    40:   350    466
>    20:   380    750
>    15:   140    101
>    10:
>     6:
>     2:
>--------------------
>Total:  1078   1525  Mults = 57  Total Score = 358,188
>
>Club: Eastside Contest Group
>
>Comments:
>
>Another very fun CQP.  We decided to forgo our usual
>expedition to Fossil Falls this year in favor of another
>location in Inyo County.  Kurt, W6PH usually operates from
>his QTH in Lone Pine but this year he offered to let us use
>his cabin in the Alabama Hills on the west side of Lone Pine
>directly under Mount Whitney.  Not wanting to let US a have
>all the fun, he decided to join our small group at the cabin
>this year.
>
>We decided to make an effort to win the Multi-Multi County
>Expedition category this year.  Reviewing the past several
>years results (we were third the past three years) and
>looking at anticipated solar conditions, we decided on a
>goal of 280K points.  We were shooting for 1000 QSO's on
>both modes and a sweep of all 58 Mults.  We were very
>pleased to have met most of our goals by 7am Sunday morning
>but we managed to miss NT for the third year in a row.  We
>made an effort to find NT on 20M SSB in the last few hours
>of the contest but we couldn't manage find them and they
>didn't find us.  When we got home we checked DX Summit
>only to see VE8EV had been spotted a mere 20 KHz from where
>we were CQing on 20M SSB.  Oh well, there's always next
>year.
>
>Our set up consisted of two full time stations and a third
>part time station.  We used a Cushcraft A3 and a Cushcraft
>40-2CD on two AB-577 military surplus masts and another
>Cushcraft A3 on a 33' homebrew tower trailer.  On 80M and
>160M we had verticals and a few wire antennas to choose
>from.  The rigs were a TS-930 driving an SB-200 to about 400
>Watts, an FT-2000 driving an LK-500 to about 700 Watts and a
>756PROIII driving an FL-2000 to about 600 Watts.  Logging
>was done with a wireless network using Milog logging
>software.  We had a few equipment problems but nothing too
>drastic.  We had to take down one of the A3's in the
>middle of the contest to fix a loose connection, one of the
>amps gave out on 15M and we had some software glitches to
>deal with.  Overall we ended up having one station on for
>about 27 hours, and the other two on for an average of about
>20 hours each.  We started out with 4 Ops but ended with 3
>when one person had to depart early Sunday morning.
>
>It was an enjoyable experience even with the cold, wind and
>multiple earth quakes to keep things interesting.  The cabin
>doesn't have heat and one station was out on the porch
>with no protection from the elements.  In hindsight a
>propane heater would have been a real asset.  We were
>logging with one hand while holding the other over the amp
>to stay warm.  Can we do this again next weekend!
>
>Thanks to the NCCC for sponsoring a great contest and
>especially to the Non-Californians who put a lot of effort
>into working us CA stations.
>
>73, Bob K6ZZ