[SCCC] K6Z CQP Multi-Multi County Expedition

[Bob K6ZZ]

                    California QSO Party

Call: K6Z
Operator(s): K6ZZ W6PH KI6VC K6VR N6WIN W1MD WA1Z K1QX
Station: K6Z

Class: M/MCntyExp HP
QTH: INYO
Operating Time (hrs): 30

Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160:   91       23
80:     220     177
40:     247     484
20:     429     895
15:     471     676
10:     153     476
6:       0         0
2:       0         0
--------------------
Total: 1611 2731 Mults = 58 Total Score = 597,110

Club: Eastside Contest Group

Comments:

Station Description:

Four stations running N1MM Version 13.8.2 in a wireless network.

10M/80M = K3 and 30L-1; 5 Element Beam at 30 Ft, Quarter-Sloper for 80M;
Ops: W6PH, KI6VC
15M/160M = K3 and AL-1200; 5 Element Beam at 48 Ft, Inverted-L for 160M;
Ops: K6ZZ, N6WIN
20M = K3 and LK-500ZB; 3 Element Beam at 48 Ft; Ops: W1MD, WA1Z
40M = K3 and AL-80A; 40-2CD Beam at 48 Ft; Ops: K6VR, K1QX

Antennas were installed on portable AB-577 military surplus masts and a
homebrew tower trailer. Yagis for 10M, 15M, 20M were homebrew as well.

Commentary:

Another enjoyable Multi-Multi County Expedition to Inyo County. Once
again we had several friends join us from out of state which is a testament
to how much fun CQP can be. As we have done for the last several years, we
setup Field Day style at W6PH's cabin near Lone Pine, CA. This year we took
advantage of the new 7 Day Rule for setting up expedition equipment. W6PH
started moving the AB-577's and antennas from storage at his house on
Monday. In the past we had waited until Thursday so we could set up on
Thursday afternoon and Friday. The extra time was helpful as the weather
was very windy all day Thursday and Friday morning. Half of our crew worked
all day Wednesday and Thursday setting up. The other half arrived on
Friday. We managed to have everything set up by Friday afternoon so we were
able to kick back and enjoy some of KI6VC's great BBQ and Homebrew, a
tradition for our CQP crew. It is interesting to see the transformation of
the cabin site from quiet cozy little hideaway to "what the heck are those
guys doing" site. I'm sure the locals think the NSA has dropped in for the
weekend! We always have a few people stop by and wonder what we are up to.

We had a few minor technical issues but for the most part everything worked
fairly well. The 80M Sloper was hung from the same AB-577 that supported
the 40M beam which resulted in a lot of inter-station interference on 40M.
That hurt our productivity on 40M somewhat. We also had a PC failure and
had to swap computers on one station. Conditions overall weren't quite as
good as the past few years but conditions into Europe were vastly improved.
We were fortunate to have snagged all 58 multipliers about 5 hours into the
contest.

Thanks to everyone for the QSO's and thanks to the NCCC for sponsoring the
CQP.

Bob, K6ZZ