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<DIV>An adventure from last weekend with Chuck NO5W...( He will join the LCC
soon.) The pileups were way beyond what I had expected..
2210 Qs in 20 hours !!! 73 BCNU de Dallas
K1DW</DIV>
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<DIV> Florida QSO Party<BR><BR>Call: NO5W/M<BR>Operator(s):
NO5W K1DW<BR>Station: NO5W<BR><BR>Class: M/SCW LP<BR>QTH: Mobile<BR>Operating
Time (hrs): 20<BR><BR>Summary:<BR>Band CW Qs Ph
Qs<BR>--------------------<BR> 40:
131 <BR> 20:
1997 <BR> 15:
82 <BR> 10:
0 <BR>--------------------<BR>Total:
2210 0 CW Mults = 69 Ph Mults = 0 Total
Score = 609,960<BR><BR>Club: Louisiana Contest
Club<BR><BR>Comments:<BR><BR>K3/100, Hi-Q 4/80, Garmin GPS-18PC, US Navigator
USB interface, CQ/X version<BR>1.8.0.4, Streets and Trips 2013, 2002
Pathfinder.<BR><BR>Wow, what fun, and what a challenge! The almost continuous
intense pileups,<BR>especially on Sunday, resulted in a score that is about 43%
better than my<BR>previous best. It was great to get back into the mobile FQP
fray after being<BR>away for several years. I had operated as a mobile in
2007-2009 driving over to<BR>the panhandle from Houston. After the 2009 event my
XYL driver told me that two<BR>straight days of 10 hour driving was more than
she could endure, she was<BR>retiring, turning in her grand prix driving gloves,
and I should look around<BR>for one of my crazy ham buddies to serve as driver
and co-operator. It took me<BR>a few years but I found one. <BR><BR>After moving
to New Orleans in 2012 I was fortunate enough to be invited to<BR>operate in
several multi-ops at KN5O's fine station in Covington on the<BR>northshore of
Lake Ponchatrain. During a break in the 2013 ARRL DX CW I<BR>mentioned to
Dallas-K1DW that the FQP was coming up in April and how much fun<BR>mobile
operation in the FQP would be. Dallas had never operated as a mobile in<BR>the
FQP, or any state QSO party, but thought it sounded interesting.<BR>Fortunately
he was free the weekend of the FQP and ready to see what it was all<BR>about.
After that I mentioned to him that we would be using a logging program<BR>that
he had probably not used before. He was still interested! NO5W/m was a go<BR>for
FQP-2013!<BR><BR>In previous years our route went essentially east on I-10 from
Escambia County<BR>near Pensacola to Jacksonville on Saturday and then swung
south a little past<BR>Ocala on Sunday returning up the west coast and ending up
in Bay County near<BR>Panama City where we would spend a few days of vacation
near Grayton Beach. But<BR>this year no vacation was planned and we wanted to
avoid three nights on the<BR>road so we planned to drive all the way back to the
K1DW QTH near Folsom, LA<BR>after the party. To minimize that after-party drive
we wanted to end the<BR>contest in Escambia County on I-10 as close as possible
to the Florida-Alabama<BR>state line -- about 200 miles from Folsom. So we
decided to reverse my previous<BR>route by driving about 120 miles past
Pensacola to Chipley on Friday to allow us<BR>a short drive to a Saturday start
in Bay County north of Panama City. Reversing<BR>the route worked out well as we
managed to be parked less than three miles from<BR>the state line with about
five minutes left in the party. About 40 minutes later<BR>we were sitting at a
restaurant in Spanish Fort overlooking Mobile Bay, enjoying<BR>an adult beverage
and dinner before driving the remaining 160 miles to Folsom. <BR><BR><BR>Our
route worked well and we arrived at our destination in each session just
as<BR>the session ended. Saturday we drove the planned route without a missed
turn but<BR>on Sunday we missed a couple which we caught without any significant
lost time.<BR>A total of 40 different counties was covered with the following
results:<BR><BR>County
QSOs Op Mins Avg Initial 10
<BR>
Rate Min
Rate<BR>Marion
128 60
128
192<BR>Citrus
105 45
140
204<BR>Levy
82 36
137
168<BR>Taylor
79 49
97
174<BR>Calhoun
78 45
104
156<BR>Gilchrist
77 34
136
162<BR>Jackson
72 30
144
174<BR>Volusia
71 28
152
180<BR>Franklin
71 65
66
156<BR>Putnam
69 54
77
150<BR>Nassau
68 24
170
168<BR>Holmes
67 22
183
180<BR>Walton
67 23
175
210<BR>Bradford
62 23
162 156<BR>Santa
Rosa 61
23 159
168<BR>Alachua
59 27
131
174<BR>Madison
58 26
134
132<BR>Okaloosa
57 21
163
192<BR>Escambia
55 20
165
174<BR>Wakulla
55 23
143
168<BR>Jefferson
53 22
145
126<BR>Leon
53 33
96
198<BR>Columbia
51 21
146
168<BR>Gulf
47 42
67
168<BR>Duval
46 16
173
180<BR>Lake
45 16
169
186<BR>Washington 44
16 165 180<BR>St.
Johns 44
22 120
150<BR>Gadsden
44 23
115
144<BR>Dixie
44 28
94
114<BR>Clay
43 14
184
174<BR>Sumter
43 16
161
168<BR>Liberty
43 19
136
132<BR>Suwannee
43 19
136
186<BR>Baker
42 15
168
180<BR>Lafayette
42 22
115
126<BR>Union
40 26
92
150<BR>Hamilton
38 21
109
186<BR>Flagler
23 12
115
120<BR>Bay
13 14
56 72<BR><BR>There are a few dupes in the above
QSO numbers and the total operating minutes<BR>is shy of the 1200 available due
to one gas stop each day, bio breaks, operator<BR>changeovers, leg stretches,
etc. The counties with the best average hourly rates<BR>were Clay(184),
Holmes(183), Walton(175), Duval(173), and Nassau(170). Counties<BR>with the most
intense pileups on initial entry (initial 10 minute hourly rate)<BR>were:
Walton(210), Citrus(204), Leon(198), Marion(192), Okaloosa(192),<BR>Lake(186),
Hamilton(186), Suwannee(186), Volusia(180), Holmes(180), Duval(180),<BR>and
Baker(180). Where possible we tried to work the pileup down before moving
on<BR>to the next county. Our apologies if you did not make it into our log in
each<BR>county where you called us. <BR><BR>At the break on Saturday evening at
Ormond Beach we had 936 Qs in the log and<BR>commented at dinner that with a
little more push on Sunday we should be able to<BR>break 2000 Qs, something I
had never done. But Sunday came on so strong with an<BR>average hourly rate of
132 that we blew on past that goal. Here's what the<BR>hourly QSO totals looked
like with a typical slow start and a fast
finish.<BR><BR>Hour
QSOs<BR>1600-1659
87<BR>1700-1759
62<BR>1800-1859
76<BR>1900-1959
83<BR>2000-2059
60<BR>2100-2159
103<BR>2200-2259
76<BR>2300-2359
134<BR>0000-0059
138<BR>0100-0159
144<BR>-------------------<BR>1200-1259
117<BR>1300-1359
106<BR>1400-1459
159<BR>1500-1559
114<BR>1600-1659
128<BR>1700-1759
132<BR>1800-1859
92<BR>1900-1959
142<BR>2000-2059
170<BR>2100-2159 157<BR><BR>Of course the
above numbers would not have been possible without the efforts of<BR>the 427
unique callers that made it into the log and certainly not without
the<BR>efforts of the following frequent callers: VE3KZ(42), K9CT(41),
K9NW(38),<BR>WA3HAE(35), W8WVU(35), K8IR(34), N5ZK(34), NS9I(33), N3KR(32),
K0RC(28),<BR>K3WW(28), VE3RZ(28), VE1RGB(26), K9PG(26), K0HC(25), WI9WI(24),
N5NA(23),<BR>AA1AR(23), K8MR(23), VE1OP(23), K9UIY(22), W7YAQ(22), N3DXX(22),
K6LA(22),<BR>W1END(20), N5WR(20). Thanks for the Qs.<BR><BR>We learned a couple
of things during the weekend:<BR>1. Which end of the mike to use for making SSB
Qs, which we are submitting as a<BR>check log. However, its obvious from our SSB
totals (15 Qs) that we still have a<BR>lot of work to do if that mode is to be a
significant contributor to our score<BR>in the future. Maybe we need some
training by the K4KG crew on how to make<BR>quick mode changes! Congrats to
Jim-VE7ZO and Geo-K5KG on an outstanding score<BR>including 2800+ Qs!. <BR>2. As
we came into eastern Tallahassee Sunday on fumes and finally found a<BR>station
we learned that the 16 gallon tank on the Pathfinder will actually hold<BR>16.5
gallons -- that was close!<BR><BR>In spite of all the FQP mobiles on the road we
did not have an eyeball QSO with<BR>any but we are pretty sure we came close. On
Sunday we stopped in a small sliver<BR>of Nassau County on US90 near Mattox, and
pulled over just outside a no<BR>trespassing gate on the side of the road. While
Chuck worked the pileup Dallas<BR>got out to explore the area and stretch his
legs. He spotted a dark blue police<BR>car about a quarter mile away,
parked on the other side of the road. The<BR>police seemed to be checking
us out and then they moved before we did. As they<BR>passed us we saw four
verticals mounted on the bumpers, one on each end, front<BR>and back. Obviously
it was not police but another FQP participant. We wondered<BR>who that
was, tried to catch his attention, but failed, and mostly were glad it<BR>was
not the police!!!! <BR><BR>Besides the intense pileups our biggest thrill was
being called in two counties<BR>Saturday evening by RZ0AF. Chuck had never
worked zone 18 from his home station<BR>(if you saw it you would understand why)
and to do it from the mobile was<BR>simply amazing.<BR><BR>The FQP is an awesome
party and very well organized. If you get the chance to<BR>run mobile in the FQP
jump into it with both feet -- you will have a blast. Put<BR>it on your bucket
list. Many thanks to the Florida Contest Group and especially<BR>to Dan-K1TO for
sponsoring such an outstanding QSO party.<BR><BR>Look for NO5W/m in the Texas
QSO Party the last full weekend in September and<BR>hopefully in the Kansas QSO
Party in late August. Check the route plans page <BR>of the website (<A
href="http://www.no5w.com/" rel=nofollow>http://www.no5w.com</A>) for details a
week or two prior to
the<BR>events.<BR><BR>73<BR><BR>Chuck-NO5W<BR>Dallas-K1DW<BR><BR></DIV><BR
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