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<DIV>
<DIV>Ham radio is still lots of fun.</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
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From: cqdenx4n@gmail.com<BR>To: fqp@kkn.net, fcg@kkn.net, tarc@kkn.net,
3830@contesting.com<BR>CC: n4kmkevin@gmail.com, k0luz@topsusa.com,
n4bp@bellsouth.net, lromero@ij.net, larry.gispert@verizon.net<BR>Sent:
4/30/2014 11:31:11 A.M. Central Daylight Time<BR>Subj: FlQP K4OJ
Multi-Multi-Mobile (Rover) CW LP Results<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000
size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV dir=ltr>Hi Friends!
<DIV>WOW - What a wild ride!</DIV>
<DIV>The K4OJ Multi-Mult-Mobile (MM/m) team crammed 4 complete stations, 4
antennas and 4 operators plus driver into one Chevy Suburban SUV and hit the
ground running, operating-in-motion across 47 counties!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>My wife Lili could not drive me this year due to another commitment so I
was looking for something 'unusual' to do - I think we hit the mark!
</DIV>
<DIV>Frankly I wasn't sure a MM/m effort was even possible. The two big
technical issues to overcome were inter-station interference (RFI) and power
generation and distribution. Well, with a lot of hard work our team
overcame them both and we had a grand time!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B>First, the results and some stats:</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>3973 cw QSO's:</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>91 Mults</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>SCORE = 1.44M</B></DIV>
<DIV><B><BR></B></DIV>
<DIV><B>Approx Band Breakdown:</B></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>40m - 494Q
45Mults</B></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>20m - 2460Q
80Mults</B></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>15m - 909Q
64Mults</B></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>10m - 110Q
27Mults</B></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><B><BR></B></DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">BEST RATES:</DIV></B></DIV><B>
<DIV>40 Meters</DIV>
<DIV><B>QSO Party - 2014-04-26 1600Z to 2014-04-27 2159Z - 494
QSOs</B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>K4OJ Max Rates:</DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">2014-04-27 0111Z - 4.0 per minute
(1 minute(s)), 240 per hour by N4KM</DIV> </B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>2014-04-27 0117Z - 2.7 per minute (10 minute(s)), 162 per hour by
N4KM</DIV></B>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">2014-04-27 0155Z - 1.8 per minute
(60 minute(s)), 109 per hour by N4KM</DIV></B></DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important"><BR></DIV></B></DIV><B>
<DIV>20 Meters</DIV>
<DIV><B>QSO Party - 2014-03-29 1600Z to 2014-03-30 2159Z - 2460
QSOs</B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>K4OJ Max Rates:</DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">2014-04-26 1854Z - 5.0 per minute
(1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by K0LUZ</DIV> </B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>2014-04-27 2047Z - 4.0 per minute (10 minute(s)), 240 per hour by
K0LUZ</DIV></B>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">2014-04-27 2133Z - 2.9 per minute
(60 minute(s)), 174 per hour by K0LUZ</DIV></B></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV>15 Meters</DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">QSO Party - 2014-04-26 1600Z to
2014-04-27 2159Z - 909 QSOs</DIV></B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>K4OJ Max Rates:</DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">2014-04-27 1344Z - 4.0 per minute
(1 minute(s)), 240 per hour by N4BP</DIV></B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>2014-04-27 1438Z - 2.3 per minute (10 minute(s)), 138 per hour by
N4BP</DIV>
<DIV>2014-04-27 1359Z - 1.6 per minute (60 minute(s)), 97 per hour by
N4BP</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><B>10 Meters</B><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><B>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">QSO Party - 2014-04-26 1600Z to
2014-04-27 2159Z - 110 QSOs</DIV></B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>K4OJ Max Rates:</DIV>
<DIV><B>
<DIV style="DISPLAY: inline !important">2014-04-27 1912Z - 3.0 per minute
(1 minute(s)), 180 per hour by W4LT</DIV> </B><BR></DIV>
<DIV>2014-04-27 1917Z - 0.7 per minute (10 minute(s)), 42 per hour by
W4LT</DIV>
<DIV>2014-04-27 1703Z - 0.3 per minute (60 minute(s)), 16 per hour by
W4LT</DIV></B></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></B></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B>Our MM station:</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>2002 Chevrolet Suburban, 2-wheel drive, <FONT
color=#0000ff>320K</FONT> miles (Yep - your eyes don't deceive you; this is
one tough SUV!)</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>BAND OPERATOR RADIO
ANTENNA</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>40m Kevin, N4KM IC-756
40m Hustler - Roof mounted</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>20m Red, K0LUZ K3
20m Hustler - Roof mounted 20" from 40m ant</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>15m Bob, N4BP
KX-3/KPA500 (100w) 15m Hustler - Roof mounted 30" from 20m
ant</B></DIV>
<DIV><B>10m Lu, W4LT K3
10m 1/4 wave whip - Roof mounted 48" from 40m
ant</B></DIV>
<DIV>
<UL>
<LI><B>Driver, Station Engineer, Janitor, Host and Team Lead - Chris,
NX4N</B>
<LI><B>Backup op and driver for dry-run road testing - Larry,
KR4X</B></LI></UL></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><B>Power</B> - A Honda EU-2000i 2KW generator driving individual
switching power supplies for each station. Generator was mounted with an
external fuel tank and <B>K5YAA</B>-inspired 'plumbers delight' rain cover
with vent on a hitch-mount cargo carrier (Thanks Jerry for the guidance!).
E0 ethanol-free premium fuel was used. Fuel consumed over 24 hours
of actual run time = 6 gallons.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>While our operation was far from flawless (see below), we were just
amazed by the overall reliability of the setup - we had <B><FONT
color=#0000ff>*<U>zero</U>*</FONT></B> unplanned stops to fix or repair
anything. That was a huge victory all by itself and meant maximum
butt-in-chair operating time!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Still, there were a few 'flies in the ointment', including:</DIV>
<DIV>1. RFI on the 15m and 10m stations - there was a whole layer of smaller
signals that we missed (even with our excellent ops' ears) due to QRM from the
other stations. We easily left 500-1500 QSO's on the table. Those
of you who called and called - sorry, we tried our best!</DIV>
<DIV>This is a non-starter for next year so we already are working plans to
fix it.</DIV>
<DIV>2. The Cdx were down, especially Saturday - this also played a factor on
15m and 10m (see above) and a bit on 40m too. I am convinced that with
improved conditions and better managed RFI there is ample opportunity to
increase our score substantially next year!</DIV>
<DIV>3. PC's were our biggest problems:</DIV>
<DIV>
<UL>
<LI>30 *seconds* before the FQP start, Bob's PC froze - YIKES! Bob
kept his head, rebooted and a minute later he was off and running with the
rest of the stations in LAK. After a few more occurrences (arggh!) he
figured out it was RFI on the cables and a handy ferrite choke solved it.
<BR>
<LI>On Sunday morning as we set sail, Kevin's PC's decided it was going to
not work. We were already driving to our starting point and had about
half an hour before the contest started and with 10 minutes to spare he was
able to get it going again - breathing resumed shortly thereafter.<BR>
<LI>Finally, Lu's 10m PC had various issues too - but he persisted in
repairing them one at a time. Red had a few minor PC gliches as well;
you get the picture. More opportunities for
improvement...<BR></LI></UL></DIV>
<DIV>Keep in mind that in MM/m each op is on their own to fix any problem, or
else we need to pull over. Boy Scout motto was adopted by our team - we had a
backup for just about everything.<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>All that said, the power/radios/antennas worked flawlessly -
not bad!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Now onto the fun part - operating! We hit the ground running with
simply glorious wx all weekend, and our route planning worked really well.
Rates were poor-to-great depending on the band, day and time (as usual).
</DIV>
<DIV>We decided Saturday night to add MON and DAD to our Sunday route; we even
managed to hit all our counties and tame the <FONT
color=#ff0000><I>DRAGON</I></FONT> (aka- Collier, the beast county)!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Best of all, we enjoyed just being together on this unique once (twice?)
in a lifetime adventure. We shared fun and aggravation, swapped scores
and stories when things got slow (i.e.- CLR), helped each other with
directions, passing snacks/drinks, requesting 'QRX while I copy this weak
sig', etc. We even found "Red's Tavern" in CLM (almost stopped for a beer!).
</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>It was such great camaraderie - Red, Lu, Bob, Kevin and Larry each made
personal sacrifices before, during and after the contest to benefit our team
and maximize our score and our fun. This team had a special chemistry
and I enjoyed watching their world-class operating skills in action. I
believe this team raised the bar a bit toward pushing the state of our
technical and operating art - I am very proud of our achievements and very
lucky to call each of these guys my friend. In short, it was a blast!!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Too much more to talk about in an email, and I am sure there are a lot of
questions regarding Multi-Multi-Mobile; perhaps the team can talk at one of
our FCG meetings in the future.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>I will gladly send out some pictures separately to FCG and FQP
distributions, and to those who email me directly with a request for photos.
Believe me, some of these pics will amaze you!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Our team would like to thank FCG leaders Dan, Ron, Chris, Jeff, Eric,
George, Fred, Steve and many others who make the FQP the very best QSO Party
around. Sincere tnx and 88 to my FB fun-loving wife Lili - she cooked dinners
and breakfasts, packed our lunch/snack bags/drinks and was a full team
member in every respect! No ham could have a more supportive spouse.</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Big thanks also to Bob K0RC for his amazing tracking sheets (and he is
helping FCG big time by revamping our FQP records too - pse QRX), and to Chuck
NO5W with his FB CQ/x contest software. Both first rate guys with first
rate tools that so many of us use- thanks again!</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>To our fellow road warriors - well done! Each of your results and
writeups is eagerly awaited and just fantastic to read...CU on on the
road!</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>A huge tip of the hat to our many, many, many friends both in and out of
state who tracked and worked us (or tried) repeatedly, put up with our QRX,
QSY, QRQ, QRS, QRDeaf and QLF - </DIV>
<DIV><B>THANK YOU ALL!</B></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Finally, sincere thanks to my vy FB teammates Kevin, Lu, Red, Bob and
Larry - guys, sure hope we can do this craziness next year! I am
convinced Jim K4OJ is smiling down on this amazing little success story of
ours. :-)</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>vy 73/OJ,</DIV>
<DIV>Chris, NX4N team lead</DIV>
<DIV>K4OJ Multi-Multi-Mobile </DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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