Iowa QSO Party
Call: KE0TT
Operator(s): KE0TT
Station: KE0TT
Class: SO Mobile/Portable QRP
QTH: MN
Operating Time (hrs):
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80:
40: 40
20: 13
15:
10:
6:
2:
222:
432:
----------------------------
Total: 53 0 0 Mults = 19 Total Score = 2,014
Club:
Comments:
K3/10 at 5 watts to a 66' long inverted vee up 24 to 30' at the apex, fed with
ladder line and tuner. Not your typical IAQP outing for this op, this year.
Started as a rainy day until I arrived at Allamakee county, where it was sunny
and warm on the other side of the weather front. That location went well, on a
slight hill with ground sloping down in all directions. 80M was quiet, 40M was
long at 11 AM, and 20M was wispy. Not a peep on 15 or 10M. Never heard anyone
in IA or adjoining states due to long 40M band. Had eyeball QSO with N0FN, who
stopped by with his family. Enjoyed the eyeball Q with him. A canoe outfitter
stopped by, just curious what the 30' pole and wires were about, so we had a
ham radio intro session on the spot, and I learned a bit about his canoeing
business. Made 15 Q's in an hour. Then moved to Winneshiek. It rained all the
way there. At one point, there was a convoy of about 10 tractors travelling the
same direction as me, through a hilly, winding section with lots of "no
passing" zones, so settled back for a slow ride at 20 mph. Since it was
raining, maybe there's no hurry anyway. Well, that turned out to be true. When
I got to a favorite radio spot, again on higher ground, I waited for the rain
to let up enough to put up the pole and inv vee. While doing that, I had gloves
on, but thought I felt the pricks of thorns or sand burrs a couple times, but
shrugged it off and kept hurrying. When connecting the feedline inside the SUV,
now without gloves, I finally got the message .... ZAP! Static charges from
rain clouds passing overhead! My pole was only configured to 24' high, how
could this be happening? I grounded the lines to the car body and the charges
dissipated through the frame and tires to the ground. OK, good time for lunch,
but total lost time for this county now up to 45 minutes before the static let
up and I could get on the air. There was no lightning or thunder at any time,
but was an unexpected lesson on electric fields! Only about a dozen Q's, and
felt it was time to go. The sun came out! So stayed longer for minimal Q's.
Drove on to four more counties planned, but now 1.5 hours behind schedule. And
drove into rain again, awwww. Decided to drive NW to move out from under the
rain clouds.... well, not so much the rain as concerns over more static
charges. So headed NW until the weather once again changed to sunshine,
breezes. and cooler temps. Now I was way off schedule and had by-passed 3
counties I'd hoped to activate, and stopped the wheels in Mitchell county for a
decent run of about 30 Q's to round out IAQP 2017. Thanks for your copy of my
QRP sigs, I always appreciate that. Also got a couple calls from John, k4bai,
and was able to ask him if his antennas survived Hurricane Irma, since it
passed over his QTH as a tropical storm. Thankfully all is well there, his
antennas are intact. See you next time! 73, Dan ke0tt
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