Greetings from the Great White North 'eh ?
W9RM/mobile
Team Cheesehead
140 x 81 = 11,340
IC706 + High Sierra HS1000
Op hours: 5 +/- frostbite
In a word, COLD !
Fired up from the truck parked on my parents road - yeah, not EXACTLY
mobile to the true definition, but close enough ! Made first Q within
minutes of 1800Z and spent the next 2.5 hours S&P'ing across 15 & 20.
Kept checking 10M for a repeat of the CW test Es but nothing doing.
Probably a good thing as I would have blown off the NAQP and hit 6M for
a bit of 6M action during the VHF SS !!
I can't run the engine while I operate because of some serious EMI from
various electrical system in the Land Rover so it started to get too
cold after about 3 hours to continue. Temperature at this point was -2F
and falling. Q's equal 75 !
Came back out at sunset to hit 40M while it's still short. That, along
with more S&P on 20 sends the rate meter to 40 (!!) and Q meter to the
100 mark. Temperature now stands at -6F - actually, a very nice
evening.
Finished up around 0200 with a few sweeps of 80 to crank up the mults.
Total score actually beats the CW (CW??? yeech...) weekend - cool !
What I Learned as a Mobile !
Being weak SUCKS - loud is cool.
I also learned that their are a BUNCH of guys out there with BIG
transmit signals that better learn how the listen. A particular signal
out of FL stands out, as it has in previous contests... ! Didn't have
much problem on 15 and 20 - guys actually told me I was loud on several
occasions - one actually ragged on me for saying I was mobile just to
get his attention - I beeped the horn at him. On 40, with the BC trash,
things were a bit tougher, but I worked most all the people I heard with
signals over S9 - EXCEPT the few notables I mentioned earlier - tsk-tsk.
When a guy in SC gets my full exchange first time and a guy in NC, 2
minutes later, CQ's in my face 10 times, well......
All in all, I was impressed at what I could hear on ALL bands with just
the mobile stick. It's REAL quite here in snow country, 10 miles from
the nearest town and 2 miles from the next occupied house. Might try to
talk my Dad into letting me put up a 60-70 foot tower (for his TV
antenna, 'eh ?)...
Go Cheesheads !
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PROBE ELECTRONICS 100 Higgins Road, Park Ridge IL 60068 USA
Keith J. Morehouse / W9RM / Society of Midwest Contesters
847-696-2828 FAX: 847-698-2045 e-mail: blckhole@ripco.com
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