1998 California QSO Party results and story:
N6DE (+KE6OJR) Multi-Single, Low Power expedition
to Mariposa County:
BAND CW QSOs SSB QSOs
80m 29 73
40m 60 83
20m 116 191
15m 52 177
10m 13 104
---------------------------------------
TOTAL 270 628
898 total QSOs, 57 multipliers
117,762 total points
Equipment used:
Kenwood TS-850
Kenwood TS-430
Very old TH3 fixed NE @ 25' mounted on push-up pole
R7000 @ 5' mounted to tree stump
40m Inv-V dipole @ 30' in trees
80m Inv-V dipole @ 60' in trees
500' of military surplus RG8 coax
Story:
After this expedition, Kent and I have a lot more
appreciation for anyone who successfully organizes
a HAM radio expedition of any kind! This year I
wanted to do a county expedition and I found someone
insane enough to help me organize such an event.
This person is Kent, KE6OJR, and we both were
in the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club.
After graduating from Cal Poly, we started thinking about
CQP, but didn't know where we should go. We decided on
Mariposa County. My parents have a cabin in Fish Camp,
just off of Highway 41, and only a few minutes away from
the south entrance to Yosemite. The elevation
is 5000' and the coordinates for our QTH are
37deg 28.580' N, 119deg 38.295' W. We thought that
since the cabin had electricity and running water, it would
be an easy expedition. Wrong.
I never realized how much effort is required into organizing
an expedition for the first time. I helped organize Field Day
operations in the past, but this was with several other
club members bringing their gear and helping set up
antennas. For CQP, it was just Kent and I, and we had
to start from scratch to obtain all sorts of supplies.
My first big break was a tip from N6ED that W6OA was
selling a used TH3. This was the first model of the TH3
with the blue/green potted traps (anyone remember those?)
and was made back in the early 1960s. I bought it for $35.
(Yes, $35!)
Our second break came at the Foothill Swap Meet. We found
a 500' roll of military surplus RG8! It was covered with a thick
layer of dust and we wondered how far around the world it had been.
The coax was on an extremely heavy military green spool, and when
carrying it back to the car, we wondered how we could have been
so stupid for buying it! (Thanks to KE6SYA and Matt for driving
the car closer to us, and to N6BDE for bargaining with the seller,
or else we would have never bought it!)
Everything else either came out of our own HAM collection,
or we bought it as cheap as possible! However, there were a
couple of other items we didn't have: no amplifier and no rotator.
We figured we'll leave those for next year.
Then it came time to transport and put up all the antennas.
Kent and I learned an important lesson from the setup phase:
set up all the antennas in the daylight. It was most unpleasant
to climb trees and ladders, and install antennas in complete darkness.
The squirrel award goes to Kent who climbed 60' for the
80m dipole. The nut award goes to me for not bringing
a bow and arrow!
On Friday evening we tested all 4 antennas and were
satisfied with the results. Then it was time to build the
CT CW interface cable. This leads to another lesson
I learned: make sure to build the CW keying cable
BEFORE going on the expedition. I made a big
mistake and forgot my entire CT manual at home,
which of course had all the cable pinouts. I desperately
called N6ED and asked if he had the manual. He did
and really saved the day! Thanks Craig! I'm also
glad Kent brought a shielded cable; RF got into the first
unshielded cable I built.
By Saturday morning we were pumped up to put
Mariposa County on the air! Surprisingly enough,
our best hour came on 40m with a 70+ QSO hour.
I noticed after the contest that many people said 10m was
their best band. We could never get any consistently
high rates on 10m, though it wasn't for lack of trying.
Perhaps it had something to do with our 3:1 SWR
on 10m!
I can't believe we missed NV! Kent heard N7TR
on 80m while I had a great run on 40m. I told
him as soon as my run winds down, we'll switch to 80m.
By the time we went to 80m, N7TR moved, and we never
heard him again in the entire contest!
Here's a quick statistic about our TH3 to consider:
It netted us 653 contacts, and at $35.00 for the antenna,
this comes out to $0.0536 per QSO! This is a
ppq (price per QSO) rating that is tough to beat
for a Yagi! hi hi
We had a great time from Mariposa County! Thanks
to everyone for all the contacts, and we look forward
to CQP next year!
73...
-Dean - N6DE
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