Call: K5WA/m
Operators: K5WA & N6MU
Class: Multi-Op/Mobile/Mixed/Low Power
Operating Time: 20 Hours
Counties Activated: 47
Total Qs: 1108 (118 SSB, 990 CW)
Total Mults: 97 (43 SSB, 54 CW)
Final Score: 407,012 Points
There's nothing like a long weekend roundtrip drive from Houston that covers=
=20
3000 miles including 47 FL counties in support of the FQP. This all started=20=
a=20
month ago when Hal, W1NN, made a posting indicating he was planning to come=20
to FL for a rental car FQP mobile effort. I volunteered to join him and=20
preliminary planning began. Unbeknownst to me, Bob, K5WA, had recently put=20
the finishing touches on a new mobile setup and was looking for a partner to=
=20
make a trial run in the FQP. He offered Hal that alternative. When Hal's=20
plans fell through he put Bob in touch with me as a possible partner. The=20
main reason I was interested in going to FL this year was the probable lack=20
of a station here if I didn't and after being top out-of-state scorer last=20
year I wanted to participate. As it turns out I was right. Due to weather,=20
N6NB's mountaintop station that I normally operate from wouldn't be ready by=
=20
FQP and I would have missed it altogether. After trading e-mails with Bob,=20
someone I had never met and vice versa, we agreed to give it a go.
Bob picked me up at the Houston airport on Thursday afternoon and we headed=20
for FL. Our plan was to start as far south as we could get by Friday evening=
=20
and end up at the edge of the panhandle at contest end on our way back to TX=
.=20
We made it to Pensacola that first night and I got a preview of why it was=20
possible to run 28 counties on Sunday like we did. To say Bob is an=20
aggressive driver is an understatement. More about that later. We easily mad=
e=20
it to the Miami area by Friday evening.=20
Bob drives an older Lexus that looks like new, inside and out. It is one of=20
the most comfortable and smoothest riding cars (even at 100 mph!) I've ever=20
been in. He recently installed a FT-100/ATAS-100 combination that allows=20
remote antenna tuning from the rig. It worked flawlessly. We used two=20
computers - one for logging and one for GPS tracking. Using Street Atlas 8.0=
=20
software, Bob had pre-plotted a route through 43 counties. The accuracy of=20
the GPS was uncanny and a real asset for a couple of guys who had never=20
driven in FL. You knew if you missed a turn within 100 feet and could easily=
=20
identify county lines when they weren't marked. We used TR Log and Bob had=20
set up a file for each county that was fully pre-programmed with the proper=20
CW county indicators, etc. Bring on the FQP!!
We planned 20 counties for Saturday that made a big S through south central=20
FL and included many of the "one pass" counties. When 16Z rolled around on=20
Saturday we were on Route 41 going west in CLR from the CLR/DAD county line.=
=20
At Monroe Station we turned south on Route 94 to get MON. The map showed it=20
as a gray line which meant it probably wasn't a very good road but we weren'=
t=20
prepared for what we found. It was nice of the Navy to go back to Vieques=20
Island and stop using 94 for bombing practice. Top speed was 15 mph and I=20
thought several of the craters were going to swallow the car. Needless to sa=
y=20
we were way behind schedule from the start. We then proceeded to DAD, BRO,=20
PAL, HEN, GLA, LEE, CHA, DES, MTE, HAR, HIG, OKE, MRT, STL, IDR, BRE and=20
ended in OSC which is large and full of city type streets and stop signs tha=
t=20
prevented us from getting to POL for our 20th county. After MON the roads=20
were fine, traffic was light and it was a good day. We made 471 Qs, 112 SSB=20
and 359 CW, mostly on 20 meters, for an average of about 25 Qs per county. =20
Conditions on 10/15 were poor and would get worse. One mistake we made was=20
not going to 40 early enough. When we did, we were averaging 40 Qs for the=20
last two counties but it should have started much earlier. Lesson learned.
We started in POL on Sunday. At 12Z we thought the rig had failed as there=20
were no signals on any band. It became painfully obvious there had been some=
=20
type of disturbance that did not bode well for the day. As a result, we made=
=20
1 Q on 40 in POL and 6 Qs in LAK, the next of our 28 counties for the day.=20
Great start! Conditions improved somewhat as the morning wore on but it was=20
clear the only productive band/mode was going to be 20 CW. 10/15 were dead a=
s=20
a doornail. We called CQ on 15 CW from most counties with nary an answer.=20
Same for 20 SSB. Where we made 112 Qs Saturday in 19 counties, we made 6 in=20
28 counties on Sunday. Again, we called CQ on 20 SSB from most counties on=20
what sounded like clear frequencies with nary an answer. This was amazing=20
considering 20 CW was doing just fine. Go figure.
Then the fun began when we hit Interstates 4/95/10 for most of the rest of=20
the day. There were a few side excursions but "pedal to the metal" Bob=20
averaged 80 mph with spurts in the three digit range that I don't even want=20
to think about. I don't know why Floridians love to drive side by side at or=
=20
below the speed limit so no one can pass but they do it a lot. Bob can only=20
take that for so long. The scariest moment came under those conditions Sunda=
y=20
afternoon when Bob decided to pass an eighteen-wheeler on the right side=20
doing about 95 mph. I thought I was going to leave a deposit in his seat.=20
Anyway, that's how we managed to hit ORA, SEM, VOL, FLG, STJ, DUV, NAS, BAK,=
=20
CLA, BRA, UNI, COL, HAM, SUW, MAD, TAY, JEF, LEO, GAD, JAC, WAG, HOL, WAL,=20
OKA, SAN and ESC. We hit ESC with 10 minutes left in the contest. The averag=
e=20
dropped to 23 Qs per county after the slow start for a total of 637 Qs for=20
the day, 6 SSB and 631 CW.
We know we gave sweeps to K0CIE and W8MJ which pleased us as much as it did=20
them. That's what it's all about. M0SDX topped the most DX Qs with LY3BA=20
right behind. Congrats to them for excellent efforts. After last year, the=20
biggest disappointment was the lack of 10/15 meters. We expected to be busy=20
as one-armed paper hangers with requests for band changes, etc, but there=20
were no bands to change to. Bob got me back to the Houston airport by 1 PM=20
Monday. Thanks for a weekend I'll not soon forget, Bob. By the way, Bob took=
=20
a lot of digital photos, including one of the speedometer reading 100 mph,=20
along the way and hopes to put them on a website soon. 73=E2=80=A6
John, N6MU with Bob, K5WA/m
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