John,
We were on or near 14280-85 all of the time. We didn't work an EA though.
A couple of Europeans got through.
I knew we were operating different power classes, and hope we can both get a
certificate...hi. I had reports of stations in AL calling, but just could
not hear them through other callers. Jeff would call out "New County! New
County " as we crossed the lines, and the regulars would pop in.
The route we took turned out to be pretty nice, mostly 4 lane, and well
marked for county lines. My job was to hit the "far" side of a county as
soon in the half hour as possible, park, and then move across the line at
the time mark. The GPS and Mapping software helped there too.
Next time, we need to work the modes and bands better for multipliers, if
only for a few in each case. There was seldom time to switch operators
though.
I think my screwdriver antenna is just about dead. This is the second time
it has heated up and softened. The best plan is to design an "ideal" 20M
max length mobile antenna with large diameter parts, and an optimized coil,
a bit like a bug catcher. Then do the same for 40M, and mount both on the
van on opposite sides and switch from up front. A new screwdriver with
higher power capacity could be a third addition to cover the other bands and
frequency settings.
With a mobile, higher power makes a great difference, so your 100W score
stands as the benchmark of top performance with me. Many of us mark our
efforts by your scores.
Congrats on a great run.
Mike, NE4S
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