Michigan QSO Party
Call: K8IR/M
Operator(s): K8IR KG9GH
Station: K8IR/M
Class: Mobile Multi-Op LP
QTH: UP
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 181 36
40: 347 56
20: 95 6
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 623 98 CW Mults = 66 Ph Mults = 39 Total Score = 141,120
Club: M&M ARC
Comments:
This is the seventh year I've gone out in the Upper Peninsula for MIQP. It was
the worst weather-wise with rain and fog over the western U-P. Once we got east
of Baraga County, though, it was just cloudy. The good news was that with no
sun, I could see the laptop screen with no problem the whole way.
But more importantly, this was probably the best propagation I have encountered
in the last seven years, which is reflected in my best claimed score ever. I was
expecting little from 20, 40 to be long, and 80/75 to be the workhorse band. As
it turns out, 40 was working for in-state contacts from the beginning, (but
then, Keweenaw County is as far from Detroit as Tennessee), 20 was in pretty
good shape, and not much was happening early on 80/75. In the evening, 40 was
really rocking, supplying the really big pileups I had not seen since for a
while. In the evening, 80 was very good at times, but there were other times
that it was quite slow. The night-time 80 meter QRN much better than last
year.
I shortened the route a bit this year, and spent more time in each county. I
had at least 50 contacts in each. The extra time caused us to be out of range
to make DICK at the end, but we were home by 0430, which was a nice benefit.
Thanks to Todd, N9NE for making sure the three western UP Counties we didn't
get to this year were covered.
Touring the U-P is always interesting. There was plenty of snow left in KEWE.
We saw a huge eagle soaring down the highway in front of us in ONTO, a timber
wolf in CHIP, and deer everywhere. The only real visit by Murphy happened in
KEWE, where we left the car idling while parked. The electric fan decided it
was going to stop turning due to a corroded connector, and suddenly steam
exploded from under the hood. A carefully placed tie-wrap made sure the
connector was happy, and we proceeded without pain the rest of the way except
at the pump. The highest we saw was 3.65 a gallon. Special thanks to Eric,
KG9GH, who was my driver for the second year. He did a great job getting
through the fog, avoiding the deer, and being good company.
The totals by county:
KEWE 53
HOUG 57
ONTO 55
BARA 54
MARQ 64
ALGE 51
LUCE 50
CHIP 73
MACK 66
SCHO 87
DELT 78
MENO 29
Thanks to everyone who called in. It makes the trip so worthwhile.
Jim
K8IR
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|