Michigan QSO Party
Call: WI9WI/M
Operator(s): WI9WI
Station: WI9WI/M
Class: Mobile Solo Op LP
QTH: MI
Operating Time (hrs): 6
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
80: 8 5
40: 181 2
20: 60 0
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 249 7 CW Mults = 50 Ph Mults = 7 Total Score = 28,785
Club: Minnesota Wireless Association
Comments:
After my debacle in the Wisconsin QSO Party when I couldn't seem to come up with
a working antenna, I spent several hours working to make sure this wouldn't
happen again. I bought a magnet mount from K8GU and resurected my long
neglected Hustler antennas, which I hadn't used in over 15 years. I was at
least able to get a couple of them to work. Then I tried to figure out what
went wrong with my Bugcatcher antenna. I couldn't get it to load on any band in
the WIQP. I was able to get some RF out using an old tuner I had along, but I
think I was just loading the coax and the body of my car. Noone could hear me
well if at all. Nothing I could do later could recreate the problem. I think it
must have been a bad coax connector or a switch I had in line, but everything
checked out fine. I redid the tap points on the Bugcatcher, and got a
reasonably low SWR in the middle of the 40 meter band, high in the 75 phone
band, and in the mid 20 meter band. I then fed it through my old original model
LDG automatic antenna tuner, and was able to get full power out into it on all 3
bands both phone and CW.
I was going to start way up in KEWE, but I had to alter my plans when we had a
car problem and I was unable to leave Madison until mid afternoon. I drove to
our cabin in Winter and stayed overnite there. I rigged up the antenna,
computer and radio and tested them that night. About 08:30 CST I left the cabin
and drove the 3 hours to Norway Lake, about 8 miles south of Sidnaw in IRON.
There is a paved road to the lake and there are 3 counties IRON, BARA, and HOUG
which are within a quarter mile drive of each other. I spent about 15 minutes
scouting operating sites along the road. Last year I pulled into the boat
landing for IRON, but this year there was 3 feet of snow on the road to the
landing so I operated from the side of the road. After lunch and setting up my
gear I started in IRON. Conditions seemed very good particularly on 40. The
antenna worked fine. I spent about an hour in each county, then drove back
toward Wisconsin. I stopped in ONTO near Agate Falls for about an hour, then
drove to GOGE just west of Bessemer. The weather was poor with temperatures
below 40 all day, rain and fog. The fog got worse as the day went on. I was due
at my friends' cabin near Glidden, WI for dinner about 8 PM. Due to the weather
I was running a bit late. I quit in GOGE about 7:30 local as it was getting
dark. The drive from Ironwood to Glidden took almost 2 hours instead of the
usual 1. Visibility was very poor due to the fog. After a great dinner it was
to bed, and I drove back to Madison Sunday afternoon.
All in all this was pretty successful. I still need to work on my antenna
system. I also should spend more time on phone. I did call CQ a bit on 75 and
40 phone with few answers. On 75 I had a lot of people CQ in my face.
Gear:
IC-7000
LDG automatic antenna tuner
Texas Bugcatcher
Old Toshiba computer with WriteLog
Everything runs off an RV battery
Thanks for the QSOs
Jim
WI9WI
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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