Florida QSO Party
Call: K4OJ
Operator(s): K0LUZ N4KM NX4N
Station: K4OJ
Class: M/SCW LP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
40: 556 0
20: 2575 0
15: 375 0
10: 0 0
--------------------
Total: 3505 0 CW Mults = 77 Ph Mults = 0 Total Score = 1,079,600
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
Hi Fellow FQP Fans,
FQP 2016 is now in the books and it was another Super Fun Ride for team K4OJ
MM/m! Given the propagation challenges from Old Sol, we wisely cut back our
operations to just two radios this year and it paid off with plenty of action
for both stations. Red, K0LUZ and Kevin, N4KM literally took it to the streets
with me as we traveled through 47 Florida Counties (plan was 48- details
below).
First, the results and some stats:
3505 QSO's
77 Mults
SCORE = 1.08M
Approx Band Breakdown (and comparison to claimed score for past 2 years):
Band QSO's MULTS 2015Q 2015M 2014Q 2014M
40m - 556 24 369 35 494 45
20m - 2575 72 2941 69 2460 80
15m - 375 57 1328 69 909 64
10m - 0 0 320 31 110 27
BEST RATES:
40 and 15 Meters - 942 QSOs
K4OJ Max Rates:
2016-04-30 2348Z - 4.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 240 per hour by N4KM
2016-04-30 2354Z - 2.8 per minute (10 minute(s)), 168 per hour by N4KM
2016-05-01 0045Z - 2.2 per minute (60 minute(s)), 131 per hour by N4KM
QSO Party - 2016-04-30 1600Z to 2016-05-01 2159Z - 2600 QSOs
K4OJ Max Rates:
2016-05-01 1602Z - 6.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 360 per hour by K0LUZ
2016-05-01 1859Z - 3.9 per minute (10 minute(s)), 234 per hour by K0LUZ
2016-04-30 2209Z - 3.1 per minute (60 minute(s)), 184 per hour by K0LUZ
The 60min rate for 40m was up, but 20m was a bit down vs. 2015 - down the cycle
we go!
Our MM setup was just a scaled-down version of the past 2 years::
2002 Chevrolet Suburban, 2-wheel drive, now at 358K miles - The NX4N
"Sub" just keeps rolling along!
BAND OPERATOR RADIO ANTENNA
20m Red, K0LUZ K3 20m
Hustler - Roof mounted 20" from 40m ant
40m/15m/10m Kevin, N4KM K3 40m Hustler -
Roof mounted near center
15m Hustler - mounted 30" from 20m, 48" from 40m
10m 1/4 wave whip - Roof mounted 48" from 40m ant
Driver, pinch-hitter op, gator/smokey detector, station engineer, host and team
lead - Chris, NX4N
Co-Host, 10,000 sandwiches/snacks/drinks provider - Lili (NX4N's vy FB wife)
Power - A Rock solid power plant for 3 years running:
Honda EU-2000i 2KW generator driving individual switching power supplies for
each station. Generator was mounted with an external fuel tank
and K5YAA-inspired 'plumbers delight' rain cover with vent on a hitch-mount
cargo carrier. E0 ethanol-free premium fuel was used. Fuel consumed over 24
hours of actual run time = 4 gallons.
Team K4OJ Tales from the Road:
ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET:
Chris left home in Tampa early Saturday to meet Red and Kevin in SEM. The
traffic was minimal and the roads clear of accidents - looking good! We met at
our usual Publix parking lot and made our greetings. There was a nefarious
looking dude following Chris as he got out of the SUV - onced they hugged,
Kevin and Red knew that this was a friend not foe. Chris' brother Matt lives
only a few miles down the road in the big metropolis of Sorrento so he stopped
by for a brief meet/greet. As Red and Kevin climbed in to get their stations
and ergonomics ready, the brothers took a few minutes to get caught up. Matt
said his goodbyes and team K4OJ/m enjoyed a picnic lunch (courtesy team member
Lili) in and around the vehicle. Just super nice weather that would last
statewide the entire weekend!
MURPHY TRIES TO GET CUTE:
Ok, 15 minutes until the start so we have to rock and roll to get to our LAK
starting point. What the...?!?!?!? Just before starting the vehicle, Kevin
announces that his 15m SWR not is 4:1 - YIKES! Trying to remain calm, we start
checking connections - this butt-ugly issue is not going away. We do a final
check of the actual antenna connection, moving them around a bit (antenna,
coax, base coil). All of a sudden, the 15m SWR is 1.1 and remained that way
the rest of the weekend. Still don't have a bead on the root cause but at
least we got through the contest without further issue.
GO - CQ FQP!
And we're off! The 20m QSO's are screaming through Red's earphones, and Kevin
is seeing some action too on 15m. The Murphy sneak attack cost us some time
getting to our starting spot but it just meant less stop time in LAK. After a
few minutes it's time to start our journey - into SEM, then VOL we with both
stations in action. Everyone is having fun. As we head toward I-95, the
traffic slows way down but we expect this - same road construction obstacles as
last year. Is there any part of FL that is not having road work? We then
encounter an traffic-clogging accident on I-95; team driver seething under his
breath but patience wins the day and we get past it and onto much smoother
sailing for the remainder of the weekend.
HOW LOWWW CAN YOU GO?
Kevin was putting up with a marginal 15m band (375 QSO's this year s. 1350 last
- wow) and when 5:15pm rolled around he couldn't WAIT to QSY to 40m. Switching
bands, he found 40m already open and loaded with signals - time to runnem'! He
did a wonderful job - clearly some folks were looking for FL on 40m early and
followed him through many counties, even as Red worked lots and lots of folks
on 20m right to the end of the first night. In the end, Kevin set a Team 'OJ
record for # of 40m QSO's - well done!
BACK AT THE RANCH - GOOD MEETS AND GREETS:
We finished the last 10 minutes of the first day's operating period in the
driveway at NX4N's home; Chris and Lili unloaded the lunch boxes/coolers and
put the cold packs back in the freezer as the contest finally ended. Kevin and
Red wearily exited their cramped operating positions and just enjoyed stretching
out the old bones a bit!
Just minutes later team W4AN/m joined us - so nice to see John, Jeff, Andy (now
old enough to help drive) and Randy again! Lili already had fresh, hot pizza
ready in the oven - and the teams were hungry! Just as we dug in, team NO5W/m
joined the party - it was very nice to meet Chuck and Ted for the first time.
You could tell all of us were alternately hungry, tired and just glad to relax.
Naturally the table conversation reviewed our previous day's journeys -
everyone was having fun, experienced some of Murphy's shenanigans and enjoying
FQP on the road. We also talked about stations, contest expeditions and all
things ham.
Dinner went quickly and we were all flat out tired so we hung out by the cars
for just a few more minutes to say goodbye and then everyone wished each other
GL and safe travels on Sunday.
It was a really nice, fun ending to a very long but FB day.
RED's SWR MAGIC:
During our Friday pre-FQP road check, Kevin and I noticed that the 20m and 40m
swr's were swinging up and down more than the previous two year. We determined
that the 20m and 40m antennas were moving within six inches of each other at
speeds greater than 60MPH; perhaps the springs were going soft. We pulled back
the 40m antenna and tied it with string to the roof luggage rack to minimize the
issue - seemed to work. Saturday we had little problem, but Sunday Red noticed
the SWR really going nuts. It took us 90 minutes from that time to pull over
and sure enough we found the antenna worked loose from its base; a bit of
pliers-leveraged tightening solved the issue to acceptable level, but we never
did figure out why 20m swr was continuing to fluctuate - added to the checklist
for next year.
BARRELS OF FUN?...oh, POOP!
Sunday started a bit slowly as our sleepy team awoke to Lili's freshly-ground
robust coffee, cheesy eggs and bagels. Nothin' like a strong hot cup-o-joe to
get the team ready for action! We left for our PIN starting point a bit late
but both stations were up and running. Going across the Sky Way Bridge was a
beautiful site, and the salt water really helped the starting rates fly! 40m
was as hot as the night before and 20m was smokin' too. Things were looking
up...
We worked out way down through MTE and SAR with our sights set on the 500ft.
stretch of I-75 in DES; as our fellow /m ops know, this nice sliver of road
offers an easy new county with a just a quick pull over.
OK- the GPS is telling us it's just ahead; I'm using our NFDCSS (NX4N Fancy,
Dancy County Signaling System - think lights and screaming people) so the ops
are ready for a new county.
WHAT THE HECK? No - Whyyyyyy? Both sides of the highway are suddenly deluged
with emergency roadwork barrels every 50 feet - Rats! They are so closely
spaced that this driver deemed it unsafe to pull over so with a whimper and a
sniffle we hit the gas and sailed on past it - wah. It sux to miss a county.
Hope folks didn't get Barrel-rolled looking for us in DES.
N4KM's GUIDE, "RFI WHINING PROTOCOL":
Over the past 3 years of this MM/m madness, our ops have had to put up with
wildly varying, and sometime huge, amounts of inter-station interference (RFI).
Sunday morning, Kevin took time from a slow 15m slog to translate this
frustration into an ongoing string of RFI Whining. Chris picked up on the fun
and the two of us used our free time to spew even more good-natured whining
such as:
"The 20m station is hurting my score - wah!";
"The 40m station sux- why does it cause so much RFI on all the other
bands!!";
"I want more stations to work - why do I get the dead bands? Wah!"
"Are we there yet?"
"CLR County is too big - Wah!"
"But I wanted a ham sandwich, not turkey!"
"I have to pee; why can't we stop?"
"My butt hurts - FQP mobile sux!"
And on and on it went with us giggling all the way. Poor Red, up to his
eyeballs in pileups, probably thought we were losing our minds (true but
unrelated to the situation).
CLR GATOR BAIT SPEED BUMP:
As we entered the 'Dragon Monster' County of Collier the traffic thinned as we
flew along the 50mile(!) stretch of Tamiami Trail, praying that an Ice Cream
Truck doing 30mph would not end up in front of us. Our luck held and there
were just a few roadsters and all were traveling fast or easy to pass. The
reward for entering this endless county was nearing quickly - Monroe county!
Just before we got there an 8ft alligator appeared roadside and was poised for
action, seemingly looking for an easy FQP lunch! As we neared him though, we
noticed a bit of blood near his eye; clearly this toothy old guy had been used
as a speed bump. Wonder if the K1XX/m team saw him too? Bye, Bye Bone Crusher
(anyone FL Cracker remember this toothy guy? If not, look him up - a huge,
famous Gatorland Croc and cuzin' to our roadside companion)
HEY MON, WE BE JAMMIN':
All along our endless journey through CLR, Red kept getting requested for when
our team would arrive at MON - evidently activated by only two mobiles and (to
our knowledge) no fixed stations). We could feel the anticipation rising.
When we finally arrive, I announced our new county and said "Go
Gettem!" And of to the races we went - a look of total concentration
emerged on Red's face as he faced a HUGE pileup. Usually we only stay about
10-15 minutes there because the truck starts to overhead in this fiery pit of
the everglades, so this time we turned off the A/C and just sat their for 25
minutes to give the deserving a chance to work us. Several folks cried
"SWEEP!!!" and thanked us - we knew that we were falling behind our
schedule but this is what it's really about.
Funny thing is that Kevin on 15m worked a few but there were few answers to his
CQ's though the band was pretty open. After 25 minutes the jam session slowed
way down - mission accomplished. Hope that team K1XX/m was able to help those
we missed.
AN ODE'(R) to PROPAGATION:
Twas the Saturday of FQP and all through each High Band,
Not a signal was stirring, an endless desert of sand.
The antennas were strapped to the roof with care,
But even with pre-amps, not even an esp mouse was there.
So at dusk I flew to 40m in a flash,
With high hopes for huge pile ups of dot-dash.
All through the night I escaped Old Sol's lair,
But reality returned Sunday with nothing but Dead Air.
Goodbye, Cycle 24...tnx es 73
IN SUMMARY:
Scores may be a bit down but the fun was still flying high for all who
participated in 2016 FQP including our team; we truly enjoy each other's
company and meeting up with teams W4AN and NO5W made it all the merrier.
We made more than 3500 QSO's and a Million points (claimed) with two
transmitters and some marginal conditions; not bad! Kevin, Red and I focused on
'FUN" this year; in that regard we had a winning effort! :-)
The K4OJ team would like to sincerely thank all of the FCG officers and staff
who help bring such a FB QSO Party to reality each year - we sure appreciate
your efforts! Chris, Dan, Eric, George, Ron, Ron, Fred, Steve and newcomer KK3Q
Floyd - plus all our 1x1 special stations - you're the best, thanks again guys!
Please accept my apologies if I missed mentioning you.
Huge thanks also to K0RC and NO5W who both work so hard to bring Super tools to
the Party to help folks track down their sweeps - Bob and Chuck, thank you for
your tireless support! You're the best!
We also want to again thank Jim K5AUP for kindly loaning us his K3; Jim, it
really makes a difference to have such a FB, small radio on board - thanks
again for your generosity each year. Both N4BP and K0RC helped us get our logs
combined when we got stuck doing so - huge thanks to both Bob's!!
MANY THANKS to all of the folks who worked us on all the bands and counties.
Top 10 QSO partners include:
CALL # of QSOs
N9CK 64
K3WW 63
WJ9B 56
VE3KZ 56
VA3DF 55
K1GQ 49
N8NA 48
K9PG 46
N2AN 46
WA3HAE 45
Our team had a great time working you all! We also truly enjoyed your company
as we rolled down the highway together.
A tip of the hat to our fellow road warriors - great job folks!! Each of your
results and write ups are eagerly read...CU down the road!
As always, the biggest appreciation is reserved for our many, many friends both
in and out of state who tracked and worked us (or tried) repeatedly, put
up with our QRX, QSY, QRQ, QRS, QRDeaf and QLF - THANK YOU ALL FOR THE MANY
QSOs!
Finally, sincere thanks to my vy FB teammates Kevin and Red - sure appreciate
you joining in for yet another exciting ride. This is SO much fun; really
appreciate your positive, can-do attitudes (aside from the whining... ;->)
And of course many thanks to my ever-lovin' wife Lili; I am truly blessed with
her by my side supporting all this craziness.
Jim K4OJ - buddy above, we brought your Big orange 'OJ paddle for the 3rd year
straight to bring you along for this insane bit of fun; thanks for being our
ongoing inspiration for all-things FQP!
vy 73/OJ,
Chris, NX4N team lead
K4OJ Multi-Multi-Mobile
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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