New Mexico QSO Party
Call: K8TE
Operator(s): K8TE
Station: K8TE
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NM
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 6 5
40: 158 23
20: 146 31
15:
10:
6:
----------------------------
Total: 310 59 0 Mults = 55 Total Score = 131,048
Club: Albuquerque DX Assn
Comments:
While Judy drove, I called CQ many, many times! Conditions could be worse, and
probably will be next year. Still, I managed to make a few contacts without any
major SNAFU's this year. In this "small" event, it would really be
nice for mobiles to self-spot! Thanks to the very few who spotted me--what a
difference that makes! I wonder if APRS helped those chasing to follow us?
Something helped John, N6MU! He worked me in every county I activated, even
Torrance when we were located for a brief time, not long enough to make the
required 15 QSO’s for the 5,000 bonus points. Thanks for those 17 QSO’s
John! That is persistence!
My new 20m MFJ-1620T antenna broke at the mount, destroying the antenna and
making the mount useless, the day before the contest! I had to use my High
Sierra for 20m and 80m/75m. I did make a few contacts on 75m/80m, at the
beginning and one at the end. So, it was not a disaster.
40m was surprisingly useful for in-State contacts and those counties for
multipliers, despite relatively long propagation. I checked the RBN and noted I
was getting out satisfactorily. Unfortunately, very few contacts spotted me.
For those of you who operate mobile, you know that spots are our lifeblood,
especially in “smaller” events like this!
Smaller has nothing to do with the size of NM counties! We had to travel over
an hour five times to get from one county line to another! Judy drove over 600
miles, including the 90 it took to arrive at our first county line for the
contest start. Our total trip distance was exactly 800 miles! I think next
time we will start and finish closer to home.
Often, local RFI was well over S9, and in one instance S9+40 in oil country!
So, I must apologize to those who called me and whom I didn’t answer and thank
those who were persistent in getting my attention. I did not nod off until we
arrived home, 15:40 after we left!
We activated 12 counties this year, one more than last year. Due too
construction, slightly longer than expected pit stops, and one long dirt road,
we missed the final county (Torrance) multiplier by four QSO’s! However, we
weren’t slowed down by a heard of antelope on the road like last year!
I exchanged e-mail messages with my friend John, K4BAI. He and KU8E were in the
GAQP, but I never heard either call. I only made five GA QSO’s, although I
heard plenty on or below the NMQP frequencies. Apparently, they had too many
callers to copy my weak mobile signals.
As usual, N1MM+ Logger performed flawlessly as did the K3 and antennas. Winds
were unusually quiet until we came through Tijeras Canyon on I-40 approaching
Albuquerque and the last 30 miles from home, unusual for this time of year in
NM. I’m looking forward to hearing from my fellow ADXA’ers who
participated. We should have activated the most counties again this year, even
though my compadres KKM6M and KG5IDN could only operate from county lines since
they also drove. 73, Bill, K8TE
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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