Arizona QSO Party
Call: K7IA
Operator(s): K7IA
Station: K7IA
Class: SO CntyLine HP
QTH: GHM/GLE AZ
Operating Time (hrs): 12:30
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80:
40: 284 94
20: 340 416
15:
10:
6:
2:
----------------------------
Total: 624 510 0 CW Mults = 54 Ph Mults = 48 Dig Mults = 0 Total
Score = 179,316
Club:
Comments:
With the AZ QP under new management for the past two years, I decided to give it
another go, after some years of absence. I had used several county line sites
over the years. My favorite, APH/GLE was consumed by the Wallow Fire in 2011,
the largest forest fire in Arizona history (it even burned close to my Field Day
site in Catron County, New Mexico!). I had worked 7QP from two sites north of
the Mogollon Rim, APH/NVO and CNO/NVO, and I planned to set up as fixed portable
at one of them, if the weather allowed. Early weather forecasts predicted the
path of the remnant of Hurricane Sergio to pass through, and cover, Arizona and
New Mexico, so Erin and I kept close eye on NOAA Weather for a week prior to our
planned day of departure, Wednesday.
With the risk of snow above the Rim increasing steadily, on Wednesday morning we
decided Plan B would be better--the county line site where I had joined Milt,
N5IA (SK) and his club, K7EAR, for several years. No trees for home brewed
Moxon Rectangles, so I unpacked those related items and packed an old multi-band
Butternut vertical, it's home brewed portable ground mount base, and 36 radials
for 80m and up.
The excellent sunny and warm weather was predicted for both Wednesday and
Thursday, and the prediction was right on target. The prediction for Friday
through Sunday, however, was for rain and strong winds--also right on target!
That made Erin a prisoner in the pickup truck camper--a long weekend for her! I
limited my outdoor activities to refueling the Honda generator, slogging through
deep mud to the end of the power cable. Mud in the Arizona desert is an unusual
phenomenon, especially in October! However, there was little, if any, rain QRN,
and there was no thunderstorm activity.
The last time I worked the AZQP from an AZ QTH, there was only one other QSO
Party--the PA QP. This year, Nevada and South Dakota were on the air, and that
trio of QPs attracted a lot of activity from both Running Ops and S&P Ops,
very helpful to AZ Ops. The exchanges for PA and NV Parties include serial
numbers, whereas AZ and SD do not. I think the numerous PA QP Ops would be more
likely to search and pounce on AZ QP ops if the exchanges were the same, because
contest logging software, like N1MM Logger, has the capability to log, score,
and submit logs to multiple QP sponsors if the exchanges were the same. The AZ
QP used to exchange serial numbers, as does the PA QP, and at least with N1MM
Logger, making QSOs between those two Parties would be a cinch. Ditto for the
NV QP. Something to think about.
Saturday conditions were pretty good, despite the weather. QRN was low, and
occasional QSB was rapid and shallow. Sunday was worse in both departments,
especially during the final two hours of the event. No signals heard on 80 or
75 meters.
Notable QSOs include NA5TB, the N5IA Memorial Station--a remote station in GHM
County designed and built by Milt and a slug of helpers in the final antenna
party, where an 80m 4-square was erected for training followed by a 160m
8-circle array--all in one day. Milt was the consummate planner, organizer,
motivator, and mentor for all who worked with him, and it was a treat for me to
assist his projects and operate from "his" 7QP county line.
"North America Five Top Band" is now operated by a group in Phoenix.
Other notables were DX stations in EU, including DL3DXX (always loud), F5NKX,
F6DZU, and three band-mode Qs from OM2VL. XE1HON was one of the louder stations
in the late Sunday afternoon QSB dip.
Many thanks to all of you who called, especially the PA QP Ops. I kept a tally
of my outgoing PA QP serial numbers with pencil and paper, but alas, I could log
you only as "PA." My apologies to those who called in the last half
hour of the event and didn't log a QSO with me. The QRN had become quite high,
and the QSB put many signals in the "ESP" range of hearing, much less
copying. I did a lot of QRP contesting years ago (ARRL DX DW, Sweepstakes CW),
and most of the Qs I logged were from stalwart Ops who made those Qs happen.
Since then, I assume every weak signal is a QRP Op, and I do my best to show
some "payback." Unfortunately, there were some Ops who left the
frequency empty-handed. One think would help, though: When you encounter a
Running Op who is struggling to pull your call sign or your report out of the
noise, send your call/exchange more than once (three times, minimum). It is
really frustrating to hear it sent only once at a time.
Equipment:
K3
Butternut (36 radials)
Expert 1.3_K FA at 400 watts
73, dan, k7ia
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