Florida QSO Party - 2019
Call: K4OJ/M
Operator(s): K0LUZ N4KM NX4N
Station: K4OJ/M
Class: Multi-Op MobileCW LP
QTH: 42 Cty
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
40: 1437
20: 2038
15: 5
10: 0
--------------------
Total: 3480 0 CW Mults = 67 Ph Mults = 0 Total Score = 932,372
Club: Florida Contest Group
Comments:
Hi FQP Friends-
Wasn't that fun!!!
Our K4OJ/m had a great time but after 5 years of fairly bug-free operations
(except Love Bugs) we had to work through our own special spelling bee:
M-U-R-P-H-Y
First, the numbers (approx- still integrating logs):
Band QSOs Pts Mul Pt/Q
7 1437 5744 14 4.0
14 2038 8152 53 4.0
21 5 20 0 4.0
Total 3480 13916 67 4.0
Score: 932,372
1 Mult = 51.9 Q's
K4OJ Max Rates:
20m:
2019-04-27 1823Z - 5.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by K0LUZ
2019-04-28 1846Z - 3.8 per minute (10 minute(s)), 228 per hour by K0LUZ
2019-04-28 1933Z - 2.8 per minute (60 minute(s)), 170 per hour by K0LUZ
40-15m:
2019-04-28 0108Z - 5.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by N4KM
2019-04-28 0114Z - 3.5 per minute (10 minute(s)), 210 per hour by N4KM
2019-04-28 0114Z - 2.6 per minute (60 minute(s)), 157 per hour by N4KM
But these numbers don't tell the whole story - if you're interested, read on:
After the five previous years taking a hiatus, "Murph and Magic Tones"
decided to ride along for the entire trip while trying everything to make us
sing the Blues.
Team K4OJ had their share of troubles, both big and small. But Jake, Elwood and
uh, well, Red were on a Mission...we have a full tank, it's dark and we're
wearing sunglasses.
The First Problem was a Biggie- total station rebuild:
My faithful old Suburban finally needed to be retired at more than 400,000
tires. Boy I miss that reliable friend - it had met our multi-multi mobile
needs just perfectly. The new vehicle, a 2017 Sequoia, we just that - new. So
this year was 'square one' of everything from the antenna systems and mounts,
operator stations and ergonomics, power distribution, cabling and much more
minutia. Design work started last September and it was clear that there were
simply going to be more compromises to form, fit and function with this
smaller(!) vehicle for multi-multi use.
Everything came together though and by early February I had the stations and
antenna farm built and generally working FB- low SWR's, stable and strong
mechanical and electrical functionality, and a nice low noise floor (not easy in
a vehicle plus generator). All but just one problem remained - how hard could
that be, hmmmm?
The proverbial Pachyderm in the Pantry:
Inter-Station interference, specifically 40m RFI getting into 20m rx, was
Elephant sized and stubborn as a mule. I tried, literally daily, for 2 months
to mitigate it without success. I managed several EMI labs for years and, while
not an expert, I do know my way around most of the problems - not so with this
devilish delight. Red and Kevin even came over for a full day of
troubleshooting, mods and additional testing but this beast kept snarling at
us.
In the end, we decided we'd have to just live with it for this year - or go to
just one transmitter. In the end, Red and Kevin pronounced, 'Damn the
Torpedoes, let's go!".
So the entire FQP was spent with Red fighting S6-8 QRM from the other station.
And, great operator that he is - he *still* made over 2000 QSO's! There was a
whole layer of signals he just couldn't pull through - our apologies to those we
couldn't work. I am just amazed at Red's tremendous operating talent and his
sheer tenacity in putting up with that QRM for 20 hours - wow! Now that's an
A-1 op!
At the same time, Kevin - ever the patient team player - would reduce power when
20m was really hopping. Many, many of you worked him for hours on 40m when he
was running just 15-30 Watts on 40m! This is a terrific example of his selfless
teamwork and operator saavy, and even with these handicaps he made about the
same number of QSO's as last year (more than 1400!). Awesome performance!
I am just stunned how these guys worked together to make our outing a success.
Not our biggest score, but a well-deserved victory over the obstacles we faced
with this RFI issue. And we plan to beat this RFI thing into submission by next
year.
But don't stop reading here - Murphy had *much* more in store for us:
Curve ball turned Spitball:
Just 5 minutes after the start of the contest, RFI was no longer an issue
because our 20m K3 died- wah! Kevin had brought his TS-590SG as a back up and
after pulling one rig, installing the other and jury-rigging cable differences
with spit and electrical tape an hour just vanished. No 20m QSO's at the start
of the contest (aargh!). The 590 was new to Red so he had to learn it's knobs
and functions on the fly - yep, one tough operator!
BTW, our other K3 loaned by Jim K5AUP (thanks Jim!) worked flawlessly the whole
time.
The starting hour we lost meant we had to skip PUT/CLA counties but we caught
back up on our route and kept going. That is until 10 counties later when we
pulled in for a quick gas/nature break. During this break two more signs of
Murph:
a) No TP or Paper Towels in the bathroom
b) Our generator suddenly died and stations went dark - !@#$#@!%^
After a few minutes of troubleshooting it was apparent that the external fuel
tank line had cracked so the gennie ran until there was no more gas in it's
internal tank. We made brief repairs to the line, filled up the gennie tank
(good thing this happened at a gas stop!) and we were again on our way. But we
lost another half an hour in the process.
Saturday Night Live that almost wasn't-
Because of the skipped counties, we were able to squeeze in a unplanned stop in
PIN during the last 15 minutes of the day - gotta keep those rates up! But of
course, Murphy took another shot. Just as we crossed that county line, the 20m
WinKey stopped working. The pileups were incredible so those last 15 minutes
Red was sending furiously by hand.
Yeah! The Day was Finally Done!
Home was nearby and my wife Lili had a nice warm meal of baked
chicken/sides/dessert ready. Off to bed, early to rise...
Day 2 arrived and we affirmed, "Today will be better!" - or will
it???
Some minor annoyances by Mr. M Sunday included a fussy seatbelt alarm and
another bathroom problem (this time out of order; sorry ladies!). We made great
time working our way South down our sunny state until we hit the Dragon -
Collier County. We had to trudge through that monster for nearly an hour before
we hit our favorite spot at Monroe County. The pileups were wonderful, even
with K2ZR/4 active there all weekend. QRP Kevin and QRM Red made the most of
their situations and the logs quickly filled thanks to those who tracked us.
BE A BETTER BRO!
Our Final Murphy entrapment hit us just going into Broward County - total police
blockage of US27 (pretty much the only way to go north unless you go 20 miles
more east) - Yikes! And there was full-on Police Activity - blockages, road
controls, etc - all across the county. We know because we traveled all over
that county trying to get North. I-95 was a parking lot and even small streets
had more police presence.
Dead body? Hazardous Spill? Zombie Invasion? We'll never know but I have never
seen anything like it. N4BP - be glad you were working Remote!
Kevin had to multi-task operating and helping us plan a route out of this
purgatory. Finally we hit Boca in PAL using back roads and then hopped on the
Turnpike, escaping BRO but not until a precious Hour (!!!!) was lost trapped
there.
By this time we were keenly aware that 5-years of bad karma had just caught up
with us in a single year.
We were all exhausted - traffic, RFI and hardware problems - what else? Oh, it
then started to rain...
But we pressed on, the sun came out again and although we had to skip about 4
more counties at least we got out of South FL! We even managed to get back to
our LAK starting point to make up for the no-op beginning there.
I'm really proud of how we never gave up, and ended up with a respectable score
as a result. Certainly we have much improvements to make but Murphy would not
dare come back a 2nd year in a row, right?
In closing, we'd like to sincerely thank our great Out-Of-State ops that make
FQP terrific for all of us on this end while operating Fixed, Mobile or
Expedition. YOU are the ones that really make FQP special. We hope you had fun
too!
Huge thanks to my verrrry FB teammates Red K0LUZ and Kevin N4KM - you're the
best! I am proud to call you friends. Man, you guys are real competitors too.
Kudos to our key FQP movers and shakers:
Our amazingly A1 FQP VP Dan K1TO, our super FCG Prez Chris W4WF, our FB FCG and
FQP Groups admin George K5KG and our very dedicated website admin/guru Seb W4AS.
Your endless efforts continue to make our Party the best!
Thanks to our FL Fixed stations - you are our Foundation for County coverage and
we always can county of you. Also want to give a shout out to our fellow road
warriors - whether mobile or expedition, you help take the FQP to a level of
excitement rarely seen in other QSO parties. I'm am hoping others will give it
a 'mobile go' next year - the fun is definitely worth the trip.
Special thanks to Chuck NO5W and Bob K0RC for their endless support for FQP with
their simply Outstanding County tracking tools - Chuck and Bob, you both rock!
Finally, sincere appreciation to Bruce WA7BNM for his Log Upload submission tool
easy peasy - thanks!
NOW - who is ready for FQP 2020?
Bet I made ya smile... :-)
CU THEN - 73/OJ,
Chris, NX4N
Captain and VP Latrines - team K4OJ/m
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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