Florida QSO Party - 2019
Call: K8MR
Operator(s): K8MR
Station: K8MR
Class: SO MobileMixed LP
QTH: 19 Counties
Operating Time (hrs): 18
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
40: 633 5
20: 1202 66
15: 3 0
10:
--------------------
Total: 1838 71 CW Mults = 66 Ph Mults = 32 Total Score = 734,412
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
A great wrap up to the 2019 snowbird season after months of getting by with low
power and semi-hidden condo antennas. I again did the single op, no driver
category, basically handling the initial new county rushes while parked, then
doing mop up duty while driving. The two hours off reflects time spent driving
without attempting to operate, mostly in St. Petersburg and Tampa, plus several
smaller construction zones and urban areas elsewhere.
QSOs by county, total QSOs and QSOs made while moving:
CHA 91 23
CLR 140 46
DES 107 67
GLA 141 29
HAR 140 58
HEN 134 40
HER 81 11
HIG 144 87
HIL 112 4
LAK 98 26
LEE 108 26
MTE 111 0
ORA 44 0
OSC 86 0
PAS 93 23
PIN 84 0
POL 30 30
The 15 meter QSOs were a loud 8P5A, a moderately loud PY, and a weak but
copyable K1GQ.
Conditions were great on Saturday, especially in the evening. Sunday seemed
somewhat less good, with less activity after the initial fresh meat rushes. The
score was down about 5% from last year, mainly due to lower SSB activity and
multipliers.
A few minor problems. After finishing the parked operation in Hardee on Saturday
night, the WinKey completely died. I suspect I may have pulled the USB cable a
bit too soon while uploading the latest county exchanges. So for the last 90
minutes in HAR, DES, and SAR, it was entirely sending with the paddle. Hope I
did not screw up the one dit difference between HAR and SAR too often. Back home
removing and reinstalling the WinKey batteries restored normal operation.
With half an hour to go on Sunday in ORA, the computer slowed down to creeping
speed, often taking several seconds to populate the exchange field of an already
worked station. Tried a couple restarts, etc., but no success. I'm not sure if
it was a OS/software problem or overheating. So again the last 30 minutes was
again sending by hand.
And I did have reports of bad SSB audio. I suspect battery voltage/IR drop
issues, though not sure about that.
Oh, and did I say lovebugs? Got enough of them splatted on the windshield, and
then when stopping in Hardee around dusk on Saturday managed to get a bunch of
them inside the car. A couple of squished ones will be on the car ceiling for
eternity.
Anyway, a heck of a lot of fun. Thanks to all who followed me and the others
around, and I hope to see many of you in Dayton in a few weeks.
73 - Jim K8MR
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|