Oklahoma QSO Party - 2023
Call: W0BH
Operator(s): W0BH
Station: W0BH
Class: Mobile AssistedMixed LP
QTH: 27 OK counties
Operating Time (hrs): 16.5
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80:
40: 89 0
20: 693 519
15: 578 222
10: 90 114
6:
----------------------------
Total: 1450 855 0 Mults = 77 Total Score = 480,120
Club:
Comments:
Score includes 13,500 mobile bonus points for working at least 10 stations in 27
counties. Log has been submitted to the QSO party sponsor.
2023 Oklahoma QSO Party by Bob Harder, W0BH
It was once again the first weekend of Spring Break from Hesston College for me.
Lorna/k0why and I decided to run the same OKQP route as last year which went
border to border center north to center south. The big difference was 15 and
even 10 meters! We followed up with hiking in the Wichita Mountains west of
Lawton and with a visit to the Washita Battleground National Monument west of
Weatherford.
Saturday
Saturday started out cloudy and cool with occasional light mist, great for
seeing the logging and GPS computer screens. It continued to clear as we got
further south with the sun popping out from time to time. The Astro van and
IC7000 ran great (no more intermittent power cable problems), the deep-cycle
batteries were new from last year, no road closures appeared and back roads
weren't muddy, so no complaints!
I got a number of questions about my antennas this year both during and after
the QP, so here are the details. My goal is to be able to switch
"instantly" between 10/15/20/40 CW/SSB and 80CW without a tuner. To be
able to do that, I have three triple mag mounts on top of the big metal roof of
the Astro van with Hustler quick disconnects on all three. Hustler vertical
short masts attach to the mags.
Front center is my guyed CW stack with tuned 15/20/40 Hustler high-power
resonators attached using the triple adapter. The high-power resonators give a
bit more bandwidth, and 15 covers both CW and SSB. Rear center is my guyed SSB
stack with tuned 10/20/40 Hustler resonators. 40 is a high-power resonator, 10
and 20 are low-power resonators and 10 covers both CW and SSB. Middle right
carries an optional unguyed high-power 80CW resonator.
The triple adapter leans all the resonators over at an angle, so I have the two
20m and two 40m resonators also at right angles to each other to minimize
interaction. Don't get me wrong, they all interact with each other! It took two
high and low power versions of each resonator and lots of trial and error over
two days to figure out the one combination that allowed all the antennas to work
without a tuner. For example, a low-power resonator wouldn't replace a
high-power resonator and keep the tuning stable. The presence or absence of the
80m antenna doesn't appreciably affect the tuning of the other antennas.
The only drawback I've found to Hustler mobile antennas is their susceptibility
to moisture as they age. The plastic coating which wraps the coil breaks down
over time allowing moisture to get in and short out the coil during drizzle or
rain. Once the rain stops, they eventually dry out and SWR returns to normal. I
always keep spare resonators handy and swap them out when this happens. Luckily,
none of the antenna parts are expensive and are easily replaced.
County lines are the most fun. When working county lines, I just make one log
entry then use a program to expand my log with multiple entries. That means I
sometimes log dupes even though I know I've already worked the station going
into the line. Ops can either ignore the dupe or log it just to be safe. The big
disappointment was once again not being able to use the QSOPartyHub spotting
site. I was hoping it had been fixed when it did the same thing during the
Kansas QSO Party, but it continues to crash when lots of people try to use it as
noted by others in their posts. Other than that, Saturday went well and I
finished the day with 1639 Qs in the log including dupes.
Sunday
Sunday was not a good route to optimize Qs, but it was short and had some good
birding sites for Lorna. Because of the time change, we actually left the hotel
early and got a ways down the road before the 10am start.
The big Sunday highlight was first seeing N4CD/m going the other way in
Jefferson county, then finding him parked beside the road on the return. Lorna
pulled in and we had a short eyeball QSO with Bob as he continued to run. Bob
often visits the Kansas QSO Party as well and it was really a pleasure to see
him in action!
Idaho and Wisconsin also had their QSO parties this same weekend. Conditions
were good and it was easy to put some of them in the log. It was also fun to
work a number of different DX stations this year, including ones who don't
normally find their way into my log. Thank you solar cycle! I posted 810 more
contacts in the log for Sunday. It should have been more, but the last
three-county line had some major power line QRM which made hearing tough.
Stats
Operated 16.5 hours, 2449 Qs, 498 unique calls, 144 dupes, 535 OKQP miles.
States not worked : AK ND VT
Canadian mults worked (6): AB BC MB NB ON SK
OK worked (11) : ATO CAN JEF JOH LEF LOV MCI MUS OKL OKM TUL
DX worked (14) : 8P XE 9A DL F G HA I LA LY OH OK OM SP
W0BH Rates (includes dupes) 2449/16.5 = 148 Qs/hr
Block QSOs/hr --- 2023 2022 2021 2020 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1500-2100 1025 = 171--149----0--111--76---79----95--104---51--119---66 (Sat)
2100-0200 614 = 123--119----0---72--99---87---108--126---97--104---78 (Sat)
Sunday 810 = 135--140--142---71--91---98----97--101---71---82---79 (Sun)
County Breakdown (in visited order)
Saturday
01 KAY 128
02 NOB 82
03 GAR 82
04 GNT 73
05 ALF 124
06 WOO 91
07 MAJ 100
08 BLA 148
09 DEW 80
10 CUS 80
11 KIN 102
12 CAN 73
13 OKL 60
14 LOG 46
15 CLE 96
16 MCL 103
17 GRA 50
18 CAD 20
19 COM 25
Sunday
20 STE 100
21 CAR 209
22 GRV 73
23 MUR 87
24 LOV 75
25 JEF 40
26 COT 82
27 TIL 53
COM 23 (again)
2305 **
Special thanks to my top scorers:
76: N6MU
57: NS2N
51: OM2VL
48: W2LC
44: W9DC
43: W8PI
39: KA6BIM
34: W0PI
30: K9CW NE8P
29: VE7CV
27: W7GF
25: W1SSN W9QL
24: K2AL W0ZQ
23: K5GE
22: LA8OM WA2JQK
20: N8II
19: K4DR WA8ZBT
15: W4TJM W8WVU WA5SOG
14: N4IJ
13: AC0W K2YG KA0PQW KD2KW KE6GFI VA3GKO
12: AC2YD K5TIA NF0N
11: AA4DD K2QO K5GA N8DNA W3US W4XK
10: K4RUM VA3IDD VE3RGO W2CVW W4SSF
OK Mobiles Worked: N4CD K5CM
Bonus Counties: 27
W0BH Award Winners
----------------- First Place -- Very Honorable Mention -----------
Most overall Qs - N6MU/76 ------ NS2N/57 --------- OM2VL/51
Most CW Qs ------ N6MU/76 ------ NS2N/OM2VL/35 --- WN4AFP/34
Most PH Qs ------ NS2N/22------- W2LC/19 --------- NE8P/17
Most counties --- N6MU/27 ------ W8PI/26 --------- KA6BIM/WB9HFK/25
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Afterwards
Thanks to Connie/K5CM (and Pam/N5KW) for organizing us all once again! I broke
my own personal record this year, and hats off to Connie who really put up a
score!
The 2023 Kansas QSO Party is scheduled for August 26-27, the last weekend in
August. With 105 counties, we need all the help we can get, so mobiles, head
this way! Everyone else, thanks for the Qs in Oklahoma, and see you down the
log in 2023 ..
73, Bob/w0bh and Lorna/k0why
QPC #8
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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