California QSO Party - 2023
Call: W6AQ
Operator(s): N6AN
Station: N6AN
Class: SO QRP
Class Overlay: CntyLineExp
QTH: KERN/VENT
Operating Time (hrs): 9
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160:
80:
40:
20:
15:
10:
--------------------
Total: 281 23 Mults = 51 Total Score = 44,727
Club: Southern California Contest Club
Comments:
This guy operated QRP on a county line...what was he thinking?
I set up on Mt Pinos (SOTA W6/CC-002, Kern/Ventura county line) at 8800'. A 90
minute drive to the trailhead and 45 minutes of hiking got me to the summit.
My KX3 ran 5 watts feeding a 66' doublet fed with twisted pair on a 30'
Spriderbeam pole. I used a paddle from AME bolted to a clipboard for
sending/logging on paper. Now it may be clear why I didn't answer as quickly as
one expects these days. At that elevation if I didn't get things written down
immediately they tended to escape memory, especially while sending KERN/VENT
multiple times. CW messages were awkward to start so I only the CQ message.
It was a beautiful cool day up there, 60ish in the shade, low 70s in the sun, at
least 30 degrees cooler than temps in the SoCal heatwave.
Conditions were quite good. I managed to hold a frequency for much of the time.
Nine EU QSOs were logged, three with OM2VL, who called me on 10, 15 and 40!
I had a funny exchange with HA5JI (thank you for the QSO!). He sent #62. When I
sent 72, the QRP 73, he corrected me. A few exchanges and I finally got it and
sent 73. All is good!
Sending KERN/VENT by hand was tough. I forgot it can be a challenge to log so
often got silence after sending the exchange. It could also be that I was pw and
QSB had wiped away my signal. W8MJ was happy to get VENT, but I wasn't sure he
understood KERN, too. That took a few overs to sort out. Again, TU for the Q!
A couple stations in the Maritimes were heard working others, as were SC
stations. KV0I, sadly, could not dig me out on 20 SSB, but thanks for trying! I
had a great run on 20 during the 01Z hour, my last. It was a real challenge to
take pictures of the incredible sunset behind me while people kept calling in.
VT, SD and ME showed up in the last 15 minutes.
Everything came down and got packed away after the sun went down. The hike down
in the dark was uneventful yet exciting. It was hard to not imagine being
stalked by something so I barked out my presence from time to time. I was dog
tired driving home. Twelve hours at that elevation was hard on this 68 year old
body and mind.
One goal was to set a new Ventura county QRP record. Mission accomplished.
Thanks to the CQP team and all the participants for another epic event.
72,
David N6AN
(Honoring the memory of Dave Bell, W6AQ, a QRP enthusiast and dear friend.)
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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