[ILQSO] abbreviations...or not...

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 23:45:16 -0500

It depends upon what you want to accomplish, and what your capabilities are.

If you are fairly experience at mobile operation and "have the bugs out" of
your mobile station, you will probably do well in that category, have a lot
of fun, and be widely appreciated by the masses.  Never mind that there are
a lot of mobiles out there already.  Always more room!

If *not*....

Mobile operation in a contest is a different breed of cat.  Be sure you can
find a driver willing to be safe, flexible and helpful.  While these
operations can be done "solo", I wouldn't recommend it.  (I did one in the
Missouri QSO party, and it's a bit nerve-wracking....)  Find a logging
program you can live with and get all the help you need in setting it up.
Drive your proposed route in advance if at all possible.
Have your intended mobile setup in the car when you do so, if only to detect
especially noisy places you want to avoid.  Try every band-mode-antenna
combination ahead of time, and be sure you have *in the car* any accessories
that might create noise:  keyer, laptop, inverter, clock, whatever.
The day of the contest is NOT the time to find out you can't send on 20 cw
because it causes the car's electric fuel pump to croak!

If you can't make these preparations ahead of time, then staying home and
being sure nobody misses McHenry County is not the worst thing that can
happen!

73, Jim N9JF

----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Woodruff <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 10:20 PM
Subject: Re: [ILQSO] abbreviations...or not...

> Activity!  Yes!  I'm uncertain whether I
> should work the contest from home again
> (and try to beat my score from last year)
> or should I go mobile this year and activate
> some of the Northern IL counties?  Seems
> like the Northern IL counties were already
> well-represented by mobile routes last
> year... and i'd rather not stray too far
> from home!
>
> Anyone on the list have any suggestions?
> Home county is McHenry, well populated
> with hams.  :)
>
> Steve, N9OH
>
> --- jim funk <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I can make TrLog work with 4-letter abbreviations.
> > I've been told some other
> > programs need 3-letter ones.  FWIW.
> >
> > Let's get the activity, and we'll worry about
> > abbreviations later...much
> > later is OK with me... :)
> >
> > 73, Jim N9JF
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Steve Woodruff <[email protected]>
> > To: <[email protected]>
> > Sent: Monday, July 29, 2002 7:12 PM
> > Subject: [ILQSO] Re: ILQSO Mobile ??
> >
> >
> > > 4-char county abbreviations were published
> > > last year and worked out great.  I'm not
> > > sure i see why we need 3-char ones... but
> > > to each his own!
> > >
> > > I actually created some ILQP files for NA
> > > and used them last year... it doesn't score
> > > correctly or handle county-lines, but it
> > > works and has the official 4-char abbrev's.
> > >
> > > I am also currently developing an ILQP module
> > > for WriteLog.  I've written about a dozen
> > > other modules for WriteLog -- including qso
> > > party modules for 8 or 9 other states.
> > >
> > > I hope to have the ILQP module for writelog
> > > available for beta testing soon... you can
> > > check the status at my module website:
> > >
> > > http://www.xnet.com/~sjwoodr/ham/modules
> > >
> > > You can also find my stable modules for the
> > > WIQP, GLQP, VAQP, MIQP, OKQP, INQP, OHQP,
> > > GAQP, and the New England QSO Party, at the
> > > mentioned website, available for download.
> > >
> > > Enjoy,
> > >
> > > Steve, N9OH
> > >
> > > ----- Orig Message Follows -----
> > > "Thomas Kravec" <[email protected]> Wrote:
> > > > Sure would be nice to have county abbreviations
> > > > that will work with popular contest software.  I
> > > > haven't used paper logs (except for ILQSO) for
> > > > 20 years.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> > >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> > >  Steve Woodruff, N9OH @ 42.18N 88.34W,
> > [email protected]
> > >
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Do You Yahoo!?
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> > > http://health.yahoo.com
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> > >
> >
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>
>
> =====
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>  Steve Woodruff, N9OH @ 42.18N 88.34W, [email protected]
>
> __________________________________________________
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