[ILQSO] ILQP reflections

[Peter E. Beedlow]

Now that my logs are completed and submitted I can take time to look back on
this year's Illinois QSO party and make some comments.
As you know Illinois is can be very scenic the second weekend of October but
I certainly didn't have time to look at, or enjoy the scenery on the 17th of
October. Instead I had an INTENSE eight hours of CW activity running through
the 21 counties on our route.
I'm fortunate to have a driver/navigator, my son Mike KA9BSU, who is able to
handle all the route and vehicle decisions that might pop-up during the
Party. He gets us under low overpasses without damaging antenna or
interrupting my operating and is always able to find a route to or through
an additional county, or work us around a detour with ease. My confidence in
his abilities allows me to concentrate on my operating and not worry about
the route and that is a big plus in our kind of operation.
We're team and we have enough past mobile operation experience and the big
technical things are under control so that we're now down to minor details
and creature comforts. This allows both of us to concentrate on our
individual functions and not worry if things are working correctly or where
things are in the vehicle.
This year, at least in my opinion, the ILQP was graced with excellent band
conditions. There was more activity and I made more contacts on 80 meters
than any other time in the past. Considering that mobile antennas are always
a compromise especially on the lower bands I think that making over 180
contacts on 80 meters in a state QSO party isn't too shabby.
I do have to echo some of the comments that have already been made on the
reflector. First of all a big thanks to the RAMS for hosting the Illinois
QSO Party. We've had our fun and now their work begins.
Possible changes to the ILQP -- Starting an hour earlier would be good. It
certainly would benefit to the folks that provide a lot of the multipliers,
the portables and the mobiles, if the ending time was an hour earlier.
The possibility of a single person mobile class where one person does the
driving and the operating is an interesting concept. Assuming that one of
the requirements is that operation in each county takes place from a
stationary position, it certainly provides a safe alternative for the single
operator. And it's likely that it will also allow more activity from
counties and may be the answer to providing activity from some of the
"problem" counties. Maybe RAMS will consider the possibly of adding that
class on a trial basis for a couple of years in order to see what level of
activity it provides?
Next on my mobile contest agenda is the Wisconsin QSO Party in March. We all
worked a lot of Wisconsin folks in our party so let's support their effort
and participate in theirs. And I'm looking forward to the next ILQP.
CUL

Pete, NN9K