[ILQSO] AA9DY/JODA Summary

[dpease at adams.net]

Forwarded for AA9DY 


Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:59:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: <dmcvin2447-contest at yahoo.com>
To: SMC <smc at w9smc.com>, ILQSO at mailman.qth.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
Subject: [SMC] ILQP - AA9DY/JODA Summary Dialog - LONG 

The Site:
~7 miles east of Galena, IL, in JoDaviess County (JODA)
~980ft ASL + antenna height 

The Station:
FT-920 w/built-in tuner
25Amp MFJ Switching Power Supply
WinKeyer USB
Bencher Paddle
Heil Pro Set Quiet Phone (w/HC-4 mic element)
Dell Laptop 

The Antenna:
G5RV oriented NNW<-->SSE, with one end up ~50ft and the other end tied to a
combine 

The Experience:
 --------------- 

This was my first time doing a portable op. Glad I had family in JODA to
give me this opportunity to have an awesome QTH to setup at with a great
rolling hill/valley view and a warm place to operate in. I don't know how
some of the county line portables put up with the cold. Glad you guys were
out there. Thanks. 

I was prepared to tie the antenna between one of the tall oak trees and a 36
foot fiberglass mast. Had all the rope, fab'd some temporary guy rings out
of pipe strapping, and other misc stuff. When I got to the site I didn't
need the mast. There happen to be a big 'ole John Deere combine parked close
to where I was going to set up the mast. 

Temp was in the upper 30's, and it started to rain. There was a twine put up
through the tree for me in advance, but it just wasn't high enough to have
the ladder line of the G5RV clear the ground. So, I had to recast the line
into the tree higher. Got the line up there, but when I tried to pull the
antenna rope up thru the trees it kept on snagging. Back and forth... Back
and forth... Getting nowhere. 

Now I am about a couple of hours in the freezing rain... fighting the line
knot in the tree (on a side of a steep slippery hill) and trying to get the
other end of the antenna high enough, as well. Soaked through a couple of
jackets and hands were starting to get numb. 

Then determination to contest gave me the idea of taping a twig across the
knot and wrapping tape around the leading end of the twig. This "popped" the
knot over the crotch of the limb that was catching it. WoooooooooHoooooooo! 

I got the antenna line hoisted over the limb and the north end of the G5RV
close to the high end as possible. Then tied the other end over the top of
the combine and to a side support. Then I thought to myself "Nothing holds
an antenna rope quite like a Deere." HI HI! ...maybe the cold was setting in
toooo deep. ;) 

About 3 feet of the ladder line of the G5RV was still touching the ground.
Fixed the issue by pulling the end of the ladder line towards the house so
the line was at an angle relative to the dipole plane. Taped the coax
connection to a plastic stake a couple of feet off of the ground. 

Got the station all set up. For the most part everything checked out OK, as
far as the radio and antenna goes. Once exception... with the internal tuner
I could not go higher in the 75m band than 3.800MHz. So I figured that
killed my ability for 75m phone in the contest. But later 40m proved to be
the bread and butter of the contest. Still would like to figure out how to
get more of the 75m phone band to work... next time... 

For the rest of the evening B4 the contest, I made general contacts with
various stations across the US and Canada. Did some SSB, CW, and one PSK
contact. Worked some Canadian Islands. Got good reports of 5x9+20 from many.
That was cool. I never got reports like that before. At home I only have a
compact vertical that works on 40-thru-10 meters. 

Contest Day:
 ------------ 

GAME TIME! Got a late start on the contest. Couldn't pass on the home
cooking. 

I started out on 20m, and I thought I was going to Work All States before I
snagged my first IL County (got 18 states before I got the first IL county).
When I dropping down to 40m the Q's started to really roll in. 

Got my first taste of working a pile up (40m SSB), where "I" was being piled
upon. It was a real rush to work through everyone and give out the JODA
exchange. Thanks to the ops out there for sticking with me as I tripped up a
few times. 

I worked some states I normally find hard to get during other contests (NE,
ND, DE, VT...). They were calling me. :) 

Worked many fellow SMC'ers and several home county (LAKE) stations. I also
took to opportunity to talk to a couple of Boy Scouts for a few minutes.
Then it was back to the game. Throughout the rest of the day I just had fun
making the Q's and multi's as I sat in the living room looking over the
rolling valleys below. 

Last QSO logged: 00:56Z CW with KF9D/KANE 

The Pack Up:
 ------------ 

Snow/ice melted though out the day from the night B4. No wind. Calm and
quite night. Temp in the mid-30's. The take down was easy. Packing was a
cake walk. A LOT nicer experience than the antenna setup. Got home at 1am...
was still wired from the day... 

Now I need to design my paper QSL card from the pics I took of the
countryside for this event. I'm sure there are some county collectors out
there needing this county. 

My logging program (N1MM) for THIS particular contest didn't score
correctly. So I parsed the Cabrillo file with Excel and got the following... 

Score Breakdown: 

Band   CW   SSB   Band
 --------------------------
80m    30     0     30
40m   46   192   238
20m    0    31    31
 --------------------------
Totals 76   223   299
 --------------------------
Points 152 + 223 = 375 

Other stats: 

63 of 102 IL counties
36 States
3 Canadian Provinces
2 DX Multi's (W/VE) 

Score Calc: 

375 Points x 104 multi's = 39,000 points 

Great to work all the ops that I did.  See you next year!  Unless plans
change, I think I will do this QTH next year for the 2007 ILQP. 

73,  Wayne / AA9DY.com
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