[ILQSO] portable operations

[James Funk]

There are so many great stories coming out of this year's contest, I'm
hoping we can archive them on the website for others (non-subscribers to
the reflector) to read.  We (WIARC) appreciate all the enthusiasm that
has been evidenced!  

This is one contest that is "not about winning" for the vast majority of
the participants.  Operating as either a mobile or a portable is the
nearest thing to being DX you can do without a passport.  I have
personally operated from three different multi-county corners:
ADAM/BROW/PIKE (several times); landowners on two sides of the corner
were quick to give permission, but the corner is nearly a mile from a
paved road and access is dicey unless the ground is dry.
ADAM/HANC/SCHY: no problem with permission from the owner with the best
place to park; WMSN/SALI/JOHN/POPE: again, no problem with permission; I
parked in the folks' driveway.  That one is a LONG way from here,
though! I also have gotten permission to operate from one corner that no
one has ever used: MORG/GREE/MCPN. 

One reason for going back through the results and compiling a County
Records list is to encourage operations such as Paul's: a single-county
portable in a "rare county".  He already had the Cass County record but
now he's "raised the bar".  W9WE went out to the Calhoun/Pike line this
year, and he may have broken the Calhoun record.  AA9DY "filled in a
blank"; there WAS no JODA record.

We're still thinking about the "wet lines" issue....

Jim Funk, FOSS North America, CSE 612/670-0976 (cell) 


FOSS Fifty & First

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