[ILQSO] RE: ILQSO Digest, Vol 39, Issue 5

[Dave Chasey]

I'm a relative new comer to QSO party portable operations and come over from
Lafayette, IN to play so I was looking for an advantageous location to
operate from in 2004, my first ever portable operation in any QSO party.
That year I was phone only and had a lot of fun, but had a very low score
considering the location.    In 2005 I improved my antenna and did a bit
better, but realized that to score decently, I needed to have a strong
effort on CW.    Had K9FN not teamed up with me this year and ran CW, three
county line ops would have been the top three finishers in the IL Portable
category.   My point is that operating from a 4 county line requires a
significant effort and does not guarantee a win.   It is certainly an
advantage, but so are good antennas, and good operators.   

Since my first ILQP, I've done portable operations in IN, MI, and OH QP's,
and one of the things I like the most about IL is the 4 county intersection
that I found and got permission to operate from.  As Hank (in ILQP 2006) and
I can attest, the CHAM/DOUG/EDGR/VERM intersection is out in the open with
nothing to hang antennas from, no electricity, etc.   There is no natural
wind break, and the weather can be a big factor in even getting on the air
there.   In the Ohio QP, I operate from a shelter in a park with very nice
tall trees to string antennas in and plug into commercial power because
county line operations are not allowed there.   

Anyway, that's my .02 worth for keeping it the way it is now.

I would also like to again convey my thanks to those involved in running the
ILQP and say thanks for a great job of getting everything done so quickly.
I'm looking forward to coming back to play again this year!

73...Dave - N9FN



> -----Original Message-----
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 15:56:04 -0600
> From: <kf9tl at att.net>
> Subject: RE: [ILQSO] Results
> To: "'Illinois QSO Party'" <ilqso at mailman.qth.net>
> Message-ID: <20080105215456.93A47859C60 at mailman.qth.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
> 
> I mentioned that too last year Bud, something to even the playing field.
> While it is rewarding to earn the extra points there are limited "golden"
> 4
> co corners accessible or favorable.  I'm all for testing of man and
> machine
> as you describe.  Since there are more 3 co corners that 4, could 3 be set
> as a max (or2)?  The 4 co would still be more desirable to work as he'd be
> worth 4 to the other operators.  Now if only we could get a high and low
> power Portable category.....
> 
> 73
> Mark Orey  KF9TL
>