[ILQSO] KC9FQV Will County Portable summary

[Eric Lorenz]

Hi everyone...

A quick summary...

Net Operating Time: about 5 hours
Contacts: 117
Multipliers: 68
Claimed score: 7,956

Operated this year with Matt KC9HRH from Will County (Plainfield) IL as 
Portable. We were behind the Plainfield Village Hall, near a park that 
gave us good room for antennas. Considering the operating time, I 
would've liked to see a higher score this year, but we knew going into 
it that we'd be down a bit. I was the main operator, and Matt was 
playing with antennas. Our purpose was kind of two fold- since we were 
using the Comm Trailer from the Fox River Chapter of the ARC in St. 
Charles, Matt wanted to work on and test some NVIS antennas, for EMCOMM 
use later. Unfortunately we had some issues, including not having the 
right balun, which hampered us in the beginning. So, I was operating 
initially off of a Perth Outbacker (mobile vertical) which was great for 
states and DX but not county contacts. Once we threw up our backup 
(plain 'ol dipole), things started to happen in-state.

And yes, I know I was the 'one' preaching digi modes this year. With our 
antenna woes, I was just happy to get on the air, and digi kinda fell by 
the wayside. But NEXT YEAR... :-) The overall goals were for me: to 
contest and have fun. For Matt: to make antennas and have fun. All goals 
met and exceeded.

Lessons: more prep as far as food and hot drinks. Dress in layers. Light 
thin gloves for working with antennas outside.

Big thanks to the WIARC for their hard work! See ya next year!

73,
Eric KC9FQV
Matt KC9HRH

-- 
Eric Lorenz KC9FQV
St. Charles, IL - EN51uw
http://kc9fqv.blogspot.com/