[ILQSO] Thanks from K9IUA/Rover/QRP

[Hank Greeb]

  Kevin:

Think about getting a 31' Jackite Pole - I bought mine from a fellow on 
QRP-L for $50.  I use it to support a wire vertical, and use elevated 
radials for each band I wish to use, 40/30/20.  I haven't tried it on 17 
or lower wavelength, much of the radiation is predicted to be high 
angle.   A LDG autotuner which I picked up for $40 from a friend who had 
allowed the case to sit in the sun and get warped, but electrically 
works fine completes the antenna.  it goes up in minutes - particularly 
if you only want one or two bands.  With a loading coil made of about 33 
feet of wire wound on a 2" PVC drain pipe, and a 67' foot elevated 
radial it works on 80 meters.  Or, in a pinch, just use the ground as a 
counterpoise, not a efficient, but it works.

I worked 11 Q's in 40 minutes - nothing to write home about, but there 
weren't that many ILQPers on 40 at the late hour of 2100z.  One fellow 
was a QRPer, and wanted to rag chew for about 10 minutes.  Since I 
wasn't really contesting, I chatted with him.  He was N2A, celebrating 
the anniversary of his radio club.

72/73 de n8xx Hg,

On 10/18/2010 9:42 AM, Kevin Anderson wrote:
> Don't have a score yet - the logs will get looked at tonight and tomorrow (I know it is not good) - but I want to thank all who worked the peanut-sized signal of K9IUA/Rover/QRP.  I don't know why I do it (a QRPer at heart and blood), but QRP from mobile Hamstick antennas is always a challenge, yet I do it again and again.  I'm obviously not in it for the points (although it is depressing when they aren't very high), but more to support the cause, my club, and to get a drive around rural northwestern Illinois each year.  The weather this year was perfect!
>
> While you guys are raving about 80 and 40 meters this year, I say thank goodness for 20 meters!  Without 20 meters, I wouldn't have much of a score at all.  Worked F5 several times, HA once, as well as Nova Scotia.
>
> Forty meters (the lowest band I can go with my mobile setup) is always a challenge for me.  The problem is two-fold - my tuner just barely gets me a good match (and this year I was plagued with problems in two of the counties that wasted huge amount of time - a loose connection or something in the tuner that I need to diagnose) and I can't hold a frequency.  Usually by my last stop, Jo Daviess County late in the afternoon, I do quite well on 40, with 20 usually dead by then.  But the reverse was true this time - I did well on 20 (probably because I was one of the last willing to use the band at that time of day), and barely got anywhere on 40.  With RTTY taking out much of the operating space on 40, you guys with your stronger signals held court over all the rest.  I couldn't compete.  I soon as I find a frequency, after a QSO or two, someone walks right over me and takes it over, like I didn't exist.  Oh well.  But 40 meter was nice earlier on, before
>   there was so much RTTY and before my tuner gave me trouble, as I did get some very nice in-state multipliers who answered my CQ.
>
> This year I was plagued with problems.  Besides the already mentioned intermittent tuner short, the battery in my Bencher keyer/paddle combination died in my second county.  And the spares I had brought also turned out also to be dead.  So for two counties I had to operate using my spare setup, which is a plastic Whiterook portable paddle into the rig's keyer; while functional, my keying gets far worse than my already mediocre keying on a good day, as I the action is all different and the rig's keyer is I believe the opposite mode than I am used to.  It wasn't until my fourth county that I finally drive through a town with a Casey's open that could sell me a new 9-volt battery (spending the $5 I had been saving for supper).
>
> Always next year.  Thanks for the QSOs!
>
> Kevin, K9IUA
>
> P.S. A special public apology and thank you to KV8Q.  I had problem with his call every time he worked me.  I obviously still have trouble with V's and 4's despite all my years of doing CW, because every time he called I wanted to make his call out to be K4ZQ or something else.  I owe him a beer or something, as he hung in there and worked me multiple times throughout my operation.  Thanks, Tom!  I will have to check the log later, but either Tom or my old friend, John, AA5JG, worked me the most times.