[ILQSO] Comments from a visiting Portable

[Clint Miller]

I had a great time, glad I made the 4hr trip over from Ames. I was on the fence until Sunday morning when the weather looked good so I didn't get on the activation map.

Set up Portable in a POTA park on the CARR JODA county line and only ran phone. It was pretty windy and my fiberglass mast struggled to stay fully extended. Started on 10m since everyone had been saying it was wide open -I got some DX but nothing huge. Ran 6.5 hours on 20m with stations responding nearly continuously. It became type 2 fun about 6 pm, I was mentally exhausted in hour 7. I switched to 40m at UTC midnight to avoid the dupes that come with POTA activations. That last hour was a wall of stations, the adrenaline kicked in, and I got my second wind. I picked up a bunch of County Multipliers - probably should have switched sooner. Did get N9EAT on 146.52 FM!

621 PH contacts, 85 mults, final score 105,570

I've run this type of hybrid POTA station for many years for the Iowa QSO Party and had good success. I have also been on our IAQP High Council for several years so I know how these same struggles to encourage more operators can go. One thing about your rules that I noticed and wasn't sure how I felt was that I was competing against other stations that may have multiple operators. I had to go off the air for bathroom breaks, food, talk to the USFWS Ranger, etc. Not sure what you should do about it, but the equity thought crossed my mind when considering my place in my Portable category or the raw phone plaque competition.

I appreciate what the committee does to host and score the contest.

Please consider joining us next September 19th for the Iowa QSO Party as a mobile/rover or portable entry - great practice run for ILQP ;-) http://www.w0yl.com/IAQP


Clint Miller, KØGR, COML, COMT

President, Story County Amateur Radio Club


Iowa Section Emergency Coordinator

Story County Emergency Coordinator

ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service