[NLRS] KC0IYT/R MNQP comments

[goverby@charter.net]

Here are my raw numbers:

Class:  VHF Mobile
>From    QSOs    To                      Bands Used
DK      13      DK HN RA                6 2 432 902/3 1296
ST      23      AN DK HN IS LS RA       6 2 432                 :-)
CV      15      HN LS RA WA             6 2 432 1296
MC      1       HN                        2                     :-(
WR      14      GH HN IS MK RA          6 2 432 1296
HN      6       DK HN IS OL             6 2 432
        --
        72      10 unique counties: AN DK GH HN IS LS MK OL RA WA
                23 counties total
                = 1,656

This trip went better than the VHF contest, but not as well as I had hoped.  I
fell way behind schedule in part from trying to make more contacts in each
county.  Going 50:50 on drive time and operating time makes it seem like I'm
just driving.

My orignal plans were to work my way west to Renville county.  Well, when I
got to McLeod county (east of Renville), I only made one contact, with Jon
(W0ZQ).  I was able to hear several people in the twin cities, but I couldn't
get their attention!  I'm sure we could have worked if our beams were pointed
at each other.  It was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to do any better by
going further west, so instead I went north to Wright County (also skipping
Sibley county which was just a few miles to my south).

I still had a lot of equipment problems:

  My 2m antenna wasn't tuned up very well to start with and it got worse later
  on.

  My 70cm antenna tunes up at about 1.4:1 on about 432.1 with my MFJ 269 but
  was terrible on the road.  Once I connect the antenna analizer to the
  antenna with the coax that I used in the car, the swr goes nuts!  I'll be
  testing the rest of my cables as well.

  PTT on one of my radios (FT-100) isn't working reliably.  I took the cover
  off last night and found that the ALC/PPT connector is loose, just like used
  to happen to me with Sony Walkmans.  I couldn't figure out how to get to the
  bottom of the board to resolder the connections, so I left it for now.  I
  can get PTT from one of the other connectors, but I still need the ability
  to drive ALC for other transverters.  If anyone is familiar with the innerds
  of this radio or has a service manual for an FT-100, I'd like to talk with
  you.

  My 1296 has hearing problems.  It's not completely deaf, because I was able
  to work Gary (W0GHZ) from Lake Ida (EN24/EN34 north of Winsted).  I think
  the same thing happened in the VHF Sweepstakes.  My PTT problems have almost
  certainly resulted in my dumping RF into the recieve circuitry and I've
  probably dammaged something.

Glen, KC0IYT