[OKDXA] As Submitted For The Tulsa ARC Newsletter:

[Nelson Derks]

In the summer of 2001, someone in the Oklahoma DX Association wondered why
there is no Oklahoma QSO Party. As with many other Ham activities, the
answer was simple: No one sponsored one. Rumor has it there used to be a QSO
Party, maybe 20 years ago, but none since. The wheels started to turn at the
OKDXA. On the weekend of March 23-24, 2002 we had a QSO Party, and it was a
dandy!



HF contesting tends to be a love-it or hate-it proposition with many Hams.
Some of us won�t bother to turn on the radio during a �Big� contest weekend
as finding a clear frequency for a casual rag chew can be an exercise in
frustration. Others prepare for weeks in advance, as they realize a little
prep goes a long way and the amount of enjoyment is proportional to the
effort given. As for me, I�m a casual Contester and think of the DX Contests
as a smorgasbord of opportunity for a rare one. I don�t care if I win; a Q
into Liechtenstein is enough to keep me happy. QSO Parties are ideal for my
level of interest, as they tend to be more relaxed and friendlier than the
�serious� competitions.



With the concept of FUN in mind, let�s see how we did:



I spent about 14 hours on the air and logged close to 300 Q�s, most of them
on 20 Meters with a handful on 10 and a good share on 40 Meters. Band
conditions ranged from mediocre to dismal, but there were plenty of
surprises to be had. On Friday night I worked a few Europeans (very few)
with 60+ stateside contacts on 20. The log includes a Q with UT1FG
(Ukranian) running maritime mobile from Panama, and that�s something I don�t
do every day� I was (slightly) QRM�d on 14.243 by someone with the initials
W5OK and the handle �Red� around 8pm, and I wasn�t offended. It was the
Heathen thing to do and if anyone can understand that, it�s me. W�RRY was
making money for the oil companies and flying the interstates with a very
healthy mobile signal. In a QSO Party you count both Q�s and counties, so
running mobile can be �a plan�. By midnight, I�m on 14.257 working
insomniacs from New Jersey looking for someone to talk to while Jerry, K5YAA
in Claremore is up on 14.260 working the Coaxial Islands and Outer DX�
lvania. It was like we were both on the same commercial flight and one of us
was up in First Class while the other was� Me.



Not to worry, that�s business as usual here at Open Fuse Acres.



The morning brought diminished band conditions. 10 Meters was QRT and 20 was
extremely �funky�. I worked Anchorage, AK and a few Europeans early on, but
the band seemed to grow shorter as the day wore on. I came very close to WAS
on 20 Meters that weekend, thanks in part to the weird propagation, which
proves that even a bad day can have a silver lining. Stations in Texas,
Missouri and Kansas were booming in by the afternoon and I worked (honest!)
AD5GT in Okie City at a solid 5/9� That�s mighty short skip for 20! Just
when I thought it couldn�t get any weirder, it did. At 8:10 PM Saturday
night while you were watching NCAA Basketball, I was working a string of
calls from Four-Land that included KC4USV. I was ready to write down South
Carolina or Florida, but nearly dropped the pen when the QTH came back as
McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica. No Kidding, and he called ME!
Mike was in a chatty mood so we had a little rag chew with no pile-up or
QRM. Absolutely incredible. Seems the band was �odd� on his side as well and
I was one of very few signals heard waaaay down South� Say what you want
about Ham Radio, but no matter how long you�ve been at it, there are still
�Wow!� moments to be had.



By Sunday morning, 20 was on life support with almost no activity and I
decided to try 40 Meters. Not a bad move; worked almost a hundred calls on a
band I seldom use. The setup here is a barefoot IC-756 (the original, not
the DX Dan Autograph model) into an off-center fed dipole (Coaxial Windom)
up around 32 feet. This is not a world-class setup, but even with a soft
band I was good for maybe 800 miles (Laramie, WY and St. Paul, MN) with
results comparable to what I�d heard on 20 the day before. No DX, but I can
gar-ron-tee I was stout into the �Deliverance� parts of the Deep South and
Gulf Coast. Worked a few in-state as well, including Duncan, McAllister,
Idabel, Woodward and someone who answers to W5ATV out towards the Red Fork
(probably lost a few points on that last one). For those of you who avoid
Contests on the assumption that you�re up against nothing but �Big Guns�,
with few exceptions, you aren�t� Just Hams like you out to make a few Q�s
and see what their rig can do.



As with every other Amateur Radio event, there are stories� Here are a few
that popped up on the OKDXA Mail Reflector during the weekend. If there�s
any common thread, it�s that they all decided to give it a try and probably
gained something from the experience:



>From Coy, N5OK:

Murphy's law is alive and well. We started off on our jaunt with Judy
driving and the pickup started acting up. She panicked and didn't want to
drive anymore. So somewhere in Kingfisher county, I decided that we should
head back home to see what was the matter. As it turns out, I think we had
water in our gas. On top of all that I was having problems with the
screwdriver antenna. It was cutting out and causing me fits. As it turns
out, it wasn't seated good in the base. By the way, all of this checked out
beautifully last Wednesday. When I finally got the antennas seated in the
base good, I happened to be on 15 meters. The radio was going crazy so I
thought I was still having antenna problems. Anyway, we headed home and when
we got here everything seemed to be working okay. Not wanting to venture too
far, I sat in the driveway and made a few contacts then drove across the
river to Grady county and made a lot of contacts on 20 meters. Then went on
down to Caddo county line and made some more. All of those were on 20
meters. Worked quite a few Europeans. The pickup ran fine through all of
that, so I think it is okay now. I made a contact on 15 finally and the guy
said that RF was getting into the mike. Aha, that's why 15 meters was acting
so strange. Anyway, I plan on heading west in the morning, if the pickup is
still okay and the antenna still works. I'll do my best to recoup.



>From Dave, W5ATV:

Conditions seemed pretty tuff last night. Got 16 states on twenty but the
noise was a'plenty. Ten was dead to say the least. Fifteen wasn't too much
better. Couldn't find a place to park on forty. A little more coffee & we'll
try 'er again this morning. Who picked this weekend, anyway?



Didn't hear Nelson on eleven, but maybe he'll try today.



>From Nelson, AC5UP:

The Varmint didn't want to load the Slob-Duster and the echo box / roger
beep thing in the RoadStalker 40 with "secret" channels wasn't keying
reliably. Musta' had some water in my D-104 Lollipop...



Aside from that, I�m having so much fun on 20 that I�m giving some very
serious thought toward getting an amateur license!



>From Mark, K8FU:

The Frogman is crankin' out the dits on 14.045. Stop by and lay an oldie on
me!



>From Jerry, K5YAA:

I took out the map this morning and decided to change routes with a swing
through southern Rogers -> across Mayes -> tap Delaware -> into a tidbit of
Adair -> across Cherokee and -> into Muskogee then -> Waggoner and back home
for the evening. Didn't put together an overnight in Haskell so missed
Haskell and Sequoyah. Got back home just after sunset so the distance and
pace was just about right.



Tomorrow afternoon will attempt west to Pawnee, up to Osage, across
Washington into Nowata, Craig, Ottawa and Mayes coming back home. Didn't get
to do any CW from Mayes and the XYL was doing the speed limit (75) through
Mayes so it ended up with the smallest number of Qs next to Adair. Mayes
needs another pass.



The mobile jaunt was a ball. Several stations hung around waiting for new
mults. A surprising number of CW Qs - 20% of the total. The old Vibroplex
Original has a large base and it stayed put on the dash just fine. Only one
instance of a 5 sounding like a large part of the alphabet when we hit a
string of bumps. A well equipped mobile would undoubtedly have a laptop with
digital voice, cw interfaces and possibly a bar in the back. Who drives
around with a bug on the dash and headphones on his head?



Ans: An OKDXA�er from Rogers County operating the OKQP.



Maybe a PC next year. That will at least remove the bug from the dash.
Another item I had to watch was making sure I made a note when I moved into
another county. I entered my mobile Qs into a database when I got home and I
had to interpolate from timeframes, callsigns and little side marks on the
paper where I had moved into Cherokee from Adair. I'm pretty sure I got it
right.



The pass through Cherokee on Hwy 10 was nice landscape but the very high
rock cliffs on the west of the road squelched westerly Qs until we got to
Talequah. In Talequah I stuck my 40 meter stick on, listened a bit, called
CQ and K5SIT gave me a call - wow the WebMaster had time for a Q. Great
signals but not much activity on 40 right then. Broadcast was not heating up
yet so it would have been possible to make some good contacts yet no one
around.



Undoubtedly 20 meters was the band. I was working Texas and then EA6LB
called me with a 10 over 9 signal. Mobile DX was EA6, EI4 and CX4. 15 seemed
real long. The Judge, K4BAI in GA said he had to turn his beam NE to work me
using backscatter on 15 yet he said he was hearing Coy out west loud and
clear on 15. I never put the 10 meter stick on. 10 seemed poor from the home
QTH this morning. Some Q�s but most of them DX and they wanted my name, QTH,
10-10 number and as they say "Working Conditions". A painful pace with all
that info being exchanged.



Overall a fun weekend so far and it ain't over yet. Dave, I hope your E-Mail
box is a big�un. From the action I've heard seems like there may be quite a
few logs.



>From Dave, W5ATV:

Already have 2 logs from guys who had to quit early. Hope we can test the
ISP's mailbox capacity with logs!



Went to the W5OK camp in Creek County for a couple hours yesterday. Just in
time to help with assembling a spare tri-bander that hadn't seen service
since '06. No paperwork, just guesstimates from very old marks on the
aluminum. The dang thing worked great! Almost flat on 20 & not much more on
the other bands. Last I heard last night they're still going strong.



I'll quit complaining about the QRN!



>From Ross, K5RH:

Roger on not hearing anyone. Bands are a mess. Should have downloaded the
solar info after a miserable time copying my pals on 20 ssb this morning.
Even VP5/W5AO is down in the mud on 15 when he was S9+30 same freq
yesterday. Haven't heard Jerry or Coy at all today compared to yesterday
when they were both all over the place. Here is the latest excuse as to why
my logbook is so skinny: Had to help sister-in-law move yesterday.



Hope all had fun with the QSO party. Sure didn't work as many as planned but
got my feet wet on 6 bands.



>From Mark, K8FU:

Results from "The Lily Pad": 185 Q's...35 Mults = 19,425 points CW Only.

Charlie�s Whiskey......When You Care Enough To Send The Very Best!



>From Coy, N5OK:

We recouped after a bad start Friday night. However, Saturday and Sunday
were a different story. We made it home safe after making 500 QSO's +/- and
covering the following counties: Canadian, Cotton, Stephens, Blaine,
Kingfisher, Grady, Caddo, Dewey, Major, Ellis, Custer, Roger Mills, Beckham,
Washita, Kiowa, Greer, Jackson, Harmon, Tillman, Comanche, Cotton, Stephens,
Jefferson, Carter, Love, Murray, Garvin, and McClain.



There are some very beautiful areas in Western Oklahoma. We enjoyed
everything from high plains to green valleys and rocky mountains. You should
do it some time. How about in next years OK QSO Party?