[PaQSO] WA3RA mobile /qrp preliminary

[Bill Gallagher]

Hello, all!

Murphy and I survived another one!

Looks like a bit over 500 qsos, worked  from 33 counties. Mults on a quick
check were about 112...better than usual, but the qsos were down by about
100...the penalty for one rig and manual t/r switching Sunday.

Best estimate on score is about 130K. I'll know better in a few days when I
get the 33 paper logs entered into the computer!

Furthest away from all 67 ever...missed 7 at a quick glance. The sad thing
is that I activated 6 out of the seven that I missed.

Did great on 20 meters...high point was working KC4AAA in Antarctica on
Saturday night...after the contest period was over...oh well...

Only worked 1 station on 10, a few on 15, and was really light on the
northeast corner FM folks this year...I suspect that they didn't realize
that the party was 'early' this year...

Only a few on 6, all FM; a healthy handful on 220 Mhz (go figure) and
440...plenty on 2 meters...ther's even life on 1296 FM....You're missing a
lot of Q's if you don't call a little bit on VHF/UHF!

Some rig problems....the 15 year old mic gave up the ghost first thing
Sunday morning, so I had to rig up an adapter to work with the only other
mic I had with me...an AT condensor mic...and use the manual t/r switch for
the rest of the test.

Still, had a great time QRP....but I think I'm gonna run higher power one of
these years...to reduce the frustration factor. To truly experience qrp
mobile, you've got to be on my end....I'm getting too old for the strain!

Just two complaints...(1) stations in the mobile window...if you're gonna be
there, PLEASE listen for mobiles...and (2) voice keyer guys...leave enough
time between calls for your AGC to recover. Many of you missed lots of
weaker stations calling you, because before your receiver could hear us,
your keyer was sending again...

Once again, I enjoyed it greatly...and hope to see you all again next year!