[PaQSO] K8MR/3 PaQP Report

[Jimk8mr@aol.com]

K8MR/3    2003 Pa QSO Party

The overall numbers by county:

           CW   SSB
MER     37   26
VEN      31  47
CLA      36   0
JEF       54  104
FOR      71  63
WAR     22  0
MCK     21   0
ELK      66   0
CLE      55   0
CEN      32  0
CLI        38  1
UNI       44   2
NUM     38   0
MTR      32  0
SNY      47  63
MIF       36   0
JUN       57  120
PER      21  0
CUM     35   3
FRA      8    2
HUN      13  0
FUL       29  0
BED      37  2
SOM     36   0
WES     48  0
ALL       39  0
BUT      11   0

Total      994 CW      433  PHONE


65 counties; missed Wayne and Juniata  (should have given W8DRZ an HT  :-)  )
60 ARRL sections, 1 DX 


By Band/Mode:

Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
--------------------
  160:    0      0
   80:  110      8
   40:  596    383
   20:  207     20
   15:   76     15
   10:    0      1
    6:    0      3
    2:    0      8
--------------------
Total:  989    433  

(There is a slight discrepancy between the two totals due to county line 
qsos, etc.)

----------------------------------------


Much experience by myself and others has shown that SSB qsos as a mobile are
very difficult. So as an experiment, I chose not to do a true mobile, but 
rather
stop in several places, mostly counties expected to be rare, and throw up a 
40
meter dipole in an effort to be loud enough to make an impact on SSB.  
However,
the PaQP sponsors do not allow rovers to make qsos while en route between
stops.  Therefore I will am entering two logs, one mobile and one rover. 

Broken down between category, I have:

K8MR/Mobile

             QSOs
80 CW   110 
CW        841
Phone    39

Total      990 qsos      44 counties    59 sections   171,632

Includes 13500 points for activating 27 counties

--------------------------------

K8MR/Rover

CW       44 qsos
Phone   392 
Total      436  qsos      61 counties   34 sections   47,168

Including 3000 bonus points for activating 6 counties and 200 points for one 
W3KWH qso.

------------------------


FWIW, if the effort was scored as one entry (as in other contests
with a rover class, such as the ARRL VHF contests), the combined
score would have been 263,054.

---------------------------


My rover results were quite gratifying.  We made six rover stops, in Mercer,
Venango, Jefferson, Forest, Snyder, and Juniata counties. All of the 40 SSB
qsos, and a few CW QSOs were made during these stops.  The average antenna
height was about 20 feet at the center, supported either with a string tossed
over a tree limb or with a DK9SQ fiberglass mast. Typical setup time was
about 10 minutes. In Forest county we used a 75/40 dipole, which included
all the 75 meter qsos. But this was about a half hour before sunset,
before much activity had moved there.

We were quite successful in running from all six stops.  In particular, from
Jefferson county (Saturday afternoon) and Juniata county (Sunday noon) we had
the 10 qso rate timer over 250, and in Juniata had the 100 qso timer as high 
as
155/hr.  Quite an improvement from mobile antennas where making 10 SSB qsos 
in a
row is a big accomplishment.

We operated 21 hours.  The missing hour was used checking into our motel in 
New Columbia in Union county around 10:30 pm, in an effort to get a head start 
on a night's sleep for designated driver W8DRZ.  I then drove to NUM and MTR 
(but not operating while driving). 

The 6 and 10 meter qsos were all with K3YTL.  I moved to 10 after earlier 
qsos; they were chatting with a W6 who could apparently hear me but not vice 
versa (this was just before the Blue Mountain tunnel on the turnpike).  I think I 
might have been able to make some QSOs on 10 had there been a usable 
"official" frequency, but 28310 is so far out of the way that everbody ignores it and 
operates elsewhere.  That's OK if you have a big signal and time to look, but 
it's a problem from a mobile.  It may be too late for this solar cycle, but how 
about a better suggested frequency up there on 10 meters ?


High points:

Literally, the stop in Juniata county.  We were at a small trailhead parking
area at the top of an 1900 foot ridge (1300 feet above the valleys on either
side) and found a very convenient tree limb at about 30 feet to support our
dipole. Juniata had not had much activity, and we had lots of "thanks for
the new one", and several "thanks for the last county" reports, to go with 
the great rates.

The serious activity by a number of Europeans who were following us from 
county
to county. With the Hustler 3 band system I picked up last month, I was able 
to
work many of them on both 15 and 20 CW, plus a few on 15 SSB.  DL6KVA
may have won the award for being the quickest to work me when I showed up 
on a band with propagation to EU, with SP4JWR, DL5MC, HA7UG, and 
LY3BA (on Sunday) not far behind. DL6KVA or SP4JWR will likely win the
award for the most qsos with a given station.

The beautiful weather, with the leaves changing colors making it a pleasure 
just
to be driving around.  With a good contest and good conditions, priceless.


73  -   Jim  K8MR   and   Jim W8DRZ / designated driver



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