[PaQSO] W3ZI M/M summary and comments

[Bob Crossland]

What a great setup!  And it indeed sounds as though you guys had a
blast!  Way to go!

Bob, N3FR  (portable WAR) 




-----Original Message-----
From: paqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:paqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of John Unger
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 8:19 PM
To: paqso at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [PaQSO] W3ZI M/M summary and comments

Ten hams (and one first-rate cook!) from northern Virginia invaded Berks
County for the PAQP this year and set up a Field Day type M/M station
with the callsign W3ZI for the weekend. It was a great success, and we
all had a terrific time! Here are our preliminary numbers:

BAND   CW    SSB
2       0     11
15     35      4
20     64    757
40    316    384
80    226    327
160    30     23
-----------------
       671   1496

We have a total of 144 mults (including 67 PA counties!!!) and worked
the N3SH bonus station 23 times.

So our total score looks like it will be about 383,392!

Operators: W3ZI, AI2C, NC4S, W4AU, K8SYH, NA4MA, K3HE, WA9LAZ, KF4TJI,
KF4TJJ

COMMENTS:
The plans for the 2006 invasion of Berks County by the Loudoun Amateur
Radio Group (LARG, from Loudoun County, Virginia) more or less evolved
over about six months. For many years one of our members, Bill, K8SYH,
had operated as a portable station in the PAQP from a campground in the
rare Somerset County; I had operated out-of-state from Virginia for many
years; and Norm, AI2C, operated /3 from his family farm in Berks County
last year part time.

Originally, we thought it would be fun to mount a mini-M/M or M/2
operation from that same location in Somerset, but as interest was
generated and it looked like we may have as many as a dozen operators,
Norm, AI2C, generously offered to let us use his family farm in Berks
for our 2006 PAQP operation. However, we were not going to have the
luxury of just showing up and operating at a "real" M/M station. The
only permanent antennas at Norm's farm are 40 and 80 meter dipoles.

The planning evolved over a couple of months, and we finally zeroed in
on a M/M station with 5 HF rigs. Mark, W3ZI, decided to accompany us and
let us use his FB callsign; that made things easier. The stealth LARG
caravan sneaked into PA on the Friday morning before the QP and began
setting up. 
Norm had been there a few days before us and had erected a second dipole
for 75 and a big, low 160 meter dipole. He had also put up his 15 meter
3-element beam on a 40' ladder. We arrived with our secret weapon, the
club's trailer-mounted 60' crank-up tower which we used to put up a
4-element beam for 20, along with a 2M vertical. We also put up a 40
meter vertical loop on a 40' mast, which would be used for the CW
station on that band. Our final configuration looked like this:

Station 1 (W4AU), 40 CW - TenTec Omni VI+, 40M vertical loop.

Station 2 (AI2C), 40 SSB - Kenwood 440, 40M dipole

Station 3 (NC4S), 20 CW&SSB - TenTec Omni VI+, Alpha 78, 4-ele beam

Station 4 (W3ZI), 80 CW, 160 CW&SSB, and 15 CW&SSB - Kenwood 850,
dipoles, and 3-ele beam for 15M

Station 5 (W3ZI), 75 SSB, 2FM - Kenwood 2000, dipole, Diamond vertical.

The only problem with our setup was with occasional interference between
the two 40 meter stations even though the two antennas were separated by
about 300'.

Without an exception all of us had a fantastic time and our results far
exceeded our expectations. We had a clean sweep of the PA counties,
worked all the ARRL sections except AK, PR, and VI, and worked 8 of the
13 Canadian provinces.

Thanks to everyone for all the Q's, and our hats are off the those
intrepid mobile ops who seemed to be occupying a new county every time
we turned around. For me personally it was great to return to the
Keystone State. I was first licensed in 1956 as WN3GOI up in the "Back
Mountain" region of Luzerne County, and this was the first time I had
operated from PA since about 1961! I can't say what our plans are for
next year, but keep an eye out...

tnx es 73 - John, W4AU


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