[FQP]K4FQP/m Soapbox

[Georgek5kg at aol.com]

K4FQP/m

Operators:  George K5KG and Jim VE7ZO

       Well, it certainly has been a treat for me to participate as an FCG 
mobile and experience what I had head so much about.  It is a great contest 
and as it seems to have gained the critical mass that makes the fun and 
participation grow exponentially.  Congratulations to the FCG for the 
promotion and execution of this terrific event.

Strategy:

    Although most of our contesting pleasure is derived from the grace and 
subtleties of the CW mode, George and I decided that we would attempt to 
balance phone activity for overall score and to provide opportunity for out 
of state operators to work some of the rarer counties on a different mode.  
We ended up making Q's on all bands but on 10M and 40M, it was CW only.  By 
far the most successful run on SSB was by George on 20M Sunday morning, 
perhaps because the band had not become crowded enough to overwhelm our puny 
signal.  As conditions and activity grew throughout the day, any effort to 
sustain runs on phone was thwarted by base stations, although a few diligent 
ops did find us.  During these excursions, we never got the sense that we 
were being spotted in the same way as on CW, and the rates reflected that.    
As a final note, in spite of the excellent publicity and recognition factor 
that the K4FQP call sign generates, it is a mouthful on phone and was 
reminiscent of having to use S581I during an earlier time.  We yearned for 
the simplicity of the N4 Trembling Oscillator call sign being used solely on 
CW.

Equipment:

       It is hard not to say too many good things about the organizational 
ability and commitment of George to providing a first rate station.  His DX 
experience has ensured that there are multiple back ups and contingency plans 
for each emergency anticipated.  We had three selectable verticals mounted on 
the roof of the Explorer with one position being either 10M or 40M.  A laptop 
with external keyboard was used for logging with WriteLog driving an ICOM 756 
Pro-II.  The station ran well during the contest with a couple of antenna 
glitches only as the verticals on 40M and 15M would lose resonance 
periodically.  By far the biggest hindrance was the S6 noise from the DC/DC 
converter for the laptop that we never did wholly cure on 15M.  In order to 
hear properly on that band, the converter had to be disconnected and we 
occasionally stopped the car to dig out the weak ones.  There were a number 
of multipliers lost in that noise, in particular KH6D?
Routing:
    
       The severe storms on Friday night and Saturday morning centered in the 
lower half of the state caused us to reverse our operating plans on day 1 to 
the northern half.  Luckily, this did not conflict directly with the planned 
activities of the other declared mobile operations.  We started in PAS and 
did a clockwise pass over the top of the state with a day one objective of 27 
counties but ultimately ended with only 24.  Things were going swimmingly 
until in the darkness of Palatka we missed a turn and ended up backtracking 
in the woods of Flagler and Volusia for several hours.  We tried to brighten 
up overnight in a Holiday Inn Express but Deltona was a long way from the 
next day start south of Osceola.  Therefore the clockwise sweep of the 
southern half of the state was compromised the next day as well and we 
activated 17 of the planned 21 counties.  Although we ended up spending more 
extended time in some counties than we originally planned, we had decent 
rates, especially on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, so I'm doubtful 
that the score would have changed appreciably had we achieved the overall 
county goals.
    
       The two highlights of the trip occurred in the southern part of the 
state.  One was when we parked on the top of the levee overlooking Lake 
Okeechobee, shut the car off and worked 15M.  It was seldom quiet during the 
trip and this respite was rare.  The second was the trip into Monroe county 
and moving gators around so that we could turn the vehicle around.  Kinda 
neat for someone from Northern Ontario.
    
       Did I mention the last two hours were a gas?

Thanks again,   Jim VE7ZO

Essential Numbers:

Total QSO's: 1849  (CW 1657, SSB 192)
Total Mults:   119    (CW - 71, SSB - 48)
Estimated Score:  834,428
 
                   10 M           15M             20M               40M
            CW  SSB   CW  SSB      CW  SSB       CW  SSB
QSO's      7       0     86      16    1467    176         97      0
 
County Summary:

Cty     CW      SSB  Rate Q/hr

Saturday
PAS     13              156
HER     21              97
SUM     19              114
CIT           38        2       55
MAO     31              155
LEV     43      3       79
ALC     35      2       92
GIL           30        3       94
DIX         27      3       106
LAF     51      13      70
TAY     22      2       80
MAD     22      4       82
SUW     43      2       142
HAM     35              131
CLR     38      10      90
UNI           54        6       106
BAK     18      11      134
NAS         5               120
DUV     20              120
CLA     32      1       73
BRA     29      6       103
PUT     83      6       65
VOL     64      1       120
FLG     49      3       80
Sat Total   822     80

Sunday
ORA     11              94
OSC     29      9       58
BRE     17      9       60
IDR     19      16      131
STL     54      27      107
OKE     53      1       125
MRT     23      1       160
PAL     82      7       74
BRO     23      5       58
DAD     22      9       49
CLR     112     14      79
MON     65      11      76
LEE     93      3       107
HEN     40              200
GLA     75              180
CHA     51              153
DES     66              165
Sun Total   835     112
FQP Total   1661    192


George I. Wagner, K5KG
Productivity Resources LLC
941-312-9450
941-312-9460 fax
201-415-6044 cell