[FQP] W4ZW FQP Preliminary

[w4ZW]

Estimate 190 Q's in four counties.

I had no driver this time since I was uncomfortable letting my newly
licensed 16 year old son drive me and three other basketball players down
I-75 past Ft. Myers.  I discovered why I had so much trouble getting guys to
hear me on SSB the first day.  The last time I used the FT-857D/ATAS-120 was
for a battery QRP operation!  After dialing up the power, I ran on 40M CW
pretty well until the laptop battery died.  Only had small stretches between
games to operate since my son's team kept winning until the final
championship game which they lost by 2 points.  I did  manage to stop and
run a few in each county, LEE, DES, CHA, and SAR.  The laptop battery died
again the 2d day and many Q's were logged by hand.  I did a solo run after
the final game on Sunday and dropping the boys off.  I  now have new respect
for you guys who can drive and send CW at the same time.  I crashed the
bencher into the floor twice when looking up to "OMG, traffic's stopped!"
It survived but next time I'm going to fabricate some kind of mobile table
to hold the bencher, and log pad.  Still have to enter all the manual logs.



Jon Hamlet,  W4ZW/m in the 'Slade
 
Casey Key Island, Florida
"A little piece of paradise in the Gulf of Mexico"