[FQP] K4OJ Multi-Multi-Mobile 2017 FQP Results
Dave Edmonds
dave at pkministrywebs.com
Mon May 1 15:37:32 PDT 2017
Hey Team K4OJ! and especially Kevin, N4KM.
It's not every day that I see my callsign in someone's contest write-up so
I had to follow-up....
I want to thank y'all for operating on 40m!!!! As I mentioned in my
3830scores article, there was no other option for me to work Florida than
40m. I operated unassisted in the purest possible form. I didn't have use
anything and I mean anything (no maps, K0RC planner, etc.) other than my
mic, keyer and rig (which was not interfaced with logging sw). Running an
IC-751 at 75w with 40m dipole at 10 feet. Using this station, I ended up
with 192 claimed contacts and 83 multipliers with a score in the 56k range.
I tuned my VFO between 7.025 and 7.045 for cw and between 7.200 and 7.250
for SSB. That's all I did... On CW I worked all of the 1x1 stations as
quickly as possible, then worked the active fixed CW stations. Then i
focused on working 3 motiles stations... these were K4OJ, AD4ES and K4FCG.
There were a few other mobile stations that periodically visited 40m during
the day, but these three were going be the only way that I could have a
decent score in this game...
As a long-time county hunter NCS station, I remember following mobiles
around and after a while, you get the 'feel' of when stations would be in a
new county etc... The same was true with the FQP. My process... I'd work
the mobile station and try to make a mental note when they changed
counties.. I'd run to phone to seek out K4FCG... then about every 10 mins
or so I'd monitor 7.030.5 for AD4ES and 7.034.5 for K4OJ. I had no idea of
their routes, but I tried to work them every 10 mins or so.
One highlight was working Kevin when he went into a new county Seminole at
2159z. I had only 45 secs to do it. We quickly made the contact.
I'm sure that Kevin really got tired of hearing my callsign... I believe I
worked him in 31 counties if I'm not mistaken... Since I could count on
these two mobiles being on 40m, I made the effort keep my BIC as much as
possible... and it paid off..
By the way, K4OJ and AD4ES had excellent sigs on a very noisy 40m band.
Thanks to all the mobiles but special thanks goes to K4OJ and AD4ES for
keeping 40m alive!
I'll be seeing y'all again next year!
73s Dave WN4AFP
On Mon, May 1, 2017 at 6:01 PM, Christopher Blake <cqdenx4n at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi FQP Fans,
> The K4OJ MM/m had a terrific time again hitting the open roads of our
> Sunshine State and having a great time along the way.
> Team members Kevin N4KM, Red K0LUZ and I knew there would likely be
> challenges with propagation this year but were determined to make the best
> of things. Kevin felt that, given the poorer conditions, this was our
> best outing ever. See lot of positives below.
>
> Like others we dedicated this FQP to Ron WD4AHZ (sk) - Ron was a real FQP
> fanatic and always went full throttle to support it.
> The 2016 FQP starting operator meeting point was also one of the last times
> I got to visit with my brother Matt, who passed away unexpectedly last
> Sept...and you can bet this FQP, with our starting point only 5 miles from
> Matt's home, was full of mixed emotions for me. RIP, dear brother - this
> one's for you! I even took our Gator 2008 FBS championship caps along in
> your memory (he treated me to that game!).
>
> Lots to relay to you fanatics -
> First, the results (still working to combine station logs - always
> trouble):
> *K4OJ - SCORE SUMMARY:*
> * Band Mode QSOs Pts Mul Pt/Q*
> * 7 CW 937 3748 12 4.0*
> * 14 CW 2047 8184 55 4.0*
> * 21 CW 54 216 1 4.0*
> * Total Both 3038 12148 68 4.0*
> * Score : 826,064*
> Still checking with N4BP, our log guru, to ensure that this is a good
> 'final'; combining our station logs and correctly scoring the master is
> always a challenge.
>
> *Other Stats:*
> *20m - K4OJ Max Rates (K0LUZ Op):*
> 2017-04-29 1951Z - 5.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 300 per hour by
> 2017-04-30 1739Z - 3.6 per minute (10 minute(s)), 216 per hour by
> 2017-04-30 1916Z - 2.7 per minute (60 minute(s)), 163 per hour by
>
> *40/15m - K4OJ Max Rates (N4KM Op):*
> 2017-04-29 1806Z - 4.0 per minute (1 minute(s)), 240 per hour by
> 2017-04-30 0056Z - 2.8 per minute (10 minute(s)), 168 per hour by
> 2017-04-30 0119Z - 2.0 per minute (60 minute(s)), 122 per hour by
>
>
> Considering the conditions, we all were amazed at the *many* positive
> things we observed/experienced this weekend.
> *Positives/Highlights:*
>
> - The MUF move downward made for a Record 40m mobile QSO total of more
> than 900 QSO's; way overshadowed what we have done in previous years.
> One
> key difference - We had moved the 40m antenna to the rear of the roof
> where the (unneeded) 10m antenna used to be and it really played well!
> Kevin was working as far away as W8, W1 at 12:30pm both days - now that
> was
> a hoot! That antenna really worked, and Kevin played it for all it's
> worth. We ended up with a 40m total of 550 Q's the first day, so there
> was
> still lots of action on Sunday, even as we headed to South FL. We felt
> Loud on 40m with quiet Rx levels too; very rewarding for this station
> engineer.
> When 40m got slow Kevin would try 15m with a bit of success too.
> Overall, this made us very happy that we decided to do the
> multi-transmitter thing again.
> - A bonus of moving the 40m antenna is that we had very little RFI into
> 20m, which meant Red could run unfettered - and he ended up with 2000+
> QSO's even with the conditions (Wow - can you spell Q-S-B?). Top notch
> effort, Iron Butt! That man only too one break each day :-)
> - A 2nd bonus of our 40m operations - we were really pleased to help our
> buddies in W4-land have more fun working us nearly fully time as we
> roamed. MANY thanks to you guys for tracking and calling us - I
> remember
> WN4AFP in particular working Kevin 'endlessly'. Others were very active
> searching us on 40m too and were nice to occasionally spot us.
> Friends, we
> will see YOU again next year on 40m; you can count on that! I've
> already
> challenged Kevin to break 1K QSO's on 40m in 2018 FQP.
> - Rock solid station/antenna/power reliability - nothing stopped
> working, period. Almost boring, but careful what you wish for! Best
> ever
> for our team; but Murphy is always looking to visit. I guess shaking a
> dead chicken at the Suburban helped. BTW, my Sub now has 378K miles
> with
> original engine and it just keeps running. I don't ask questions; just
> shut
> up and drive.
> - Our route planning/execution went without any major hiccups; the
> driver did get lost in ALC but allowed the copilot named Garmin to take
> over when there was smoke in the cockpit.
> - Probably the lightest traffic on our entire route ever. Fires? What
> Fires? Minimal road construction and cops/cameras too; this made for
> many
> enjoyable driver observations - see below.
> - Much improved band conditions, especially on 20m, on Sunday. Gave us
> all renewed hope!
> - *The Pile ups!* Both Red and Kevin enjoyed some Texas-sized pile ups,
> with truly A1 operators on both ends that kept it manageable and fun!
> NAS
> and GIL pileups were especially huge, and then there was...
> - *MONROE!* Both Kevin and Red were getting **all sorts** of inquiries
> as we headed through the Grand Dragon County of CLR for almost an hour
> before getting to that sweet little swath of paradise at MON.
> Finally, about 5 minutes before we got there, I turned the air
> conditioner fans to max cold to put us into a deep chill. You see, it
> is
> usually 90 degrees plus at that swamp-stop, and with the difficult
> QRN/QSB
> levels we turned off the SUV completely to minimize both electrical and
> audio noise to work the pileups.
> Red in particular had a HUGE GRIN on his face when the pile up started;
> quickly that changed to the concentration of a CW Master, making every
> dit
> count.
> Kevin also had some nice action on 40m, working all the way up to W1-W8
> (midday from MON - wow!) but was fairly lonely CQing on an open 15m band
> with but a few callers. I overheard at least one sweep on each band,
> including one guy that thanked him about 10 times!!
> With Garbage Truck sized horse flies buzzing all around us trying to
> find an open window to carry us off to their young, Red and Kevin worked
> down those pileups until they were no more. We even did a bit of SSB
> and
> then, after half an hour in MON and sweltering in our Easy-Bake-Oven,
> on we
> went.
> It felt so special to give many of the deserving FQP supporters help
> towards a Sweep. We were hoping team K1XX/m would clean up anyone we
> missed
> but we had not yet received word of their misfortune (so sorry Charlie
> and
> Marty - next year!).
> - One TERRIFIC highlight was our dinner with teams AD4ES and NO5W,
> hosted by my wife and I at home Sat night. Lili had the pizza hot and
> ready as we traded stories from the road and commiserated with each
> other
> about conditions. Both teams AD4ES and NO5W have very impressive
> station/antenna setups; well done, gents.
> Chuck, Eric, Wolf, Mike, Ted and Chuck - thank you so much for modifying
> your routes to join us; such fun! Let's do it again, friends.
>
>
> *Lowlights:*
>
> - 10m = didn't even set up an antenna; 'nuff said.
> - 15m = 54 QSO's (2016=300+; 2015=1300+); sure can see the Cycle at
> work!
> - Monroe SSB - We called and called on SSB on 40m and 20m for 5+ minutes
> without a single answer. Still - I got to watch Red work a mic; talk
> about
> Rare DX! :-)
> - This one is a both a positive and negative. Building only 2 stations
> is easy as pie as opposed to cramming the Sub with 3 or 4 stations; huge
> difference in complexity. The downside is I sure do miss teammates
> N4BP,
> W4LT and KR4X being part of the MM/m madness. Band conditions make the
> rules though, so for now two transmitters only.
>
> *ROAD TALES/TAILS:*
> This driver really enjoys operating FQP but the Stations management, route
> planning and especially Driving the road rally can be both challenging and
> very reward. Our state is so beautiful and the endless green fields, huge
> trees and inviting lakes/ponds make this part of FQP fun for me.
> Any I also noted some real Strangeness including:
>
> - We stopped for a quick GP (not ground plane, but rather Gas & Pee)
> break. As I started into the store, a man started driving away with the
> gas hose still attached to his car! Fortunately he stopped, and an
> onlooking started running toward him until she realized she had a
> cigarette
> in her mouth - yikes! That was a first for me...
> - While waiting on the DES line in a neighborhood I saw a 3 ft black
> snack race to the bushes as a Blue Jay tried to peck/claw him. Mr. Snake
> lived to fight another day. Another first!
> - Less exciting but very enjoyable was 'racing' a 100+ car freight train
> heading in parallel at night in POL
> - Also enjoyable to be crossing the humongous Sunshine Skyway in
> PIN/HIL/MTE watching a loaded monster barge head out to the Gulf;
> probably
> headed with chips and salsa to the "O" team's home (KN5O and NO5W) in
> LA.
>
> In summary, we had a great time with a trip that once again exceeded our
> expectations. Red and Kevin and perfect teammates; we have great synergy
> and encourage and help each other.
> Thanks to our FCG/FCP organizers including K1TO who is the heart and soul
> of this FB contest with countless hours of leadership and support each year
> - thank you so much Dan. Also want to give a huge bow to Floyd KK3Q for
> doing Yeoman's work on our FQP website - folks, I worked with him just a
> bit and observed both his technical expertise and dedication to create a
> new website with much improved functionality and user experience. Thanks
> Floyd.
>
> Great appreciation goes to former teammate Bob N4BP, who is helping up put
> together our logs and ensure we turn in a valid workable on - thanks Bob
> for helping again.
>
> Also a *must* - sincere appreciation to Bob K0RC and Chuck NO5W for their
> super-duper county tracking tools - these are indispensable for working the
> sweeps, planning routes and more. Bob/Chuck - you guys are the best!
> Thanks for your major support.
>
> A tip of the hat to our fellow road warriors, each of who do an amazing job
> of getting cobwebs of antennas, rigs, pc's power plants and vehicle and
> routing set up to make the first contact. I sincerely am in awe of your
> enthusiasm for hitting the road and am proud to call you fellow FQP
> mobiler.
> Also have to give huge kudos to our fixed and 1x1 spelling bee partners -
> you are the foundation of our way-cool QSO Party - thank you for standing
> strong on all our bands representing our State.
>
> Finally - my biggest, loudest applause is for all of you out-of-state
> operators who are the real heros. Whether you make a dozen or several
> hundred QSO's, your enthusiastic participation and support help make the
> FQP fun for all. We can throw the party, but it is you that keep coming
> back every year - thank you, thank you, thank you!
>
> See you in FQP 2018!
>
> vy 73/OJ/AHZ/MATT,
> Chris, NX4N - K4OJ MM/m Team Lead
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--
Dave Edmonds
PK Ministry Webs
864.288.6678
dave at pkministrywebs.com
www.pkministrywebs.com
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