[MiQP-Mail] K8MQP - 2005 MiQP - Multi-multi CHEB county
David Pruett
k8cc at comcast.net
Mon Apr 18 22:53:05 CDT 2005
2005 MICHIGAN QSO PARTY
Call used: K8MQP Location: CHEB
Category: Multi-Multi Unlimited Mode: MIXED Power: High
Callsign of Operator(s): K8BB, K8CC, KE8OC,
W8MJ
Exchanged Information: K8MQP nr CHEB
Hours of Operation: 11:59
band CW QSOs CW pts Ph QSOs Ph pts
----------------------------------------------
80 161 322 119 119
40 213 426 344 344
20 134 268 369 369
15 3 6 4 4
10 2 4 4 4
----------------------------------------------
TOTAL 513 1026 840 840
( 1866 ) QSO points X ( 197 ) Multipliers = 367,602 points
The K8MQP multi-op effort from Cheboygan county was a combination of the
W8MJ and KQ8J/N8OS multi-op teams from past MiQPs. We operated from a
vacation home on the eastern shore of Burt Lake near Indian River, MI. The
goal was to put forth a maximum multiop effort for maximum MiQP
exposure. This was from a QTH which has no permanent ham station or
antennas, so everything had to be carried in and back home again.
Antennas are the key to any portable operation, and we had that covered in
spades. Don, K8BB owns a 48' aluminum tiltover tower which is mounted on a
modified boat trailer. The tower supported 3L yagis for 20M, 15M, and 10M,
plus held up our 40M inverted vee, while the 80M inverted vee was held up
by a rope shot into a nearby tree.
Inside, we had a station for 40M (FT-1000MP/Titan), a station for 20M
(FT-1000Field/AL-1200) and a station shared between 10M, 15M and 80M
(TS-940S/SB-1000). This gave us full time coverage of the main MiQP bands
(40M and 20M) with a separate rig with which to attempt making something
happen on 10M and 15M. The third rig also allowed us to go to 80M early,
long before 20M was finished. Indeed, we still made a few 20M QSOs even in
the last hour of the contest.
KE8OC, K8CC and W8MJ left Detroit at 9:00 AM and arrived at the QTH around
1:00 PM. We immediately started to set up the inside equipment. K8BB
arrived with the portable tower around 3:00 and the serious antenna work
began. By dark, all the antennas were up in the air and tuned, the rigs
set up and we were on the air. This allowed us to sleep in Saturday
morning and get a leisurely breakfast in town before the contest started at
noon.
Our comments about the contest echo those of others - 40M was horrible
early, with weak signals and QSB. After dark, signals to out of state
picked up but in-state signals were bad all weekend. 20M was good all day
until the last hour of the contest. 80M was our salvation for in-state
QSOs and all the mults they bring. K8BB went to 80M as early as 4:00 PM
local and found people to work.
In the end, we finished about 30 QSOs ahead and about five mults behind
what W8MJ and K8CC did from W8MJ's QTH in LIVI last year. 40M was way down
on both modes, but 80M more than made up the slack. 20M was about the
same. We really tried to make 10M and 15M play, going there at all of the
recommended activity times and CQing our brains out. But you can see from
the totals that we did not accomplish much. Actually, we think that with
the condx the way they were, 10M and 15M (particularly with scatter) could
have provided a lot of in-state QSOs if people had gone up there.
Sunday AM we repeated our leisurely breakfast in town, then started taking
down the antennas around 10:30 AM. By 1:00 PM everything was packed and we
were on the road home. By 5:00 PM we were back in Detroit.
The trip was a lot of fun, and worked out pretty well. We forgot to bring
certain pieces of equipment, but between the four ops, we had enough stuff
to get the job done. Our thanks go to John/KN8S for the use of his
vacation QTH, and to everyone who participated in MiQP.
73,
Don/K8BB
Dave/K8CC
Tim/KE8OC
KEn/W8MJ
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