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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Todd asked me to post this for him.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>Michigan QSO Party<BR>Call: N9NE<BR>Operator(s): N9NE<BR>Station:
N9NE<BR><BR>Class: Mobile Solo Op LP<BR>QTH: <BR>Operating Time (hrs):
12<BR><BR>Summary:<BR> Band CW Qs Ph
Qs<BR>--------------------<BR>
80:
<BR>
40:
<BR>
20:
<BR>
15:
<BR>
10:
<BR>--------------------<BR>Total: 380 122 CW
Mults = 82 Ph Mults = 57 Total Score = 120,834<BR><BR>Club:
Minnesota Wireless Association<BR><BR>Comments:<BR><BR>On Friday afternoon, I
drove about 160 miles from my QTH in Amherst, WI up to<BR>NE9U's cottage just a
few miles south of MI-WI line where Scott had graciously<BR>invited me and Jim,
WI9WI, to join him and his driver, Art, N9BCA. We had a<BR>nice meal at a local
watering hole and enjoyed talking about ham radio and our<BR>respective routes
and strategies over a few 807s before hitting the sack.<BR><BR>Art woke us up at
around 6 am (thanks a lot!) ... it was below freezing and very windy.
After<BR>coffee and 'good luck' wishes, we dispersed to our starting points. Jim
had a<BR>long drive north to the Keweenaw Peninsula to activate KEWE, and I had
a 65<BR>mile jaunt to far northern IRON, just a few yards short of BARA. My
strategy<BR>this year was to cut down on the mileage, as I cannot safely radio,
log<BR>contacts on the laptop, and drive at the same time (although I did make a
few<BR>SSB Qs while in motion). I ran just five counties: IRON, BARA, HOUG,
ONTO, and<BR>GOGE and drove only 62 miles during the contest, parking off-road
to make my<BR>contacts (the last three hours were spent in the Lac Vieux Desert
Casino<BR>parking lot :).<BR><BR>The two plus hours per county gave me ample
time to pursue county multipliers.<BR>I employed two Hamsticks for 40 and 75
SSB, as well as the main three-band<BR>Hustler arrangement for the CW
frequencies. This allowed me to quickly switch<BR>from CW to Phone with the K3.
The antennas were all mag-mounted atop the<BR>minivan and guyed. The stinger on
the 80M Hustler was 13'8" above the road<BR>surface, so I was always on the
lookout for low branches and bridges. It is<BR>remarkable to see how many
bridges do not have the clearance marked on them.<BR><BR>As many have pointed
out, 20M was good for a while, 40M was so-so, and 80-75M<BR>was the workhorse
band. I was able to grab a number of MI counties but suspect<BR>that the long
skip -even on 80- limited access mostly to the southern portion<BR>of the lower
peninsula.<BR><BR>I was pleased to have a number of strong EU stations call me.
And I continue to<BR>be amazed at K8MR's apparent ability to run, and search and
pounce at the same<BR>time! Thanks to Jim's calls, we were able to add a number
of county mults on<BR>both CW and SSB.<BR><BR>The 155 mile drive home was
uneventful, a radical departure from the past few<BR>years which were dominated
by fog, mist, rain, and even a T-storm or two.<BR>Although there were many eyes
peering out from the side of the road, none came<BR>out to meet
me.<BR><BR>Thanks to the many stations who followed us mobiles around for the
day, and to<BR>the MRRC for sponsoring this fun
event!<BR><BR>73<BR>Todd<BR><BR><BR><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>