[WIQPmail] N9NE Mobile Plans

[Tom Macon]

Hi, Todd -

Glad you're back!  

It seems the weather gods have granted our request for good weather through Sunday.  Good luck on the road!

 - Tom, K9BTQ
   WIQP team
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Todd Fonstad 
  To: wiqp-mail at warac.org 
  Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2015 11:04 AM
  Subject: [WIQPmail] N9NE Mobile Plans


  Gangue,


  I plan on operating mobile for the first time in several years. Back and shoulder surgeries have kept me at my operating desk here in POR, but I think I can handle the preparation and seven-hour drive this year.


  Craig, W9OD, will again be my driver and county-line lookout. He and I have known each other since high-school days in Waupaca (ca. 1960).


  The route will take us through 17 counties in this order: CAL, WIN, FON, DOD, WAS, MIL, WAU, JEF, DAN, COL, MRQ, WSR, ADA, WOO, POR, WAP, and OUT. All operation will be on CW.


  Setup is laptop running N1MM, K3, and mag-mounted Hamsticks and Hustlers atop Dodge Grand Caravan. Top of 80M stinger is 13', 8" above road surface, just high enough to tickle the underside of two overpasses on I-894 around Milwaukee!


  Running mobile in the WIQP is a hoot!  But it takes a lot of planning, preparation, perseverance, and sometimes just plain luck. Tuning four resonators atop a van roof, standing on a stepladder in the cold and wind, is a trial. Get one tuned, and the others detune :). Hitting the right keys on the laptop and sending flawless CW with the paddle at 70 mph on a curving, bumpy road in the wind is nigh-well impossible. Ignition noise and electrical transmission lines cover up weak signals. And the bladder cries out, "where is the next rest stop?" LOL!  I can't wait to get back to it.


  If the weather is truly horrible, I'll either operate mobile from several nearby counties or from home.


  Hope to work you all many times.


  GL and 73,
  Todd
  N9NE/M  






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