[WIQPmail] WiQP, N9T mobile

[Rolf Krogstad]

Taty and I had great fun again driving in and operating from the
northwestern counties of Wisconsin.  I believe this was our 9th or 10th
consecutive WiQP.  We did appreciate not having to deal with a 4 inch snow
fall as we did last year!

Taty worked 20 SSB for the first two hours and then I worked the last five
hours on CW.  Participation seemed down from last year, but then a glance
at last year's log shows we were only 15 QSOs behind the 2017 totals.

When I first switched to CW my rate was no better than what Taty had done
on SSB.  I had glanced at 80 early on but it was very quiet.  When I went
back to 80 at 2130z it was alive with signals.  So in retrospect, I should
have checked 80 early than 4:30pm as rates on 20 and 40 were quite poor.
The rates really picked up once I went to 80.

After the Minnesota QSO Party in February I decided to make changes to the
mobile antennas.  For years I had been using a single Outbacker Perth
mounted on the front right-side fender.  The antenna performs very but, but
it has a tap which is changed, along with adjusting the length of the whip,
any time the band is changed.  This meant stopping and taking several
minutes any time I wanted to change bands.

In February I got a hitch mount, spring, quick disconnect coupler,
four-foot mast and the Hustler Triband Resonator Adapter.  I had old
hamsticks for 40 and 20 and purchased a Hustler RM-80 80 meter resonator.
I mounted these on the Triband Adapter at the top of the four foot mast.
This puts the base of the antennas above the roof of the vehicle.  I
secured a 2" wide copper flashing going from the hitch mount to the chassis
of the Totyota RAV4 to get a solid ground.

The 3 rear antennas were tuned for the CW portions of 80-40-20 and the
front antenna was tuned for 20 SSB.  In testing, the rear 40 meter antenna
had a very narrow (10 KHz) bandwidth, so the modified plan was, after
switching from SSB to CW, to retune the front antenna for 40 CW and then
use the back for 80 and 20.  This worked very well - instant band changes,
no stopping required!

RBN tests on Saturday had similar signal strengths from both 40 meter
antennas.  I will have to check out that 40 meter hamstick all by itself on
the car to see if there is a problem with it or if it was interaction with
the other antennas that caused such a narrow bandwidth.  Another project
for the 364 day WiQP off-season.

One other change from the MnQP in February is that we used a foam bottom
lap desk for the computer instead of the table which I have mounted behind
the driver's seat for the radio and Microkeyer Interface.  This really
helped with all the bouncing on the roads.  It is amazing how difficult it
can be to type a callsign correctly when the keyboard is shifting
underneath the fingers as we type!  The lap desk didn't eliminate the
challenge, but it was much improved over previous contests.  Definitely a
keeper!

Enough blather - here are the numbers:

 Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts  Mul  Mt2  Pt/Q
   3.5  CW     167     334   30    0   2.0
     7  CW      36      72   10    0   2.0
    14  CW      10      20    3    0   2.0
    14  USB     38      38   21    1   1.0
 Total  Both   251     464   64    1   1.8
Score: 34,660
9 Counties * 500 pts/county Bonus = 4,500
Total Score 39,160

The Mt2 Column is DX.  We worked one DX station, Belgium called me on 20
meter CW around 2115z.

The best one hour rate was 77 per hour from 2230 to 2330z.
Compared that to MnQP where the best one hour rate was over 100 QSOs in the
hour.  Propagation, participation?  Probably a bit of both.

This shows QSOs by Hour
18, 21 Qs
19, 17 Qs
20, 23 Qs
21, 48 Qs
22, 60 Qs
23, 56 Qs
00, 26 Qs

We did also have a 2 meter FM rig along for the driver, but never were able
to raise anyone.  Expectations were met by reality on that one.

At the end of the contest we met up with the W0AA mobile team for the
annual post-QSO Party party at Tippy Canoe's in Osceola.  A great end to a
fun afternoon on the road and on the air!

73
The N9T Team:
Rolf  NR0T and Taty W0/OA4ABC

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