<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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!<br><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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.<br><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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.<br><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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. <br><br>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. <br><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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! <br><br>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.<br><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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!<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Enough blather - here are the numbers:</span><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace"><br> Band Mode QSOs Pts Mul Mt2 Pt/Q<br> 3.5 CW 167 334 30 0 2.0<br> 7 CW 36 72 10 0 2.0<br> 14 CW 10 20 3 0 2.0<br> 14 USB 38 38 21 1 1.0<br> Total Both 251 464 64 1 1.8<br>Score: 34,660<br></span></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">9 Counties * 500 pts/county Bonus = 4,500<br></span></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Total Score 39,160<br><br></span></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">The Mt2 Column is DX. We worked one DX station, Belgium called me on 20 meter CW around 2115z.<br><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">The best one hour rate was 77 per hour from 2230 to 2330z.<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Compared
that to MnQP where the best one hour rate was over 100 QSOs in the
hour. Propagation, participation? Probably a bit of both.<br><br></span></div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">This shows QSOs by Hour</span><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace"><br></span><div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">18, 21 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">19, 17 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">20, 23 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">21, 48 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">22, 60 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">23, 56 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace">00, 26 Qs<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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.<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">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!<br><br>73<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">The N9T Team:<br></span></div><div><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Rolf NR0T and Taty W0/OA4ABC</span><span style="font-family:monospace,monospace"><br></span></div></div></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br>
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