[OhQP-mail] K8RYU/R comments

[Ralph Matheny K8RYU]

Well, it was a "rebuilding year" as the sports guys like to say.  The "new"
van ran like a top, needs new shocks, and a lot of work to quiet the electrical
noises from it's engine & etc.  I Just didn't have enough time before the party
to get a good start on that noise stuff...and it really hurt the score.

Because of the noises, I had to use the NB in a pretty heavy fashon, which
gave me a lot of intermods from some of the big signals and really hurt my
ability to make contacts while in motion.  Since we run mobile all the way
thru JACK and ATHE, from one end to the other, it really killed things.

Conditions started out pretty good, then the middle of the afternoon things 
really seemed to sag...no band was much good except 75, which held up like 
a trooper.  Evening conditions a little better, but for my money conditions
were just plain poor overall.  Perhaps I should say conditions were such that
75/80 were the only good bands.

On the plus side, the in-state activity was just great!  Lots of counties that
I have never heard on before in the party.  That's a real positive thing and
I hope it holds up.  The out-of-state participation seemed down to me, with
several regulars absent from the scene.  I am way down on out-of-state
mults compared to last year.

About 600 contacts, no idea how many mults, and a pretty good first trip for the 
"new" van.  Now to get to work on the problems...maybee for PAQP, and perhaps
for some VHF Rover action in the future.

de K8RYU