[OhQP-mail] OQP -COOKEN -WW8OH- part II
w3hkk at roadrunner.com
w3hkk at roadrunner.com
Mon Aug 30 22:31:37 EDT 2010
COOKEN operated WW8OH at the home qth of Eldon W5UHQ with between 12 and
15 members showing up for various lengths of time. Plus numerous XYLs and a
couple of harmonics. So as a way to stimulate the club members, it was a
rousing success.
Station 1 (SSB) was downstairs near the pool table, with an ICOM Pro II to a
Stepp-IR plus inverted L for 40-80. It started out on 75 SSB and racked up a
good number of Ohio counties during the early afternoon, then shifted to 20. 20
was pretty good and it gave the boys a chance to get away from the sometimes
brutal intra-station QRM on 75. 40 SSB was almost impossible, as this was the
main band for the CW station.
Station 2 was located in the sun room, just off the deck, and used an IC
7600 to a 45 ft high windom for 80/40m. I used a Lightning Bug for human
intervention, and Jack K8EM used an MFJ keyer, but we both loved the handy-dandy
preprogrammed memories for calling CQ OQP, or giving the exchange including
sequential qso numbers. Pushing a button was a fun way to drum up activity when
things were slow ( which was often the case) and sip on a beverage or chat with
other members. We began on 40 CW and found it poor going for several hours.
Later in the afternoon, when Station 1 was on 20m we slipped down to 80 CW and
had a pretty good go of it for most of the evening. 80 cw was far better for
Ohio counties, but not spectacular. 40 cw was almost worthless for in state
QSOs but did nicely from about 300 miles on out, including several Euros.
Surprisingly, activity remained pretty good up until around 11:30 pm, and
voices also gave out. So the remaining guys had a group chat, disassembled
Station #2, and then hit the road around 12:30 for the 30 minute drive home.
Next year will likely see WW8OH from another Licking County site. And the
year will give some time to talk about how to better limit intrastation QRM on
40/80m.
NOTE: COOKEN (WW8OH) will be doing the OSPOTA in two weeks, from Buckeye
Lake, at Fritz's (WD8E) cabin by the water, again with two stations. Looks
like a windom dockside for the 80m Station 1, and a 25-55 ft high
semi-horizontal delta loop for 40-20m, for Station #2. Not expecting much CW
activity for OSPOTA, so both stations will be SSB.
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