[OhQP-mail] Help - Selecting OQP sites in rarer counties-

[Hank Greeb]

  Bob:

Don't know if this will get through on the reflector, so I'm copying you 
direct also.

I found that a good way to find a place in a rare county was to look at 
QRZ.com and search for zip codes in the particular county.  I then 
contacted as many of the hams in the county as had listed their e-mail 
address, and found several offers.  I chose one where the mayor of a 
small town (McClure in my case) had been a ham but had let his license 
lapse.  The village park had 60' poles for lighting the ball field, and 
all wiring was underground so there was no possibility of electrocution, 
and would have been ideal for a full size 80 meter horizontal loop 
(might have been large enough for a full wave @ 160 metres.)  I didn't 
have enough rope with me to scale four or more of the poles, so I used 
one of them and a strategically located 70' high tree to support a 
dipole, fed with 450 ohm feed line.  During late august the weather is 
warm enough so a picnic shelter works fine, unless it really rains 
catsanddawgs.   No mosquitoes - the village seemed to have them under 
control, and other bugs didn't bother.

I also had possbilities from two other places in other villages which 
made offers, one was next to a very busy railroad intersection, which 
might have had RFI, and another one was in a different small town which 
probably would have been satisfactory also.

Your idea of contacting Red Cross is a good one.  I'll try that approach 
in the future.

"Multiple sites" in Multiple counties are OK according to the "rover" 
category.  As long as the stations are in different counties the 
contacts are good for other stations.  I suppose one would have to merge 
all the logs together - that would be one to ask the contest rules 
committee for a ruling, preferably before the contest.  FCC rules are 
such that you're not supposed to put more than one signal on a band/mode 
from a single location, but it's okay to operate the same call from more 
than one location.  You'd certainly want to call 'CQ den N8Q/CNTY) like 
mobiles did if you had multiple stations set up as permanent sites 
throughout the contest period.  An alternative would be to operate one 
setup as a rover.

As for Friday and Saturday evening accommodations - Knights Inn @ 
$49/night and no bed bugs or fleas in Napoleon, Ohio was great for me.  
My wife would have turned up her nose, but, I'm not picky.  There was 
one cheeper place, but I was a bit leery of it.  :)

73 de n8xx Hg
Operated as N8Q - HENRy County during OQP 2010

p.s. Hocking Hills State Park has some nice cabins for rent, but I think 
that during August you need to rent them for an entire week.  I operated 
once from Lake Hope State Park in VINTon county, tree were 70' tall, and 
I had a great signal!

On 9/20/2010 9:16 AM, w3hkk at roadrunner.com wrote:
> I notice more clubs operating  several stations from several different counties, and am looking for a few basic tips that  I could apply to the local club at the next OQP.
>
> IE
>
> -how did you handle the club call sign at multiple QTHs in different counties?
> How does that affect the Club score?
> -how did you go about selecting the specific  QTH in each county?  ( my "perfect" qth would be a rural house/cottage/farm/structure (NOT a campsite/tent)  that provided access the day before for antenna hanging and the day after for take down.
> -what were the  problems you had to resolve to get approvals to set up and operate?
> -what were the types of qth's you  had the luxury of chosing from?
> -Important factors to me would be:  availability of commercial power, a weatherproof structure large enough for 5-6 people, freedom from local  noise ( trucks-ignition-power line- people), screened or enclosed to minimize mosquitos and other insects, with access to a toilet.)
> -renting a place for a nominal fee for Friday night and Sat night would be worth it, if necessary.
>
> Any thoughts or experiences you would like to share?
>
> de Bob
>
> PS  Counties of interest to me include:  Knox, Hocking, Perry, Muskingum, Coshockton, Morgon, Noble.
>
> PPS  I once contacted a local  ARC in a rare county  and asked if there were any QTHs I could set up in and operate from for OQP.  I wound up with an offer to use a brother's garage, nicely enclosed and with electricity, bath and running water, with 4 nicely spaced tall trees to hang my 80m horizontal loop.  It worked out  great although I had to sleep in my car.)   So clearly ONE option is to contact the  ARCs in the county you are interested in to see what they might offer.