Arkansas QSO Party
Call: K5YAA
Operator(s): KI0I K5YAA
Station: K5YAA
Class: Mobile HP
QTH: 22 Counties
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
80: 0 0 0
40: 324 5 0
20: 502 122 0
15: 78 9 0
10: 3 0 0
2: 0 0 0
----------------------------
Total: 904 136 0 Mults = 45 Total Score = 105,200
Club: Oklahoma DX Association
Comments:
The above score includes 11,600 bonus points.
For this Party I had the pleasure of having Mark KI0I, with me as a driving
and operating partner. We had a good time as we are both talkers about our
hobby and both enjoy being on the radio. A side benefit of having Mark with
me was his preparations as far as having items to nibble on during the party.
I never saw so many little bags of chocolate covered, cheese based niblets,
dried fruit and the best thing, a dozen or more of his wife's chocolate
brownies she made up for us. I put several of those down. We decided to set
our alarm about half an hour earlier on Saturday morning than I had planned
and I was glad we did as it took several extra minutes to transfer all the
snackins to the van! Mark made the suggestion to add that extra half hour.
I decided he knew what he was doing after our getting ready in the morning.
We left the home QTH about 7AM, gathered gas for the generator and then made
a quick stop at McDs for a couple of to go breakfast sacks. Mark and I both
like a breakfast before a party, I think Mark likes a breakfast before any
day begins so that was a good start for our run over to Benton County to get
the party going.
A ride in the Ozarks is good for the radio soul. This year's rain in this
part of the country has kept everything that grows green and as beautiful
as I have seen it in all the years I have lived in this part of the country.
Not a single animal showed it's face during our run through the hills. After
only seeing a couple in last year's ARQP I'm beginning to wonder if everyone
of the critters have been run over or shot already. We were prepared for
encounters with a few deer but not one showed up. It could be the animals
are smarter in Arkansas than other states. Don't know but something kept
them hidden this year.
A good run with pretty good band conditions. 40 produced much better than
even in the Kansas QSO Party. 10 only peaked at us for three QSOs and no
DX there. 15 moved along pretty well during the afternoon. Some great
signals on 15 from Europe and as usual very good operators on the air from
over there.
We had mapped out 21 counties for our day. Finally after many great trouble
free runs in the mobile a mechanical problems raised it's head. Very high
SWR developed on 40 CW with the Tarheel when we were in Jackson County.
Nothing we wiggled or tapped on (K5YAA methods of repair) would "fix"
it.
Well, we started doing a little troubleshooting after pulling over to the
side of a country road. A decision to replace the Tarheel assembly was made
after inspection of the teflon or plastic grommet that insulates the SO239
center conductor from the ground side of the Tarheel body. It was loose and
looked quite worn from the whacking it has taken riding on the trailer the
past few months. Seemed logical so we went to work to put the second Tarheel
on the mount. With Mark's FB mechanical capabilities the change was done in
less than 15 minutes. Now for an SWR check. Hmmm, same readings. Putting the
coax direct on the K3 showed no problem with the Tarheel. Not much left in
line except the Alpha Delta 4 position antenna switch, the amp and a few
pieces of coax. A look at the 80 amp fuses in line with the amps DC power
and we saw what looked like black ashes. Yep, a continuity check showed both
fuses to be blown. Reached in the box of spare items and pulled out a new set
of fuses. Another 5 - 10 minutes and the fuses were changed. Amp fires up
now but still a problem with SWR. Not wanting to have a second set of amp
fuses blow we proceeded with caution. Moving the Tarheel direct, bypassing
the Alpha switch, the SWR was prefect. Turns out the 40 meter position on the
antenna switch had kind of blown like the big fuses. So, now to decide how to
keep 40 available to us as it was producing quite well. Since 10 was it's
regular self we just moved the Tarheel feed to the 10 meter position on the
switch. Things were now looking up. We were back in business losing only ten
meter capability. No big loss. The only other "nuisance" was the 20
meter
position on the Alpha Delta. It needed a bit of wiggling to get it to make a
good connection. Once wiggled correctly it worked well so having defined and
"repaired" the problems we took out the map and decided to cut off
our stop in
Crittengen County by taking Hwy 49 on down South to Hwy 64. Only a loss of
one county but a savings of at least 45 minutes maybe a full hour on the road
time clock. As it turns out that was a good decision as we were able to add
two more counties to our run in the evening making a total of 22. Crawford
and Sebastian both got action because we showed up in Franklin much earlier
than originally planned and moved on I40 through Crawford into Sebastian
where we had rooms for the night. So, the problem was not a losing proposition
after all. I don't remember when we ate a handful of those delicious Missouri
prepared brownies but Mark downed some of his Cheezits as we diagnosed our
problem in Jackson County. Activity was so good we never reached in and
opened up the several other "bags" of goodies Mark had packed for us.
The
dried fruit might keep for next year's effort!
Only one very small navigational problem. A loss of two miles when we made
a Northerly pass on Hwy 25 near Batesville instead of a more direct drive
on Hwy 230. Signs were sparce and we took an unneeded turn. Two miles, no
problem. Steve K5KDG, a long time county hunter from Baxter County, told
me about Hwy 235 that was our short jaunt into Marion County off of Hwy 65.
Steve said, just as you get into Marion there is a good pullover stop that
has an old store sitting there. Boy, old is an understatement. The thing
was wooden, had many of the planks falling down and looked like something
Model T drivers would have frequented back in the 1920s. The shelves were
empty but a landmark it was and Steve was right on with his description
of a good place to pull over and stop. The weather in Arkansas was
absolutely perfect and at the two pullover stops we made we rolled down the
windows to enjoy the fresh air.
Now for a few comments about our on the air activity. This year's ARQP
seemed to have more callers than last year. Only a handful of times did
we have to move to SSB to keep the log filling and those were times across
a couple of the larger counties. 20, as in most of these, was the main
producer with 40 and 15 both showing signs of life when we moved to them.
Nice to have three bands available. Mark had some very good runs on 20 SSB
and I had the pleasure of some snappy CW pileup operations on all three bands
in several counties.
We had a number of ops follow us for the entire 12 hours. Thanks to each
of you for your QSOs. I've said a number of times they make our efforts in
these parties all worthwhile. DX was again a fun part of the run.
16 countries were worked. DL, F, G, HA, I, IT9, OK, OM, ON, P4, PA, SP,
UA3, UR, YO and YV. Stand out stations were SP9LJD, OM2VL, DK3BN, HA9RE
and I1EIS. Perrenial county hunters DL3IAC and DL3DXX called in several
times. Thanks to all the DX who called us and to those that stayed with us
the entire 12 hours. Another late night of work for European callers.
Canadians were again slim in numbers but we did work VE3, VE4 and VE7.
VE7CV called in many times as did VE3LMM, thanks for the many QSOs.
US stations that ran with us the whole 12 hours were numerous. N6MU, KC3X,
K5WP, K7REL, K5KDG, KM5PS, KN4Y, WA4WKL, K2DSW, N9QS, N9JF, K0HNC, KE0G,
WB0PYF, N4JT, W1END, N2CQ, W2CVW, NT2A, WA7JHQ, KQ3F, N3KR, N3RM, KG4IGC,
W4ANT, WN4AFP, K5GE, KS5H, and W5QP. Most of you followed us from start
to finish. Thanks for your efforts. You helped us fill our log day. Many
new call signs to the QSO Party circuit, too many to list. Thanks also to
each of you who gave us a call.
That's our report on the 2014 Arkansas QSO Party. Both Mark and myself
commented on the good fun we had. This radio stuff, like I have said
many times, is good for the soul. The only problem with these parties is
they are over almost as fast as they begin. The operating intensity makes
them go by way too soon. Oh well, there are other ones to enjoy. Now to
look over the mobile, make a few device corrections, and a tightening down
of all the connections that make up such a ham station.
I want to thank Mark KI0I for his companionship and consideration. He is
improving his skills with each run he makes. I enjoyed watching him work
the keyboard in the same fashion as I do. His effort made the run well
worthwhile for me. His XYLs brownies made the no stop for lunch bearable.
Thanks to the organizers of the Arkansas QSO Party especially Don K5DB
for his efforts at getting out the activity in the state. Thanks again too
to those of you who endured the pileups. I'll borrow a statement from the
Gator, N5RZ. Thanks for putting up with our bumfoosling around on the
keyboard. The hunt and peck method of typing makes it a challenge to get
the letters from the brain to the little box in N1MM.
73, Jerry K5YAA and Mark KI0I
The rig: That Oklahoma Land Rush Mobile running a K3, solid state amp,
Tarheel on 40 and HP Hustler resonators on 20/15 and 10 meters. We ran
out of time and never made it up to 80 meters for this one.
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