CqpTeha2007
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The California QSO Party 2007 is over
We had a good time. For a first time effort we did pretty good.
Look for N6RNO in Tehama next year!
Tehama County CQP 2008
"The Rhino" is in Tehama October 4,5 2008 where will you be?
If you wish to help please contact N6RNO.
Tehama County CQP 2007
Rick "The Rhino" N6RNO operated SSB for CQP 2007 from Tehama county. Ken Hatch (N06X) joined on Saturday afternoon to operate CW.
We operated from The Rhino RV about 12.7 miles west north west of Red Bluff on A36.
The location is at the corner of A36 and Cannon Rd.
Directions from south of Red Bluff.
I-5 North to Adobe Exit.
Left at end of ramp to Main Street light(Business I-5).
Right on Main to Beegum. (1.6 miles)
Left on Beegum (A36).
Continue 12.7 miles to Cannon Rd.
RV is camped on left.
The site is only about 830 ft high. It is a large site along A36 with easy RV access.
General Information
Site
Check out the site Tehama CQP 2007 Those trees are about 120 ft apart.
Latitude is 40.2265 N (40° 13' 35" N)
Longitude is 122.4612 W (122° 27' 40" W)
Grid square: CN80sf
Location is 15.6 mi (25.2 km) from SOUTH edge of grid square, 24.3 mi (39.1 km) from EAST edge of grid square.
The Saga
This entire expedition was put together at the last minute. When I looked at the CQP site to see who had registered which counties I noticed that no one had plans for Shasta a month before the main event. I started planning then to get my RV up to some place in Shasta. I asked on the NCCC reflector for some ideas of locations from which to operate.
As I was scanning the county with Google Earth, I started to plan to travel up on the weekend of September 28th to check out possible sites. Vivian (KI6HFS my XYL) volunteered to help me look. She made reservations to stay in Red Bluff as all the possible sites I was looking at in Shasta county were in the southern part of the county.
About September 20th or so there were now 2 teams to operate Shasta county and no one to operate Tehama county. I shifted my focus south.
Some past operations from Tehama county operated from the CDF lookout at Eagle Peak. It looked like it could be accessible to an RV but no one was able to tell me for sure. I once again resorted to scanning Google Earth for possible sites. Most of Tehama county to the west of I-5 is remote and only has unpaved roads. This was looking to be an interesting exercise.
Vivian and I put a plan together to travel up to Red Bluff on September 28 (Friday). For her valiant efforts, I arranged a surprise spa visit to Indulgences on Friday night. (Indulgences will be changing names to Trilogy). She reminded me that she "hates surprises". On Saturday and Sunday the plan was to explore the western part of Tehama and southern Shasta for possible operational sites.
Eagle Peak is west of Paskenta in southern Tehama county in the Mendocino National Forest. Our plan was to head out west and south across Tehama county and explore the flat areas as we made our way toward Paskenta.
We woke early on Saturday and so were on the road before 9 AM. Heading west out of Red Bluff on Oak we intended to take county road 17 but missed the turn and followed Ridge Road instead. No big deal, a few miles out there was a way to get back to 17 and follow that onto Paskenta. We found several areas along Ridge road that were possible sites with good trees and spaces large enough for the RV.
We stopped at one location (Need to fill in details) that really looked good for the area. It was a large area with several trees and plenty of space to the side of the road to be out of the way. My RV would fit in the area nicely. Unlike areas we would see latter, it was not posted for no trespassing. We took a GPS reading and snapped several photos. The view was basically unobstructed in all directions.
We continued on to Paskenta. No more sites were found. Areas that the RV could be pulled off the road were either marked No Trespassing (meaning I would have to ask some one for permission) or had obstructed views east or north. There are a lot of low hills that 17 winds through on the way to Paskenta.
Paskenta ....
Returning from Paskenta we headed east toward Corning. We took Paskenta road north toward Red Bluff. We side tracked on xxxx to check out a local airport that showed up on our maps. This was the worst unpaved section of road we experienced all day. There were several miles of wash board roads with space for only one vehicle. Fortunately, every time a vehicle came from the other direction there was space for both on the road. Almost the entire section of this road is through private ranch land. It is also hilly and did not offer a good operational site.
Cottonwood .... airstrip not accessible. Gated access.
Baker CDF.... Trees are low and a hill to the east ... not the best idea
A36 ... old highway section. Second good site of the day.
Cannon Rd. The best site of the day.
Operational Notes
Score Summary
| Call: | N6RNO |
| Operator(s): | N6RNO NO6X |
| Station: | N6RNO |
| Class: | M/SCntyExp LP |
| QTH: | TEHA |
| Operating Time (hrs): | 21 |
| Band | CW Qs | Ph Qs |
|---|---|---|
| 160: | ||
| 80: | 86 | 47 |
| 40: | 113 | 87 |
| 20: | 174 | 17 |
| 15: | 18 | 1 |
| 10: | ||
| 6: | ||
| 2: | ||
| Total: | 391 | 152 |
Mults = 54 Total Score = 79,758
Club:
Log file, log file where are you log file? ("The Rhino" N6RNO)
We used paper and N1MM while logging this contest. One operator would run the rig and log to paper, the other would log using N1MM on the Compaq (This is important in just a few paragraphs) laptop. Only rough times where logged to paper and not all SSB contacts made the paper log.
Rick had been using N1MM this year informally from his own QTH and Field Day this year. Ken (NO6X) is most comfortable logging to paper. I learned that writing to paper while acknowledging the call sign when in run mode was an efficient use of time. Doing the same on the computer may have been more efficient.
N1MM was not the absolute latest and so Maritime had to be logged as MAR not MR (This was fixed in the logs after the contest). Also, the running score was off because the DX contacts where added to the MULTS. By the end of the contest we were seeing 57 MULTS instead of the actual 54. Regardless, it was fun to see the running score and try for the next higher level (1K, 10K, 25K, 50K, 75K etc.).
The display of MULTS was also great. We knew exactly what MULTS we needed.
At the end of the contest, we shut down the logging software and the laptop. We took apart the station. I disassembled all of the outdoor setup. Ken disassembled the computer and radio gear inside. Even for such a modest setup this still took about 90 minutes. NO6X finally headed home about 5 PM. I collapsed in the bed and relaxed for several hours.
About 8PM, I got out of bed and picked up the Acer laptop. Powered on and started up the N1MM logger software. Brought up the CQP contest and THE LOG WAS GONE. What happened to our precious log? Pulled up Excel to look at the database (N1MM uses Microsoft Access as it's database and everything is kept there). No information in the database since Field Day 2007, the last time the laptop was used to log any contest. We are in serious trouble. I decide to finish packing up the RV and look at this in the morning.
Monday 9 AM. I am well rested. Open back up the Acer laptop and take another look. This is not good. The paper logs cover only about 75% or so of the information. We are in serious trouble. This is too much to take. I finish getting the RV ready to travel and head out about 10 AM.
I arrive home about 2:30 PM. I unpack the RV by 5PM and take it back to storage.
I send a message to NO6X and N6TD saying I have lost the computer logs and it will take a few days to recover from the paper logs. I also indicate that this means we will be missing some SSB contacts.
I get some special software from the net to search the hard disk on the Acer for the missing log database. I also run CHCKDSK /F and check the partial files.
On Tuesday, I figure out that I was looking on the Acer laptop for data that was logged on the Compaq laptop (Remember the important point I noted above). DUH. All is well, the data is there. I copy the database to a new DB. I download the latest version of N1MM and I rescore. Great, now I show the correct 54 MULTS, 543 QSOs and 79,758 points.
Some of the computer logs (CW sections) have incorrect times. I adjust these to match the paper logs. By Friday September 12, I submit the logs to the CQP site.
Comments
1st serious contest for N6RNO "The Rhino". And it was a County expedition. Trouble at the start getting gear to work. Trouble throughout learning the MarkV and how to operate it with QRM.
Sorry we could not give out more SSB and all modes on 15.
No antennae on 160. We used an inverted V configuration of a 102ft G5RV at 30ft. Radio was a Yaesu FT-1000MP MARKV.
Ran from my RV's 5.5KW generator. Missed RI, SD, MS and NT
Otherwise, this was a blast. Look for N6RNO from Tehama next year in CQP.
After/After Comments
The official results are in. We did not do too bad. As expected there are a few logging errors. CW can especially be a bear. The other expected issue is that a few people logged us as N6RO. Nice try. N6RO was N6O for CQP!!!
Images from CQP 2007
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The QSL Card
