N7HR was a two county line operation on the Morrow/Gilliam line @ 2722' asl. Three antennas, 3-element yagi at 35', dipoles for 40M and 80M. Three radios and operators, one 38-year newer motorhome, and one small departing rattlesnake. Set up Friday then the un-predicted rains came. Saturday brought the antidote to the rains with 19-40mph winds, more 40 than 19. Served as a blow dryer to restore the normal atmosphere. Everything stayed up and we passed 400 QSO's for the first time in a long time. Operators: KT7G, KD7RUS, NE7O. Rick/KT7G
Another futile attempt to make a CW qso with Idaho and Wyoming with a low wire antenna... Marian/OK2CSU
I was pleasantly surprised by excellent conditions this weekend. 80M, 40M, and 20M were the bands. I ran single-op non-assisted CW-only with 5W. My hustler 6BTV with elevated radials and 135' OCFD really did it for me. QRP works! Of course the ionospheric conditions played a major role in my success. I really enjoyed this year's 7QP and am already planning for next year's. Gary/K7EK
Met ol' man Murphy hitch-hiking a few times, dang near got in, but we kept the disasters to a minimum...except when crossing an old bridge with a 9-foot height limit...knocked off two of the three antennas. And RFI got into the laptop a few times, freezing it up. And then RFI killed the car's AWD system, leaving me in front wheel drive until I could disconnect the car computer for a few minutes. But compared to 2019, it was a walk in the park. Mel/KJ9C
Condx better as last year or did the new 20M beam (5-element YU7EF) help? Also 40M was in good shape. Some stations were worked very early (N9RV, KH6ND, N7A) not bad working all 7th area states except idaho with a simple vertical loop. Highlight was working N7XU/M and NX1P from Oregon at sunrise. Heard a few loud W7s on 80M (AZ, UT) but they preferred calling CQ instead of listening for weak europeans...My antenna is way too small. Dietmar/DL3DXX
Everyone loves a "triple crown!" Thank you to everyone we worked, and thank you for all the positive comments! Especialy W7O, the other triple crown! Hope you all had as much fun as we did! Greg/KG7D & Subrina/KI7OAL
Being busy running as one of the op's at NX6T, I had little time for a serious 7QP effort. However, during the hours I did have, I enjoyed the plethora of 7th call area stations all over the place. As usual, I would've liked more actual counties activated, however I was mildly surprised at how many county line expeditions there were. Stations like the N7D expedition gave us some rare counties that we don't normally hear from - so that was exciting. Ron/WQ6X
Mega QSO party weekend. It's so good that N1MM supports one log for all the states this weekend. It was at times almost like ARRL SS CW weekend with all the states on at the same time. Never heard a peep on 15M or 10M. Jerome/K8LF
We were lucky for this contest as last four contests this year were hampered by solar and atmospheric storms. Sigs were decent on all bands this weekend but still had a few lost QSOs from QSB. However still got over 1K QSOs first time ever in 7QP. Fred/KS7T
7QP is a great incentive to get out and see parts of the western USA. I operated from Goosenecks State Park in San Juan County, Utah. Excellent weather, many people stopped by to inquire about my antennas, and band conditions were pretty good. I took a pretty relaxed approach to this event, striving to have fun, not work too hard and explore digital modes more. I'm looking forward to next year and exploring a different county! Curt/K7ZOO
Very high winds messed up the rotator on the 4-element SteppIR. I thought the antenna was pointing to W1 and Europe when in fact it was pointing out to the Pacific. The direction of the antenna was wrong for most of the contest. I was thinking that California is sure strong - must be excellent conditions (hi). After discovering that it was not possible to sufficiently rotate the antenna, I put the SteppIR into reverse mode and worked for at least three or four hours off the back of the antenna while reversing its pattern. Riki/K7NJ |