2019 Idaho QSO Party

Results

On March 9 and 10, 2019, Jay, N7ZUF, and I, K7TQ, put the Idaho DX Association club call of NI7DX on the air in eight counties in the Idaho QSO Party. We started in Idaho County a bit farther south than I had planned because snow berm covered the planned operating spot. Our plan had been to operate both in motion and stopped, but that didn't work out. Jay had two new Wolf River Coils plus collapsible whips plus two radios with Dunestar bandpass filters. The bandpass filters worked fine as did the coils and whips which allowed us to operate 40 m SSB and 20 m CW at the same time without interference. What didn't work as planned was that we could not operate while in motion. That seriously limited our planned operating time in each county.

Saturday we had good 20 m CW results in Idaho County with 34 Qs. Jay added four 40 m SSB ones. In our next stop, Lewis County, we split eight Qs. Our best county of the day was next in Nez Perce where we stopped at the top of the Lewiston Grade with a 2,000+ foot drop toward the south and east. Jay did all the operating for a whopping 51 - 20 m SSB contacts. Our last county of the day was Latah where it was too late for 20 m and too early for 40 m. Only one Q, a 20 m CW one.

After spending the night at my house in Moscow with no IDQP operating, we headed east for Clearwater County early Sunday morning. My favorite operating spot there had way too much powerline noise so we had to go an additional nine miles to the end of the paved road in Elk River. We split our stationary operating time on 20 m and got 8 CW Qs but couldn't scare up any SSB ones. Jay took the next county, Shoshone, on 20 m for a single SSB Q. In Benewah County we again split the 20 m time for 13 CW and four SSB Qs. Our final county, Kootenai, was good for 6 CW and three SSB contacts.

Overall we made 66 CW and 67 SSB contacts, 79 mults including DX of DL and S5 on CW, for a claimed score of 15, 721. The most frequent CW "customer" was K4BAI in GA with four counties followed by K9CW in IL with three. Customers with two CW contacts were K0UU, NU0Q, W0MHK, KN4Y, N4UP, KI7ID, and W9ILY. There were two calls on SSB that got us in two counties, KL7YE in AK and another IDQP rover, N7JCT. A special thanks to those persistent customers as well as a thanks to all who gave us a Q and those that tried.

We had a great time and have changes planned for next year's event.

Pictures and comments from along the route

This marker is at a roadside historic pullout on US 95 south of Ferdinand where we operated in Idaho County. It is a good representation of our entire operation, lots of snow and the outline of Idaho. All eight of our counties were in the skinny part at the top of the marker.

Here we are at the top of the Lewiston Grade. It is 2,000+ feet down into the valley where Lewiston, ID and Clarkston, WA are located. This was our best location of the Party with 51 SSB Qs. The two antennas show up well in this photo. Note the snow down in the valley, a rather rare occurrence for Lewiston.

The snow covered parking lot of the Genesee Valley Lutheran Church in Latah County. Snow like this was the common element of our entire 2019 IDQP experience.

It is now Sunday morning and we are in Clearwater County in the town of Elk River. Jay is trying to collect 20 m SSB Qs. Even though it looks sunny, the temperature was near 5 F. Note the snowed-in porta-potty just above the truck's grill guard.

A snow-free pullout in Shoshone County in the town of Clarkia. Hoar frost from Saturday night's freezing fog made for an interesting view. Nice view, but not so good for contacts.

Here is one I suspect that not too many hams saw during the Party. We came across three elk on the road between Clarkia and Fernwood. We went slowly, but the snow berms kept them from leaping over it and into the forest. After a short distance, there was just this one. He, or perhaps she, jumped over the berm as another vehicle approached from the other direction.

Randy sits in the truck at a pullout in Benewah County where he gathered 13 CW contacts. We're in the mountains rather than the rolling snow covered wheat fields of Idaho County where we started Saturday.

Our final stop which was in Kootenai county. Sunny, but still well below freezing. Another IDQP mobile, N7JCT, called Jay on SSB. They soon discovered that we were close and quickly stopped for a brief chat.

The Plan

Jay, N7ZUF, and I will activate eight counties in the Idaho QSO Party on March 9 and 10 using the Idaho DX Association's call of NI7DX. We'll be on 20 and 40 m and both CW and SSB. You can work us each time we change bands, modes, or counties. We will try to have both CW and SSB in each of the eight counties, but not at the same time. Our CW frequencies will be around 14.043 MHz and 7.029 MHz. We'll try to have the SSB frequencies around 14.273 MHZ and 7.273 MHz.

Here is the timeline and an Idaho map with the route.

County Timeline

March 9, 2019 (UTC)

March 10, 2019 (UTC)

Route Map

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