09/24/2005 | W4IY Operator(s): W4NF, W4RM, W4AD, WA4TK, W4DAV, WA0DYJ, K5VG, W7IY, KG4URW, KA4CKI, N3WSO, KG4YEA, AA4SI,KE4BUS, N4NRO, KI4LLC, K4RG, N4MZZ, KD4JXZ, KI4GSS, W4DC, K5OF AND JUNIOR

Station: W4IY

Class: Limited Multi-Op HP
QTH: FM08 Flag Pole Knob 4300' ASL
Operating Time (hrs): 33

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults

6: 624 126

2: 547 70

222: 162 48

432: 207 45


Total: 1540 289 Total Score = 551,701

Club: Woodbridge Wireless

Comments:

This was our highest all time September score and our second highest all time score (June or Sept) since we started going up on the mountain in the mid 1980s. The antennas worked great after some minor repairs. The last 3 miles of our trek is over a very bumpy mountain road which tends to beat the antennas up. Murphy did visit us several times during the contest. The 432 amp tube went(3CX800) and the replacement didn't do any better so we ran with a 100 W brick
on that band most of the time. Our 222 amp stopped working for a while and only produced 50 watts but then after a Mircosoft type reboot (cycled power) it started producing 400 watts again. In the last hour of the contest the 2 meter amp T/R relay locked up so we switched to the 100 Watt driver power and still continued to run stations.

Conditions were great with Tropo, Es, Aurora and even a few Meteor Scatter Qs. This was also our largest number of people, campers, and food that was ever present on the mountain. 23 people not counting the 24 or so James Madison University students. Some of the group (yours truly included) tried to party with them on Friday night. We are really too old to hang with the under 30 crowd as they were still going strong at 3 - 4AM on Saturday morning. It sure
made Staurday morning a litte tougher but it was fun. Here are some of the statistics (non contest related) that were put together.

23 participants
$1,100 food cost
190 meals served
29 liters of wine served
Countless beers consumed
50 Cigars smoked
258 meatballs consumed
144 eggs eaten
360 slices of bread consumed
60 pounds of potatoes
6 campers
3 large motor coaches
2 utility trailers
13 automobiles
1 motorcycle
24 James Madison University Students
126 man hours travel to and from the site
1340 man hours on site
11,525 square feet of mountain top grass mowed
2,160 liters of gasoline burned
19 bags of trash produced
3 porta johns used frequently

I'll try and summarize the highlights of the contest operation later, but it goes without saying, that we had a great time, as usual. 73 and thanks for the Qs.
W4NF Jack, W4IY VHF Contest Coordinator -- W4NF