The object of the Florida QSO Party is for all stations to work Florida and Florida stations to work everyone. Florida counties are multipliers. Some counties don't have hams active in the party. Mobiles usually operate in those counties as they rove across the state. Washington County is one of the more rare counties. Since I was camping in Washington County, I was in the Expedition Category. I got plenty of kudos for handing out Washington County. On Saturday, we had a heavy thunderstorm for the first few hours. After the storm passed, I operated from the truck since everything outside was wet. I got fifty SSB contacts. Sunday was a better weather day and I worked 122 more contacts. I had 23 Florida Counties, 39 states, Italy, and the US Virgin Islands. That was enough to feel like the portable station was doing well. I used the Icom 7100, an Icom AH-4 tuner, and a one-hundred-foot inverted-L antenna on 30-foot poles.
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| My portable setup with Suzy enjoying the sun. |
I certainly will keep the Florida QSO party on my list. The setup is a good one for doing Parks on The Air while camping with our travel trailer.
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| My Icom AH-4 Remote Tuner |
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| The poles supporting the Inverted L extend into an adjacent field. |
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