California QSO Party From Imperial County (1989 - 2009)The idea of operating CQP from Imperial County came from the fertile mind of Fred, K9VV, in 1989. He had access to topo maps of most of the state of California (he was researching cell sites as I remember) and discovered that in the southwest corner of Imperial County, there was an old amethyst mine (Elliot Mine) that had a road to it. It was just a couple hundred feet below the highest point in Imperial County at 4000 feet. So we decided to give it a try. Immigration was not such a big issue in 1989 – we thought it was cool that we were only a few hundred feet from the Mexican border. And for the majority of the CQP world, we never had to turn the beam from 50° or so.The road is fairly rugged 4WD and neither of our trucks could get to the top, particularly with the 5 KW generator and radios we needed to make a credible effort. So we parked a few hundred yards down the hill and lugged the stuff up – not quite to the top, but we still had an incredible shot to the northeast. Here are a couple photos of the area.
Given our location, we thought we might work 2M back into San Diego, so we brought a 2M yagi. We ended up using it as a tarp support to provide some shade – otherwise it was useless. There were actually sunspots in 1989, so we brought a 4 element 10M monoband Yagi in addition to the tribander. We did run a kilowatt on HF. This is our view to the north east. Nothing but ionosphere....  Here is photo of Fred operating. Note the fan and cactus in the foreground.
Here is a photo of me operating. I don't look that young anymore. Note all the fans on the equipment and the key to keeping the operator cool – beer.
The location was incredible. With the help of the sunspots, we were working Europeans on 10M late in the afternoon. That year, the 2 of us made more QSOs than any of the subsequent 19 years I have operated. We had originally planned a team of 3, Fred, me, and Terry, N6CW. Terry had a last minute commitment but we decided to use his call anyway, since no one would recognize N7CW or K9VV as being in California. In 1990, we did bring a third operator, Kurt, NI6W (now K7NV). But with declining sunspots, our score went down. In 1991, Fred couldn’t make it, so a new operator was introduced - Harv, KD6QK (now K6QK and as of February 13, 2008, a Silent Key). We’ve had various other operators, but Harv and I have been a team ever since. We borrowed a 4WD truck and got a bit further up the hill, but still not to the top. Over the years, we have had a significant variation in the weather – from really hot to chilly. But the one consistent factor has been the wind. Due to local topography and the prevailing winds between the ocean and the desert, we have experienced winds greater than 60 mph. One year, after the tent was destroyed by the wind, we moved the station into the back of my Jeep Cherokee. The wind was blowing so hard, the hatchback top kept slamming down on our backs as we tried to operate. That year we gave up and went home. Here is a photo of Harv and I trying to keep the tent from blowing off the cliff long enough to stake it down.
We had been borrowing a generator from Rick, N6ND, for several years and we finally decided to invite him along. That year, both Harv and I got Cherokees and we finally made it to the top of the mountain. We built a copy of the famous Battle Creek Special vertical and erected it on top of the hill with a large radial field. The 40M and 80M pileups were incredible. Two years later the vertical was severely bent by the wind and we decided that it was not worth the effort. Here we are with the dipoles up after the vertical broke. 
A side-bar tribute to K6QK: As I mentioned, we had been borrowing a generator from Rick, N6ND for years. One year, shortly after we started it, it made an incredibly loud screeching sound and the rope pull starter mechanism exploded into dozens of pieces. Without thinking, we shut it off. But with spit, bubblegum and some cactus pieces, Harv rebuilt that starter so we could get it going. He was a mechanical genius. In the mid-90’s, during a late evening brainstorming at Field Day, we came up with the idea of a tower on a trailer. It wasn’t original, of course, but the result was – Harv would build it from scratch. He did – see the photos. Of course, we couldn’t pull it up to Elliot Mine, but later…. A couple of our low scoring years were my fault. I let Harv convince me to try some new locations. So we tried the desert near Ocotillo Wells. It was so hot that we ended up drinking the water that melted from the ice to keep the cooler cold. We didn’t pee for 2 days. The other location we tried was near the Salton Sea, at the Red Hill Marina (another sea-level desert location). It wasn’t quite as hot, but the Salton Sea is home to a huge number of sea birds. The wind blew over a giant pile of bird crap, directly into the operating tent. Needless to say, we never returned to either spot. CQP from the Salton Sea
In 1993 or 1994, neither Harv nor I could make a full effort. I drove to the Imperial County line, threw a dipole in the rocks and tried to operate from my truck. I never sent in the log.
In 1999, we were joined by Jim, K6ZH. During that same period, the San Diego DX Club acquired the call sign W6PT, in honor of founding member Otto Miller. Since all 3 of us were members of the SDDXC, we used that call in 2000 and from 2002 – 2007. See the QSL cards on my web page. If you need a QSL from W6PT in 2002 - 2007, our manager is W6YOO. In 2000 it was back to just Harv and I. In 2001, neither Jim nor Harv could make it, so I dragged Mike, WA6NPM, and some non-ham buddies to the top of the mountain, let them help me put up antennas and did a single op, county expedition. Of course, I forgot pieces of the yagi and had to re-build it with only 2 elements. And with the extra manpower, I was able to erect a rebuilt Battle Creek Special. Since the contest was only 3 weeks after September 11, 2001, we put an American flag on top of the vertical (look closely).
That operation set the record for single op, county expedition and single op, Imperial County. It was finally improved in 2009, by N6DE. In 2002, we discovered that the Desert View Tower was being sold. Jim met the new owner, Ben Schultz, who was willing to let us use his parking lot for a few bucks, a steak dinner and couple beers. The tower is a few hundred feet lower in altitude, but we could drive right to it, pulling the tower trailer. Here is photo of the tower trailer supporting a 2 element 40M yagi and a 3 element tribander. If you study the photo, you will discover that the 40M beam and the tribander are pointed in opposite directions. It took us 2 hours of saying "How come I don't feel loud?" to figure that out. We think that cost us about 200 QSOs and the category win in 2003. We’ve tried 6M and 2M several times – it’s consistently wasted effort.
We have continued to use the Desert View Tower and over the next few years, as we got older, our team has grown to include Bruce, N7TY, Paul, NN6X and Dave, N6EEG. In 2002, we set the modern multi-single, county expedition record, which, as of late 2008, still stands. That record is still over 150 QSOs below the number of QSOs made by K9VV and me in 1989. Here is the crew:
N7TY, N7CW, NN6X, K6QK (SK), N6EEG, K6ZH In 2008, N7TY, NN6X, K6ZH, N6EEG and I formed the Imperial Contest Group with the club callsign of K6QK to honor our friend, Harv. We purchased the tower trailer and Bruce, N7TY, rebuilt it from the base up. Unfortunately, neither Bruce nor Paul, NN6X, could make it for CQP this year, so we invited a new operator, Dan, N6ERD (yes, it's a lovely callsign). Here is the 2008 crew:
K6ZH, N6EEG, N6ERD, N7CW In 2008, we had a repeat of the extreme winds we have experienced in the past and we were unable to crank up the tower. And of course, being at the very bottom of the sunspot cycle, we had a tough propagation year. The final results were recently posted and we once again captured first place in the Multi-Operator, Single Transmitter, County Expedition category. Unfortunately, in 2009, we had an even worse year for wind. We had consistent 45 MPH winds, with gusts estimated at 65 MPH. The reflector on the 2 element 40M yagi eventually worked its way loose and intermittently shorted the elements of the tribander. We actually quit 2 hours early and left the tower trailer up at Desert View Tower, to be taken down later. With superb effort by the 3 operators, we did manage a few more contacts than last year. Here is a photo of the both towers and the 40M yagi in the wind. Note the coax streaming in the wind.
Here is a summary of our performances over the years:
Blue text means we won our category. Red text means we won our category, set the record and it still stands. Please look for us in 2010 - Oct. 2 and 3. And hope for sunspots! |
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