I left my home QTH on the Monday before the CQP weekend for the 300 mile drive to Mammoth Lakes in Mono county.  I decided to add some fun to the drive by briefly stopping along Highway 395 to do three POTA activations. The first stop was Red Rock Canyon State Park (K-1189) for 15 quick CW QSOs where the temperature was 101 degrees.  Next was the Alabama Hills Scenic National Recreation Area (K-8300) for another 15 CW QSOs. And finally, the Manzanar National Historic Site (K-0845), where in addition to 15 CW QSOs, I added 26 SSB QSOs for a total of 41 contacts.  Even though it added about 1 ½ hours to this drive, the time seemed to go by faster.

On Tuesday, the skies were blue and the temperature was in the low 70's.  Perfect to launch my dipoles and an inverted V, all at about 50 ft in the pine trees.  Once the contest started, it was great to see that 10 & 15 Meters were going to be productive.  One highlight was, after only about one hour into the contest, getting called by VY1CO who gave me his #16 for the NT section. That gave me a good feeling about getting a sweep. As it turned out, I had at least two QSOs from every section and completed the sweep in record time after only 4 hours.  I was hoping to improve on my last year’s all-time best score, but fell short by about 30 QSOs. 

Also, thanks to Hank, W6SX (we are about one-half mile apart in Mammoth) for helping share the bands between our two HP stations during CQP.  With my new K4 it was easier not to hear his signal, even when we were only about 5 KHz apart.

And, many thanks to the NCCC for sponsoring another great CQP!

73, Jim W6ML (W6KC)

Rig: K4, KPA1500, wire antennas at 60 Ft high in the pine trees plus 8,000 Ft above sea level in Mammoth Lakes on the Eastern side of the beautiful High Sierra
 

All wire Antennas - Three Dipoles and an 80m Inverted Vee up about 50ft in the pine trees			Fall in Mono County
You can always use a good mule on the team		CQP 2022 County Expedition Station W6ML in Mammoth Lakes, Mono County