NAQP CW - January Soapbox built 1-24-2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA3B Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 207,792 6 Band Calls: 3 5 Band Calls: 3 4 Band Calls: 27 3 Band Calls: 61 2 Band Calls: 138 1 Band Calls: 362 Unique Calls: 594 Radio 1 QSOs: 650 Radio 2 QSOs: 312 QSO/MUL by hour and band Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm Off D1-1800Z - - - 64/30 33/14 - 97/44 97/44 D1-1900Z 1/1 1/1 1/1 70/6 18/5 18/7 109/21 206/65 D1-2000Z - - 8/5 20/1 7/2 - 35/8 241/73 30 D1-2100Z - - 64/20 32/4 - - 96/24 337/97 D1-2200Z - - 73/12 22/3 - - 95/15 432/112 D1-2300Z - 17/13 29/2 2/0 - - 48/15 480/127 31 D2-0000Z 9/6 30/12 17/2 --+-- 1/1 1/1 58/22 538/149 D2-0100Z 45/18 26/8 1/0 - - - 72/26 610/175 30 D2-0200Z 14/3 23/5 73/7 - - - 110/15 720/190 D2-0300Z 6/2 40/6 47/3 - - - 93/11 813/201 D2-0400Z 20/6 69/5 7/0 - - - 96/11 909/212 D2-0500Z 40/4 10/0 - 1/0 1/0 1/0 53/4 962/216 30 Total: 135/40 216/50 320/52 211/44 60/22 20/8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4LR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,080 Antennas: Shunt-fed 15m tower (80m) Equipment: Elecraft K2/100 w/ KAT100 Comments: Had to work Saturday, so I didn't get home until after 5, then had to (finally) take down the christmas decorations. Then my wife decides she wants me to watch a movie. I finally got to play radio at 0300z. By then I was much too tired to put in a big effort, so Just handed out some Qs for an hour. 80m sounded great. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC0W Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 82,560 Thanks for all the contacts. Sorry for requests for repeats, QSB here was tough. See you next weekend. MWA memebers used DAVE as the name in honor of KT0R who passed away this fall from cancer. 73 Bill AC0W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC5AA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,204 I had less than an hour available to operate in the contest, unfortunately, so just did a little S&P on 40m and 80m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AC6T Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 210,883 It was nice to have the short but good 10m opening. Wish it had lasted longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AD8J Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 20,064 Nice to have an opening to the Left Coast on 10 meters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6RF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 16,652 Icom IC-756ProII, microKeyer, N1MM, G5RV, EFHW on 80m, 1/4 wave inverted-u with radials for 160m. Not an earthshaking score in the big scheme of things, but TRIPLE my score from last year. Felt pretty darn good from the QRM-infested, RF hole that I live in. Engineer happy dance! 73 de Donald aka "Tiger" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AE6Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 209,100 What fun! I knew this was going to be interesting when I had a 153 first hour, mostly on 15, with some second radio QSOs on 20. Unfortunately, I was so captivated by condx on 15 that I seem to have completely overlooked a 10m opening in the second hour that everyone else in CA seems to have found! Go figure. Anyway, this is a personal best, and the first time over 1000 QS. It was very hard to have to take off-time while rates on 40 were over 100 per hour. Had a good chance to compare the new K3 versus my 756 Pro2 in a contest environment. The K3 is clearly a better run radio. The sound is very clean; by comparison, the passband of the Pro2 has many digital artifacts, so you often think someone is calling, when it's just digital junk floating around in the radio. OTOH, the Pro has some very useful features, like the bandscope (of course), and the ability to adjust filters and RIT while transmitting (that can't be done on the K3 now, but may in future firmware versions). Thanks to all participants. This was a blast! 73 Andy, AE6Y Rig: K3, 756 Pro2, 3 el 10-20, 2 el 40, 1 el 80, inv. vee for 160. Software: CQPWIN ver. 11.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AF4OX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 96,396 Conditions were good here in SC (10M excepted)with minimal QRN. 80M was really hot! I managed to pick up a few new states, including NV on 40M. Thanks to everyone who participated. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AK9F Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 33,390 It's nice to have the 100 watt rule to level the playing field for those of us with modest stations. There was plenty of activity and all bands were open at least some of the time ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0AD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 201,192 20 and 40 were, of course, the bread and butter bands for me. I probably should have worked 15 a little harder for mults. It was fun to watch the live Scoreboard and see positons 2 thru 4 keep changing back and forth. K6LL had a pretty good lead locked in. The is going to get even more fun when the hight bands come back. 73, AL, K0AD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0DXC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 29,295 First time in NAQP CW. 13 years old. Grandson of K9MMS. Worked 46 states -- missed RI, NE, ND, and SD. Station: IC-706MK2G and 6BTV vertical. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0EU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 253,700 Tried N1MM software for the first time in a serious entry. It has some great features, but it is going to take some more time to get used to. There were several times I got totally confused, and for whatever reason, it always seemed to occur when I called KA9FOX - sorry Scott! Still, I can't imagine doing this contest without SO2R. There was rarely a time when there weren't two bands that were open enough so SO2R could be VERY effective. I took my first off time when 20 meters went long and it was too early to do much on 80M. Missed the brief 5 minute opening to the east coast that W0MU and others from here in Colorado found. Tried having a 756 Pro hooked up to a wire and watching 28000-28100 on the band scope, but that didn't cut it. Conditions were pretty good on most bands. 160 was kind of noisy until the last hour. Seemed like there was a never ending supply of VE3's this year. Who is Shannon? 73 Randy K0EU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0FX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 125,125 Fun to operate without the local power line noise that got fixed this past Friday. Got a late start so apparently missed the 15/10m opening. Lots of GMCC members this time. Contrats to K0EU & the team at N2IC, great job. Thanks for the Q's 73 Don K0FX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0MD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 555 Unexpected Issues arose which limited operating time to an hour or so ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0OU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 137,922 A far sight better than in August. 80 was the band - nice runs. 15 open a bit for us but nothing special. Had a couple ask me to go to 10, but no joy at all there. A big station in LA asked me to move to 40 when I had a pile-up on 80, I told hin "later", then saw I needed the mult- ouch! Never did work him on 40, but fortunately found another LA station toward the end. Hope he didn't miss the MO mult on 40. I missed MO on all bands but 160. Guess I'll get 'em on phone next weekend. TNX to all for the Q's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 113,528 This was a fun contest! I like the 10 hour time limit and the 100 watt power limit. 40 and 15 are my "second radio" bands so I tended to S&P there. Maybe should have tried running more on 40. 10 was totally dead here. Missed AK,DE,ND,YT,NU,NWT & MB (of course). Worked KP4,VP9 & XE. Setup: FT-2000, TS-940, N1MM, Tribanders & wires. 73- Paul, K0PK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0SR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 262,976 10 was absolutely dead here. I had some guy argue with me that my call was wrong because it wasn't in HIS database. Lots of activity and some great operating out there, great fun. 73 Steve K0SR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0WA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 115,230 Again, a real fun contest. I am always amazed what 100 watts will do. Lots of good operators on the air. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0XP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,906 Only did last hour; started on 40 but rapidly worked out what was audible so down to 80. My version of N1MM must be corrupted, was doing odd things it never did before so used the keyer 40% of the time then frantically typed in schtuff. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1EP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,659 I just played around for a few hours in the contest. Of course, I was QRT during the Patriot's game. I did make a couple dozen Qs during halftime only to miss the second half opening touchdown drive. It's a contest that I haven't done too often and it is fun. Of course, it gets confusing if there is someone named AL in Alabama. Even AL in Louisiana caused me to pause a second, thinking that maybe his name was ALLAN. And then there were those who I think were using some name/state databases. I had a number of fills and some long pauses after my exchange, as I used a "commemorative" name. There were a number of calls that I recognized and "prefilled" in the names and states from memory. But as they say, you should log what you copy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,836 Long skip + QRN = Blah. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1TO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 135,237 Operated in memory of Ron, K8NZ's 31-year old daughter Shannon who was tragically stabbed to death less than 2 weeks ago on New Year's Eve in front of her home in Seattle. May her strong passion for making the world a better place in so many ways be an inspiration to us all. RIP, Shannon. vy 73, Dan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2DB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 93,019 20 CLOSED WAY TO EARLY AND 40 & 80 WENT LONG WAY TO EARLY. HAD TO GO TO 160 TO GET CLOSE IN STUFF. BUT ALL IN ALL, A GREAT CONTEST. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K2SX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,252 Lost a lot of time in the middle but condx on 80/40 seemed good when I got on later in the day. Nice to make a feq QSOs on 10. maybe that is the start of the recovery. Tnx for the QSOs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3AU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,395 One of my favorite contests. Great camaraderie. Wish I could have spent more than 2 hours in it this time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3IU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 35,217 Inaugural event for K3 #202 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3MZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,432 First time with the K3 in a contest. Since I am smaller than a little pistol, I just S&P. It was better than my K2. The DSP controls on the front made the selectivity much better. I was able to get some Q's that I know I would have missed with the K2. The noise floor on the K3 is a bit quieter than the noise floor on the K2. The noise reduction on the K3 is far superior to that on the K2. The stereo effect on the K3 did help bring some of the weak signals out of the noise. There was one situation where two strong signals that were within 1 KHz along with a weak one I wanted to copy. I heard what sounded like machine gun fire. I was able to use the roofing filters to eliminate this IMD, and copy the small signal. Ergonomically, the K3's features are nice. The controls you want to use the most are very handy. The tuning knob is very smooth and has a good weight to it. This was also my first contest using the N1MM logger. This worked well and I am pleased with it. :) PK (Paul - K3MZ K2 #3135 K3 #84) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3OO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,138 First try at a NAQP. S&P ..fun contest. I'll be back. 73,Rick K3OO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3STX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 40,964 Family duties (i.e. helping to control an out-of-control 3 year old son) prevented a serious effort, but I had fun anyway. Mostly operated in the last 3.5 hours of the contest, found the bands really noisy, my poor 40 M QSO total shows where I really lost it. Had fun, hope to see you all in the Sprint. paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3WW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 143,520 Playing with new K3, not my usual lash up so SO2R stuff was limited and during the 2 football games, not much at all. 73 Chas K3WW Im on a team but dont know which one.. FRC #1 or #2. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 145,136 FT1000MP, 100W, TH6DXX, dipole, zepp, inverted vee, "t" vertical. Good to see 10M open for the west coast. 15M sounded good for several hours. 20M was too long for good rates from here. 40, 80, and 160 were excellent. Thanks for the QSOs. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,730 Comments: Rig: Yaesu FT 897D Ant: Hustler 5 band vertical, ground mounted Inverted Vee Logging Software: N3FJP's NAQP Contest Log ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4DJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,904 Not much time for operating in this one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4FXN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 67,645 Not too many 1,2,3,4,8's and 9's in the log above 40M. I need to defy propagation and find a cloudwarmer for the high bands. W9RE asked me to move to 40 in the early evening and I couldn't even copy him! 73's Dan K4FXN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4OD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,704 RIG: FT-897D 100 WATTS OUT ANT: DIPOLE Why do I love contesting? A contest is exciting but at times frustrating; tense yet relaxing to the point of boredom (mostly during breaks); entertaining but very depriving and also selfish (just ask my XYL). Contesting is much like eating a Lay's Potato Chip.... you can't eat just one! Once exposed, you are drawn to it much like a moth to a flame. Some folks enter contests just for the fun of it, others to gather needed states for that elusive 5BWAS award or to garner that new DX country or dxpedition. Some actually enter them to WIN unless your name is Paul Newberry,N4PN, in which case, you've already won everything out there and just passing time while teaching newbies (kinda sorta)like K4OD how to be a better contester. It's the thrill of success and the agony of defeat all wrapped into one short-lived event. That said..... "It was a day like all days; filled with those events which alter and illuminate our time. And..... you were there." (Walter Cronkite, CBS News) XYL: "Aren't you finished with that yet?" K4OD: "Yeah, I guess." XYL: "Thank God! Now, say good night to the nice people and go to bed." K4OD: "Good night, nice people!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4RO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 195,312 The NAQP CW remains one of my favorite contests on the calendar. While I've been able to make the top ten (and even top five) in the August running, I still have not unlocked the secret to the January event. The competition from west of the Rockies seems far more intense during the January edition. I still get beat soundly by folks in this area, so I can't just blame propagation. My preparation was awful. I was still hooking up stubs at 1758z, after waiting for a batch of UHF T connectors to arrive in the mail. I also had a first-ever rig failure at about 1925z. The IC-781 just went dark. I checked the fuse, the variac, and the power cable to no avail. I unplugged and re-plugged every cable to the radio, and it came back on. It stayed on the rest of the contest without a problem. I lost about 12 minutes of operating time in there. I thought about turning it into a break time, but I was worried that I'd miss too many high band multipliers. Power line noise was a challenge this time also. The bands were in pretty decent shape. This year, I spent a lot more time on during daylight hours than I usually do. Compared to last year, my multiplier count was up, but my total QSO totals were down. The point difference from last year's score was only 700 points, so the end result was about the same. I still can't figure out the best balance between low band rate and high band mults. To those trying to set schedules for the end of the contest, remember that many single ops will select to run out of off time before the end of the contest. Oh, and my apologies to K5KA for working them as a dupe for my very last contact -- my mistake. It was a touching tribute to Dave KT0R. Practically every MN station, was sending Dave. I am very sorry to learn of K8NZ's tragic loss. My heart goes out to both families in their grief. 73 -Kirk K4RO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 316,956 What a blast! Thanks for all the Q's! Congrats to N0NI...what an effort those guys put in. We couldn't get our live score reporting to work properly, but we did watch them run off and leave us... The first two hours were very disappointing with composite rates of about 80Q's/hour, which was totally disheartening. Around sunset things started to pick up for us as we switched to the low bands. This NAQP was much more enjoyable from a creature comfort perspective than the August NAQP was. The temp in the shack never got above about 70 this time; a far cry from the 98 degree sauna we "enjoyed" back in August... :-) Already looking forward to the next running of this one... 73, Rick & Doug K4TD & KY4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4XD Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 69,069 This week started with a call at work late on Monday - "can you make it to Tokyo for a meeting on Thursday?" I don't know, is that possible? Well, turns out it was. So I spent about 36 hours of Tuesday through Friday "in the chair" but without a radio in front of me. The sad part is these long flights are starting to feel normal! I didn't feel too jet-lagged but I slept until 9AM this Sunday morning, something I "never" do. No time to visit Akihabara, the electronics store district in Tokyo, which may be just as well as it's time to catch up on Christmas credit card spending, not add to it. My cell phone and Blackberry didn't work in Japan, but I had internet access at the hotel and work, so kept up on email and the reflectors. Jim WX3B announced the "PVRC Part Timers" team idea on the PVRC reflector and I took the bait. OK, I'm scheduled to leave Tokyo at 6PM Friday and get home at 9:30PM Friday (that International Date Line has quite the sense of humor), plenty of time to rest up and hit the radio at 1800 Saturday. The plane out of Tokyo was 3 hours late, but I still made the connection in Chicago (partly because the plane out of there was an hour late, quite accomodating of them). Got back to find I was on PVRC Part Timers 2, and this contest bug has bitten hard enough that I was already figuring out how to schedule a max of 2 hours of off time for my "part time" effort. I don't think I got it quite right, more on that later. I reviewed my log from last summer's NAQP CW - with 50 Q's, it wasn't exactly a basis for a 10 hour plan! I figured I'd "follow my nose" and use the obvious progression of bands over time, using the Icom 756 pro II's band scope to do a quick check of a band for activity. I have to admit Icom has me hooked with the band scope. Probably the only thing saving me from "new radio fever" -- despite reading the detailed reviews of every new rig that comes out and lusting after some feature or other (Direct Internet Connection! 10 Hz Roofing Filters! 200 Watts Built In! Best Receiver Ever!), I think about sitting in front of a rig without that $#$! display and just can't imagine doing it. It's so... handy. I spent about 45 minutes before the test setting up WriteLog macros -- thanks to Mike K4GMH for pointing out the FKeys add-on for WriteLog (search Google, you'll find it). It lets you configure mouse clickable buttons that make WriteLog do all kinds of tricks, from simply duplicating what you would get by hitting a function key, to much more interesting things like adding the current Q to the band map, or entering the Q into the log AND doing a file save. I got the "basic" configuration working but decided it had way too much capability to mess with seriously in the 15 minutes before the contest. I am still not perfectly happy with my choice of function key macros in WriteLog. My ideal is having both CQ and S&P exchanges in logical progression on adjacent keys with one keypress - not shifted, ctrl'd or alt'd. I also like to have the elements of my exchange handy - for NAQP I had F5=Rowl, F6=NC, F7=?, F8=agn. Shifted versions of those keys sent "name?," "st?," "?" and "agn?." So with three groups of 4 keys, you'd think it would be easy to set up one for CQ, one for S&P, and one for exchange elements. F1 to F4 handle CQing OK with "CQ" | "EXCH" | "TU QRZ" | K4XD. I put the exchange elements on the second group of four, F5 to F8. You would think this means I could use the last group for S&P - but WriteLog pre-assigns F11 to send whatever you send with F1, and F10 is what gets sent for the exchange when you use the Enter Sends EXCH/QRZ function, which is very handy when CQ'ing. That "breaks up" the F9-F12 set of keys if you put anything but the CQ sequence there, which I suppose I could do... but with F1 & F11 assigned to the same macro, but F1 is the first in the four key group F1-F4 and F11 is the third in the four key group F9-F12, it really messes things up if you need to use those groups for the CQ series and the S&P series. I ended up with F4 being K4XD, and shifted F2 being the EXCH for S&P. Still awkward. I hear some of you saying, for crying out loud man, use the paddle. You really don't want me to use the paddle, trust me. I'm sure the "right" answer is staring me in the face, but so far I always feel like I end up with a compromise that requires shifting and jumping around the function keys, instead of a nice easy to remember sequential order. The other place I always get in trouble is forgetting to switch between "Enter Sends EXCH/QRZ" when CQ'ing and NOT when S&P'ing. So on the first CQ after an S&P fest, I'll enter your call in the call window, hit Enter expecting to send the EXCH, and watch in horror as your call drops into the log and WriteLog sends... nothing. At least this time I figured out that I can hit the EXCH function key and it will send the exchange based on the most recent call sign added to the log (yours), while I hastily re-type the call into the call window and delete the premature QSO. Conversely, I get to exhibit lid behavior when I forget to turn "Enter Sends EXCH/QRZ" off when I go back to S&P, and end up sending "TU K4XD CQ" when I meant to just silently add the Q to the log and slink off to the next S&P target. At least I'm getting good at finding the ESC key in a panic stricken split second and shutting it down. Fortunately there is no video in this medium. I checked the naval time site to make sure my PC clock was on the dot, and even set the Icom clock, which seems to lose time, to be on the money too. A nice feature of the Faros Beacon monitor program is automatic time synchronization of your PC clock. But this close to contest time, I didn't want to load it up since it tries to get rig control and with WriteLog already doing that, I didn't need the Murphy Factor. I started with some S&P on 20M at 1800, which just seemed like the obvious band to hit first. I pointed the hexbeam at 300 and marched up the band. DE on QSO number 3, sweet! Thanks Art. Those first Q's are a lot of fun -- everyone's a mult. Mostly West and Midwest as you would expect, but in addition to DE, Rick K4TD AL was in the first 10. Also nice to get SK that early. A pretty nice way to kick things off. The second 10 Q's included MT, AB, UT and LA - nice! I was definitely enjoying the mult fest, which didn't let up in the third 10 with VP9, ME, PE and MS. I usually don't get half of those mults until much later in a contest. Just luck or NAQP? The rate stayed pretty decent that first hour so I stuck with S&P until 1900, and then figured it was time to have a peek at 15M. Good activity there too, so I scanned through and picked up 10 Q's. THen a voice told me, "go look at 10M." Actually, it was a PSE QSY 28xxx that told me. What the heck, I suffered through 24 hours of the ARRL 10M QSO Desert Torture Test, maybe things will be different this time. Hey, what are those signals doing dancing on my scope on 28 MHz?! Don't they know we're at The Minimum? I'll be. So I plowed into 10M and picked up 23 Q's 30 minutes, one local (thanks Bert!) and the rest Out West. That was fun, wonder what it will be like in a year? 10M seemed to be a well kept secret so after a couple minutes of nothing new, I headed back to 15M to see if I could get a run going. Nope. Did pick up XE and KH6, but the rate was low, my Attention Deficit Disorder was kicking in, and I couldn't sit still. Back to 20M and spent a pretty solid 2 hours there. Couple of medium length runs but still mostly S&P. I swore to myself I would have the discpline to run more in this test, but when the rate drops to one Q every three minutes, I get itchy and start hunting again. Probably not the best strategy, as I know those couple of minute dry spells could be easily followed by a stretch of back to back Q's. If I'm not being logical anyway, why not go check out 80M at 2221? Good idea, I think I will. So off to 80 I go, "just curious," and found PA, GA and NH in 3 minutes. Not logical, but fun. Since 20M was still showing some good activity, I hopped back there and tried a run relatively high in the band at 14068, which dropped another 14 Q's in the log before things started getting slow again. A break in the action to discuss the exchange. My name, Rowland, is not common and at 7 characters, a bit long compared to, say, Bob or Ed or Al. Not wanting to give up that 3 or 4 character advantage (which is pretty ridiculous given my average rate but hey, we get to obsess about whatever we want in this hobby), I shortened my name to Rowl for the test. At least 70% of the time, sending Rowl NC resulted in " name?" I think people hear the "R" at the start and think I'm saying R for Roger, and then probably hope they're not really having a QSO with a guy named Owl. So my attempt to save 3 characters seems to end up requiring me to send Rowl two more times, and you to send "name?" back to me, so I've spent 12 characters instead of saving 3. But all that is assuming that if I sent "Rowland" people would get it the first time. Decisions, decisions... My wife brought in the mail at this point, which included a very nice full color folding QSL from Tom, VP6TD. Very classy! And a big box from ICE with a bunch of hardware for the Big Grounding Project. Not nearly as big as some of you out there (and you know who you are, Tom), but enough to let me look the insurance guy in the eye and say "I used protection." Speaking of obsessing, by this point in time I had taken one 30 minute break and was worrying about when to take the remaining 90 minutes. I decided a one hour dinner break would be a nice concession to my family ("I can quit this contesting thing any time I want, honey, really... just watch... OK, I'm getting up and leaving the radio now... $@!, that was NV CQ'ing, just give me 5 more minutes"). So we took off for dinner at 2321 and went to the local Tap Room and had some pub food (OK, and just one pint of tuning oil), and watched the Packers run around and throw snowballs at each other when no one could find the football anymore. Just kidding, my wife being from MN/WI Duluth/Superior, we almost wore those ridiculous cheesehead hats (I've been warned that if Green Bay gets into the Super Bowl, I will be sporting one at the Super Bowl Party. I feel a toothache coming on...). Unfortunately the Packers were enjoying themselves, considerably more than the Seahawks, and my when 45 minutes of my time off had expired there was still "Ten Minutes" to go, which in football time could be anywhere from half an hour to an hour if the sponsors think you will endure that many SUV commercials just to see How It Turns Out. It was pretty obvious at this point how it was going to Turn Out (risk of cheeseheads greater than zero) so my sweetie agreed we could leave as my time off clock struck 60. This got me back to the dials with 1:15 of off time. That plus my 30 minutes earlier meant I had 1:45 minutes of my 2:00 taken. If I had Stopped To Think (what a concept), I would have taken fifteen more minutes then so I could cleanly go to 0600. But the lure of those dancing 40M signals on the scope was too strong, and I took the bait and went back at it. Only in the calm between CQ QSO's an hour later did I start doing the math... #$!, I think I'll have to quit at 0530 because I have to take 15 more minutes off but the minimum time off is 30 minutes... groan. Sorry team. An hour on 40 yielded about 35 Q's, all S&P (so much for my CQ'ing resolution). The band was long, and yielded the usual suspects plus MT, BC, and KP4. At 0100 I figured the crowd would be starting to migrate to 80 so they could get some quality time in there and still hit 160 before hitting the sack, so I hopped down there and found a lot of signals and a lot of QRN. This was probably the most work of the contest, pulling names out of the static. Not quite summer levels, but worse than usual winter by quite a bit. Nice to work Gary K9AY, listening on "his" antenna! It doesn't work mniracles but it does seem to improve S/N at least half the time, and I needed it last night. K5KA asked me to qsy to 160, so I did, and he almost seemed surprised when I showed up and worked him there. At 0150, I had worked through the mob on 80 and decided to go grab some mults on 160, so spent about 20 minutes and did just that. Only one of 15 Q's was not a mult, so that helped. At this point I figured 40M might have changed, and sure enough, it yielded a nice run with a little over 80 Q's from all over, FL, MA, OH, NY, MD, PA, WV as well as the long haul from KH6. At 0400 I went back to 160 for some more Q's and mults. I ended with a 160 total greater than the sum of 10M and 15M combined. Given that 10M was pretty open, I think this says I could have used more time, or a better strategy! I spent the last hour bouncing a bit between 160M and 80M, enjoying some of the best rate of the contest for short periods. At 0530, I figured I probably needed to quit because I still needed 15 minutes off, but the blocks of time off have to be 30 minutes. But I was having too much fun so stayed at it until the WriteLog "Time On" clock said exactly 10:00, at 0539. So there may be 6 80M Q's at the end of my log that get scratched. No mults in there, though. I'll let the contest gods figure it out. SO2R would definitely add to the fun, Q's, and chances to look like an idiot on the air. I've been rolling it around in my head, thnking about how to do something on the cheap to get a taste. Thanks to Barry K4CZ for the helpful links. I think my Yaesu FT857D, which is already interfaced to the PC, plus connecting up my 160M vertical to it as a "most band" antenna, and running 100W on different bands from those in use on the main rig, would probably keep me from frying the Icom. Although the risk of doing that detracts from my desire for SO2R. But doing it "whole hog," with a commercial interface box, a "real" SO2R antenna setup, and real bandpass filters... it adds up, as this audience knows extremely well. It's always good to have another mountain to climb. Thanks all for the Q's and see you next time. 73, Rowland K4XD Here are the "real" numbers -- my approximations in the soapbox are limited by my impatience in actually counting off entries in the log! QSO/MUL by hour and band Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime D1-1800Z - - - 33/23 1/1 - 34/24 34/24 D1-1900Z - - - - 13/8 23/10 36/18 70/42 D1-2000Z - - - 17/5 4/3 - 21/8 91/50 30 D1-2100Z - - - 34/5 - - 34/5 125/55 D1-2200Z - 3/3 4/4 31/3 - - 38/10 163/65 D1-2300Z - - 13/10 - - - 13/10 176/75 38 D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- 18/10 --+-- --+-- --+-- 18/10 194/85 37 D2-0100Z 5/5 53/29 - - - - 58/34 252/119 D2-0200Z 11/10 - 32/7 - - - 43/17 295/136 D2-0300Z 1/1 - 53/7 - - - 54/8 349/144 D2-0400Z 18/9 31/5 - - - - 49/14 398/158 D2-0500Z 16/4 15/1 - - - - 31/5 429/163 Total: 51/29 102/38 120/38 115/36 18/12 23/10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5BG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 169,081 Tnx to all for the Q's. This is a fun contest for me. Nice to hear all the familiar calls. 73, BG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5GO Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 521,591 This was a lot of fun and gave us a diversion from only operating DX Contests in the multi-operator category. Chuck, KM5G, who had planned to be here was ill and didn't make it. We will definitely do this again, however. If there was an opening on 10M, we just weren't looking for it hard enough assuming there would be nothing on that band to work. Made schedules with several stations during the contest for 10M for the last ten minutes and the only one we worked was W5KI about 40 miles from here. Heard K9BGL at the very end but didn't make a contact in time. 73...Stan, K5GO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5HP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 43,292 All S&P. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5KA Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 519,708 Very nice to see participation growing, and nice to work several new calls. We had a 30 minute period when we were only on 1 band due to a rig problem, but after that was repaired all went well. Nice to see 15 try to open, and 80 meters was just gangbusters here. 160 was noisy but settled down after 30 minutes or so. And I never dreamed there were so many VE3's with great signals. Thanks for being very active. Great fun as usual. 73, Ken K5KA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5RC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 268,294 After a month of major remodeling of the shack, got the antenna switch wired with half the antennas 5 minutes before the contest. Was going to just play around, but the rates on 15 at the beginning were amazing. At the end, I bettered my all-time best by 18K! Go figure. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K5TR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 222,326 Thanks - thanks - thanks to George K5TR for letting me spend the day at his fine station. Although 10M was predictably disappointing, the other bands were very quiet. A great time! Larry K5OT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6AM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 60,298 Needed to drive to LA for the Visalia convention meeting. Got in 25 min on 15 before leaving, but missed all the good stuff like the 10 M opening. Got back just as 20 was shutting down for the day. Since the day was shot anyway, I screwed around with some unfamiar contest software and that slowed me down too. CU at full steam next time. John, K6AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6CSL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,875 The bands seem to be improving. Things slowed down for me on 40 and 80 due to severe line noise problems in the mobile home park I live in. I plan to soon have a new radio, an Elecraft K2, which should be a significant improvement. 73's to all and see you for NAQP Phone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6DBG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 2,100 NCCC Team #4 My first NAQP, and first effort with the new-to-me K1, which is the vacation QTH radio. The main goal was to get familiar with the radio and have a good time. Operation was a couple of two-hour stretches, in between spending time with company. Didn't have computer control, so everything was keyed on travel paddles ... the situation will improve with time :-) I got started after 15m had closed, and 20m was getting quiet - but I found a number of 'stragglers' who were looking for their last Qs. I managed to pick up a handful of multipliers there, and determined that yes, the radio is working. 40m was very exciting, and apparently very long. First, I couldn't tune my normal 40m antenna, so had to resurrect a W3EDP. The tuner wasn't very happy with that, either, and I was only able to get about 3W out. Nonetheless, I worked NH, FL, AK, HI among others ... but didn't get a single CA contact. I heard PR and DE but couldn't break the pileups :-) I heard a few KBers pretty faintly - I'd guess that they were pointed away from me, and couldn't hear me off the side of their antennas. Didn't get to 80m, which requires a hardware change in the K1. I had decided that "CHRIS" was too long to send, so I picked CY. Receiving "CY CA TU" was apparently confusing, as I was asked for a lot of repeats. I'll try something else next year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6GEP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 51,408 It was so appropriate that we were greeted with FANTASTIC conditions to mark the beginning of Solar Cycle 24! Probably the best condix I've seen in the 18 months that I have been doing serious contesting. I smashed my previous personal NAQP best from last year by 50 percent! The great condix on 10m caught me off guard. I didn't have my vertical up. Had to use 15m dipole. The tribute to the memory of Dave KT0R was nice. Took me a while to figure it out. (all the "DAVE MN"'s) Rig: FT-990 100W Ants: 80 Meter dipole sloped from 50 feet (used on 160 also) 40 Meter inverted vee at 50 feet 20 Meter dipole at 20 feet 15 meter dipole at 25 feet (used on 10 also) Software: N3FJP NAQP Logger - worked well ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6III Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 51,642 First time to run with new IC-765 radio. It is somewhat integrated with the WriteLog logger via the PIEXX USB-to-Serial interface module. Only read and set Frequency. Do not yet have the PC controlling the Keyer, etc. Have some RFI issues here at the new QTH. PC lost comms with the radio several times requiring a regboot. Gotta work on the RFI issues a bit. Been studying K9YC tutorial on torroids and such. Gotta put up a real antenna for 40/80/160 now that I have tall trees to work with. Stay tuned for a better performance, soon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 236,312 Most QSOs ever for me in a CW NAQP - and at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. That indicates the terrific level of participation. Now if only I had 160m & 80m antennas commensurate with the other bands. Using a shunt fed tower on 160m with 2 radials snaked around the yard doesn't cut it, although I heard a handful of mults that couldn't hear me. I was also hindered by the lack of an antenna switch and bandpass filters on one radio. My level converter burned up in Sweepstakes and it was fixed and shipped but didn't arrive in time. I figured I'd mostly run on 20m during the day and 40m later so I put the 10m & 15m antennas on a switch on one radio and 20m on the other. Turned out 15m was so good I was running on 15m and couldn't listen to 10m at the same time. Fortunately, I flipped the run radio to 10m at 1922Z and worked the opening for 1/2 hour. Based on other reports, I guess I didn't miss much. At the first break I put 40m on the run radio and 20m & 80m on the 2nd radio. Later I moved 160m to one radio and 80m to the other for my last hour. Never heard VE1, VE9, VY1, VY2, VO1, VE4 or ND. Only 1 SD on 1 band. I spent a few minutes at the start working an Italian station portable in the Caribbean, but he wouldn't give me a name, so it was wasted time. 73, Ken, K6LA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 240,471 Low bands were tough, but it was all fun. This is the best contest of the year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,090 Very good conditions, especially on 15M. Only had a few hours spread throughout the day because of family commitments. Always an enjoyable contest. Thanks for the Qs. 73, John K6MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6NR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 166,690 15 meters was in pretty darn good shape when the contest started, and then the propagation gods through in a short, but good, 10 meter opening to boot. I was off to a good start, but never got much going on 20 or 40. I was pleased to operate the entire contest after having been down with a cold much of the previous week. Thanks for the Qs everyone, Dana K6NR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6RIM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 154,368 Surprisingly good conditions; even 10 meters was open! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6VVA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,243 Having been sick most of the week, I couldn't commit to a NCCC Team this time. Three mini-sessions totalled about an hour & a quarter of fun. FYI, the 2008 LQP (Locust QSO Party) Rules are almost ready for release :-) 73 & Tnx for the Qs... Rick, K6VVA * The Locust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6XT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 180,336 Had a great time. Nothing broke, no storms, no wind, new PC didn't crash. What more, other than 500 more Q's, could I ask for? 73 Art ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ABV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,080 fun contest and good to see some old friends...I will have to do it again..K7ABV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7RL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 193,670 I missed the best 2.5 hours in the middle of the day to see my daughter's first basketball game - sometimes it ain't easy balancing family and contesting! A nice opening on 10m mainly to the southeast put a few mults in the pot. Great to hear the band alive. Still dealing with some recent wind damage to my top 40m antenna. It works, but repairs will have to wait until Spring. Looks like I'll miss the upcoming SSB test for the first time in years. My wife's great uncle is turning 105 and the family is throwing him a big party. No, that's not a typo, 105 years old. He still remembers when the primary mode of transportation was horse and buggy! The man has witnessed an incredible change in our society over his lifetime. Thanks to all for another fun NAQP weekend! 73 de Mitch, K7RL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7SV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 196,236 Maybe I'll get some sort of strategy down in this contest. I thought playing with the big antennas at NR4M might make a difference and I think it did on the low bands. Had a lot of fun regardless. I had all but written ten off except for a couple of local multipliers. Kept checking back though, and was really pleased to hear the west coast rolling in. W4OC moved me to 10 where he was apparently copying me ok very late in the contest. I just caught his call and report on a ping! Had a great time thanks to all of you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7ZS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 26,096 S&P effort, comparing my new (but old) radio with my old (but much newer) radio. Some things are hard to improve on, and I think the older radio won! Also a good fist trainer, did all keying with the paddle. Missed our 15 meter opening, and we never consider 10 meters here in the Pacific NW Black Hole! Great fun! 73 Kevin K7ZS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8FC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 129,402 Boy, had me some fun today. Company during the prime 20 & 15 op time. Lost power to the house three times this afternoon and evening. Used N1MM first time in NAQP and did some fat fingering big time. All in all, lots of fun. Heard many of the GMCC members. Good show everyone.. Thanks.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8GU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 100,521 This is only my second semi-serious effort in this contest. I'm getting much better at the 2nd radio, that's for sure! I built an 80-meter dipole at 60 feet with a switch box to short the (open wire) feeder on 160. I never got the 160 portion tuned-up. So, at 0330 UT, I climbed up on the roof to cobble an old MFJ tuner into place. Fortunately, I left my old 80-meter dipole up at 25 feet; so, I could still operate there. I had S9+10 noise on 160. I could only hear with the 30 dB attenuator setting! After getting the antenna tuned-up, it's RX antenna time... Thanks for the Q's! 73, --Ethan, K8GU/9. http://www.k8gu.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8IA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 210,726 T-T Orion II; 3 el SteppIR at 78 ft; M-Squared 40M3L at 71'; 80m Inv Vee; Shunt fed tower for 160; K9AY Rx Loops; N1MM software Fun time but probably should have concentrated on mults more. XYL N7RQ takes over for NAQP SSB next weekend. 73, Bob K8IA Arizona USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K8MR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 131,747 We used the name Shannon in memory of Shannon Harps, the 31 year old daughter of K8NZ, who tragically was killed on New Year's Eve. The story of this can be found at: http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=stabbing03m&date=20080103&query=shannon+harps Things started out pretty slow, and about sundown I saw no way I was going to spend the rest of the night fighting bad conditions. I took time to read the newspaper, catch the between football stuff, etc. But the bands recovered and kept going well until the end. This may have been my biggest NAQP score ever. About 1930z I asked local AF8A to move to 10 meters, figuring I ought to get my one multiplier up there out of the way. When I moved, I heard other signals! Worked Gary, and another bunch of W6's and nearby. Got a bunch of ?? from W7ZRC but no QSO. Had six band qsos with W6YX and VE3EJ. This was the first contest for the Molly, the new cat in the house. At one point, while crawling around the keyboard, she somehow managed to hit just about the time K0KX was asking for a repeat, so the appropriate info went out. I hope this did not make me multiop. Do I qualify for the Classic Radio Contest? All the 40 meter qsos were with the 1980 vintage TS-830S. Still works! 73 & Happy New Year, Jim K8MR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9AY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,998 A few fun hours on the radio! Just over 2-1/2 hours on the air. Had no working antennas Saturday morning, so job #1 was fixing my broken 160M TX antenna. Early in the contest, I tried to load it on the high bands with a tuner, but after only one QSO on 15M, I gave up and attached a 20M 1/4-wave wire to the same feedpoint and made some QSOs. Felt like I was QRP. Added wire to make a 40M inv-L and worked a few stations on 40 and 15 before quitting with just 1.1 hours ON time. Back in shack for the last hour-and-a-half: 15 min. on 40, then spent the last 1-1/4 hours on 160 with a real antenna, but only 3 of my 6 Beverages (others still broken due to ice, snow and deer). More work to do before CQWW 160... 73, Gary K9AY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9CT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 143,724 My first SO2R contest. I need another yagi to really do it well. Used N1MM, MK2R+....and my fumbling to find the right controls. Really a cool setup...op needs more experience. Caught a 10m opening in second hour. I should have been on 40m earlier...too long on 20. Rate would have been higher. Thanks for the qso's..Craig ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9GY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 4,841 Cameo effort this time. Used the name "IRA" for Ira Hayes born on 12 JAN 1923 who helped raise the second American flag on Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima. Read more about Ira at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Hayes Best of health to all, Eric ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9MMS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 88,000 Encountered several minor equipment problems and several time interruptions. The 9.8 hours was not all operating time. Mostly S&P ... 40% of QSOs via CQ runs. Unable to get any decent runs going on 40 meters. Encountered high rates on 80 and 160. The second 5 hours were the most fun, when operating on 80 and 160, and enabled some catch-up from a poor performance in the first half. Nearly missed a WAS -- worked 48, including KH6 and KL7, but never heard ND and SD. Still one of my favorite contests -- lots of activity, and does not take up an entire weekend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 106,020 Thank to everyone for all the Q's 73...Don, K9NR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K9NW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 63,921 Missed most of the daytime stuff. Split time between football games and QSOs! 73, Mike K9NW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KA9FOX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,428 Got on toward the end to pass out a few QSOs. Goal was 2 hours or 200 QSOs which ever came first. Happened about the same time. 73 - Scott KA9FOX ka9fox@qth.com http://www.qth.com/ka9fox ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB7Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 26,752 A seven foot Hamstick on an RV does not an antenna farm make! Had fun on 20 meters until the band went to sleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,497 Hey Everyone, thanks for the contacts in NAQP. Particularly for those that slowed down for my very slow CW. Trying to get setup for PH next weekend. Look forward to hearing everyone then.. Jim/KC4HW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC5R Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 66,700 In case you wanted to know, this weekend is the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans of the War of 1812 fame (the battle took place in 1815). So my son, his cub pack, myself, and the XYL went to the battlefield to watch the re-enactors and guys talk about amputating legs, etc. Note that since the British at the time didn't recognize the Louisiana Purchase (they felt France had sold the US property that they didn't own), they planned to occupy the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi if they had won the battle. As it turns out, they got beat and we have the "lower 48 states". Otherwise, there would have been an English territory (the bulk of the Louisiana Purchase area), and there's a good chance Texas and California would have been their own DXCC entity, my QTH would be part of Mississippi (I live in the part of Louisiana that is east of the Mississippi River) & Pat W5WMU who live west of the river would have some GK call sign and be in a country that only allows their hams 400 watts of TX power. So thanks to the battle outcome, we have 48 states rather than about 25, Pat can run the big amps, and NAQP is a whole different ballgame than it would otherwise be (not to mention that DXCC honor role is missing a few "easy ones"). Tea anyone? Well getting back to the day, I arrived back around 2100Z from the park, so having missed the first 3 hours I was able to operate the remaining 9 hours. This shorted my 20 and 15 mtr opportunities, and it appears as if I missed the few minutes of fame on 10 mtrs. So I had to rely on more efforts on 40, 80, and 160. It was ended up being a bit more fun this way, as this week I ran a new feed for the 80 mtr loop (its a temporary feed until I can replace a line on the 160 mtr windom, and then use the 160 mtr line on the 80 mtr) which eliminated some line loss and added a switch. So was able to play with the electronic switching between the 80/160, which give me some polarization diversity on receive on those bands, and make fast band changes. Also, 40 turned long early which may have affected 80 as the skip was just right here at 0000. Then 40 settled down and went "medium" around 0100 or so, and I was able to basically work close in and far stuff - the southeast, northeast, west coast, and all the stuff in the middle right up until 0600. What a deal. Figuring which way to rotate the antenna on 40 became the biggest issue. Managed to work a personal QRP best on multipliers, thanks to a good 160 showing and a wide open 40. Rate when S&P or running remained fairly the same during the contest here. See you on phone. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD2MX Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 12,636 I was limited in time this go around but had fun while I was able. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD5J Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 2,070 2008 North American QSO Party KD5J SINGLE-OP-LP QTH = AR Band QSOs QSO pts. Mults. -------------------------------------------- 80m 69 69 30 -------------------------------------------- TOTALS 69 69 30 Claimed score = 2070 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE0UI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 130,312 Definite step in the right direction for the station. 40 took a nap for about 4 hours, then came back. Ten never saw any business here, 15 was OK for a couple of hours. Thank goodness for high angle G5RV (granddaddy version) on 80/160. I was thrilled to find out I was about even with some big guns in CO. Will be back in August! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE1FO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 8,382 Had not tried NAQP before. Had a fun time. Domestic CW contests are lots of fun. I especially like the short format with mults counting on each band. Only giving up a Saturday afternoon/evening works well for those of us with families. Not much SO2R this time, as I was only in things casually. See you next time. 73 de Al, KE1FO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG4CUY Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,620 Forgot to send my band breakdown: most on 40m, a few on 80, 20, and 15. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG5U Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 70,310 I really, really do need to get up the tower and re-attach the 20m reflector to the C3 and to replace the broken rotator. It kinda hurts during a contest. There was a nice opening on 10m. I heard someone ask someone in TX else to QSY to 10 and jumped up there myself hoping to grab the TX station. Lo and behold, there were other signals there. Didn't last long, but long enough to grab 4 mults and 9 Q's. This NAQP was a lot of fun and the turnout was tremendous with a lot of big signals (my RF Gains on my radios were cut back to 12 or 1 o'clock positions from their 5 o'clock max; it made for very comfortable operating. Even the weak signals came through nicely without having to crank up the gain. I'm still on the near vertical part of the N1MM learning curve, but it's getting easier. There's just not the 'in your face' feedback on how you are doing that I loved about TRLog. The mult window is just too subtle for me right now to be useful. But, I like the ease of doing S&P with both radios, since that's my bread and butter when operating QRP in contests. Thanks to all for QSO's and special thanks to the 10 stations with whom I had 4 or 5 band QSO's. One of these days, I'll put up a 160 antenna. 73, dale, kg5u ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KH7XS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,386 First NAQP from off the from outside of FL....a big difference in the strength of received signals out here on the Big Island. Only 50 minutes of work in this one Only antennas up are for 80, but that will be changing in the next few weeks. Sorry for all the repeats but the QRN was pretty bad. I have no 160 antennas, so I could not move down to 160 as per some of the requests. I fired up the loops on 40 for a couple of QSOs but they just don't cut it on that band. I should be on 75 next weekend to pass out HI to the guys in the SSB version of the test. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KL7Z Class: M/2 HP Total Score = 11,058 WITH SUCH POOR BAND CONDX HERE WE WENT HP SO YOU GUYS COULD GET THE ALASKA MULT Hygain HYTOWER on 20-40 no 20m stub. 125' rohn 45 gamma fed on 160m. MKV Field L7 amp. CHECKLOG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN3A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,108 Nice contest. Highlight was working HI on 40 meters and heard me first call. 73 Scott KN3A Kenwood TS 450SAT G5RV @ 35 Feet N1MM Logger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 13,090 73, Dale kn4q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 25,200 Every contest should be 100 Watts. Gives everyone a chance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO1H Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 7,744 Great Fun but limmited time. Who says ya cant contest and work at the same time 8) thanks to all who pulled me out esp on topband ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KO7X Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 69,000 Quite a few fellow Snow Flakes in the log. Got a late start but found 15M open and productive. Had a nice run on 20 after 15 closed up. Heard stations working WG7Y but never heard him so no Wyoming in my log as usual. This NAQP was dedicated to the memory of Dale, K6UA, who recently became a SK. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KQ6ES Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 57,510 Not exactly as planned but I'm happy with this score. I was forced into an off time after only a few contacts, and I thought I was done when Murphy visited my keyer in the evening. At the dead bottom of the cycle I was not too far from my all time best, which is very encouraging. John kq6es ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR2Q Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 61,612 I may be wrong, but I think this is my first Jan CW NAQP effort. It might even be my first NAQP cw effort, period. Lots of fun! I started off using my FT817, but quickly discovered it didn't like loud signals as much as my Elecraft K2 does. So I disconnected the Yaesu, grabbed my K2 off of the shelf, and plugged it in. Much better and not much time lost! I live in NNJ and commute to Manhattan, so I usually get up at 3-something AM to get into work by 5-something. I usually go to bed at 8:30pm local. So I figured that I would have a hard time staying awake until the end and hence started contesting from the official start. Big mistake...activity was GREAT near the end and I was WIDE AWAKE. So I had to pull the plug earlier than would have been optimally efficient. Oh well, live and learn, even at my age. I was really thrilled with 80m, except that I couldn't hear any W1s and W2s. I think N2NC is my only QSO with NJ on 80 and he moved me to 160 for my first (and only?) NJ there....and I could barely hear him on either band. Worked K3WW on 80m towards the end for my first PA (on any band) and then he asked if we could ran the bands (10-160). That gave me a supposedly "easy" but much needed PA mult on every band. Never worked CT on any band and only worked MA on 1 band (160). Weird. One note of interest...being QRP, I really have to laugh at how long it takes some guys to get my callsign, but then once they get it, they OBVIOUSLY simply use our previous QSO info to plug in the rest. I used this to my advantage by cranking up the speed on the exchange with anyone who I had previously worked. It was funny...esp on the low bands where it took many "overs" to get my call right but then BINGO, one shot on the exchange at 38 wpm and I get a TU. I had a great time working so many familiar calls and my casual approach made the entire experience very relaxing and enjoyable. I really had a GREAT time!! I just hope that next year, I can remember to operate the LAST 10 hours. Of course, by then, it will be different. :-) The only DOWN side was reading why so many guys were names SHANNON. Very sad. Thanks to everybody for the Q's! de Doug KR2Q ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS8O Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 56,722 Very good conditions except 10M. 160 was new to me this year and did much better then expected with the dipole. Beat my personal best by far this year, but had to go on a Rescue squad call in the middle of it.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU4A Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 4,760 First time I've tried this one QRP. Bands seemed pretty decent for a change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KU5B Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 97,005 This was lots of fun! I came into the weekend not knowing how I'd do so I didn't set any goals other than start acquiring SO2R skills. The line noise gods were very nice to me this weekend! I didn't have any problems on 20 and the noise on 40 seemed much less than it usually is. 80 was very tough as I'd expected. With +10 noise, I felt very deaf...sorry to everyone that I couldn't pull through. The HF2V played very well on 40 but 80 was a different story. I'd been trying to get it tuned for both 40 and 80 the entire previous week and at least 2 hours before the contest started Saturday morning, but had no luck. So I just decided to keep it for 40 and use the dipole at about 35ft for 80. I only checked 10m once the entire contest and heard nothing. SO2R sure has a big learning curve. I'm extremely grateful that the NCCC continues to put on practice sessions as I worked out some software and operator errors beforehand! I found myself actually getting pretty fluid at SO2R q's toward the end of the contest. I only have a few more items to complete my SO2R setup. Bandpass filters are the #1 priority; I hated not being able to sweep 40 while running 80. I've got a SixPack on the way so antenna switching will be much more convenient for the next one. Finally, (a long shot), another tribander so I can sweep any of the high bands while running on another. N2NL suggested I use my 40 dipole for 15 which seemed to work quite well. Thanks Dave! Lastly, a big thanks to everyone for watching the live cam and audio during the contest! Your support and conversations kept me awake throughout the whole contest. I also had a great time talking to y'all and meeting some new and familiar calls. From what I can remember, there were a couple of the NCCC'ers, CTDXCC'ers, and even the group from D4C watching at one point or another! Thanks also to KL2A for advertising the link. I should have complete SO2R audio working by Sprint in Feb. so tune in then! 2xFT920 DX Doubler Writelog 10.64D (WL played extremely well!) 80 - Inv-L at 35ft 40 - HF2V groundmounted 20 - TA-33-Jr at 30ft 15 - TA-33-Jr / 40m dipole at 35ft 10 - TA-33-Jr Colin KU5B ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KV8Q Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 102,588 Things started pretty good on 15, 20 and 40. But, 80 and 160 were wall-to-wall QRN which made for tough going. I'm pleased with my results and there is always next time, right? Rig = TenTen Jupiter @ 100W Antenna = 102' G5RV @ 45' Software = N1MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,248 Great to hr the activity level. Cndx fm "the Heart of Dixie" so so for the time I spent on the bands which was mainly at the start then at halftimes of NFL games(Go Packers). Encouraging to hr the activity level fm he AL section once again. I am sure no one missed AL. Quoting K4TD(AL) " ya cudn't swing a dead cat without hrg an AL station". Hope the ACG can keep promoting activity in all events over the 2008 contest season. Oh TNX to K4NO for organizing our three team effort. TNX to all for listening to my inept CW skills and light hearted exchange(AL in AL). CU ya'll this next weekend in the SSB event with "bells on". Tim, KY5R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KZ1M Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 18,732 KZ1M Jim Dalterio Memorial Station. Time in the chair was limited due to my birthday party. 69 years young. Also my grandson, he turned 21. Ah, to be young again. Got back home in time for the PATS game. Watched the PATS and worked 80 meters at the same time. Fun contest. Enjoyed the opening on 15 and 10. Ah, the sunspots are back. W1EQ, Bob ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0BUI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 76,041 The contest went well. I thought the bands were in decent shape. It was fun. Thanks for all the qso's. 73, Mike N0BUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0HF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 20,202 Glad to get some nice runs going, 15m sure was alive. Not enough time to make contacts on all bands, though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0IJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 147,196 First full time effort in this one. Lots of activity and fun, but have to get better at this SO2R stuff! Was an honor to sign "Dave" in honor of our friend, KT0R (SK). John, N0IJ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N0KE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 129,675 Bad timing for my off times, should have stayed with 40 longer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1IW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 68,093 Fun way to spend a Winter Saturday afternoon/evening in New England. Finally got the kinks out of computer controlling the SO2R set up here (2xFT-2000) so now need to focus on getting the feel of it. 80M was the money band here... The OCFD played really well stateside and even had a few Europeans reply to my CQ. And what's up with N4YDU sending "name" as the name? Anyway, enjoyed again watching my progress in the single-op pack of the live scores site. See you all in ARRL! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2IC Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 514,943 Put together an all-southwest New Mexico team of WA5Y, K7IA, N5IA and N2IC. It was a first time-effort for the team, and we had a great time. Even with a low solar flux, 15 meters was considerably better than the previous 2 years, and we even had a 15 minute opening on 10 meters to the east coast. Too bad that 20 closed so early, but, fortunately, the low bands were very good for us. Bring on solar cycle 24 ! No equipment failures, and only minimal problems which were easily solved. We tried using an undocumented N1MM feature that allows the spotting station to make QSO's by "borrowing" the run radio for a QSO. However, one of the run station computers was only a 466 MHz Pentium, resulting in a many-second delay between pressing a function key on the spotting computer, and RF output on the run radio. Sorry for the lid-like behavior ! Station: (2) TS-950SDX, TS-930S+PIEXX N1MM Logger networked on 3 computers. 10 meters - KT36XA @ 75' 15 meters - 5 el @ 32' 20 meters - KT36XA @ 75', 5 el @ 60' 40 meters - 2 el NE wire beam @ 50', 2 el NW @ 110' 80 meters - 2 el NE wire beam @ 105', inv vee @ 105' 160 meters - Inverted-L Beverages NE, SE, NW Thanks for all the QSO's ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2NC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 199,735 Nice to do a serious Jan NAQP after a few years off. This is always a great contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 64,945 Some rough patches with QRM from a welder or some other farm equipment almost obliterating 15 and 10 and more QRN than usual on 160 and 80. Was surprised at the missing states, NE was quiet... Nice little opening to the West on 10M. Did better on 40 with a new delta loop, too bad it went long so quickly. Missed some of the regulars, but it was nice to have some new calls. John and Dave seemed to be the most popular names, of course there were a number of "uniques" ;o) Cheers, Julius n2wn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2ZN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,390 Got off to a "red hot" start but ended up not doing 10 hours for the first time in a while. If I had stuck it out, I probably would have over 100k. SO2R makes a huge difference! The first 3-4 hours all I did was dual S&P and actually had a much better rate than trying to run on 20 or 15. 10 was open a bit, but I didn't work anybody. 73, Ken ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3BM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,824 First ever CW contest. It's amazing how much it helps increase hearing comprehension speed. I'm starting to think I might actually be able to recognize words if I live long enough! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N3ZL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 23,068 +4 dupes for total raw QSO count of 296 My Eagle scout ceremony was at 2, so to make a long story short I got on for several 15 minute spurts in the afternoon and was not able to get serious until the closing few hours. Lately I've been spending too much time on 40M before QSYing to 80M, but this time I overcorrected and spent too much time on 80M before going back to 40M, where I had a decent run in the final minutes. If I QSYed just a few minutes quicker I could have gone over the 300Q barrier. The conditions on 40 and 80 sounded decent but pulling calls and exchanges out of the QRN was like rubbing sandpaper on my eardrums. A big thanks to all the really patient ops out there who would stick with me until I got their exchanges. Now, I have to debate whether or not I should get the microphone out next weekend for the first time in over a year. 73 de Greg N3ZL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4CBK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 28,620 Great to see all the ACG and SCCC in the house! Worked K4ZGB, K4TD, N4OGW, K4BAI, K4NO, N4KG. Another highlight was working David Sumner/K1ZZ, ARRL Chief Executive Officer. These guys at the ARRL don't just talk about ham radio, they do it! Interesting comparison between this year's result and last year's. Last year: 20/15 meter Moxons at 45 feet, full-wave horizontal 80-meter delta loop and made 265 Q's in 10 hours "casually". (That means getting up from the chair a lot and going around the house to see what else is going on.) This year: 80-meter inverted-V Tangle-Doublet (called that because of the way it looks in the trees behind the apartment.) 265 Q's glued to the seat for 8.5 hours. My CW is certainly better, but there is no substitute for an antenna. I don't remember who the guy was (K7 I believe) but he was really having a hard time hearing me and I him. I thought, "WTH? This is going to be a lousy contest if the conditions don't get any better!" I manged to work him, but not after a couple of repeats. Somewhere in Arizona there is a guy who worked me on the dummy load in my tuner. Everyone sounded much better when I switched to the antenna. Thanks for the Q's especially the ones where I was converting RF to heat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4GG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 86,592 DIdn't expect to be in this one at all due to personal distractions and the antennas on the ground as of Sat AM. A big thanks to K1ZZI who helped me get the wires up just before the start. Copndx sounded great, activity down a little. 10M was open to the West Coast for several hours but very few were on. Lots of fun - wish I'd had the ability to go full time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4KG Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 114,579 One of these years, I need to decide that I am going to operate full time and make a plan. Starting 1 Hour Late is NOT a good plan! After an hour or so on 80M I noticed I had almost ZERO mults in W0 and W7 so I switched from my High Dipole to an Inverted Vee to fill in the gaps. Sunday, I noticed the SE end of the support rope for the high dipole was wrapped around a D3W midway down the tower. The SE End of the Dipole was caught in a tree and most of the dipole was sloping to the SE. It still produced a pretty good rate into the Eastern USA (as long as static crashes didn't drown out the signals). One of Four Tom's in Alabama (K4ZGB, KG4CUY, N4KG, W4NBS) de Tom N4KG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4LF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 20,352 Chores and other outside commitments limited my afternoon operating time to about 30 mins. When I finally made it back to the air chair, 20 m was dead. Still had fun on 40 and 80, tho, while checking the Pats game! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4OGW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 222,180 Noisy low bands, but at least signals seemed strong. Thanks for the qso's and moves! Tor top 10 qth's worked: 1. Ca 120 2. Pa 47 3. vE3 46 4. Il 40 5. Tx 39 6. Tn 37 7. Mn 36 8. Wa 34 9. Oh 33 10. Az 30 HOUR 160CW 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 18 0 0 0 79 26 0 105 105 19 0 0 0 44 19 17 80 185 20 0 0 0 12 29 0 41 226 21 0 0 68 38 4 0 110 336 22 0 0 51 21 0 1 73 409 23 0 12 28 27 0 0 67 476 0 1 70 31 1 0 0 103 579 1 14 54 0 0 0 0 68 647 2 32 25 27 0 0 0 84 731 3 61 42 7 0 0 0 110 841 4 25 9 2 1 1 0 38 879 5 33 34 21 0 0 0 88 967 TOTAL 166 246 235 223 79 18 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4OK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 7,680 How I long for the days when I had a real antenna! The usual modus for my S&P QSO is to wait until there is no one else calling, and MAYBE the station will finally hear me! Of course, running yields very few crumbs. It is gruelling and frustrating. But one of these days!!!!!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 139,320 Operated lil more than had thought I would. Granddaughter had gym meet in Augusta on Saturday. Arrived back home around 3:15, so the off times was already programmed in plus more time. Looking at box score tells story - 15m was about gone and 20m was not that active outside of west coast. 160, 80 & 40m kept me fairly busy but no time to move mults. Only station I asked to QSY was my buddy, Gordon, K4OD for my only 10m contact. Still lots of fun and gym meet next week will be at her home gym..no problem. Good luck, Paul, N4PN FT1000MP - 100w TH-5/Alpha-Delta 40/80 dipole/160m inverted Vee Logging with NA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4TB Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 73,780 Great condx on 15 and 20. QRN on 160, 80 & 40 got unbearable with t-storms close by. Overall activity seemed to be down a bit. 73 Terry N4TB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4VI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 67,340 It's been awhile and had many problems with the man/machine interface, so I apologize for any "liddish" behavior. Can't even blame it on SO2R. Started the test with 20/15/10 capability, added 40m during my "off" time. Managed to squeeze a few 80m Q's with the 40m dipole. Looking forward to phone NAQP with 80m antenna and perhaps 160m. Now if I can figure out how to get the log off the computer as it has no internet and other computers don't have floppies! Setup: TS-870 w/ TR log on 100 MHz pentium. 20/15/10: D-3 dipole @ 30' 40m: saggy dipole, apex at 38' 80m: see 40m 160m: nada, no way ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4YDU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 134,136 Fun time as always. I got pretty excited when 10M was open to the west coast. I was pleased with the station this time around. Before the contest I was debating if I should put a dipole up for 80 - but I just went with the existing ground plane. I don't know if it cost me anything - I probably just didn't spend enough time on 80. It was tough on 80 and 160 with the noise, but it did quiet down some the last three hours. 40M was great from here, the rates were good even late in the contest when the band was long. Station: Radios: Icom 765 - Ten Tec Corsair Antennas: 160 - L 80 - Ground plane 40 - two inverted vees (60 feet, 50 feet high) 20 - TA33JR Tribander (35 feet, halfsquare, delta loop (both 70') 15 - Tribander, delta loop (50 ft, 2 element NE delta loop, 45') 10 - Tribander 73 from team QLF - Nate/N4YDU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5DO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 181,905 Another fun NAQP. 15M was better than last year and consequently I did better overall than last year. I was not able to do SO2R because both my FT1000MPs were off at a friend's house being repaired, so I used an older TS-680S. It obviously worked fine, but there were enough differences between it and what I normally use to keep me somewhat messed up. (How quick we forget -- I kept having to remind myself to change bands on the logging program since I had no CAT to automatically follow the rig. Since I just celebrated 48 years as a ham, I distinctly remember how happy I was the first time I used computerized logging.) I'm looking forward to next weekend's SSB version. As always, thanks for all the fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5OE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 21,424 I simply had to many things come up at the last minute to give more than the 4.5 hours to the thing. I got 1 solid hour at the start of the contest, then pulled away for 2 hours, operated another 30 minutes and had to run away for another 3 hours and finally got back in to work about 3 hours solid on 40/80/160 at the very end. It seemed I had better rates S&P than calling CQ, especially on 80m and 160m? But overall as usual I had a great time and worked a lot of familiar calls and friends. Thanks for the Q's and digging this little station out of the QRN. 73 N5OE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5OT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 3,034 Glad to hand out Oklahoma to stations that needed it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5UL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 113,849 I can't remember the low bands being in this good a shape for one of these parties, ever! (That's a long time for me.) Thanks to everyone for all the fun! 73, Charles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6CQP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 11,060 I enjoyed the 10-hour operating format, NAQP scoring system, and all the fun that followed. Search and pounce (SP) lead the charge through NAQP this weekend. Twenty meters was a lot of fun especially into the mid-west and south. Not much heard from the east this weekend. A short lived opening on 15-Meters in the afternoon then back to 20-Meter SP before moving to 40, 80, and 160 for the evening. The low-bands were noisey and thanks to those operators with great ears and stellar antennas. They pulled my 45-watt signal off the noise floor. Great format, exciting scoring system, lots of operators on the air sums to a whole lot of Ham Radio fun. 73 de Scot, KA3DRR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6HC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 184,040 Happy New Year to my fellow contesters. It was a surprise to find ten meters open (good for 50 Qs and 19 mults; 160 was jumping and I'm sorry I ran out of time or I'd have spent more time on that band (37 Qs and 18 mults). I hope to see the usual suspects in the SSB rendition of NAQP. Best regards, Arnie N6HC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6RO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 307,272 Wow, great activity in this, and a short 10m opening in the second hour! 20m died early, but 40 made up for that. Personal best QSO total, but short on mults for best total score. Missed some easy mults on 80/160, but overall, it was good. Rate never went below 106/hr. Here's the rate sheet: HOUR 160CW 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM OFF ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 18 0 0 0 10 161 1 172 172 19 0 0 0 15 79 45 139 311 20 0 0 0 72 48 3 123 434 21 0 0 0 85 30 0 115 549 22 0 0 6 56 0 0 62 611 :30 23 0 0 21 33 0 0 54 665 :30 0 0 1 132 8 0 0 141 806 1 0 26 89 0 0 0 115 921 2 11 33 57 0 0 0 101 1022 3 19 30 4 0 0 0 53 1075 :30 4 60 49 0 0 0 0 109 1184 5 28 26 1 0 0 0 55 1239 :30 TOTAL 118 165 310 279 318 49 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6TV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 223,062 Lots of activity on all bands! My first contest with the new SO2R box, a microHAM MK2R+, and what a difference it made! Automated SO2R switching sure beats the old manual SO2R box I've been using all these years. Definitely a learning experience though; found myself often transmitting the wrong message on the wrong rig. I still feel clueless about proper off time strategy in this contest. Probably made a mistake using up all my operating time too soon. Had to take last hour off. Ant: 5 el 10, 5 el 15, 5 el 20, 3 el 40, 1 el 80, shunt-fed tower 160, KC2TX 160m Rx Loop Rig: FT-1000MP (x 2) SO2R: microHAM MK2R+ Software: Win-Test 3.18 73, Bob, N6TV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6WG Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 31,625 As always, this was a fun contest. I thought I had done really well, until I checked my previous scores. My peak score was in 2005, and has gone down each year since then. Pretty much in step with the decline in sunspot activity. Maybe it will start climbing again next year :-) My best 160m "dx" was MN, 80m was MA & NH, 40m was NC, VA, MD & FL. Totally missed the 10m opening, but still got one "token" 10m QSO when my friend W6OAT and I moved each other through all the bands to maintain our "sweep" tradition :-) I hope to have a new phasing-type receive antenna on-line in time for phone NAQP. Thanks for all the Qs. Let's do it again. 73, Bob N6WG The Littel Station with Attitude ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7NT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,780 First time in NAQP. Really enjoyed the fast pace. Even though I operated S&P the whole event, the rates were excellent. Great fun! Thanks to the sponsors and I'll see you next time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N7ON Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 39,552 Playing around with antennas and passing out Nevada between other obligations. Much better goofing-around-outside-with-antennas than during RTTY RU! 73, John, N7ON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8II Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 71,487 Judging by the reports on 3830, two conclusions can be reached. Condx were above average for the bottom of the cycle, and the mid-Atlantic is the absolutely worst area of the country from which to operate except maybe Alaska. K7SV didn't even make the top 20, that tells it all. There was a half-hour opening on 10M around 1845Z to the Rockies and West Coast with some really strong signals coming thru, but it was poorly attended/missed by many. I couldn't run much of anything on 10 or 15 and despite plenty of loud signals from as close as WI on 20, the run answers just didn't materialize in a big way. I had to S&P about 20 Q's to make it to 100 on 20. Skip went long in a huge hurry at sunset leaving a big skip zone even on 80. Finally, around 0130Z, I had some really fast runs on 80 and 160, but by then the battle was lost, so I QRT'ed at 0235 before tiredness became a big issue. Signals on 160 were excellent and those not skipping over on 80 the same. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9CO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 83,360 Part-time for this one. Rates worth reporting: 2100z (20 and 40) => 102/hr 2200z (40) => 100/hr 2300z (40 and 80) => 95/hr I found out a few days before the contest that I would have to go part time. Nathan, my soon-to-be 8 year old second grader, had his first youth league b-ball game that started at noon (1800z), so I would miss the first 1+ hours of the test. Next was a social function in the evening that took me out of prime-time 80m. I hurried home and operated the last 1.5 hours. I was curious as to how well the recently installed Inrad TS-930 Roofing Filter (Christmas present from Shelley and the kids) would work. I'm happy to report that it made a very noticeable difference. Numerous times I would be running with a very strong station adjacent, and would not even notice them. One example was on 20m, in the late afternoon, beaming west. K6LL, who always has a huge signal here, was just up slightly from my run freq, and unless I tweaked the RIT up 0.2 or so, I couldn't even tell that he was there. Not very scientific, I know, but this scenario would not have occured with the stock 930 first IF filter. These observations would later be confirmed on the low bands, where signals are much stronger. It was very easy to nestle in between some powerful signals and start a run. I copied some weak stations on the low bands that I'm convinced that I would not have been able to with the stock filter. I can only imagine what a rig like the Ten-Tec Orion or Elecraft K3 are like, but until the time comes that I can afford them, I'm happy that there is a way to keep my old stuff running and somewhat competitive. Thanks for all the qso's. Jan NAQP CW is one of my favorites. 73, Charlie N9CO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N9RV Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 286,671 One of my favorite contests. Thanks to K7BG for letting me get on in this one after missing last year's event due to my move. Bands were outstanding. The 10m opening was a great shock. At first it was only Florida, but did manage to work a few W1's. Nothing in the midwest, though. 20 closed early, but 40 was a bottomless pit. The biggest difference out here in MT are the pilueps. The first few hours were very intense, very different than Indiana. Many stations calling in. Did a lousy job on multipliers, hats off to N6MJ for showing us how its done. I was quite frustrated not being able to raise needed mults on backscatter on the high bands. Most guys that I couldn't touch on 160 ended up being worked sooner or later. Many thanks to NP4Z for digging my call out there. Thanks to Matt and Carrie for opening up their station. See you next year in this one for sure. - Pat N9RV HOUR 160CW 80CW 40CW 20CW 15CW 10CW TOTAL ACCUM ---- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- ----- 18 0 0 0 71 101 0 172 172 19 0 0 0 59 31 31 121 293 20 0 0 0 63 60 0 123 416 21 0 0 21 39 1 0 61 477 22 0 1 27 20 0 0 48 525 23 1 2 121 8 1 1 134 659 0 0 13 129 2 0 0 144 803 1 0 39 96 0 0 0 135 938 2 10 56 36 0 0 0 102 1040 3 38 67 0 0 0 0 105 1145 4 25 25 0 0 0 0 50 1195 5 25 20 0 1 0 0 46 1241 TOTAL 99 223 430 263 194 32 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4BW Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 53,001 Highlight was working KH6MB on 40 @ 0509 with 5 minutes left in the tank. Certainly was difficult to learn of the 'Shannon' story..... 73 Brian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NC4KW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 143,829 As I just returned from Sweden my body clock was still on Central European Time, so I was quite sure that the 1am EST end time was not going to work for me. That meant my 10 hours would be the first 10 with no breaks. My wife was her usual big help keeping me supplied with drinks throughout as well as bringing dinner in around 19:00 EST. That certainly made the break-less 10 hrs easier. This was my first full time NAQP from NC, having worked the others from Texas. It is much different. It was also my first single-op, having been part of a very successful M2 for many years. That is also much different. I really enjoy the M2 and hope to have the station completed for the next NAQP-CW and host a M2. None the less, this was fun and conditions were pretty good. 73, Bruce - N1LN (aka: NC4KW / Bob) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE1RD Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 1,575 This is only my second CW contest (the ARRL 10m contest in December was the first) and I must say I'm hooked! I operated QRP with my newly assembled K2. It is especially fun to work contests with a radio you built yourself. One weekend down and one to go. I hope to do at least as well next weekend during the phone-half of the contest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN3W Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 10,251 Part time effort....Mostly to test the 160 antenna...I need a REAL antenna on the high bands. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN7SS Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 37,210 Wow! An exciting contest with lots of great activity and even a 10m opening! No doubt that I'll win my category: "QRP with the 20m yagi laying on the roof waiting to be put up tomorrow." One bandpass filter was bad, so I went QRP so I could still use a second radio. It diligently CQed on 10m until after 50 minutes K4OGG in GA calls me! Twenty more stations over the next hour and then 10m was back to normal (gone). As usual at QRP, it took lots of search-and-pounce, lots of waiting in line, and lots of repeats to the "?". Previous years QRP winners had just above 300 QSOs, so I was pleased when I crossed that line, but I bet scores are a lot higher this year. Oh, yeah the 20m yagi laying on the roof is pointed North - probably not the best direction ... NN7SS, op Mark K6UFO Equipment: Two Yaesu FT-1000MPs 10m: 80m dipole loads on 80m ;-) 15m: Force 12 C3 at 55' 20m: 3-el SteppIR at 12' 40m: Cushcraft 40-2CD yagi at 50' 80-meter half-sloper NE and SE beverage receiving antennas TopTen Band decoders, ICE-419 filters, coax stub filters Writelog software QSO/MUL by hour and band Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm Off D1-1800Z - - - - 15/11 2/2 17/13 17/13 D1-1900Z - - - - 11/6 18/8 29/14 46/27 D1-2000Z - - - - 12/3 - 12/3 58/30 31 D1-2100Z - - - 50/29 5/2 - 55/31 113/61 D1-2200Z - - - 41/4 - - 41/4 154/65 D1-2300Z - - 4/4 8/1 - - 12/5 166/70 30 D2-0000Z --+-- --+-- 29/16 4/0 --+-- --+-- 33/16 199/86 D2-0100Z - - 21/4 - - - 21/4 220/90 30 D2-0200Z - 7/6 21/7 - - - 28/13 248/103 D2-0300Z - 14/11 7/0 - - - 21/11 269/114 30 D2-0400Z 5/4 4/0 11/3 - - - 20/7 289/121 D2-0500Z 5/0 10/1 1/0 - - - 16/1 305/122 Total: 10/4 35/18 94/34 103/34 43/22 20/10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NN7ZZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 155,038 I was cruising along and having a ball, ready to qsy down to 160 meters to gobble up the qsos and mults on a fresh band, but couldn’t hear a thing on the 160M sloper… unfortunately my only 160M antenna! I think the solder joint on the SO-239 has broken. No way am I going trudge through a foot of snow in 20 degree weather in the dark and climb the tower to fix it…. So scratch that band! I worked a couple loud and close stations with my 80M inverted V and that's it....So I eeked out a few more qsos on 80M and shut down an hour early…. Damn! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NO5W Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 37,026 The CW NAQP contests are two of my favorites. This year participation was good and there were some excellent CW operators in the crowd. And conditions were pretty good to boot -- I even made a few Qs on 15 meters. Hopefully that will be common place in the next few years. Time to dust off the mobile for the spring QSO parties. Hope to see you there and in the upcoming CW Sprint. 73/Chuck/NO5W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NP4Z Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 178,967 Started the contest 30 mins late due to problem with my 80 feedline, at 1830 all was good, the new emergency feedline was working, all was ok until I went to 80, antenna no good... went outside but couldnt locate the issue.. This morning found the rg8 chewed by one of my puppy dogs. I guess 80 wasnt for me this year and I had high hopes for the band. Made some qsos with the 160 antenna, but it was too hard. With 80 I could have made it to the top ten :( All in all very happy with the result, I still beat my personal naqp by 6k lets see if it stands after checking. Cu in phone... Felipe.. BTW down here the nick name for felipe's is PIPE and for those who had a hard time understanding will make the sending more understandable next time. NP4Z ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NS3T Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 22,048 Nice to see 10 meters open to the West Coast. Too bad there weren't more stations down there. I managed to work the first 2 hours and then it was off to a kiddie birthday party. I couldn't complain - I've been gone most of the last two weeks for work...so I watched a movie with the XYL and worked another 90 minutes before going to bed. See you next week on tape in the NAQP SSB. Send along pictures and your stories to radio-sport.net. 73 Jamie NS3T http://www.radio-sport.net Your home for ham radio contest news ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NT6X Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,574 The first contest from my NEW station and my first ever operation from home. TS-940 (borrowed) and a crappy all-band wire at 17 feet. If you worked me you have great ears! 73 Mike, NT6X ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NY4A Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 221,991 Great condx. Unfortunately thunderstorms stayed right off the coast and kept the noise at summer time levels. 73, Howie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3DF Class: Single Op QRP Total Score = 46,980 Really gotta get my act together on 80 m. I think I know the solution and if the weather stays reasonable, I'll make the needed adjustments. As usual, it's a jungle out there when you run qrp! 73, Doug VA3DF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA3DX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 81,480 160 80 and 40 were in nice shape.. lotsa fun , points for CCO Team # 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VA7ST Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 96,254 Flux: 76 | Ap: 4 | Kp: 2 SO1R Gear: * FT-2000 + N1MM Logger * Tribander at 45' * 40M half-square (2) * 40M twin "bush" verticals * 80M delta loop * Ground-mounted all-band vertical * Inv-L 160M (70' high, 60' horizontal) Conditions were pretty good up high, pretty lousy down low. I did a bit of pre-contest prep, making sure antennas looked OK. I spent an evening checking to see if I could use the FT-2000 and FT-920 safely in SO2R mode. Not yet, is seems. While I have the N1MM SO2R figured out and working with the rigs, the T-connectors I need for stub filters are on backorder. As an impatient ham, I wanted to know if antenna separation alone is sufficient for any useful two-band combination. I turns out it isn't adequate at 100W, though QRP would work a peach, hi. So I have to wait for the Ts to install stubs for 40/20 and 80/all on each radio and hope 25-30dB of suppression will allow me to try SO2R. One thing I didn't get going before 1800z was the Livescores.org score posting. So, a few minutes into my 15M run I decided to turn it on. Firewall asked if I should allow the score server to access the net. I was running stations, and absent-mindedly clicked "deny" instead of "allow." For the next 15 minutes, I was busy trying to keep the run going while authorizing livescores in the firewall controls, and ended up restarting the machine. Twice. At last, N1MM was posting my score and I enjoyed very much watching my score bounce up and down the list as the ebb and flow of Qs and mults willed. I highly recommend being part of the Livescores.org group. It really does keep you in the chair. Band by band, there were a few stories to tell.... Listened to 10M several times, but didn't even hear band noise, let alone stations. Total washout there. 15M was actually very good. When I first go to a band I do an S&P pass down then back up the band to catch as many new mults as I can, then find a spot to run. This time, I just parked on 21.023 and ran with it, working 64 right out of the gate. Felt really good. When I looked up again at 2030z I had 159 Qs in the bag and 32 mults (an NAQP best-ever for me on 15M, in fact). 20M was similarly hot. Nothing special to report, other than 2/3 of my Qs there were picked up in a single great-fun run of 168 Qs from 2100 to 2220z. I took my single 2-hour break from just before 3 p.m. till just before 5 p.m. Pacific (0252 to 0053z). Had lunch and a 1.5-hour nap. Woke up with 10 minutes left, went outside to double-check antennas and lower the tower as I wouldn't need the tribander again, and was in the shack a couple minutes late. Went to 40M right away. 40M was very hard work, especially early in this second session -- darkness falling, eastern and midwest not hearing me much at all. Tried the half-square aimed SE, the half-square aimed at W7/W6, even the "bush" wire verticals aimed NE. Managed to run 26 stations, but went to 80M for a while with just 30 Qs on 40M, knowing I was now doomed to a mediocre score. 80M was horrible. Really horrible. Finally worked a few W4s in the last hour. Propagation was rotten, with only western stations hearing me for most of the evening. I tried running, but did not have a single run. I know from recent contests the 80M delta loop works, but something's wrong as it sure didn't this time out. Nor did the all-band vertical backup antenna. Just one of those lousy days for low-angle vertically-polarized antennas. Will try tapping the delta for h-polarization and see how that does for these domestic contests. Qs halved and mults down to 27 from 39 two years ago using corner-fed dual delta loops. Thanks to Pat N9RV for taking me up to 80 from 160 for two hard-to-find mults. 160M domestic propagation was quite good, but nowhere near what it was for Stew Perry. A few midwest, mostly western states. Far better in the final hour than the first hours of darkness. Closed out with a few ILs and MNs in the final 10 minutes running. Had hoped to crack 100,000 points but not to be with the dismal 40M and 80M totals. Wire antenna overhauls resume as soon as the snow is gone. Year Qs Mults Score January NAQP CW ======================== 2003: 412 147 60,564 2004: 206 62 12,772 2005: -- -- -- 2006: 737 172 126,764 2007: 587 143 83,941 2008: 646 149 96,254 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE1OP Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 102,336 Was shooting for 100,000 points, got there with 2 hours op-time left, but decided to call it quits at that point... What's with all the Shannon's ?...Must have had 3 dozen of them... Most frequent state - TN at 39... Best hour - 137 Surprisingly enough, 80 m was the most productive band... Great fun, thanks for the calls... 73, Scott VE1OP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE2FU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 11,703 After long road in snow storm friday I was not ready for an early start. First 10 QSO at 5 watts ...after listening to 40 100w and 80/160 I had 300watts ! Hope I was able to help a bit with QC section. 73' cu next time Phil VE2FU QSO's on E-QSL.cc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3GLO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 24,200 jUST WAITING FOR REALLY GOOD CONDITIONS. BOB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3NE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 40,138 Got home late so 15 was almost closed but managed to pick up a few Qs. 20 wasn't bad while it was open. 40 and 80 was so bad at that time that I decided to do some antenna maintenance instead. Had wind damage on the wire ants because of a recent storm. Got back at 03z and by that time 80 and 160 was in pretty good shape. Cranked up the speed and had a couple of hours fun. CU next time. 73 Lali, VE3NE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RCN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,900 Late start. Missed some good mults. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3RZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 61,180 Rig : K2/100 Antennas : 20m vertical dipole 40m inverted Vee dipole 80m inverted vee dipole 160m inverted L Well, first contest from new qth. Antennas are all makeshift temporary items (means they will probably become permanent!). Put up inverted L Sat morning in time for contest, only 30ft high but 185 feet long. Tuned with series capacitor and had four 135ft radials. Very surprised to hear how quiet 160m was! Had lots of fun, couldn't load the 40m dipole on 15m so missed mults there - 40m was putting too much rf back into rig and could only run 50w on 40m (else K2 ATU complained). Tried N1MM for first time in contest, liked it. Will be trying it again. Memory near end of contest - K1EP sending BRADY as his name - I was so busy thinking it must be Ed that I had to ask for three rpts on name!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE6CNU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 105,492 I was quite pleased with my progress over last year as I went from 61,000 to 105,000 points. The band conditions were quite surprising on 15m as normally it is dead around here. I increased my running speed from about 26wpm to 30wpm and this paid off. Also I was pleased with the band conditions on 40m, which has been quite noisy and useless of late. 80m had some fairly good hauls (east coast) but seemed to die quite early. 160m was pretty typical as my noise is S9+ on good days. I think I made no more than 50 QSOs my last two hours, which really hurt the score. Still, it was loads of fun, especially with all those people named "Shannon". My favorite calls were ED in DE and AL in LA. Rig: FT-1000MP Antennas: TH6 DXX for 10, 15, 20m at 40', Inverted vee for 40m, and shunt-fed tower for 80m/160m. Software: N1MM 73, Jerry VE6CNU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE7FO Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 65,836 That was fun. In the interest of maximizing fun I went M/2 so I could operate the full 12 hours and also use spots. Weren't many others using spots, judging by the number of spotters. The most active spotters seemed to be W6YX and myself, though there were others who I don't remember. I spot everything, including my competition. Managed to catch the 10m opening because of spots. First test in a long time where I made Qs on all 6 bands. Got my WAB for TN (Worked TN on all 6 bands) I think things are picking up. Checked 160 from time to time. Lots of spots but I couldn't hear anyone until the last hour when I managed to make a few Qs and mults Didn't get any long runs. Best one was 62 Qs in 40 min. I did get momentary glimpses of potential cw competence on my part. I found that sometimes I was copying behind and that sometimes I was typing "Steve" without having copied it 1 letter at a time. Was hoping to be in NA SSB, maybe with some newbie ops, but other things in the way. I might be on for a while in the first four hours. 73 and thanks for all the Qs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VO1HE Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,180 Bands not great but at least 15 opened. There was quite a lot of jockeying for the frequencies. I heard many occasions where there were multiple stations CQing on the same freq; oblivious to each other. The contest doesn't last long enough to get that long-haul propagation to the west coast on the low bands just before my sunrise. Bit of fun though. Got moved to other bands by some stations only to have absolutely no propagation there anymore. 40 died out pretty quick after sunset, which was sad. Anyway, another S&P event for me and I totally forgot about the realtime scorebeoard, which was just as well considering my score HI. Thanks for the Qs and CU in the next one. 73 -- Paul VO1HE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VY2SS Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 110,050 Three biggest problems: - Started on the wrong band - 40M sucked - No 160M antenna 73 to all! -Robby ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 172,656 Great fun and non-stop action .. should have gone to 15 a bit sooner before it went really long. Monitored 10 all day but no joy. A number of us tried 10 with 5 minutes to go. I heard AR and a few other faint signals, but wasn't able to connect. a funny moment when Yuri, VE3DZ, answered my CQ (probably on his second radio). A minute or so later I found him CQing on another band and called him on my second radio which earned us both a good laugh. Overall stateside, missed AK and ND on all bands. Worked BC AB SK ON QC PE NF north of the border plus PR and XE. Special thanks to those who moved to other bands for me .. connected with all but one move. We'll be back on from KS next weekend to try this all again. Until then .. 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BR Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 50,120 All S&P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0ETT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 148,512 Enjoyable cw NAQP with good signals on 15 thru 160m, not bad for the low end of the solar cycle. Wkd most of our 3 team members: W0MU, K0EU, N0KE,N0HF, KJ0G, KE0UI, WT9Q, NC7J, K6XT AND K0FX. Never heard three others - KO7X, K8FC, or WW1M. 73 Ken, W0ETT Rig: IC756 pro3 to hf yagis and verticals. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0MU Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 172,848 First real attempt at some SO2R CW. It was an experience. 20 and 40 just did not happen here. Bad timing on my part? 160 was great! Super participation! 10m opening was to 1 land for about 5 minutes. I need another big beam to do SO2R right when two high bands are open. The vertical was not doing the job on 15 or 10. Thanks for all the contacts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0YK Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 131,580 No 20 meter antenna this time. 10 was a nice surprise. 80 and 160 were disappointing. Thanks for the contacts. 73, Ed - W0YK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1END Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 15,566 My usual S&P mode. Bands seemed to go long earlier than usual. Nice to snag a few calls on 10 meters. Thanks to everyone it was an enjoyable afternoon. Eldon - W1END ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1MX Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 95,325 Fun times. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1NN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 85,981 The CW NAQP is one of my favorite events, and even though I had to leave for a long business trip early Sunday morning, I was ready to put in a full effort, but computer problems early in the contest and the long skip and QRN on 80 and 40 in the early evening convinced me to give up this idea. It looks like 80 and 40 recovered later on, so maybe it was not the best decision, but at least I got a little more sleep. Comparing my score to some of the others from 8-land, I did better on 20 and significantly worse on 40 and 80. Overall, I worked very few OH, PA, MI and IN stations, and most of those were on 160. OTOH, it was fun to work 100 stations during my first hour on 160. It was also nice to work 48 states (missing the two Dakotas) during the contest. Of my 107 contacts on 160, 15 or 14% were with VE/A3 stations. Also worked quite a few stations from NE Canada and VE5-7 on the other bands. It's great to see so much activity from Canada. 73 & thanks for the contacts. Hal W1NN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1WEF Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 174,400 First full effort since the first year NAQP ran, 1986. Most of the time since then I've been away, but now know I've been missing alot of fun. Better participation than I expected, as well as better conditions than expected, especially on 160 and the opening on ten. JACK W1WEF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2DZO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,377 Doesnt get more part time than this- see you all next week from W4NC! 73, Henry W2DZO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2LHL Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 17,264 Thanks to those good ears out there that helped my make-shift antennas. What lousy weather here. and to those who use computer dbases, I prefer to use my middle name. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2V Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 9,295 I only had limited time for this as I was part of the crew setting up for HRU 2008. I used the special event station call W2V, for the 9th Annual Ham Radio University. HRU 2008 was held on Sunday, January 13, at Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, NY. Please QSL with SASE for special event QSL card via Phil Lewis N2MUN, 22 BELLE TERRE W, LINDENHURST, NY 11757. Ham Radio University is a cooperative effort among over 20 radio clubs and organization. It is a day of education to ideas, experiences, knowledge and fellowship among Amateur Radio Operators. See http://www.hamradiouniversity.org/ for more information. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3BBO Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 61,090 K2/100 @ 90 watts Inverted L on 160 Verticals on other bands. Thanks for all the QSOs, fun as usual. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W3UA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 84,812 Life is too short for QRP! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4HJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 1,711 Late start and toooo many other obligations..all s&P.. Many thanks to all the good cw ops who slowed down for old folks!! Looking forward to 160 CW.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4KAZ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,088 Crash and Burn. Murphy came and let the smoke out of my power supply, and no 20A backup supply. Frustrating. I gave running stations a go, and had enough success to stick with it without growing too bored and going S&P. Fun while it lasted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4MR Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 42,506 Half time effort between attending a college basketball game and playing a band gig. My first NAQP in a long time, and first ever using automated SO2R switching and N1MM. It was a 3 band affair with no antennas for 160 and 15. I did a quick tune across 10m with nothing heard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4NTI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 31,200 Couldn't hang as long as I hoped. Got into a few good runs, mainly on 40, my OCF on 80 did fine. However I didn't get my 160 back in line till today. And hooked up my Inv vee on 80 also. Still had fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4PA Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 41,200 Now have a complete SO2R contest station at the city lot home QTH in Knoxville -- only thing I am missing is real antennas! 135' dipole, 2 el 40m wire beam, 160 inverted L -- all at approximately 30' high. That's about as good as it's going to get, I think... Set a goal to make 400 QSO's operating the last 5 hours of the contest; started at 0100Z and made it to 400 at 0521Z, turned rigs off. 73 Scott W4PA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4PM Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 54,530 RIG: Ten Tec OMNI VII (This is an excellent contest rig!) ANTENNA: 176' tuned doublet at 60' I couldn't do the full ten hours but the 5.5 I managed to fit in were the most fun I've had in a while. Great propagation on 80M yielded good runs so I spent a lot of time there! 15 was open to the west coast but only for a few QSO's. One thing good about a low power and QRP contest is that you guys with those (explative deleted) clicking JA rigs are not quite so wide. CU in the next contest. 73, Puck - yes, that's right P U C K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4VIC Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 29,380 80 Meter dipole at 30 feet for 160! Got some points but tough slogging. Thanks to all for Q's. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4ZW Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 5,724 Soapbox : Only had an hour for this one in between family committments. 40 meters was a mess, weird noise and rapid QSB. I have a new noise source here that's 10 over 9 when beaming the N-NW quardrant (most of the US from here) on the high bands. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W5KFT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 215,220 I didn't leave give myself enough time to get set up and it was a real scramble to get set up. I had to swap out a computer and was still fiddling with antenna switching at showtime, so I started five minutes late. My gut tells me there must have been SOMETHING on 10 meters, but darned if I could find it. I got really excited when I heard and worked VE7FO at 2034Z, and tried to move a few W6s and W7s -- nada. The low bands seemed good, not too much noise here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6EEN Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 208,650 Dons 20m tower collapsed a few months ago, and took out the 160m antenna with it. There was a tiny bit of damage to the roof on that side of the property, but nobody was hurt which was the most important thing. I haven't been down there since the tower collapse, so I thought the 80m sloper may have been torn down also, so I decided to put myself on team 2. Luckily, the 80m sloper was still intact, and I even managed to load it on 160 to work a few mults. It was a very nice surprise to have 15m open so well at the beginning, and an even bigger surprise to have 10m open all the way to the east coast. Too bad 20m died so early. It was strange, there was a period of time when the only signals on 20m were a few KH6s and quite a few KL7s. 160m & 80m sounded really great, too bad we're currently using poor antennas on those bands. Thanks for all the QSOs & QSYs! 73 de Doug, N6RT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6GMU Class: Single Op HP Total Score = 11,644 At first I thought we were at Solar Max, as everybody I called, strong or weak, came back to me on 15 & 20. (My antennas ain't so hot....yet) It's amazing what a mere 100W can do with the propagation conditions we had. In short, it was quite enjoyable! TNX, y'all, for the Qs....de W6GMU Paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6OAT Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 82,460 Low bands were very noisy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6SJ Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 90,741 Totally clueless about openings on 10 and 15 meters. Remember MUF. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6YI Class: Single Op LP Total Score = 355,320 Thanks to Jim, W6YI, for the use of his station. Conidtions were great from out here on all bands. The line noise that sometimes appears from down there was almost non existent, which made for some very quiet bands. I was lucky to find the 10m opening in the 2nd hour. I checked a few times during the 1st hour and didnt hear anything so I figured it wasnt going to open. So I checked one last time, and heard a weak K4 calling somebody and nothing else. I moved a few W4's from 15 and worked them easily, so I started CQing and got a decent run going. It was open all the way from W1/2/3/4/8 plus a lone WI and MS station. The lowbands were in great shape. Jim just put up a new vertical on 160, and it seems to get out very well. Last year I only had 24 mults on 160, and this year I had 38. Quite an improvement. Thanks for all the qso's and qsy's. I will probably sit out NAQP SSB for the 1st time in several years, so good luck to all of you that will be on next weekend. 73, Dan N6MJ Callsign: W6YI Contest: NAQP-CW Category: SINGLE-OP ALL LOW CW Operators: N6MJ -------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y --------------------- Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1800 0 0 0 31 122 6 159 159 12.5 1900 0 0 0 1 65 78 144 303 11.3 2000 0 0 0 82 65 0 147 450 11.5 2100 0 0 4 52 10 0 66 516 5.2 2200 0 0 36 80 0 0 116 632 9.1 2300 0 0 78 31 0 1 110 742 8.6 0000 0 9 80 1 0 0 90 832 7.1 0100 0 48 84 0 0 0 132 964 10.3 0200 9 44 53 0 0 1 107 1071 8.4 0300 23 1 22 0 0 0 46 1117 3.6 0400 33 70 7 0 0 0 110 1227 8.6 0500 22 19 1 0 0 0 42 1269 3.3 ------------------------------------------------------ Total 87 191 365 278 262 86 1269 Gross QSO's=1276 Dupes=7 Net QSO's=1269 Unique callsigns worked = 644 The best 60 minute rate was 159/hour from 1800 to 1859 The best 30 minute rate was 170/hour from 1815 to 1844 The best 10 minute rate was 198/hour from 1829 to 1838 There were 376 2nd radio q's ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6YX Class: M/2 LP Total Score = 460,840 That was fun and everything worked well. We probably would get couple of more mults with additional in-band spotting help but otherwise I can't think of areas where to squeeze significantly more QSOs/points with current setup. Some nice rates (like first hour 284 QSOs) and beverages worked well on 80 and 160m. Thank you for nice NAQP CW and all the QSOs. See you in NAQP SSB and NAQP RTTY! QSO/MUL by hour and band Hour 160M 80M 40M 20M 15M 10M Total Cumm OffTime D1-1800Z - - - 132/36 150/35 2/2 284/73 284/73 D1-1900Z