2004 Soapbox Comments

Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments

W/VE Stations Outside New England

K1GU/4 – YCCC in the mid-South.

W1RH/6 – It was a blast operating from outside NE.  Nice to have most of the guys I work know me!    I operated from a friend’s place.  Force 12 C4 (10-15-20 plus two elements on 40 on a 30 foot boom), FT-990, Henry 3K.  I blew up the 40 meter beam.  I’m guessing it had a ferrite balun on it.  So I was not able to do much 40.  Just worked the big guns.  Also worked the same guys on 80.  10 and 15 were dead.  Nevertheless, I did 8000+ and I may even place for California.  Lots of QRM and all of them working NEQP.  What a fine thing!  Thanks for the mults.  Next year I’m thinking of doing the contest from Nevada.  Might excite some of the New England guys who want a mult.<>

K2EKM/4 – Only operated briefly in qp, but had fun.

N2CU – Tough going on Sunday with most stations hanging out on 20m or higher where I had no propagation. Most 20m QSOs were ESP level.   Thanks for the good ears out there. Fun contest though. Need more mobile activity please!

NO2D/0 – Not much time to operate, but always enjoy the contest because we lived in Mass for many years

W2UDT – I was only able to work the NEQP in spurts but still had fun. 40M was the band from here and it seemed cw dominated the band. Missed most of Saturday night’s 80M activity due to other commitments. Heard very little phone activity during the times I was on. Thanks to the mobiles for putting out counties! Looks like the contest was another success.

K3EGE – Another great QSO Party. Condx were marginal Sunday afternoon but at end 80 meters was great. See you next you 

K3MD – Not too much activity

K3TW – Lots of fun.  Thanks for a great QSO Party.

W3WH – I expected more activity

WA3HAE – First time playing in this party. I’ll be back! The mobiles did an outstanding job. Too bad I didn’t have better propagation. Location, location, location…

K4AMC – First time to send in log for NEQP.  Working three contest at same time is great.  Had to work Sunday missed lot of action.

K4BEV – One of my favorite contests.  Conditions way better than last year.  CU next time.

K4GF – Arghh! Hope to spend much more time with this next year!!!

K4PV – It was a great contest even with tough band conditions and QRN from here in North West Florida.

KF4ZEO – Had fun! Ten Tec Scout 50W G5RV

KG4QGD – Set a goal of toping my score from last year…and I did!   Thanks to those NE stations that had to pull me out of the noise.

KI4EGT – Nice Contest!

N4CW – Great fun! Especially challenging when storms and tornados moving into area. Precip static S9+ on again, off again. Would have enjoyed being on a lot more. Great mobile activity, notably, N1RR, K1KI, N1RL. Signals were weak into NC on Saturday PM, but things really picked up Sunday.  Thanks again.

N4NTO – Enjoyed the short time I got to play!    

N4PN – Thanks for another great QSO Party. Many thanks to W1VE/m for making sure I got Grand Isle, VT for the sweep…at 1934z with plenty of time to spare. Special thanks to W3SM for making sure I got Middlesex, CT for the next to last one and to Joel, N1JEO for giving me the last four in ME. Mobile Contacts: W1VE-16; K1KI-15; K1EP-12; N1RR-11; N1RL-9; N1JEO-8; K1DG-8; W1XX-8; W3SM-8; W1GS-5; N1SV-4; K1JP/p-4; W1WEF-3; K1VP-2 & N1YF-2. And also thanks to the mobiles who stopped by to give me one county and to the casual fixed station that answered my CQ. KI1G worked on all 10 bands/modes; AK1W missed only on 75SSB.

N4TB – Severe Thunderstorms plus work kept my total operating time to about three hours.

W4AU – Sorry I wasn’t able to put more time in this year; wx was too nice and the yard needed too much attention…

W4NTI – It’s getting better every year

W4TDB – This was a fun contest despite conditions.  Very few mobiles were heard.  I am looking forward to next year for a very relaxed and fun contest. 

W4YOK – I worked KI1G on 80 meters which is the LAST (#250) card I need for 5BWAS.

W4ZPR – I enjoyed your QSO Party again this year as usual.

WA4UF/m – Caught the end of the contest mobile while wife was geocaching.   FT-100 into homemade bugcatcher. Too lazy to get out & change bands.

K5KG/4 – I only was able to spend a few hours, but I enjoyed every minute of it.  Hope to hit it harder next year.

K5YQF – Thanks for the QSO Party.  I needed RI for state #49 for CW WAS and worked 5 of 5 counties! 

N5II – Great contest.  Would like to give more time.

N5YE – I appreciate all the participating stations giving me contacts.

K6DGW – Did much better this year despite poorer conditions.  15 opened for us out here on the frontier for most of Sunday, but not many stations tried it I guess.  Thanks for a fun contest.

KG6HAF – Thanks for the good ears in NE. Nice opening on 15 Sunday morning.

NN6DX(W1PR) – Frustrating condx from CA.  Nothing on 10, only a few on 15, and my trap rotary dipole on 40 just didn’t cut it, so spent almost whole time on 20 CW.  Still, a personal best for me so far.

WA6NPL – I have fun.

WB6BWZ/4 – Worked all six states again.   S&P between the MARAC County Hunters CW Contest, Indiana and New England QSO Parties.

K7QQ –  Some fun just not many mobiles for all the counties .   Wasn’t able to do a full effort but did manage some time.    15 a bit disappointing a few.

N7EIE – I enjoyed this contest.  I was surprised to get into New England at all from Washington with only dipoles at 50w.  See you next year

NB7F – Liked email reminder, software suggestions on website, mailing of ’03 results.

W7DPW – It was fun.  Thanks for sponsoring it.  I wish there had been some ten meter activity, still need some Qs on that band.

KC8YKQ – It was my first and it was a lot of fun!

W8TM – Rig Elecraft K1 4 watts up ladder line to 40 meter inv vee.

WB8YYY – Thanks for fun event!  When I found all the activity on CW I just had to join in!

K9EN – Had a good time in your QSO party and looking forward to next year.

K9QH – First time NEQP contester and loved it!

KJ9C/m – Fun… lots of rain in SW Indiana… flooded out of the SUV…

N9KO – Thanks for the great QSO Party.  Hope to see you in the Illinois QSO Party.

W9YQ – First time in this QSO party – fun, fun, fun.

WT9U/m – Operated mobile in the Indiana Qso party and submitted logs for the MARAC County Hunters CW contest as well as the NEQSO party.  Thanks to all who worked us in multiple Indiana counties even for zero points.

K0ERM – I was only on for a very short time as I had to work Sat. and spent most of Sunday in church activities.  I do like to get SD out for a multiplier but didn’t really have much time.  Made about 10 contacts is all. Goooood contest, maybe next year I can be more active.

N0ENQ – My reason for working the contest was that I need two counties to finish the first call area and did not get them this year either, so maybe next year.  Thanks for a fund weekend of search and pounce.

N0HF – Great activity from all NE States, thanks to the rovers for the needed rare counties.  On Sunday we made a batch of Clam chowder for the occasion.  See everyone next year!

WD0BGZ(KC0SDX) – This was the second time our new call and club station were used in a contest, had a great time …. The station op was WD0BGZ

VA3DF – Love the hours for this contest!

VE3XD – First time to operate this QSO Party in recent memory. Good fun although only 40M really worked well from here.

VE7NI – Great fun for my first time in the New England QSO Party.   It was nice to work some States that are sometimes difficult from British Columbia!<>

DX Stations

DL5MC/DL0ERF – Hello folks there New England!  Thanks for an other party!  Hard to get the mobiles by crazy sun – lousy conds.  Looong time before heard K1KI/mobile the first time.  Also some mobiles used the same fq?  Helped a few times especially the mobiles with points from my club DL0ERF too.

G3ZRJ – First attempt at this Qso Party.  Very enjoyable great operating standards.   Thanks to all who listened for a “little pistol”  station like mine from EU.    Thanks for a great “Test”

HA2MN/5 – Due to WEU and ARI contests there was some confusion.  I am going to take part part in the contest next year.  Hoping for better condx.  Thanks for organizers as well as stations giving me a contest report. I am going to take part next year more concentrated to this very interesting contest gives a great chance to work with NE stations in the activity period.

HB9ARF – A little bit better then last year only one qso on 21 and one on 7 MHz the rest on 14 MHz. Thanks to all and hope to hear you again next year.

HR1CP – I am HR1CP and was very happy to participate as much as possible in the New England QSO Party.

PA3ARM – Tke agn fer organizing es running the 2004 New England QSO party. Enjoyed it a lot agn .  Though 15m did not cooperate this year (Sunday afternoon hr no QSO’s )I managed to approach mi 2003 score/results…. Tks all the mobiles fer being on the road es Bob (W1RH, Tom K1KI) tks fer the QSO’s but in particular fer all the work es sending me the 2003 certificate es results (apprcd!!).  Cuagn in 2005

SN5Z – Great to participate. I operated Single-Op from my club station.  It was the first time I have ever operated in US QSO Party. Only last two hours of the  I will be on next year if only time permits.

New England Stations

AF1T – 15 and 10 meters were not very good, so I spent most time on 20 meters.  Please consider separate categories for phone, cw and mixed.

AK1W(K5ZD) -Missed the first 6 hours, then semi-serious for the rest (i.e., serious when on, but not on all the time).  Nice to have the ARI contest going to helpwith DX activity and mults.  The CH contest definitely provides more guys to work on CW.  Worked N4PN on 9 band/modes.  Missed him on 75m. 10m was open this afternoon but no activity. K4BAI moved me up there and then I moved N4PN.  Worked KI1G on 10 band/modes thanks to a Sunday afternoon run through thebands. Did a lot of SO2R practice.  Learned a new WriteLog feature that enables dueling alternating CQs on 2 bands.

K1DG/m – Poor planning on my part (letting Mrs. DG plan a family vacation to C6A with return Saturday afternoon of NEQP) limited my time and scrubbed earlier plans to do a multi-op with K1EP. Next year, Ed. Threw the 706 in the minivan and the hamstick/magmount on the roof Saturday evening for a drive to the nearby NH counties (HILNH, MERNH, BELNH, STRNH). 20 seemed to close early, but activity on 40 was pretty good for a while.  Single-op with no driver is kind of a pain. Drive 30 minutes, park, operate 30 minutes, repeat.

Sunday afternoon we had to take our daughter back to BU so I got some single-op-plus-driver time from ROCNH, ESSMA, MIDMA, SUFMA, then the reverse, with a side trip to HILNH to pick up the dog at the kennel.  Total about 250-300 QSOs I think. Almost all CW…a few on 20 SSB. Tried 15, was called by K4BAI who faded out before we could complete. Paper log. Great fun.

K1EP/m – Once again, the weather cooperated this weekend.  Actually, it was quite hot on Saturday and the sun was bright.  That made it tough to read the laptop.  You had to pay attention to the direction you parked the car so that the glare was minimal on the laptop.  As you can see, 40 and 20 were the bands I stuck to mostof the time.  I didn’t hear much activity on 15 and didn’t even go to 10.  I should have tried 80, but with a 3 foot antenna, I figured it wasn’t worth it.

The station consisted of a 706MkIIG, an Outbacker Stealth, and CT DOS.  The addition of CW paddle input to CT helped, as I now had a key with me and could answer people!  If you haven’t operated mobile CW before or from a crowded car seat, you have to understand to be patient with an op that is doing that.  You are in a tangle of wires from headsets, computers, power, keys, etc.  Sometimes you can’t just respond back fast.  Typing on a smaller laptop keyboard stuffed in front of the steering wheel makes for many unintentional mistakes too.  But in spite of all that it was fun. 

One time I tried to call someone on 40M to no avail.  I couldn’t understand what the problem was, until I realized that I had the antenna on 20M.  To go to 40CW, I had to add a capacitance clip on the stinger of the antenna.  It was a clip from a badge that included a safety pin.  To make the antenna work on 80M, I had to open the safety pin!  I didn’t have any encounters with locals or officials anywhere, so that was a plus.  I found some really nice locations with awesome views.  Thanks for all the Q’s and sorry I had problems with some of you.  Sometimes the local noise of cars made it tough.  I figured out that you can’t park in a lot that has a Dunkin’ Donuts drive in.  There is a constant stream of traffic, even at 9AM Sunday morning!

Being out in the country helped with noise, although one location in Maine had a high noise floor.  Otherwise it was rather quiet.  No RFI lockup issues at all, for which I was grateful.  You really need a driver for a contest like this.  I tried to plan a route that would allow for less driving time, but still hitting many counties.  I did 16 counties, but also logged around 680 miles this weekend. Good job by N1RR. I think that the counties in Rhode Island are small.  Heck, all of Rhode Island can fit into one county up in Maine!!

K1IB – Compared to 2003, I made more QSOs but found fewer multipliers for approximately  the same amount of operating time. Interest outside of New England appears to be increasing.

K1JB/p(+W1GF) – This is the third year we’ve flown around to different airports and operated Field Day style.  The operations are fun, but the logging isn’t.  Eacfh year I’ve had to spend several hours after the contest massaging the log.  Please change the rules so that New England stations do not need to log the county of other New England stations worked.  There’s no credit for working counties and it’s a pain to keep track of.

KA1ZEX – I operated exclusively in SSB except the one CW contact, I basically sat on 20M calling CQ until someone would come along and take over the frequency and make me go set up somewhere else. 20M was very crowded this time around, hard to find a clear freq to op on. Did not hear many NE stations, 10M and 15M were dead, did not hear any NEQP activity on 80M at all? Of course I’m still a general and the usual 80M yahoos keep me from using that band so that could be why I didn’t hear anyone else either. All in all a good time.

KB1H(+N1XS) – a great contest format…thanks to everyone for the QSO’s and QSY’s

KB1HDO – Showing up at Kenmore Square to support the Walk for Hunger at 0515 Sunday cut into my operating time. Maybe next year I’ll get to spend more time.  I did manage to QSO RI for WAS, though!

KB1MU – Could bands be worse?

KD1ZT – had a great time

KE1FO – Had fun.  SO2T (single op two tasks).  Have two research projects due Monday and Tuesday, so one half of the brain was in the contest, the other half was working on crunching census data in excel.  Had fun and loved the CW pileup practice.  Seemed to be more activity on CW than on Phone, never had more than 1 station call at a time on phone, but often had 2 or 3 deep on CW. From the few scores I’ve seen so far, my rate was well below others (191 q’s in 7 hours)  This may have been due to my half brained effort, or my very compromised antenna (ma5b).  Whatever the reasons, it was great fun, and can’t wait till next year.

KG1E – Thought we’d get on for a few hours but got caught up in all the excitement.To explain the propagation at THIS qth,  total was 847 QSO’s on 20 meters and 99 on ALL other bands combined (both modes).  Still looking for North Dakota…  Thanks to all the sponsors and the many participants.

KK1W – Great contest again this year. Sure was different working from home instead of roving!   Didn’t hear a squeak on 10 or 15. Had a great time on CW! Thanks everyone for making this the best one ever.

KS1J –  Ten and 15 were practically useless but 20 and 40 made up for it. Good to hear the DX in there even if it was off the back of the beam.

N1ABY – Seemed like activity wasn’t as good as last year & condx seemed poor, but  my score was up about 20% over last year. Ya gotta like it!! See you next year!

N1AIA – Well, THAT wasn’t as planned.  Sorry to anyone looking for W1QHG/m.  Got my new callsign plus a shift in travel plans, so ended up at home with a makeshift antenna.  Wait until next year!

N1API – I operated Phone on 10 – 15 and 20 meters.  I ran barefoot radio no amp, assisted, (DX Cluster).  Thanks for a great contest.

N1EP – Fun! But move suggested 75M freq out of the AM window.

N1FD(K2TE) -I operated with the Nashua Area Radio Club call for about 11 hours and had a lot of fun. Ended up about half a dozen states short and only worked 4 Canadian provinces. I did manage about 30 NE counties but not a lot of DX like last year. I was impressed with some of the guys who got serious.

N1H – Old Man of the Mountain Commemorative Special Event Station Franconia, NH

N1LN – Only had time to spend 3 hrs due to local weather and “other stuff” so decided to stay on 20 mtrs. Still looking for Tony – W1SVU ! !

N1NK – K1TL and I finished assembling the new SteppIR 3 element around 1800 local Saturday afternoon and got the tower tilted vertical and raised to 30′ or so.  Did a couple of quick tests to make sure everything was wired right. Antenna seemed to play like I expected.  Lots of change on the loud EU stations when I did the 180 trick.  Life looked good.  Maybe Murphy wracked havoc somewhere else.

Operated total of about 3 hours on 30m ssb barefoot.  lots of signals and a really good run from 0030 to about 0230 saturday evening.  A little bit Sunday evening as well.  Not many signals sunday and never did hear anything on 15 during the times I was in the shack.  40 and 80 meter dipoles are still on the ground.

N1SV – This was my first try at mobile contesting and operating was sandwiched in between family activities.  I powered a laptop from an inverter and was plaquedby inverter hash on and off.  I drove to Lunenburg and operarted WORMA for an hour and a half at the start of the contest mostly on 20m.  After returning home to have dinner with the family, I sat in my driveway in MIDMA for an hour and a half and operated 20 and 40m.  I even managed to work a few stations on 80m.    After having a lot difficulty starting the truck in the morning I decided to keep iit running at the rest of my locations so I wouldn’t run the battery down again. I drove out to Rindge and operated in CHENH for an hour and a half before having to return to Merrimack, NH for a family function.  I quietly ducked out at about 3 PM and operated in the in laws driveway in HILNH for an hour and a half.

N1VLQ – Had a lot of fun with it this year, as well.  Hopefully I’ll be able to do more in the future, but even the little time that I had was great. I’ve gotten 3 or 4 QSL card requests from my 60-some odd contacts, which is something new for me!  (Apparently those fellows hadn’t gotten Penobscot County yet.)  Kinda neat being able to help someone else out.

NB1B – For various reasons, I decided to do a CW only even this year.  Had a great time, but the score wasn’t quite up to some of the others.  Nice job by both KI1G and NT1Y.  Condx on the bands were not too hot- 10M was indeed open well to FL on Sunday, but no one was there.  Most of the 10M QSOs were NE stations that QSYed.   Missed 4 states this year: SC, Mt, Ar, and Hi.  Only 5 Canadian provinces were worked: VE1, 2, 3, 7, and 9.  I did find 56 countries, including VR2, KH2, EX, and 9M being about the rarest. Thanks to all of those that QSYed for me. See you next year!  

NT1Y – Got as much operating time as I could squeeze in between baby duties (5-month old girl, our first) and going for an hour run on Sunday when the rates were poor and it wasn’t raining.  I intended to operate SO2R but discovered that I’d forgotten most of what I knew about TR Log, so I elected to operate with a single rig while I relearned TR on the job.  (I had been experimenting with various Windows logging programs over the past two years but recently decided to return to TR for all SO HF CW & SSB operations due to its advanced SO2R features; in the future I’ll use CT-Win–the industry standard which everyone knows how to use–for all multi-ops and N1MM for VHF and digital contests).

Most of the EUs I worked wanted a serial number (which I gave out), I assume they were in the ARI test.  I can count these Qs for NEQP, yes?  Not much activity on 15m or 10m, I called dozens of CQs on those bands without response even tho there seemed to be propagation, especially to the south.  A station with the call 1K2XSE called me on 20m SSB.  That’s a “One Kilo Two” prefix.  I asked him twice if he meant “Italy Kilo Two” and he confirmed that he meant “One Kilo Two.”  Anyone else work him?  I’ve had ‘freebanders’ call me on 10m during contests with their wanna-be calls, but this didn’t seem like one of those.

Next year I vow to operate this contest SO2R and go for the gold.  I really like the 1am to 9am time off!

NY1S – Missed NV and HI. Only got 4 provinces: NB, QC, ON and BC. It was tough sitting in the shack and looking out the window at the two best spring days we’ve had so far.

W1ACT/P – This was the 11th year for the Fall River ARC to go to Martha’s Vienyard and operate portable from Gayhead Lighthouse.  We had some great weater this year.  We will back there next year.

W1EBI – The best laid plans….not much time for it this year afterall, but it sure is fun being the prey.  Mostly running, had a few pileups too, but no time Saturday night to work 80m.  Got called by DEand WY–where are they in SS?–also ZA1FD.  Saw 193 on the meter, I think that’s my personal best.

W1END – What a blast.  It’s great being in the spotlight.  Conditions were pretty good in late afternoons but early Sunday there were either few people on or propagation was lousy.  Many thanks to all the organizers and operators.  Rig was TS830s (100W), HF6V vertical and log-EQF software.   

W1JQ – Almost threw in the towel before the contest started–I got home from taking my daughter to the library at about 2:30, got on the air, struggled to find stations to work, and almost convinced myself that NEQP was dead.  Then I had the D’Oh experience.  The 15 or stations I worked between 2:30 and 3 are *not* in my log.

Lots of activity–though worked less New England than I thought I would.  Not sure why that that is–maybe because I spent most of my  time running, rather than hunting.  Better score than last year, more Qs, much more on CW, though fewer multipliers, which disappointed me. A really nice 75M run at the end made me wish I had put a bit more eeffort into phone.

Didn’t get loads of DX multipliers (only 15 or so), but there was lots of activity from Russia.  And it’s fun to have the DX call *me* on 80m (which happened once or twice).  Was 15 meters as miserable for everyone else as it was for me?  Sunday seemed really dead, too.

W1MKY – I had a great time in the NE QSO Party. 20 meters was very good.

W1NQ – I had 3 hours of fun operating.

W1QK -Only operated the last few hours and CW only. I’d suggest changing the exchange abbreviation from FAI CT to FFD CT for Fairfield County… seems easier on CW.  Thanks for organizing the contest. I hope to operate longer next year, but it always falls on the same weekend as the XYL’s birthday…..

W1RM – My first serious effort in NEQP — lots of fun, especially with 2 other QSO Parties and ARI all going on at the same time!

W1TO -Very limited operation from home when not at K1TTT.

W1VE/m -What was going to be a M/S mobile turned into a single-op/driver for me…   Did 14 counties, about 600 miles of driving, and some Murphy.   My laptop would not boot when I got up on Day 2 — tried   everything to get it to start, but no go.   So, went to paper logging. Could not operate much while driving, so would go to next county, stop and  operate for 45 mins to an hour, then on to the next. Called a few guys on CW while mobile-in-motion. 20 and 40 were the meat-and-potatoes bands, with 80m great at night.  Didn’t hear a single sig on 15 or 10.     I was N4PN’s only QSO in three counties, and his #67 when in Grand Isle VT.   (I wasn’t  going to go there, but thought, why not?)   Never heard K1EP/m or K1KI/m — we were probably too close, but thought we might have worked on 80m.   I put a shelf in my pickup and ran the 756ProII as the main radio, and myFT847 as backup.   Sweet to have a high-performance radio in the mobile!   ATAS-120 for 40-10, and an 75m Hamstick with a capacity hat to get it to run on 80m.  Activity seemed to die after 12pm Saturday… Got to RUT VT about 12:15pm, and hard to scare up some QSOs.   I have to convert the paper log… Looks like aprox. 500 QSOs though… Lots of DX — bunch from many counties.

W1VEH – I was  hoping I would hear more Maine counties on the lower bands.  Only got 7.

W1VIV – Great fun!  Sure enjoyed the contest.  Condx not great, especially Sunday.  Was it my imagination that 40m RTTY stations seemed to intentionally QRM CW contesters on Saturday night?

W1WEF/m – I  operated from 8 counties on the way back from Connecticut to Cape Cod. Made about 75 Qs, all on 20CW but didnt keep a log.

W1XX/m(+K1XA) – Multi-op again this year and fun as always.  Intended to put on all 5 RI counties but ran out of time…so cut out the well represented Bristol county in favor of more time at Newport.  First time to operate from Providence County actually within the capital city itself.  Operated from predetermined sites to stop rather than any “in motion” operating.  Each site was within view of the scenic ocean.  Ran 100 watts with a Yaesu FT-847 from a GMC Safari van.  Most fun is working other NE counties especially the other mobiles.  Will do it again next year.

W1YK(KI1W N3SX) – Really limited effort from ‘YK for this NEQP.  That’s what happens to a  university club when a contest falls the weekend before finals for the last quarter.  Especially when some of the club’s biggest contesters are seniors that are trying to graduate.  The call from friendly neighbor KA1ZEX warning us that our amp was putting out an ugly signal put us down to low power a few minutes into the contest.  We’re going to repair the amp and some other station components over the summer, so look for us in the fall contest season.

WA1S – My first year in the NEQP. I wish I had time to put in a full effort. Maybe next year. I was not able to log the NE counties in CT so had to just enter the state. According to the rules we only get credit for the state anyway so don’t understand why the rules ask us to copy the county information. Only missed ID and HI for states.

WA1VKO – It was fun to operate for the 3rd year in a row.  Would humbly make a suggestion as I am not the one to do the work – NEQP scoring is clearly giving the CW ops a large advantage – would suggest 3 classes comprising of cw only, ssb only and mixed – either that or some sort of weighted scoring to even things out.  10m and 15m dead at my location… only 1 contact on 15m and that with a CT station.  40m was the workhorse with Saturday night openings to the west coast.  First time I’ve worked the west coast on 40m.  20m was OK.  For the 3rd year in a row very little activity on 80m – presumably because all us NE stations contacted the other NE states on other bands and there was not a real need to operate on 80m.  Would like to see a way to involve 80m more.  Maybe allow NE stations to county the county multiplier also?  or for working all counties in individual states?  Any way – great weekend and great contest.  Looking forward to the first weekend in May 2005.

WA1ZYX – As usual, I had a ball, but sure do wish we could change the rules so new counties worked would count as a mult – otherwise, this is about the same as SS.

WO1N – Good Fun

K2LE/1 – With most antennas broken during the winter season was tempted to skip this year’s NEQP but contest madness prevailed – used a busted tribander with a tuner and the 160m inverted vee.  Sri had to leave early on Sunday.

N8WXQ/1 – Had a great time. Was Called by 4U1ITU! See you next year.