by Tom Frenaye, K1KI – frenaye@pcnet.com
Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments
Introduction
A total of 421 logs were submitted for the 2010 NEQP, resulting in 60,940 QSOs. This was down a bit from 2009 when the ARRL’s Year of the State QSO Party boosted totals. Even so, activity was strong despite some solar fireworks on Sunday.
Propagation
The contest started on Saturday with very good conditions and there were plenty of stations to work late into the night. As local midnight approached in New England the bands were active but signals started to have some indications that the ionosphere was changing as there was a little flutter to some of them. The geomagnetic indices show the results in the graph below, where the K-index climber early in the morning and stayed at high levels until the contest ended.
Few people made QSOs on 15 meters and there were fewer on 10 meters. The big bands were 40 and 20 meters, with a decline on 80 meters from previous few years.
Spaceweather.com had a story about the auroras on Saturday night: http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=03&month=05&year=2010
| 80m | 40m | 20m | 15m | 10m | |
| QSOs made by W1s | 3,436 | 15,267 | 23,834 | 898 | 65 |
| Different stations worked | 649 | 2,599 | 4,791 | 352 | 44 |
| QSOs made by non-W1s | 1,185 | 6,613 | 9,426 | 209 | 2 |
| Different stations worded | 132 | 395 | 594 | 62 | 2 |
Mobiles
There were not as many mobiles in 2010, but they managed to cover more counties (107) than the year before. Brian/NJ1F and Len/KB1W sprinted through 33 counties in all six states as NE1QP/m for 63,700 points and more than 600 QSOs. In doing so, they beat their record from 2009 and set records in ten counties! Ann/K1QO/m was aided by Mike/N1IX in a 9 county effort covering New Hampshire and Vermont, setting three county records.
From Ann/K1QO/m
Our first venture out as a mobile, it certainly was N1IX and K1QO’s excellent adventure and it was a blast!!!!!! Many thanks to help from the “Roverhood”, in particular N9NE. Todd’s an incredible mobile mentor, friend and moral support all rolled into one. It was just so cool and seemed so appropriate that he would also be our first q.
The ride was wild, mountain roads, high speeds to make it home early enough to make the spouses happy, a 10 county tour in 5.5 hours. The Presidential range peaks in the White Mountain National Forest were snow covered and stunning as the sun set. It was so much fun to be the sought after station.
We were both on moose lookout going through the 102 stretch in VT and had to cut the trip short bumping up and down on a small stretch of road with freshly plowed corn fields and a trailer with dozens of junk cars in the front yard.
High points of our trip included; N9NE as our first contact, truly it’s his style, this is a guy who can bag two pelts within one minute of the QRP fox hunts, what a FB op!!!! Being called by K4BAI, a contesting Olympiad and FB gentleman,. Ann’s first /m contact and she was so thrilled to be on the receiving end of the call she dislodged the USB cable on the Microham 🙂 Fellow, YCCC’er W6PH sending us KB’s, K1ZZI-8 counties, N4PN-6 counties, DL3GA-5 counties and NF4A, K0IO, K4LTA, N2WN, K1PT-4 counties.
K1ZZI you are incredible, it was so cool to hear you in all those counties, 8, thank you so much for your support, it was incredible!!!! Our effort was limited primarily to the 20M Hamstick, bumper mounted. When we tried to switch to 40M, the unguyed antenna gave us problems so we had to switch back to 20M and it was late and 20M was pretty dead.
We were not loud, we’ll improve, we didn’t have much time, but we had more fun than a barrel of monkeys and we’re ready to do this again soon!!!!
Without knowing it, Bob/WA1Z/m and Tom/K1KI/m, pulled in for the night in the same small town in central Maine, but neither saw each other. Both also ended up with the same number of muiltipliers(78), but Tom had a 240 QSO edge when it was all over. Art/K1BX/m and Jim/W1KQ/m tried out with their first NEQP mobile efforts – hope they’ll both be back in future years!
From Bob/WA1Z/m
Despite conditions, this is still my second best effort behind last year’s when we had quiet conditions and awesome activity. It only took 40 minutes before I took a wrong turn in my route on Saturday. Ended up spending more time in WALME than I had planned and spent the next three hours trying to catch up to my scheduled route. Aside from the wrong turn, the route was almost identical to last year except that I discovered two spots I had planned to use as operating locations were closed due to construction. Never got a really great run going at any point during the weekend.
There points on Sunday when 20 seemed like a ghost town. Highlight of the weekend was when DL5AWI called in on 80 Meters with a booming signal early Sunday morning. Thanks to everyone who called in all weekend. Several stations were worked many times. Those with ten or more were: K1ZZI (18); N4CW and NF4A (16); N4PN (15); N2WN and NA4K (13); K9CT and W8TM (12); K0LUZ and N4ARO (11); and DL5AWI, W4UCZ and WB4ZPF (10). Special thanks to DX stations DL3GA, DM3ZF, HA2MN, G3WPF, LY9A, SM5CIL, OK1AOV, SP5SA, UA6LCN, and US5XD who called in multiple times throughout the weekend as well. Big thank you to Tom K1KI and the NEQP organizers for another fun weekend!
Station: Elecraft K3, Nissan Pathfinder with two antenna mounts on hatchback door Two Hustler MO-2 masts on trunk-lip mounts supported half-way up by a homebrew harness attached to the roof rack. On masts were: 80 Meter Hustler RM-80, 40 Meter Hustler RM-40, 20 Meters: Hustler RM-15 with DX Engineering Hot Rodz capacity hat, 15 Meters: Hustler RM-15 with DX Engineering Hot Rodz capacity hat, Writelog on laptop PC powered by car jumper style batteries.
It is nice to hear and work mobiles from outside of New England again. Mel/KJ9C/m had the biggest totals as part of his Indiana QP efforts.
USA/VE/DX Results
Check here for detailed results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band info for the leaders –> Band-by-band
USA outside New England
In the multi-single category Dick/N4ARO and Barry/N2BJ battled for the top, with Dick focusing on CW and Barry on SSB. Dick edged out Barry with fewer QSOs but a larger county total by 17,696 to 13,462. Alan/N5NA grabbed the Texas record.
In the single operator high power category, perennial champ Paul/N4PN grabbed the top spot again with 563 New England QSOs in all 67 counties for 51,657 points. Red/K0LUZ slid into second place with a clean sweep of counties as well, but had 150 fewer SSB QSOs, for 40,803 points. Third went to Ralph/K1ZZI‘s all CW effort with nearly 300 QSOs and 65 counties for 37,830.
Other notable results with more than 60 counties came from Ned/K1GU/4, Bob/W0BH, and Bert/N4CW. It’s often tougher when you’re too close because signals often skip over those within a few hundred miles. Tom/K3TW and Jeff/N8II had big totals considering there was little or no short skip on 20m or higher. Kurt/W6PH took a steady route and had the top score from the west coast. Seven high power records were set for top efforts in Alabama, Tennessee, New Mexico, Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin and North Dakota.
From Tom/K3TW
Many thanks for another exciting New England QSO Party. Band conditions were slightly below last year, especially on 20 meters with limited short skip conditions. Congratulations to the fine New England operators and especially the mobile stations for once again activating so many rare counties.
The largest number of entries comes from the single operator low power category. Charlie/NF4A earned the victory from Florida with 377 QSOs and all counties, with Joel/NA4K and Julius/N2WN, both from Tennessee, just a bit behind him. Joel also had a sweep of all 67 counties and Julius was one short at 66. Filling out the top scorers were Bob/WA1FCN, Paul/W8TM and Craig/K9CT, (Alabama, Ohio and Illinois) all with more than 60 counties and more than 200 QSOs in their logs. Jim/K9YC was the top scorer from the far west with 130 QSOs from central California.
From Julius/N2WN
Tough year, but always nice to play in this one. The storm systems rolling through the region were pretty darn impressive. Will be very interested in seeing how Paul did, usually he booms in here, but hardly heard him until near the end, along with Ralph and John. SECC may be giving TCG a run for da money hihi Great job by everyone, participation seemed a bit down, but the folks who were on were busy. Again, the mobiles kept things hopping, K1KI (21) Tom was pounding the metal in more ways than one, NE1QP (13), WA1Z (12) know I missed a few of Bob’s stops Saturday eve, K1BX (6), W1QK (4), K1QO (4)… Last multiplier was KENME, would have had it from WA1Z I think, but W1KX showed up at the end of the contest. So, got 66! Missed ESSVT! This would have been my first sweep, but as it is, it was my highest multiplier count in NEQP.
Low power records were set by Jim/K1TN(NJ), Alan/AC5O(LA), Jerry/N5KGY(MS), Sterling/WA7JHQ(NM), Dave/W0VX(TX), Paul/W8TM(OH), Craig/K9CT(IL), and Charles/K0HNC(KS). The top CW-only low power score was from Craig/K9CT and the top SSB-only effort was from Alan/AC5O.
The QRP battle was led by Will/WJ9B with 182 QSOs and 58 counties for a 19,024 score and almost beat his Florida record from 2009. Second went to Bill/K4LTA in Tennessee and third to Tony/K8ZT in Ohio. New QRP records were set in Virginia, California, and Nebraska.
Canada
Alan/VA1MM had the top Canadian score with 211 QSOs and 56 counties in a 17,696 point low power effort. His score almost matches the previous year’s high power effort! Not too far behind was Ed/VE4EAR who had the biggest score ever from the western half of Canada at 13,462 – just a touch more than his high power score from 2009. Both were also provincial records. The top QRP score came from Jeff/VE3CW.
DX
The tough conditions on Sunday cut into the QSOs for many DX stations. Andreas/DL3GA had the highest high power score but it was less than half that of the 2009 leader. Only 15 of his 101 QSOs came on Sunday. The top low power entry was from Tibor/HA2MN who made 66 CW QSOs and his 5,148 points set a country record.
From Tibor/HA2MN
The new sunspot cycle brought a fair propagation this year. I could operate almost all stations I heard even though some patience was needed to wait for the right moment. Sometimes I had to break trough US continental QRM. Mobiles made a very good job to pick my weak signals up. I counted on the Sunday afternoon NE activity but a severe geomagnetic storm made bands dead here. Thanks for the Qs, see you next year. Rig TS-530SP 100W ant end-fed 21 mtrs long wire above flat roof.
A few records were set by DX stations, including Yoshi/JA9CWJ who tied the Asian record, Arne/SM5CIL and Kurt/SM6Z who set high and low power records from Sweden, and Gary/ES1WST with the first entry from Estonia.
For a full list of current records –> Records
New England Results
When it comes to the multi-operator single transmitter category, Dave/K1TTT and his crew of operators (K1SFA, W1TO) has owned the top spot since the NEQP started in 2002. In 2010 they topped all of their previous efforts with a new record of 309,582 points, resulting from 754 CW QSOs and 949 on SSB, along with 126 multipliers. Bill/K1GQ finished second with 1045 CW QSOs and 181,830 points. Pulling in third was the Barnstormers of NZ1U with K1EBY, KB1DFB, KE1LI, NB1U, NZ1U, W1TJL, and W1UJ as operators.
The unofficial multi-operator multi-transmitter category featured the W1ACT group (Fall River ARC) on Masrtha’s Vineyard Island (Dukes County MA), and they finished with more than 1,300 QSOs and a 182k score, with W1GLO, the Cape Ann ARA) following in their footsteps with more than 400 QSOs.
The single operator high power leader was Dennis/W1UE, posting a 265,843 point score based on 1,053 CW and 475 SSB QSOs, and 103 multipliers. This set a new record, besting one Dennis set a couple of years earlier. Second place went to Dale/AF1T who pushed 1m709 SSB QSOs into his log for 176,027 points. Andy/K2LE grabbed the third place position.
From Dennis/W1UE
One of these years we may even get even good propagation for this contest, but it definitely didn’t happen this year! 15M never really opened to anywhere; the only reason I had more than a few Qs there was the 2nd radio.
All the 10M QSOs, were QSYs, with N8II actually moving me to work WV there. Even those I did work on 15M were pee-weak. 80M was quite noisy, and got worse Sunday as the thunderstorms approached.
There was also quite a drop-off in activity when the ARI contest ended when all the crowds of Europeans suddenly disappeared and it became even more challenging to keep the rate up.
This is an excellent contest to practice SO2R dual-CQing, which I did probably 75% of the time. Being on 2 bands at the same time helps keep the rate up, and gives the op something to do.
Thanks to everyone for the Qs, and a great big thanks to Krassy K1LZ for the use of his KB station!
The single operator low power title was a close one! Rick/N1DC just outdistanced his competition with 63,505 points. The next three finishers were very close with Peter/AE1T(NH), Bill/W1WBB(RI) and Frank/K1MAA(CT) separated by less than 1,000 points.
From Rick/N1DC
Thanks to the NEQP organizing team for another great QSO party. I hoped to exceed my score from last year but fell short due to horrible 15M conditions on Sunday. 15M was the worst I’ve experienced in a contest sounding a lot like 10M (no stations!!). I could barely hear WWV on 20 MHz and knew it was going to be rough going.
I was able to improve on multipliers to 67 but fell way short on total Q’s due to 15M. This ended up making the difference and cost me at least 12K points. Still a great time overall and fun to see the rate meter up to 150. I worked everyone I could hear except for one station. I’m not sure of the call sign and did try all the features in my Omni 7 for several minutes, but could not pull you out of the noise. Sorry!
Results: 43 states (missed SC,AR,HI,ID,AK,ND,SD), 5 provinces, 12 DX countries Station: TenTec Omni7 100W Antennas 4 element 10/15/20 at 35 ft, 80/40M dipoles Still using CT and an old HP Pavillion 500MHz PC!
Thanks for all the QSO’s including many with mobile operators.
From Bill/W1WBB
This is a great event to practice “running a frequency”, especially as an in-state participant. I enjoyed doing that quite a bit this NEQP weekend. Murphy struck early this week with sustained high winds bringing down my 10-80m OCF dipole due to a broken wooden antenna support…emergency repairs were made but still has the aerial 25% lower at < 30′. Still worked quite well, particularly close-in domestic contacts.
Band condx were decent Sat. but the A-index jumped to well over 20 Sun. AM and the high bands really suffered. Stayed busy Saturday making S&P Q’s with the 7 Area and IN QSO Party ops, as well as a few MARAC County Hunters and ARI Contest participants for mults. Nice to have M6GAS/m (!) call me on 20m for a new mult.
Cool to work Nantucket Island MA in rare NANMA (tnx W1NQT) for the first time ever. I was amazed to work so many other New England stations, particularly on the high N1MM Logger shows 44 of 67 NE counties contacted…worked most of the W1 mobiles in the last hour or so – K1KI/M, NE1QP/m, WA1Z/m and W1QK…great job!
Thanks to all for the contacts. I appreciate the patience (.-…) {!} during occasional keyboard mishaps on CW causing unwanted/locked-up screen views and therefore resorting to temporary paddle keying. I’m improving on handling these miscues.
Running QRP in a contest takes a lot of patience. John/W1XX decided this was the year for his best QRP effort and with a balanced approach of 338 CW and 251 SSB QSOs, found himself on top of the leaderboard with 69,525 points. Second place went to Steve/AA4AK with 66,096 and third to Paul/K1XM at 56,240. Steve has been a very consistent finisher in second place, just needing a little more to reach the top. Paul earned a plaque in 2009 and decided one was enough, so he was rooting for others to finish ahread of him.
| From Paul K1XM Last year I entered the NEQP low power. I didn’t win but I had the high Massachusetts score. A few weeks ago a humongous plaque arrived. This thing was bigger than my radio. I thought about winning a few more and building a doghouse out of them but I don’t have a dog and no self-respecting cat would live in such a thing. Also I was busy Saturday evening so this wouldn’t be a full-time effort. I had been working on a low-end SO2R box project and I decided I would use it for the NEQP. I cabled it in and then realized that unlike my regular SO2R box this one doesn’t have a keyer. The only WinKey I have is part of the traveling station gear. It has dedicated cables and nothing matched what was in my home station. Eventually I connected it using headphone splitters as male-male barrels and lots of adapters. The WinKey is built into a four port USB serial adapter which combined with my home station adapter and the SO2R box adapter resulted in thirteen serial ports on my computer. Several of them had the same COM port numbers and, no surprise, nothing worked. Eventually I disabled a some ports, renamed a couple more, and a few reboots later I was good to go. Meanwhile I had missed the first hour and a half of the contest. I didn’t want to go low power again, and with all the ungrounded and unshielded cable and adapters I didn’t think it was a good idea to run the amp. A quick check of the NEQP website showed that there was no plaque for top QRP in Massachusetts so I decided to go that route. The K3 is easy to set for five watts output but the FT-1000mp needs an external wattmeter, so after all that trouble I only transmitted on the K3 and used the FT-1000mp to check bands. I had about a half-hour Saturday evening before I had to leave. When I got home late Saturday night I got back on the air for a while. Then the computer overheated and shut down and I went to bed. The next morning I opened the computer and removed the dust bunnies and then fired everything up. Conditions seemed down from last year. I didn’t hear as much interesting stuff on 20 and there was very little Europe on 15. I only made a few QSOs on 10 but two of them were South American multipliers. W1UE was my only 5-band QSO, and that only because he moved me to 10. I worked lots of YCCC stations and a few guys out of the area – thanks K1GU and W6PH. The SWR on the lower tribander was a bit high and the SWR on the 80 meter wire was very high, which made me think the wire antenna was touching the tribander. I am surprised I was able to work anyone on 80. Near the end of the contest I realized I was going to break the NE QRP record. I was concerned that I might win the category and get a plaque. I heard AA1CA on and hoped that he was QRP and that he was doing well. Or, if there was a QRP plaque, maybe it would be smaller? Fortunately, after the contest I learned that W1XX had done a serious QRP effort – he even operated QRP phone, which I was not able to convince myself to do. John, if you are reading this, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR LOG. |
Frandy/N1FJ operated portable with Matt/W1MSW from a cabin in Warren, Vermont in Washington County. Here are the photos from his special QSL card:
N1FJ + W1MSW 
W1MSW on SSB 
N1FJ on CW 
N1FJ launching antenna 
N1FJ raising antenna
Check here for detailed results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band leaders –> Band-by-band
Overall there were 43 New England records set in various categories during the 2010 NEQP. Check out the NEQP records page for details –> Records
How’d you do hunting multipliers?
Four stations worked all 67 counties – N4PN K0LUZ NF4A and NA4K, and another 8 had more than 60 of them..
The five counties with the fewest QSOs report were Orange VT(29), Suffolk MA(31), Addison VT(52), Essex VT(54), and Knox ME(56).
Ten New England stations worked all 48 contiguous US states, W1ACT and K1TTT found 8 Canadian Provinces. The top number of countries went to K1TTT with 70, followed by W1UE and K2LE at 50.
While New England stations do not get multiplier credit for each New England county, they do get QSO and state multiplier credits – and have to copy the county as well. Dennis/W1UE managed to work 51 of the 67 NE counties, followed by K1GQ(47), W1HIS(45), W1WBB(44) and AA4AK(43).
Club Competition
For the second year in a row the Tennessee Contest Group grabbed the top spot – this time with 14 entries and 164,387 points points. Also for the second year in a row, the race for second place was a photo finish with the Florida Contest Group edging the South East Contest Club.
In New England, the CT-RI Contest Group crossed the finish line first again. The word on the street is that they are organizing a big effort for 2011 so watch for some extra activity from Rhode Island and neighboring counties!
Non-New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Tennessee Contest Group | 14 | 164,387 |
| Florida Contest Group | 11 | 140,460 |
| South East Contest Club | 10 | 138,603 |
| Society of Midwest Contesters | 7 | 80,243 |
| Alabama Contest Group | 5 | 56,857 |
| Potomac Valley Radio Club | 3 | 47,094 |
| Mad River Contest Club | 6 | 42,332 |
| Lynchburg Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 14,094 |
| Northern California Contest Club | 10 | 13,326 |
| Northern California DX Club | 1 | 12,614 |
| Newton Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 2,000 |
| Western New York DX Association | 2 | 9,440 |
| Metro DX Club | 2 | 9,348 |
| Central Virginia Contest Club | 1 | 9,328 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 3 | 7,505 |
| Minnesota Wireless Association | 3 | 7,210 |
| Central Texas DX and Contest Club | 3 | 7,143 |
| Allegheny Valley Radio Association | 2 | 6,060 |
| Franklin County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 5,846 |
| Haros Radio Club | 1 | 5,148 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 1 | 5,143 |
| Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 4,884 |
| Western Washington DX Club | 3 | 4,488 |
| Southwest Ohio DX Assn | 1 | 4,420 |
| Southern California Contest Club | 1 | 3,740 |
| Redmond Top Key Contest Club | 1 | 3,604 |
| Mother Lode DX/Contest Club | 1 | 3,348 |
| Hudson Valley Contesters and Dxers | 1 | 3,293 |
| Louisiana Contest Club | 2 | 3,175 |
| EM Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 3,135 |
| Missouri DX/Contest Club | 1 | 3,060 |
| Lafayette DX Association | 2 | 2,858 |
| Derby City DX Association | 1 | 2,842 |
| Kaunas University of Technology Radio Club | 1 | 2,100 |
| Contest Club Ontario | 3 | 2,026 |
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 1 | 1,824 |
| Northeast Wisconsin DX Association | 1 | 1,144 |
| New River Valley Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 969 |
| Northern Rockies DX Association | 1 | 846 |
| QCWA Chapter 119 | 1 | 828 |
| Boring Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 800 |
| Russian Contest Club | 1 | 756 |
| Arizona Outlaws Contest Club | 3 | 752 |
| British Columbia DX Club | 1 | 714 |
| Northern Lights Radio Society | 1 | 660 |
| Fort Wayne Radio Club | 1 | 648 |
| Delaware Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 570 |
| Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 450 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 1 | 384 |
| Forx Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 320 |
| Colorado QRP Club | 1 | 312 |
| Loudoun Amateur Radio Group | 1 | 99 |
| South Texas DX & Contest Club | 1 | 81 |
| WY DXCC | 1 | 60 |
| Top of Europe Contesters | 1 | 32 |
| SK5AA – Vasteras Radio Club | 1 | 32 |
| SK5DB – Uppsala Radio Club | 1 | 6 |
| LU Contest Group | 1 | 1 |
New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 55 | 2,594,847 |
| CT-RI Contest Group | 11 | 292,211 |
| Contoocook Valley Radio Club | 2 | 176,326 |
| White Mountain Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 122,608 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 7 | 98,092 |
| Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association | 3 | 72,788 |
| Meriden Amateur Radio Club | 3 | 62,913 |
| Nashua Area Radio Club | 1 | 44,608 |
| Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 36,603 |
| UVDXA | 1 | 23,120 |
| Green Mountain Wireless | 1 | 13,536 |
| Falmouth Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 7,665 |
| Bass Hill Repeater Group | 1 | 7,128 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 1 | 5,838 |
| Granite State Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 4,140 |
| World Wide Young Contesters | 1 | 3,857 |
| Waterbury Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 3,498 |
| Candlewood Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 2,592 |
| Whitman Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,920 |
| YO DX Club | 1 | 1,920 |
| Middlesex Amateur Radio Society | 1 | 1,298 |
| Central New Hampshire ARC | 1 | 880 |
| Bristol County Repeater Assn | 1 | 247 |
| North East Weak Signal Group | 1 | 234 |
Activity by County
| County | QSOs | Stations Active |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | ||
| Fairfield | 534 | 19 |
| Hartford | 518 | 33 |
| Litchfield | 232 | 15 |
| Middlesex | 291 | 8 |
| New Haven | 720 | 35 |
| New London | 252 | 8 |
| Tolland | 631 | 12 |
| Windham | 512 | 13 |
| Massachusetts | ||
| Barnstable | 455 | 20 |
| Berkshire | 938 | 9 |
| Bristol | 405 | 29 |
| Dukes | 396 | 3 |
| Essex | 919 | 37 |
| Franklin | 138 | 8 |
| Hampden | 469 | 26 |
| Hampshire | 223 | 7 |
| Middlesex | 1211 | 50 |
| Nantucket | 142 | 3 |
| Norfolk | 986 | 17 |
| Plymouth | 415 | 15 |
| Suffolk | 31 | 7 |
| Worcester | 450 | 34 |
| Maine | ||
| Androscoggin | 334 | 11 |
| Aroostook | 152 | 8 |
| Cumberland | 503 | 16 |
| Franklin | 68 | 6 |
| Hancock | 68 | 5 |
| Kennebec | 151 | 9 |
| Knox | 56 | 3 |
| Lincoln | 68 | 6 |
| Oxford | 513 | 11 |
| Penobscot | 251 | 6 |
| Piscataquis | 117 | 3 |
| Sagadahoc | 147 | 10 |
| Somerset | 70 | 5 |
| Waldo | 73 | 6 |
| Washington | 236 | 7 |
| York | 161 | 14 |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Belknap | 169 | 10 |
| Carroll | 655 | 9 |
| Cheshire | 191 | 11 |
| Coos | 126 | 6 |
| Grafton | 305 | 9 |
| Hillsborough | 771 | 32 |
| Merrimack | 292 | 14 |
| Rochingham | 1173 | 28 |
| Strafford | 124 | 14 |
| Sullivan | 185 | 6 |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Bristol | 218 | 4 |
| Kent | 237 | 12 |
| Newport | 542 | 8 |
| Providence | 393 | 28 |
| Washington | 470 | 12 |
| Vermont | ||
| Addison | 52 | 8 |
| Bennington | 342 | 4 |
| Caledonia | 79 | 5 |
| Chittenden | 269 | 14 |
| Essex | 54 | 3 |
| Franklin | 74 | 4 |
| Grand Isle | 87 | 3 |
| Lamoille | 108 | 7 |
| Orange | 29 | 4 |
| Orleans | 119 | 3 |
| Rutland | 263 | 8 |
| Washington | 182 | 6 |
| Windsor | 252 | 7 |
| Windham | 81 | 8 |
Certificates!
Certificates were mailed to everyone who made at least 25 QSOs – we hope you’ll be back again in 2011 to earn another one!
Plaques and Special Awards
Special plaques have been awarded to these top scorers:
| Category | Donor | Winner |
| USA – single operator | Southborough Rod & Gun Club (W1SRG) | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| USA – single operator low power | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ in memory of Laci Radnay, W1PL | Charles Wooten, NF4A |
| USA – single operator QRP | Vern Brownell, W1VB | Willie Baber, WJ9B |
| USA – single opr(W5-W6-W7-W0) | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Robert Harder, W0BH |
| USA – single opr(W2-W3-W8-W9) | Jim Monahan, K1PX | Tom Warren, K3TW |
| USA – single opr low power (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Whit Carter, K1EO | Paul Kirley, W8TM |
| USA – California/Nevada | Calif QSO Party – Northern California Contest Club | Kurt Pauer, W6PH |
| USA – multi operator – single transmitter | Dave Robbins, K1TTT | Richard Church, N4ARO(+net) |
| USA – single operator – CW only | K1EL Keyers | Ralph Bates, K1ZZI |
| Western Canada – single operator | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Edward Richardson, VE4EAR |
| Canada – single operator low power | Gerry Hull, W1VE/VE1RM | Alan Prosser, VA1MM |
| Canada – single operator – CW only | Bud Hippisley, W2RU | Eric Reid, VE3GSI |
| DX – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Andreas Gille, DL3GA |
| DX – single operator low power | Pete Chamalian, W1RM | Tibor Zentai, HA2MN |
| DX – Russia – any category (min 50 multipliers/200 QSOs) | Dmitri Y Jikharev, N2OW/RA9USU | (no winner this time) |
| Clean Sweep – Not First, but Furthest | Dennis Egan, W1UE | Charles Wooten, NF4A |
| Golden Log – no errors | Jim Spears, N1NK | Richard Church, N4ARO |
| Top Club | Florida Contest Group | Tennessee Contest Group |
| New England – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Dennis Egan, W1UE |
| New England – single operator – low power | Dave Hoaglin, K1HT | Rick Pendleton, N1DC |
| New England – single operator – CW only | Andy Bodony, K2LE | John Huffman, K1ESE |
| New England – single operator – QRP | Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club | John Lindholm, W1XX |
| New England – mobile | Boston Amateur Radio Club | Tom Frenaye, K1KI/m |
| New England – mobile – rookie | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Ann Byers, K1QO/m (+David LeDuc, N1IX) |
| New England – mobile – multi-single | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F, in memory of James Szewczyk, WB1EYM | NE1QP/m (Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F + Leonard Bean, KB1W) |
| New England – mobile – County Expedition Award | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Bob Raymond, WA1Z/m |
| New England – multi-single | Wellesley Amateur Radio Society | Dave Robbins, K1TTT (+Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, and Tom Homewood, W1TO) |
| New England – school club | Chris Terkla, N1XS | (no winner this time) |
| Connecticut – single operator | Candlewood ARA | Ted Melinosky, K1BV |
| Maine – single operator | Merrymeeting ARA, Androscoggin ARC, Yankee ARC, Portland Amateur Wireless Assn | John Huffman, K1ESE |
| Massachusetts – single operator | Framingham Amateur Radio Association | Dennis Egan, W1UE |
| Massachusetts – single operator low power | Chuck Counselman, W1HIS | Rick Pendleton, N1DC |
| New Hampshire – single operator high power | Mark Pride, K1RX | Dale Clement, AF1T |
| Rhode Island – single operator low power | CT/RI Contest Group | William Bliss, W1WBB |
| Vermont – single operator | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Andy Bodony, K2LE |
| Vermont – single operator low power | West River Radio Club | Mill More, K1IB |
| Maine – single operator – low power | Augusta Amateur Radio Assn | Gerald Metz, N1QLL |
| Maine – Kennebec County | Kennebec Amateur Radio Society | Bill Mann, W1KX |
| Massachusetts – Hampden County – single operator | Hampden County Radio Assn | Jim Mullin, KK1W, oper of WB1Z |
| New England Club | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | CT/RI Contest Club |
If you’d like to sponsor a plaque for 2011, please contact us at info@neqp.org
Special Awards
The top USA (non-New England) single operator winner
The Framingham Amateur Radio Association has donated a Lobster dinner for two from Legal Seafood of Boston to the USA single operator (non-New England) winner.
Winner is Paul Newberry, N4PN!
Other top USA (non-New England) scorers:
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream – 200+ QSOs
K1GU K1ZZI K3TW K4BAI K9CT K0LUZ N2BJ N2WN N4CW N4PN NA4K NF4A W8TM W0BH WA1FCN
Log checking
Thanks to everyone who sent in electronic logs, it made the log checking process go much easier. There were 423 logs overall, with 393 in electronic format (93%) and only 30 on paper. Last year had a boost in logs because of ARRL’s Year of the State QSO Party. This year the less-than-ideal conditions on Sunday cut back on the fun a but.
Dick/N4ARO garnered the Golden Log plaque, with 176 QSOs and no errors! With weak signals from mobiles and the competition from several QSO parties at once, that’s a tough accomplishment. Turns out Dick has quite a history in ham radio – see http://webpages.charter.net/ham-n4aro/index.html
For non-New England stations, cross checking was possible on 14,599 of the 17,437 QSOs reported (83.7%). Of the 830 QSOs not allowed (4.8%), the breakdown is as follows:
| QSOs | Reason not allowed |
| 202 | Callsign incorrect |
| 338 | QTH incorrect |
| 108 | Not in log |
| 123 | Duplicate |
| 1 | Bad mode |
| 26 | Bad band |
| 31 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 830 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
For New England stations, cross checking was possible on 23,070 of the 43,501 QSOs reported (53.0%). Of the 1,794 QSOs not allowed (4.1%), the breakdown is as follows:
| QSOs | Reason not allowed |
| 669 | Callsign incorrect |
| 510 | QTH incorrect |
| 166 | Not in log |
| 410 | Duplicate |
| 1 | Bad mode |
| 9 | Bad band |
| 29 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 1,794 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
Logging Software
Looks like N1MM software still dominates for logging the NEQP, followed by N3FJP’s software, then Writelog.
| Logging Software | Entries | QSOs |
| N1MM Logger | 167 | 28,416 |
| N3FJP’s New England QP | 67 | 8,405 |
| Writelog | 36 | 5,739 |
| CT | 10 | 2,291 |
| NA | 8 | 1,140 |
| SkookumLogger | 1 | 1,045 |
| TR Log | 5 | 598 |
| SD-EI5DI | 11 | 564 |
| MS Excel | 7 | 416 |
| GenLog | 13 | 413 |
| Cab-converter | 2 | 352 |
| Aether | 1 | 241 |
| Win-EQ | 3 | 216 |
| MS Word | 3 | 204 |
| CQPWIN | 1 | 176 |
| (15 others) | 25 | 852 |
Soapbox
Get a real feel for the experience by taking a browse through the extensive “Soapbox” comments and stories! You’ll find some interesting advice and some good details about the 2010 event.
Thanks
It’s sure nice to have sunspots again as we look to the upcoming 2011 contest, maybe this next one will rival the first couple with some big totals on 15/10m!