2010 Soapbox Comments

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

W/VE Stations Outside New England

AB5XZ – This was my first time to send in a log for the NEQP, and although I didn’t make a lot of contacts I did enjoy it. My compliments to the hams who put together the web site for NEQP. It is very well done and operates smoothly.

AE3A – My first-ever NEQP! Worked 4W QRP using a Yaesu FT840 to an inverted vee about 40 feet up “in the trees”. Thanks for some fun and very 73

AE4O – K2/100 @ 90W to horizontal loop up 50 feet. Great contest. Thanks for the fun. See you in 2011.

AI3G – Enjoyed working this contest for a few hours on Sunday. Great fun and will look for you next year.

K3MD – This contest got totally permanently wiped out by 7QP, IN QP, ARI contest. Much worse than 6 years ago.

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.

K4ORD – Enjoyed the NEQP

K6MEE – Despite poor band conditions, I was pleased to reach so many stations in New England with my 100 watts.

K6NR – Had some fun seeing how well 5 watts worked to New England from California.

K7BG – Got snowed out of home QTH and power there was off for 2 days so operated from a mobile home in CHO county with the car antenna coax going into the house through a window.

K7FA – I was mighty pleased that the multiple-concurrent QSO Parties gave synergy to one another, and I really appreciated the New England presence.

KA1HDG – Great contest! My first time participating, and I’ll be back next year for sure!

KB6NU – The NEQP was fun as always. Thanks for organizing it. I didn’t work all five of the contests you mention on your website, but I did make contacts in four of them…

KE5FXE – I had a blast!!!! TNX!!!

KE0G – Thanks for a fun NEQP again this year !

KG4TQQ – This was a great contest and I am looking forward to more.

KI6OY – What happened to the Sun spots!

KJ8O – Put in a new 5BTV antenna since last year and expected a large increase in qso. Then the solar storm. Didn’t let that hold me back from having a good time. See you next year!

KJ9C/m – Sure wish the NEQP would use same exchange format as 7QP, MARAC, and INQP.

KS5A/m – Personally, I like the numerous parties on the same weekend … never a dull moment. Thanks to the NEQP sponsors and all the NE stations that dropped by my log.

KZ1Z – I really enjoyed participating in the NEQP. I do like to support CARA, my old club, as well as New England. I usually give a few hours but don’t have a lot of energy for those endurance contests. I did start to get in the rhythm of things of NEQP and had a lot of fun. I even dusted off my CW, as you know. Down here in Florida there was one advantage, I just had to point my beam to New England and not move it. Lots of antenna restrictions here, so don’t have much of a wire on 40/80. Only 18 ft off the ground and hiding in trees, but it does work.

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.

N3KN – Thanks for sponsoring the contest.

N4ARO – Band conditions much worse than last year. Enjoyed chasing the mobile stations.

N4JIK – Thanks for the great one!

N4PN
– Thanks again to all the NE activity… Another great NEQP in the books…

N5IE – I wanted to let you know that this is my favorite QSO party by far. The atmosphere throughout the weekend really feels like a party instead of a competition. I’m not sure you can force replication, because it’s really the attitude of the hams in NE who compete. It feels more like a small town gathering than like a contest. When folks take the time to comment on your signal, or to thank you for giving them a contact on more than one band, it makes you want to come back again next year. It’s just a great contest.

N8BJQ
– Fun – did CW only.

N8XX – Nice working the NEInQP with one logging program! Was pleasantly surprised at what 5 watts could do, even on 80 meters. Thanks to those who put on this FB QSO party.

N9FN – Worked several NEQP QSO’s during INQP. Had fun making cross contest QSO’s to help us both out! I really wish NEQP, 7QP, and INQP could find a common exchange format to simplify logging of all 3 QP’s at the same time. Thanks for the Q’s!

ND3R – Had alot of fun. No openings on 20 and 15 like last year. Still had fun though. See you all next year.

ND6S – Great QSO Party Thanks

NE4M – First time Great Fun!

NF4A – Thanks to all the mobiles…they make it fun !! Thanks to W1KX in KENME for the sweep with less than an hour to go. 1 QSO on 15 CW with W1UE….the only one heard.

NM2L – Thanks to all the mobiles and the fixed stations.

NO2D – Hoping that there is more than one qrp entry for Colorado this year. Lived in NE for many years & always enjoyed hamming from there.

VE3GSI – Thanks for all the Q’s from New England.

VE5BCS – the contest was ok propagation was just ok. It was enjoyed

W1RH – Very little time to contest this weekend. 20 meters only.

W2UDT – Another part-time effort here between various chores. Heard NIL on 20m. 40 seemed to be the band of choice here. 80m gud Saturday nite. But, just too tired to stay up late! Sunday worked out better. Lots of activity except for 40m phone. CU next year!

W4JHU – Thank you for organizing, sponsoring, and conducting the 2010 New England QSO Party. It’s always nice to work stations from up in your area.

W4NBS – Great participation from New England. In spite of noisy band condx it was still a fun contest.

W4PGM – Best regards and thanks for doing the QSO Party.

W4UCZ – One of the best contests in the country!

W5FIT -I am not good at managing electronic logs yet, but working on it as I find them so useful and much better than the old paper logs. I did enjoy the NEQP and plan to operate next year. There was a good amount of activity and it made it enjoyable.

W7GKF – It was fun working three contests simultaneously.

W7HO – I was working the 7QP mostly but made several contacts with stations working the NE QP.

W9LW – Spent all of Saturday working INQP special event station W9TE/90. Decided to hand out some NEQP points from home at the end of NEQP Sunday evening.

W9QL – I was working as the VE coordinator for our local club and got a late start. That, coupled with very noisy band conditions, caused a drop in my score this year. It was virtually impossible to hear anything on 80 and every contact on 40 was a challenge through the static crashes. I still had fun and hope to be back next year.

W0MRZ – many good NE ops out there to hear me in a contest: I was QRP using 2.5 W and 8 ft vertical indoor antenna…

W0PQ – Hats off to contest sponsors and participants.

WA1FCN – Another is history. Seemed like NE stations were not as plentiful this year. Congrats to Charlie NF4A. A big thank you to all the mobiles, thats what keeps game alive.

WA2VQV – Lack of PSK31 stns disappointing.

WA5TRX – Enjoyed the Q. P. logged in some new counties and See You Next Year

WC7S – What great fun, with all three QP on at the same time. Thanks to all that make it possible. What a thrill to run on 20, in the middle of it all. The antennas here are 2 ea. 360 foot long 50 foot high and 1 smaller 130 foot 50 foot high, all are switchable for best signal. Thanks to all, hope to see you all next year too.

WJ9B – I operated in the “measured qrp category” of 4.8 watts on a 50 watt bird slug.

DX Stations

DH5MM – My first NEQP – see you next year with more QSOs

ES1WST – I had hoped for more than 2 QSOs, but that was the best I could do. Horrible S9 noise here on 20m lately and 15m was dead to New England. At least I managed to find a brief opening to NA on 20 m. Competition from the ARI contest was also tough. Yaesu FT-817, 3-band windom antenna.

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.

LY9A – Sunday afternoun was quite promising, I even made few QSO on 15 meters. Unfortunatelly, mother nature hit very hevy, Aurora completely ruined my NEQP plans. When K1TTT, W1UE became unreadable, I simply collected my toys and went home.

OK1FCA – TCVR 70 W, Antenna ECO MOBILE whip @ 5 mtrs

PG6EL – Thanks for the nice weekend

SM6Z – Heavy QRM from neighbor´s plasma-TV.

VK4TT – G’day to all other Ops in Party.

New England Stations

AA1I – 20W Battery powered, buddipole vertical, deck portable

K1BV – Enjoyed the little pile ups. Propagation good Saturday, lousy Sunday.

K1ESE – It was another great NEQP! After finishing second in Maine in low power a couple of years to Whit K1EO, I decided if you can’t beat’em, change categories. Went high power this year. High power is somewhat of a misnomer. I have an ALS-600 for 400-500 watts out. But, my only antenna is a center fed wire and the extra power helped, especially on 20 meters. My score was up from last year’s low power effort by about 120 contacts. I’ll give the amp the credit there. Conditions seemed about the same as last year with 20 and 40 doing most of the work. I tried a couple of QSOs on 15 meters, but mostly just heard EU stations there. 80 meter activity dropped off sharply the last hour on Saturday night. I guess folks were heading to bed earlier than last year. I had a great run on Saturday evening on 40 meters for an hour or so. I did over 90 QSOs per hour which is great for me. Sunday made up for it with the usual slow rates of 30 per hour or less. But, I managed 18 hours of “butt in chair” time and the total slowly grew. I can see why folks go SO2R. It gives you something to do Sunday while the keyer sends endless CQs. Lacking SO2R, I spent some quality time with Freecell. Overall I’m pleased with the station – K3, ALS-600, MFJ-998 tuner and a wire – since nothing broke and I had a lot of fun. Many thanks to those who stopped by to add a few points.

K1LI – Conditions here up Nawth have pretty much returned to “dismal” after a few brief periods of “terrible,” though Sunday was much worse than Saturday. I was surprised to hear the high level of activity on Saturday – it was good to have three QSO parties going on simultaneously. Hard to dedicate much time this weekend; got behind on the planting after receiving a foot of snow earlier in the week, so we had to spend most of the time digging and mulching in the mid-80s heat wave.

K1LKP – Thank You for all your hard in making this QSO Party a Top Notch event.

K1MQ – A real pain using QRP SSB this year with wire antennas.

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!!!!

K1SEZ – I managed about 5 hours of op time last weekend for exactly 200 Qs and 12,502 points, scattered between 20, 40, 80m and CW/SSB. There were lots of family activities here to chew up the clock, and the weather was beautiful.

K1TTT – Just barely beat last year’s score. Took more rtty and cw and a couple more mults to do it since we were down on qso’s. The aurora Sunday sure didn’t help, even though we did work some Italians on 10m via skew path, and a bit of dx on 15m.

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.

KA1WPM – It was a heartbreak for me this year. I was anxiously awaiting the contest this year, and started off on 20 meters. After a break for dinner, I came back to work 40 meters in earnest. I couldn’t get my rig to put out a signal for anything. Rhode Island stations were all over the place, and I couldn’t reach one of them. Rhode Island is the only station I haven’t worked in New England. I had no luck getting my rig to play until late Sunday afternoon. I was happy to contact Oregon, the only station I am missing on the west coast. I was also happy to contact W9QL on Sunday to give him a sweep of Connecticut. Next year will be better!

KB1FRW – First ever log for a contest, had to hand import from HRD

KB1TTS (K2RS) – Lots of fun. Operated CW only. Sunday conditions were so-so.

KC1V – Much less time available this year, but I still had a lot of fun. Glad to see other HCRA members on the air.

KK1L – Great time getting on for a three 1hr+ sessions. Great rates. Great fun. Happy to hand out Chittenden county VT. Sorry it wasn’t one of the rarer ones. Wish I had more time this weekend.

N1ABY – Too bad condx were so poor. See you next year with MUCH better condx!

N1AIA – Used my K1 and 4-band roof-mounted vertical and had fun. Sure appreciate the 7QP overlap.

N1API – Too many contest running at once + terrible band conditions + family obligations so I didn’t do as well as last year.

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.

N1FD (K2TE) – I found the activity down from last year although I had a number of good runs. Not many Indiana stations although the 7-land party made up for it.

N1FJ – NEQP was like a miniFD operations this time–we strung dipoles from towering trees at a borrowed A-frame vacation QTH (WASVT) loaned to us by a friend. Matt (W1MSW) is a real contester, fresh out of a first place New England, second-place finish overall in the April 2010 Rookie Roundup, according to ARRL results final report. Wait ’til next year! Frandy, N1FJ + Matt, W1MSW

N1QLL – My last NEQP was 2005 and I had forgotten how much fun it is. I’m already planning a better antenna for next year with plans to work the contest with 5 watts. My favorite contest!N1TQ – Rig FT-817 5 Watts to OCF dipole between weekend chores had fun playing in NEQP !!

N1YX – This is always fun QSO party, unfortunately I could only work few hours Sunday, decent runs most of the time. CW activity was pretty low, SSB was much better. I guess serious contesters mostly take this weekend off, so small pistols like me can feel good about ourselves. Some confusion between at least 4 other local and some DX contests going at the same time, but overall it was enjoyable activity.

N8WXQ – Great Fun! See everyone next year.

NI1L – Working in NYC during weekdays and commuting back to your home for weekends leaves you with no time for fun stuff. This past weekend was no different – barely managed to squeeze an hour and a half of operation time before it was time to leave for a bus. The band conditions at the time were mediocre at best with only south east coming with decent signal strengths on 20m. Still had lots of fun running mini pile-ups. Glad to give Plymouth County mults to those who managed to catch me.

NJ1T – Lost a few Q’s because of Software slips. 50 Qs on 80 with a 40 meter loop nothing on 15 or 10. 160+ on 40 good enough to be fun

W1BHC – After 40 years as a Ham I’m new at contests and especially submitting logs electronically, so I hope this file is the one you’re looking for! Let me know if you need anything else. I enjoyed the contest!

W1DDD (W1YRC) – Used Blackstone Valley ARC club call in effort for the CTRI Contest Group team.

W1DMM – Hot Weekend, but fun. Mostly on hopping bands 20 and 40

W1DYJ – I’m a casual contester and first tried the NEQP last year, hoping to find those elusive 20M Q’s close to Boston that I still need for WAS. (VT, etc.) I think I got hooked — it’s great to be bait! So this year I thought I would be more serious — plus receiving a certificate for last year about two weeks before the NEQP was additional motivation. By Sunday, at about 5 PM, I had matched last year’s effort. Then an old family friend from Montana who was visiting in the area — and a new ham, Sylvia: KE7IVB — stopped by for dinner. I had to leave the NEQP. BUT, after dinner and at about 7:20 I “suggested” we see how the contest was going. KE7IVB wanted to watch, and must have brought me great luck… In the next 35 minutes I had the wildest time I’ve ever experienced in a contest: 1) doubled my score; 2) added a few more states to my 40M WAS; 3) hit a QSO rate of 120! I’ve never had fun in a contest like that. It’s GREAT to be BAIT.

W1ECH – It was fast and furious at the end!

W1END – Don’t procrastinate the second day could be lousy; and it was. Other than that it was a great time. Upped my QSO total considerably from last year. Need a computer interface; the Bencher is nice but I get a little spastic – sorry. Thanks to all the good ears that came back to my weak CQ’s.

W1EQ – The work on the K3 was completed Sat. morning. The rig has to be completely checked, configured etc., prior to adding the 100 watt option. I originally was going to use the MP at LP for the NEQP. When I found that the K3 could talk to WL, I decided to go QRP. Lot’s of fun. The rig is great. It was fun playing with some of the settings during the contest. I think I put the K3 through it’s paces. I still got much to learn about the rig, though.

W1HIS – I thank Jim Edgerton W1XG for operating Sunday, while I was away due to a prior commitment. Jim made 65 Qs and added 3 mults on 20-m ‘phone. A single wire antenna, 70 ft (21 m) long and 20 ft (6 m) high, was used for all bands. I thank the N1MM Logger development team for adapting the program to record exchanges for 7QP, INQP, and NEQP in a single Cabrillo log file. I hope that the 7QP, INQP, and NEQP organizers will agree on a common exchange format and abbreviations for 2011. I thank all you ops — fixed and mobile, in New England, in Indiana, in the 7th call district, around the USA and Canada, and in DX countries — for calling us. You made this a fun weekend. I hope to operate both days next year.

W1KQ/m – WoW! First time rover for this contest. Manually logged while parked. New vehicle so hadn’t had time to run cable directly to battery…used DC receptacles which were rated at 120 watts. Blew all three fuses before it was over. Went NORDO in Providence, RI. Logged manually since didn’t know how to run N1MM Logger in rover mode. Figured out how to log rover qth ops after the contest. Saturday nite ran the TS-2000. On Sunday ran the IC-7000 for the day. Maybe next year I’ll run west, like to Franklin County Mass and into VT. Lesson learned: Never, never cross the Sagamore Bridge southbound on a Sunday.

W1PL – My first QSO’s ever on hf… what a way to start!

W1QI(KD1YV)
– We operated portable set up in a public park.

W1SKB
– thanks for running such a fun contest!!!!!W1TO – Limited operation from home when not operating at K1TTT.

W1TR – Made a few contacts to help the guys with Windham County CT. Also, managed to complete my 20m WAS, was missing VERMONT! Hopefully W2HDI will QSL via LoTW!

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!

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 stns, 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.

W1WEF/m – I operated a little as I was travelling home from Vt, but my twenty Hustlercoil apparently failed, leaving me with 40. Either condx were terrible or something else is wrong. I did make a few Qs from ADDVT, WNDVT,WNHVT,Franklin Ma, HMPMA, HMDMA,and HARCT. Not as much fun as I was looking forward to.

WA1LAD – It was my first NEQP. I had alot of fun and will be anxiously awaiting the next one!

WA1OUI – Worked all 20 hours. First time I’ve ever done that in a contest… too bad the band faded out at the end…

WA1VIL – I wish that there was more digital activity-not a lot of response to CQ NEQP on 20 meters-seemed like everybody was chasing DX! Thanks for a great operating activity!

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 were 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.

WW3K – Another fun time from CT.