by Tom Frenaye, K1KI – frenaye@pcnet.com
Writeup | New England Scores | Scores Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments
Introduction
The sun gave us a curveball for the 2016 New England QSO Party on May 7-8, but we still received 479 logs, with just 12 from DX stations, 14 from Canada, 274 from USA stations, and 179 from New England. The combined logs had 55,498 QSOs included!
There were 780 different New England stations reported from all of the 67 New England counties, though Hancock County in Maine was nearly impossible to find. Paul/N4PN, from Georgia was able to catch at least one station in each county. Bob/WN1GIV found 64 counties from his Florida QTH and Tim/AB4B grabbed 57 from Alabama.
Propagation
The big story was the solar storm, resulting in much worse than normal propagation. On Friday before the contest, the NOAA forecast was that there was a 65% chance of a G1 solar storm on May 9th. Unfortunately, it hit a day early at 0000z on May 8th, just after the contest started. The storm was a stronger than expected G3 level and remained active until the end of the contest. In the 11 months since that storm, there has not been a stronger one!
Below you can see the red marks showing 3-hour periods of storms all day on Sunday.
| Valid QSOs | 80m | 40m | 20m | 15m | 10m |
| QSOs made by W1s | 3,363 | 14,991 | 19,553 | 469 | 47 |
| Different stations worked | 444 | 2,403 | 3,640 | 165 | 21 |
| QSOs made by non-W1s | 1,246 | 5,038 | 7,520 | 169 | 10 |
| Different stations worded | 73 | 220 | 484 | 39 | 8 |
Mobiles
Jeff/WC4E operated as K1M/m and covered 34 counties in all six states – more than half of the 67 counties in New England. In a year with poor conditions Jeff managed 824 QSOs and a multiplier of 61 for 100,467 points as a single operator low power mobile. He can probably provide a good map of potholes.
K1M/m(WC4E) –
Had about about 18 hours operation. ~1000 Miles (Including traveling to starting points) in 6 states and 34 counties. It was just a personal goal to visit all 6 states and put on 30+ counties as a pure Single Op, No driver.
Random thoughts: Weeks of prep! MANY hours on Google Maps, mob-rule com, and Mapquest, scripting the entire trip county by county. A huge thanks for to everyone who called in!! Special thanks to the FCG group who hung in there despite the condx and stayed with it: WN1GIV (N4BP), K5KG, K4RUM, K0LUZ, N4OX and several others. NEQP diehards (K9PG, N4PN, W6SX, KU8E (Part of W4AN/m in FQP)
Used a Garmin Navi w/Tyre & Basecamp to mark County lines and safe stopping points . Worked well. Life saver, I could concentrate on driving better without having to worry about finding the next exit and place to park. Much different than FL, very few states clearly mark County lines, Maine seems to do in the median but only when there is a “town line” also. RI, NH & VT seemingly non-existent (learned that from last year). MA is hit and miss from what I can tell. I need to bring in NO5W software next.
Wish I wouldn’t pick the smaller dark back roads to hit counties late at night, The 80Mtr whip on the screw driver antenna hits everything. Sometimes I was sure it would damage the antenna. No issues, I think I broke some small branch though. The Scorpion SA680 antenna is an awesome beast of an antenna.
All equipment worked well, just not the propagation. Did I see an A index of 70? K of 7?! No wonder so many CQs went unanswered!! Just brutal. Saturday Night was crazy local 80 meter signals sound like they were over the pole. 40M when long and gone way early. My one SSB QSO with Bob WN1GIV, painful 5 minutes calling him right during a solar event) Even with the 7QP, I missed WY again along with DE and SD.
Off track random thoughts. OK, time to retire the 2002 20lb Dell Laptop with Windows XP. It served me well in over 15 years and many mobile events. I think I hit a Dunkin Donuts in every state this weekend. Added a few more to my DDCC count. I think I’m around 50 on my way to 100 different DD. (I have no idea why, can’t help it. After 30+ years of mult chasing I’m always thinking how many ___ can I get).
Central Maine was interesting, on my way to my starting point, one guy in a huge muddy 4×4 pickup truck was trying to talk to me with his CB radio waving his hand mic at me. Hilarious! Sorry good buddy, I’m bringing a mic out only once this weekend. One guy at a toll booth (again in Maine) though it was a rocket launcher.
Is it weird, when fueling my truck, that I always strive to get to $xx.59 or $xx.73 in the amount? (especially during a QSO Party) Despite the conditions, it was fun tour of New England!
Other low power mobile action came from Rick/WW1ME/m in CT, Ed/K1EP/m in MA/ME, and Nick/K1NZ/m in MA/VT. Art/K1BX and Jack/W1WEF also put in mobile efforts.
The Barnstormers Contest Group NZ1U/m was on the road again with Jay/W1UJ and Derek/KB1SBC operating from 20 counties in MA/ME/NH/RI for 62,640 points in the multi-operator category. The Nashua Area Radio Club N1FD/m had more than 600 SSB QSOs from MA/NH/VT and did some National Park on the Air actiity as well with Fred/AB1OC Wayne/AG1A and Jim/KC1ENX operating. Brian/NJ1F/m operated from eleven Vermont counties as well as some time at the NE1QP multi-operator station.
NZ1U/m
What a super time! Again taking a ride across this wonderful region. Good times, good friends, good food! The conditions were poor as we only harvested about half of our normal QSO count, additional excuses could include ferry rides, and Mother’s day errands, and Mother’s day visits!
Another factor is the noise…. Sticking to the South this year, there was significant noise in each of the bigger cities, and surprising amount of noise on the entire island of Martha’s Vineyard. Boston and Providence were pretty rough operating from the roads. The roads seemed OK, even with an early W1WBB warning about RI, we still must give them the crappiest roads award!
The 40m antenna was shorted and not working until mid-day Sunday… It is an indescribable experience participating as a rover. We have covered each county of this region, as a rover, except for NAN MA… This year’s ferry ride will hold us over for a very long time. We had planned and executed an ‘easy’ trip which would include a trip to Martha’s Vineyard island and hand out QSOs from the -vacant in 2015- DUKMA. All went off well, one of our first contacts was W1DX who was already covering the island…. We cut our trip 3 hours short and caught the next ferry back. made ~30 QSOs….. It looks like we had QSOs from 25 counties this year. Could not find space in any ‘mobile window’ Saturday night, and would lose the frequencies often – Sunday was better. Had many guys in the 7QP give me the ‘ol ‘Only 7QP sri’ when trying to work them…
The NO5W CQ/x software worked well. the county warnings and switching relieves a bunch of stress. 2003 WPX Contest Caddy NO5W CQ/x GPS Enabled Software. S&T 2010 K3/100w High-Sierra motorized with 6′ whip ANT1 Hustler Resonator setup ANT2 WN1GIV(24) N4PN(19) K5KG(18) WA2VYA(16) W8TM(14) K9UIY(14) DL3DXX(11) KE8M(9) W6SX(8) K0LUZ(8) K4SAV(8) K4HAL(7) NF4A(7) K9PG(7)
Thanks to all of the mobiles!
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
It should come as no surprise that Paul/N4PN captured first place USA single operator high power again, this time with 480 W1 QSOs and all 67 counties for 45,426 points from Georgia. Paul has mastered the art of finding all counties and squeezing the most out of the band(s) that are open. The southeast is a key location for W1 propagation.
What may be surprising is how close the second place score was. Bob/N4BP, from Florida using his original WN1GIV callsign came within a few hundred points – with 420 QSOs and 64 counties for 44,800 points. The difference was 10 CW QSOs or one multiplier! They had somewhat different strategies with N4PN trying to tease out casual operators in the rare counties on SSB (282 SSB QSOs vs 140) while WN1GIV went for the two-point CW QSOs and ran up a 280 to 198 edge. Third place was also from Florida with George/K5KG turning in a 26,156 score.
The rest of the top six were John/N8UM from TN, Jerry/K4SAV from AL, and Hank/W6SX from CA with the top high power west coast score.
WN1GIV/N4BP
Lots of free time due to poor conditions gave me the opportunity to notice an interesting combination in NZ1U’s Sunday route. Combining his first two counties with appropriate abbreviations, Barnstable, MA with Dukes, MA shortened to Barmaduke. The two way ferry trip from Wood’s Hole to Martha’s Vineyard must have set him back time wise. Spent most of my time chasing the mobiles since SSB seemed unproductive. K1M-30 NZ1U-23 NJ1F-8 George IV, W1GIV called me on both modes. Last year, missed Nantucket for the sweep. This year worked three on CW and one on phone. But missed three Maine counties for the sweep, not on any of the mobile routes.
The low power entries were led by Tom/W8TM from OH with 213 QSOs and 46 counties for 17,802 points, Bob/WA1FCN from AL with 176 QSOs and 46 counties for 14,076, and Ed/KJ4LTA also from AL with 136 QSOs and 57 counties for 10,669. Fourth place went to Dana/K1RQ who is now a Silent Key. The rest of the top ten low power entries were also from the same general distance, with Steve/N9CK in WI, Dave/W9QL in IL, Bill/N4UC in AL, Ed/KG4W in VA, Ed/K2TE in FL, and Dwight/KM4FO in KY.
Vic/K9UIY earned another single operator QRP title with 174 QSOs in 47 counties and 16,356 points from IL, while Tom/K3TW came in second with 11,748 points from FL. Third place went to Bob/K2YGM in NY.
The San Diego Contest Club team at NX6T led the multi-operator entries again with 163 QSOS in 46 counties and 12,190 points.
We almost didn’t get Dukes County MA (Martha’s Vineyard Island) on the air but W1DX, K1VSJ and NZ1U/m all came through. Much appreciated.
Canada
Claude/VE2FK continued his first place high power string with 10,368 points from 144 QSOs and 36 counties. Ken/VE3KP was close behind with 7,722 points and 39 counties. In the low power category, Harry/VA3EC turned in the top score for the second year in a row.
DX
The number of DX entries was down from last year because the cross-Atlantic conditions were pretty poor. Nevertheless, Dietmar/DL3DXX worked hard and worked 52 counties with 137 QSOs for 14,248 points from Germany in the high power category. The top low power DX entry came from Marco/XE2S from northwestern Mexico with 58 QSOs and 27 counties for 3,132 points.. Two new DX records were set with Jonathan/G0DVJ and Michal/OM3DX setting new high power records from England and Slovakia.
For a full list of current records –> Records
New England Results
Tom/K1KI from CT found a good combination of CW and SSB to take the top high power position with 1092 CW and 798 SSB QSOs and 108 multipliers for 322,056 points. Mark/K1RX in NH had 1,490 QSOs and 133,056 points for second place and Joe/K1JB in ME had 1,160 QSOs to come in third. Rounding out the top five were Al/W1FJ from MA and Rick/K7GM in downeast Maine.
K1JB
DXing was terrible. Only worked a few Europeans, two SA, no Asia, no Oceania, no Caribbean no KH6 or KL7. But had all the lower 48 and a few Canadians call in. 20 CW was where most of the multipliers were but 20 SSB gave me the most Q’s. Never had many stations stacked up during runs, but at times there was a steady stream for long periods.
Tried 15 and even 10 occasionally with no luck. Only Qs on 15 CW were two fellow New Englanders and N4PN who requested me to QSY from 20. We then also worked each other on 15 SSB and 10 CW and SSB. That was it for the high bands. Both N4PN and K5KG commented that conditions down south were also bad and they “never heard so many weak signals from New England.”
I apparently made a few stations very happy by giving them Maine as their 49th or 50th state for WAS. That’s always fun.
I tried entering the exchanges for the 7QP and Indiana QSO parties into N1MM Logger+, but it wouldn’t take them and gave me an error message. The only way I found to clear it was to wipe out the call and then re-enter it and the state alone. After two or three of those, I gave up and just entered the state. One station in 3-land sent “DC” in his exchange and N1MM logger wouldn’t accept it, so I changed it to MD. I enjoyed the QSO Party and only wish conditions had been better for getting more multipliers. Ah well. Wait’ll next year.
The single operator low power category had 97 New England entries, and Bruce/K1BG in MA topped the pack with 441 CW and 345 SSB QSOs, 85 multipliers and 104,295 points. Ed/K1TR from NH was close behind with 818 QSOs and 94,282 points. Third place was Sandor/NB1N who had 69,030 points. The rest of the top ten low power scores were Dan/W1QK in CT, Don/WA1BXY in RI, Paul/K1XM in MA, Len/KB1W in MA, Doug/N1DBL in MA, Jim/KS1J in RI and Mike/KI1U from CT.
Dave/K1VUT in MA captured first place single operator QRP with 120 QSOs and 6,000 points. Dan/KB1VWQ also in MA was second with 4,774 points.
NE1QP was operated from K1TTT’s western MA station with operators Michael/K1MK, Tom/W1TO and Brian/NJ1F. They put 1,305 QSOs in their log and 84 multipliers for a 176,400 score to lead all multi-operator efforts. Second place went to AndyK2LE was in VT with Gerry/W1VE as second operator. They had 777 QSOs and 94,680 points.
The battle for the top New England Club score was VERY close. Aside from the Yankee Clipper Contest Club with 2.4m points, it was a photo finish for the CTRI Contest Group with 189,603 points from nine entries who edged out the Hampden County Radio Association’s eleven entries and 189,264 points. Just a couple of QSOs made the difference!
Check here for detailed New England results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band leaders –> Band-by-band
There were eleven New England records set from home stations in various categories, plus another four by mobiles. Check out the NEQP records page for details –> Records
Club Competition
The Florida Contest Group grabbed the top spot for the second year in a row, led by Bob/N4BP at WN1GIV. Charlie/NF4A and Tom/K3TW also were big contributors to the FCG total. There were ten clubs from outside of New England with at least five entries – tied with last year as the most ever.
Non-New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Florida Contest Group | 9 | 109,331 |
| Alabama Contest Group | 10 | 74,977 |
| Society of Midwest Contesters | 11 | 57,112 |
| Mad River Radio Club | 9 | 55,570 |
| Georgia Contest Group | 3 | 54,106 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 12 | 28,932 |
| Tennessee Contest Group | 6 | 26,866 |
| Potomac Valley Radio Club | 7 | 23,792 |
| Northern California Contest Club | 10 | 21,089 |
| Southern California Contest Club | 4 | 15,926 |
| Bavarian Contest Club | 1 | 14,248 |
| Central Texas DX and Contest Club | 2 | 13,819 |
| San Diego Contest Club | 1 | 12,190 |
| Contest Club Ontario | 2 | 10,962 |
| Arizona Outlaws Contest Club | 7 | 10,470 |
| Contest Group du Quebec | 1 | 10,368 |
| Minnesota Wireless Association | 5 | 10,200 |
| Kansas City Contest Club | 2 | 9,684 |
| Kentucky Contest Group | 2 | 8,090 |
| Maritime Contest Club | 2 | 6,482 |
| Oklahoma Dx Association | 1 | 5,882 |
| Niagara Frontier Radiosport | 2 | 5,016 |
| Swamp Fox Contest Group | 1 | 4,536 |
| L’Anse Creuse Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 4,530 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 4 | 4,279 |
| St Louis Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 3,834 |
| Metro DX Club | 1 | 3,828 |
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 1 | 3,600 |
| Central Oregon DX Club | 2 | 3,033 |
| Allegheny Valley Radio Association | 1 | 2,610 |
| DFW Contest Group | 3 | 2,570 |
| Central Oregon DX Club | 2 | 2,548 |
| Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 2,407 |
| Russian Contest Club | 1 | 2,352 |
| Bristol (TN) Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 2,254 |
| Radio Club of Redmond | 2 | 2,235 |
| Utah DX Association | 1 | 1,800 |
| QSY Society | 1 | 1,760 |
| Hoosier DX and Contet Club | 1 | 1,694 |
| Candlewood Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 1,656 |
| Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub | 1 | 1,584 |
| Cornwall Ranger Station ARC/LVSRA | 1 | 1,564 |
| Amateur Radio Association of Southwest Florida | 1 | 1,560 |
| USS Wisconsin Radio Club | 1 | 1,480 |
| Radiosport Manitoba | 1 | 1,440 |
| Goshen Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,360 |
| Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado | 1 | 1,218 |
| Colchester Radio Amateurs | 1 | 870 |
| Gateway Amateur Radio CLub | 1 | 832 |
| Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 810 |
| South Texas DX and Contest Club | 1 | 792 |
| Hudson Valley Contesters and DXers | 2 | 754 |
| NorDX Club | 1 | 736 |
| Big Sky Contesters | 2 | 690 |
| Cleveland Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 589 |
| Arrow | 1 | 570 |
| Milford (OH) Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 513 |
| Portage County Amateur Radio Service | 1 | 468 |
| Daviess County Amateur Radio Club | 2 | 437 |
| Delara Contest Team | 1 | 360 |
| Orca DX and Contest Club | 1 | 240 |
| West Allis Radio Amateur Club | 1 | 198 |
| Amsterdam DX Club | 1 | 162 |
| North Fulton Amateur Radio League | 1 | 104 |
| SP Contest Club | 1 | 98 |
| Colorado QRP Club | 1 | 84 |
| Southwest Dallas County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 56 |
| Chesapeake Amateur Radio Service | 1 | 49 |
| Hamfesters | 1 | 25 |
| Wilderness Road Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 4 |
| Mother Lode DX/Contest Club | 1 | 2 |
New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 59 | 2,458,751 |
| CTRI Contest Group | 9 | 189,603 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 11 | 189,264 |
| Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club | 2 | 104,304 |
| The Barnstormers Contest Group | 1 | 62,640 |
| Assoc. Radio Amateurs of Southern New England | 1 | 42,056 |
| Nashua Area Radio Club | 1 | 34,216 |
| Meriden Amateur Radio Club | 6 | 30,033 |
| Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont | 1 | 23,814 |
| Midcoast Red Cross Radio Club | 1 | 21,714 |
| Falmouth Amateur Radio Association | 2 | 6,979 |
| YO DX Club | 1 | 6,757 |
| Harvard Wireless Club | 1 | 3,510 |
| Addison County Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 2,970 |
| Sturdy Memorial Hospital Amateur Raio Club | 1 | 2,575 |
| Framingham Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 2,001 |
| Littleton Area Radio Klub | 1 | 1,404 |
| Franklin County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,320 |
| Granite State Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 1,095 |
| Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 540 |
| Contoocook Valley Radio Club | 1 | 290 |
| WPI Wireless Association | 1 | 250 |
| Southern Berkshires Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 132 |
| Saint Albans Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 25 |
Activity by County
| County | QSOs | Stations |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | ||
| Fairfield | 783 | 32 |
| Hartford | 1777 | 41 |
| Litchfield | 154 | 14 |
| Middlesex | 133 | 11 |
| New Haven | 808 | 43 |
| New London | 331 | 15 |
| Tolland | 617 | 11 |
| Windham | 470 | 10 |
| Massachusetts | ||
| Barnstable | 379 | 22 |
| Berkshire | 959 | 8 |
| Bristol | 252 | 19 |
| Dukes | 88 | 4 |
| Essex | 587 | 17 |
| Franklin | 70 | 5 |
| Hampden | 696 | 37 |
| Hampshire | 67 | 12 |
| Middlesex | 1884 | 71 |
| Nantucket | 145 | 4 |
| Norfolk | 473 | 21 |
| Plymouth | 705 | 22 |
| Suffolk | 45 | 4 |
| Worcester | 1143 | 33 |
| Maine | ||
| Androscoggin | 24 | 4 |
| Aroostook | 58 | 4 |
| Cumberland | 572 | 18 |
| Franklin | 27 | 4 |
| Hancock | 1 | 1 |
| Kennebec | 337 | 9 |
| Knox | 5 | 3 |
| Lincoln | 15 | 3 |
| Oxford | 83 | 3 |
| Penobscot | 119 | 4 |
| Piscataquis | 71 | 3 |
| Sagadahoc | 163 | 3 |
| Somerset | 16 | 3 |
| Waldo | 25 | 5 |
| Washington | 269 | 1 |
| York | 125 | 11 |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Belknap | 171 | 9 |
| Carroll | 584 | 6 |
| Cheshire | 125 | 10 |
| Coos | 77 | 4 |
| Grafton | 87 | 9 |
| Hillsborough | 214 | 29 |
| Merrimack | 83 | 12 |
| Rochingham | 1459 | 24 |
| Strafford | 34 | 8 |
| Sullivan | 126 | 8 |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Bristol | 239 | 4 |
| Kent | 296 | 10 |
| Newport | 538 | 10 |
| Providence | 640 | 27 |
| Washington | 205 | 13 |
| Vermont | ||
| Addison | 53 | 5 |
| Bennington | 388 | 3 |
| Caledonia | 35 | 6 |
| Chittenden | 325 | 8 |
| Essex | 94 | 2 |
| Franklin | 16 | 2 |
| Grand Isle | 13 | 2 |
| Lamoille | 218 | 3 |
| Orange | 20 | 5 |
| Orleans | 253 | 4 |
| Rutland | 38 | 6 |
| Washington | 23 | 3 |
| Windsor | 88 | 6 |
| Windham | 221 | 6 |
Certificates!
Digital (Adobe PDF) certificates will be emailed to everyone who made at least 25 QSOs. If you want a paper certificate, please let us know. We hope you’ll be back again in 2017 to earn another one!
Plaques and Special Awards
Special plaques have been awarded to these top scorers:
| Category | Donor | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| USA – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| USA – single operator low power | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, in memory of Laci Radnay, W1PL | Paul Kirley, W8TM |
| USA – single operator QRP | Vern Brownell, W1VB | Vic Shields, K9UIY |
| USA – single opr (W5-W6-W7-W0) | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Hank Garretson, W6SX |
| USA – single op (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Jim Monahan, K1PX | Dave Hutchins, KE8M |
| USA – single opr low power (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Whit Carter, K1EO | Steve Franzen, N9CK |
| USA – single opr low power – W7 | Michael Therrien, N1MD | Michael Steene, W7GF |
| USA – W4 – any category | Gerry Hull, W1VE ex AK4L | Bob Patten, N4BP (WN1GIV) |
| USA – California/Nevada | Calif QSO Party – Northern California Contest Club | Frank Romano, WA6KHK |
| USA – multi operator – single transmitter | Will and Pam Angenent, K6ND/K6NDV | San Diego Contest Club – NX6T (N6KI, KB7V, NN6X, N6EEG, N6ERD, K4RB, W2PWS, oprs) |
| USA – single operator – CW only | K1EL Keyers | John Baranyi, N8UM |
| USA – single operator QRP (W4) | Steve Kercel, AA4AK | Tom Warren, K3TW/4 |
| Canada – single operator high power | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Claude Duberger, VE2FK |
| Canada – single operator low power | Gerry Hull, W1VE/VE1RM | Alan Prosser, VA1MM |
| Canada – single operator – CW only | Bud Hippisley, W2RU | Harry Kosterman, VA3EC |
| DX – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Dietmar Kasper, DL3DXX |
| DX – single operator low power | Pete Chamalian, W1RM, in memory of John Thompson, W1BIH/PJ9JT | Marco Antonio Soto, XE2S |
| Clean Sweep – Not First, but Farthest | Dennis Egan, W1UE | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| Golden Log – no errors | Jim Spears, N1NK | Steve Franzen, N9CK |
| Top Club | Florida Contest Group | Florida Contest Group |
| New England – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Tom Frenaye, K1KI |
| New England – single operator – low power | Dave Hoaglin, K1HT | Bruce Blain, K1BG |
| New England – single operator – QRP | Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club | Dave Clemons, K1VUT |
| New England – mobile | Boston Amateur Radio Club | Jeff Bolda, WC4E (K1M/m) |
| New England – mobile – multi-single | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F, in memory of James Szewczyk, WB1EYM | The Barnstormers Contest Group – NZ1U/m (W1UJ, KB1SBC, oprs) |
| New England – County Expedition Award | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | MASSRADIO – WW1DX (KK1W AA1YW W1MSW N1FJ, oprs) |
| New England – multi-single | Tom Frenaye, K1KI | Downeast Contesters & DXers – NE1QP (K1MK W1TO NJ1F, oprs) |
| New England – school club | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Harvard Wireless Club – W1AF (Doug Maggs, KK4UHK, opr) |
| New England – single operator – CW only | Andy Bodony, K2LE | Al Rousseau, W1FJ |
| New England – single operator – SSB only | Fred Reed, KK1KW, and Woody Beckford, WW1WW | Ken Biron, K5KEN |
| Connecticut – single operator high power | Candlewood ARA | Pete Chamalian, W1RM |
| Connecticut – single operator low power | Dick Pechie, KB1H, memorial sponsored by the Barnstormers (NZ1U) | Dan Fegley, W1QK |
| Maine – single operator | Larry Banks, W1DYJ | Joe Blinick, K1JB |
| Maine – single operator low power | Augusta Amateur Radio Assn | Eric Huoppi, KB1KMF |
| Massachusetts – single operator | Framingham Amateur Radio Association | Al Rousseau, W1FJ |
| Massachusetts – single operator low power | Chuck Counselman, W1HIS | Sandor Toth, NB1N |
| Massachusetts – Hampden County – single operator | Hampden County Radio Assn | Chris Scibelli, NU1O |
| New Hampshire – single operator low power | Mark Pride, K1RX | Ed Parsons, K1TR |
| Rhode Island – single operator | CTRI Contest Group | Don Rosinha, WA1BXY |
| Vermont – single operator | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Brian Machesney, K1LI |
| Vermont – single operator low power | West River Radio Club | Zach Manganello, K1ZK |
| New England Club | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | CTRI Contest Group |
If you’d like to sponsor a new plaque for 2017, 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.
For 2016 the winner was Paul Newberry, N4PN!
Log checking
The log checking process found some mistakes, here and there. There were 479 logs overall, a 16% increase over 2015, with 469 in electronic format (98%) and only 10 on paper. The best operators have error rates in <3% range. For non-New England stations, cross checking was possible on 12,149 of the 13,983 QSOs reported (86.9%). For New England stations, cross checking was possible on 18,438 of the 38,423 QSOs reported (48.0%).
Logging Software
N1MM introduced N1MM Logger+ and more than half of their users switched to the new version, plus a few additional users. N3FJP and Writelog software were still next in the list with another 20 others, none exceeding ten users. Thanks to WA7BNM for adding the NEQP to his list of supported contests
| Logging Software Used | Entries | QSOs |
|---|---|---|
| N1MM Logger+ | 169 | 21,067 |
| N1MM Logger | 67 | 16,757 |
| N3FJP | 63 | 5,964 |
| WriteLog | 28 | 5,140 |
| SkookumLogger | 2 | 1,190 |
| DXLog.net | 2 | 852 |
| WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo | 9 | 464 |
| Win-Test | 3 | 413 |
| Aether | 2 | 376 |
| Win-EQF | 2 | 373 |
| NA Version | 3 | 370 |
| SD | 7 | 332 |
| TR Log | 2 | 330 |
| GenLog | 9 | 272 |
| TR4W | 7 | 269 |
| LOGic version | 1 | 241 |
| (8 others) | 9 | 1,000 |
Soapbox
You can get a real feel for the contest by going through the various “Soapbox” comments from the big guns, the little guns and everyone in between.
Thanks
Thanks to everyone who made QSOs and to those who sent in logs in 2016. We’re making plans for 2017 and hope you’ll join us on May 6th and 7th 2017 for the next running of the NEQP!!