by Tom Frenaye, K1KI – frenaye@pcnet.com
Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments
Introduction
Propagation for the 2017 New England QSO Party was pretty good, much better than the previous year! We received a total of 633 logs, up 32%. There were 25 logs from DX stations, 21 from Canada, 414 from USA stations, and 177 from New England. The combined logs had 75,278 valid QSOs recorded!
There were 684 different New England stations reported from all 67 New England counties. Logs showed that 136 stations were on from Connecticut, Massachusetts had 216, Maine 106, New Hampshire 119, Rhode Island 57, and Vermont 50. The toughest counties to work were Addison VT (9 QSOs), Orange VT (15), Washington VT (16), Lincoln ME (25) and Hancock ME (28). Paul/N4PN, was able to work at least one station in each county. Not far behind were Bob/WA1FCN with 63 counties, Frank/WA2VYA and Barry/N2BJ with 62, and Bob/WN1GIV with 61.
Propagation
The good news during the 2017 NEQP is that the sun was pretty quiet, with no major flares or solar storm events. There is a positive outcome with sunspots on the decline! On the other hand, QSOs were few and far between on 15m and nearly impossible on 10m.
| Valid QSOs | 80m | 40m | 20m | 15m | 10m |
| QSOs made by W1s | 6,371 | 19,392 | 25,248 | 310 | 17 |
| Different stations worked | 726 | 3,078 | 4,909 | 90 | 12 |
| QSOs made by non-W1s | 3,132 | 9,860 | 11,181 | 184 | 0 |
| Different stations worked | 108 | 230 | 473 | 43 | 0 |
Mobiles
Mobile activity was a little muted this time, but two serious efforts covered a lot of ground. We’re working to generate some additional activity in 2018.
Jay/W1UJ was at the controls of NZ1U/m and made QSOs from 35 counties, with 867 QSOs for 110k points – wow! That’s the most counties a single operator mobile has ever operated from in the NEQP.
NZ1U/m (W1UJ)
What a super fun radio weekend in the great (still showing some) white North! Congrats to the top notch NEQP/m effort of the WA1Z team.We had very low amount of time for implementation, or what we did have for time may not have been used correctly..
The ‘Contest Caddy’ used for 2012, 14, 15, and 16’s NEQP MultiOp Mobile efforts was going to take a break this year in favor of the brand-new 2017 Chevy Equinox SUV, or, the Blue-Ox. Our 5th year, cool! A Class 2 trailer hitch was procured and installed as the primary antenna mount along with a Harbor-Freight 500# steel Hitch mounted luggage rack.
Using the luggage rack to mount both the Hustler mast/resonator and the Hi-Sierra motor-tuned antenna. Right in the middle was an official WRTC-2014 Honda 2KW Generator used by a top 10 team!
Sooooo… we tried High Power. Using a Tokyo Hy-Power SS KW amplifier and having the Hustler ‘Super’ resonators picked up recently we hit the road….
One would think that tons of time is necessary to engineer an effort like QRO mobile radio contest operating, but you may be mistaken! We tested the antennas around 17Z, or ~3 hours before the start! But the road plan had us -way- North for the start and much ground to cover. We hit the road. It worked!
It was not trouble free. (SHOCKER!) The biggest issue was that the operator could not touch the ‘touch pad’ mouse on the laptop while transmitting or the laptop would lose comms and CW to the K3… Also, the sent CW must have sounded horrible as we could not get the CW weight to work through the serial port CW on the K3 it was with HP or LP didn’t make a difference- sending a bit slower helped. The amp was not used much, if there was a 5-cq or so lull, turn drive down to 20w and throw amp in. It would run about 400w with comfort, until nearing the end and we activated Suffolk MA, we were @900w comfortably. That generator was working very hard! Called CQ on SSB even 1 answer….. Everything held quite nicely. (DO NOT touch that mouse pad!)
Used N1MM+ Logger to send CW through the USB serial port- this was only on Saturday, on Sunday, the decision was made to introduce a WinKeyer which was a good move. Still cannot touch the mouse-pad when TX’n or the Rig and the Winkeyer would drop….
One of the goals was to be home Saturday night. The hub of the Barnstormers is NE CT and we wanted to operate North… starting and ending in the well-covered WORMA. Another goal was to cover the ‘least covered’ counties of 2016. The missed/forgotten factor was that Team WA1Z wasn’t there in ’16, and their counties were open in 2016, but they are back in it for ’17. On Saturday night after many requests for SUFMA we knew there was coverage in the north ME counties and we were heading to SUFMA since it seems there may have not been activity there with many asking about it again on Sunday morning.
N1WK = “It’s not the (Contest) Caddy” in reference to the Blue Ox. Trade offs for superior luxury, powerful engine… etc… etc… is good gas mileage and lots of cabin room…. The Caddy will likely be re-commissioned in future efforts! Just need a trailer hitch. It seems that a couple-hundred horsepower and luxury seats and operating position is worth the ~5 MPG sacrifice….
For Saturday the goal was to catch COONH FRAVT GRAVT. GRAVT is way up there, and we went to the top NW corner of it and headed South right through GRAVT and making it through while it was still daylight out.
GRANH 9 COONH 10 ESSVT 15 CALVT 14 ORLVT 14 LAMVT 19 FRAVT 63 GRAVT 54 CHIVT 34 WASVT 16 ORAVT 18 WNDVT 25 SULNH 10 CHENH 5 WNHVT 14 FRAMA 11 HMPMA 1 QSO HMDMA 20 WORMA 145Sunday was the same we looked at least covered counties, but changed things a bit to cover the requested SUFMA.
WORMA – 145 QSOs MIDMA 36 ESSMA 37 ROCNH 32 HILNH 8 MERNH 22 BELNH 10 STRNH 27 CARNH 27 OXFME 9 YORME 29 CUMME 31 ANDME 13 KENME 17 LINME 19 SAGME 15 CUMME 31 YORME 29 ROCNH 32 ESSMA 37 SUFMA 67 MIDMA 36 WORMA 145Another learning experience and many mental notes that are likely to be forgotten next year, but we look forward to it and it is a considerable amount of fun. More band changes.. Tightening up complete antenna/coax systems…etc… the normal things… same as last year….
Rock star award to N1WK for powering through with the driving getting us home safely. Saturday 707 miles Sunday 509 miles Average speed 54.3 MPH 34.0 MPG Best 50 mile run Average fuel economy 26.6 MPG
Thanks to The Barnstormer fixed team of NB1U and NR1X, while putting in their own significant NEQP efforts and tracking the NZ1U/m team and notifying the masses where we were. Also to the Cap’n KB1H(sk) for getting us all together.
Thanks to all of the ‘Regulars’ that follow the /m’s through the counties, you guys make it worth it for everyone. A few pics and vids here; http://w1uj.net/NEQP-2017/
73
The Barnstormers
Bob/WA1Z/m operated with Kurt/W6PH and Bill/K1GQ in a multi-single mobile effort, making 961 QSOs for 126k points. They would have had an even bigger total but lost an estimated 150+ of QSOs due to computer problems..
WA1Z/m (+W6PH K1GQ)
Thanks to everyone who followed us around this weekend! After a one year hiatus (my wife and I had an opportunity to do a multi-day hike in the Grand Canyon at this time last year that killed NEQP operations), W6PH and I hit the road again for the fifth time. This year, K1GQ joined the team making the operation a Multi-Single. As usual, Kurt did all of the driving while Bill and I alternated operating counties.
Congratulations to the NZ1U Barnstormers Mobile team!!! What an incredible job putting together a brand new kind of operation! It’s always fun to try something new in a contest.
Station: 2008 Honda CRV Elecraft K3, 100 watts, powered from car battery Bill and I logged separately on non-networked computers. Two Hustler MO-2 54-inch masts mounted on hatchback door secured by a homebrew roof rack harness One Hustler MO-4 22-inch mast mounted on mag mount, guyed to roof rack just to add a little more security. Hustler RM-model resonators and DX Engineering Capacity Hats for 80 through 15 Meters.
This year, we set up a K3 on a small homebrew desk in the middle of the backseat. Bill and I sat on either side of it. We each brought our own WinKeyer and, through a Y-adapter, connected both to the K3, so that we each could transmit without having to fuss with changing cables. This made for seamless county transitions, but also made it really easy for us to accidentally hit F-keys when the _other_ guy was doing the operating. Oops.
Mobile Contesting was a new experience for Bill. My goal was to make sure he operated as much or as little as he wanted. And for much of the weekend, I kept under-estimating which counties would have better rate than others and was desperately trying to line up alternating counties so Bill could experience some fun county changes. In general, I think I oversold Bill on how “exciting” county changes were going to be. I kept reminiscing about fun, 30-minute-long high rates from rare Maine counties from yesteryear that never materialized this weekend. Instead, we usually got 3 minutes of mayhem working the same 12-15 folks, then wore-out the F1 key until the next county change. Oh well.
Best DX was to JA on 20. And it was a real treat having XO1X (thanks Gerry!) call in from YT. Somehow, we missed UT and WY (not enough S&Ping in 7QP) and SD.
73,
Bob WA1Z
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
Paul/N4PN from Georgia kept his streak of wins going with 256 CW and 267 SSB QSOs in all 67 counties for 52,193 points in the single operator high power category. Second place was earned by Bob/N4BP in Florida operating WN1GIV. Bob had 282 CW QSOs in 61 counties. John/K4BAI came in third with 208 CW and 77 SSB QSOs in 59 counties from Georgia. Frank/WA2VYA edged into fourth place with a great effort from Texas, with 62 counties in the log and 285 QSOs.
The rest of the top ten SOHP scores came from the TN-OH-PA area with John/N8UM in TN, Dave/KE8M in Ohio, Jim/AD4EB in TN, Bud/AA3B in PA, Nat/K1GU in TN, and Dave/N3XF in PA with 160-226 QSOs and 46-53 counties. Hank/W6SX submitted the best west coast score with 128 QSOs in 51 counties for 13,056 points from California, and Bob/W1RH with 139 QSOs in 45 counties. SOHP records were set by Bud/AA3B (PA), Glenn/KE4KY@KY4NA (KY), Frank/WA2VYA (TX), Jeff/KG7CW (ID), Dave/KA6BIM (OR), and Dave/KE8M (OH).
In the single operator low power category, Bob/WA1FCN in Alabama came out on top with 32,445 points with 187 CW and 141 SSB contacts in 63 counties. Paul/W8TM wasn’t far behind with 255 QSOs and 59 counties for 26,845 points from Ohio. Dave/WN4AFP put in a good effort from South Carolina for third place 19,332 points, followed by Shelby/K4WW in Kentucky, and Ed/N4VV in Tennessee.
Sixth through ninth places went to Tennessee (Joel/NA4K and Dick/N4ARO), followed by Ed/KJ4LTA in Alabama, and Clyde/K9JWI in Indiana. Ed/W5TM in Oklahoma worked 140 stations in 42 counties for 11,760 points for a tenth place finish and the best from the west. SOLP records were set by Shelby/K4WW(KY), Dave/WN4AFP(SC), Ed/W5TM(OK), Wayne/K2DT(AZ), Bill/K0VBU(KS), and John/AE5S(NE)
Dick/N7XU/m (K4XU) worked 42 stations during his 7QP effort from Oregon, and Ted/W8UE/m provided nearly 100 QSOs from his mobile efforts in the Indiana QP and then on the way home mobile from Ohio and Michigan, and the Ohio score was a new record.
Vic/K9UIY again dominated the single operator QRP category with 160 CW QSOs in 42 counties for 15,680 points. Richard/K4KRW from North Carolina finished second and Tom/K3TW from Florida earned third place. SOQRP records were set by Dave/K2ZC (NJ), Mark/NX1K (WI), and Jim/WB0IWG (ND).
The multi-operator category was led by Barry/N2BJ from Illinois with 232 CW and 146 SSB QSOs, working 62 counties for a 37,820 point score and new state record. The San Diego Contest Club station NX6T finished second with 16,060 points, and the K0OO team from Maryland was just behind with 16,006 points. NJ1F set a new MS record from NY, as did K0OO/MD, K7N(NV), K7JR(OR), and AK7O(UT).
Canada
In the low power category, Harry/VA3EC’s 11,904 points earned the top score for the third year in a row. Fred/VE7IO and Bud/VA7ST set new high and low power records from British Columbia. Nice to have our first entry from the Yukon with Gerry/W1VE operating from XO1X (VY1JA).
DX
Dietmar/DL3DXX made 109 QSOs in 42 counties for 9,156 points from Germany for the top score in the high power category. Jonathan/G0MVJ at M4J led the low power DX entries with 94 QSOs and 45 counties for 7,920 points. Mac/JO7KMB has the new record from Japan with 18 QSOs. Logs also came from three countries for the first time, thanks to David/EI5KG from Ireland, Steve/TI8/AA8HH from Costa Rico, and Lars/KP4/KE1J from Puerto Rico.
For a full list of current records –> Records
New England Results
The single operator high power entries were led by Dale/AF1T from NH with 1827 SSB QSOs and 111 multipliers for 202,797 points. Dale has been near the top several times but this is his first win. Dale is in the photo to the right doing a seminar on microwaves, along with Mickie/W1MKY. Not far behind were Joe/K1JB in Maine with 176,085, Al/W1FJ from MA with 171,200, and Alan/K6DTT operating remote from Maine with 166,314 points. Each of the top four had more than 1,000 QSOs.
Four of the next six SOHP scores were from Connecticut, with Tom/K1KI in fifth place, Allan/NR1X close behnd, then Pete/W1RM, followed by Mark/K1RO from NH, Dave/K1ZZ, and Dennis/W1UE from MA.
For those operating low power, Dan/W1QK was the one who finished at the top. He had 91,392 points from 732 mostly CW QSOs and 64 multipliers from CT. Next was Dave/K1KA in NHwith 79,638 points in an all SSB effort, then Karl/K1KX from RI just behind him with 77,854. Rick/N1DC in MA was next at 76032 and Ed/K1TR with 69,626 points from NH.
The next five SOLP stations were close behind with Jeff/WC4E operating N2AN near Boston, Jim/KS1J from tough to work Bristol County RI, Bruce/W1CVE, Don/K2KQ at K1MVY on Martha’s Vineyard, and Rick/WW1ME from down east Maine.
Dave/N1IX led all of the QRP stations with 54,636 points from 471 CW QSOs and 58 multipliers from NH. Dave/K1VUT was close behind at 47,340 points from SE MA and in third place was Bill/W1WBB from RI with 24,750.
The competition was close in the multi-operator single transmitter category. John/W1XX (+ Bob/K1XA) had 308,556 points from 784 CW and 1289 SSB contacts, with 108 multipliers, edging out the group at K1TTT using the NE1QP callsign in western MA. They had 891 CW and 961 SSB QSOs, and also 108 multipliers, for 296,244 points, while third place went to K2LE in Vermont with 197,748 points (and they had 108 multipliers also!).
Check here for detailed New England results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band leaders –> Band-by-band
There were twenty two New England records set from home stations in various categories, plus another forty by mobiles. Check out the NEQP records page for details –> Records
Club Competition
The Tennessee Contest Group earned the top club score, with John/N8UM, Jim/AD4EB and Bob/N4VV leading the effort. There were fourteen clubs from outside of New England with at least five entries – that’s the most ever.
Non-New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Tennessee Contest Group | 14 | 140,881 |
| Potomac Valley Radio Club | 21 | 122,369 |
| Society of Midwest Contesters | 17 | 98,987 |
| Florida Contest Group | 13 | 79,480 |
| Alabama Contest Group | 8 | 70,550 |
| Northern California Contest Club | 20 | 62,346 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 11 | 58,983 |
| Georgia Contest Group | 2 | 52,860 |
| South East Contest Club | 7 | 51,317 |
| Contest Club Ontario | 8 | 49,495 |
| Kentucky Contest Group | 5 | 31,832 |
| Kansas City Contest Club | 4 | 28,500 |
| Mad River Radio Club | 2 | 27,087 |
| Central Texas DX and Contest Club | 3 | 26,388 |
| Swamp Fox Contest Group | 3 | 26,292 |
| Southern California Contest Club | 6 | 22,714 |
| Minnesota Wireless Association | 6 | 19,641 |
| Maritime Contest Club | 2 | 19,448 |
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 4 | 18,989 |
| Metro DX Club | 3 | 18,118 |
| North Coast Contesters | 3 | 17,598 |
| Arizona Outlaws Contest Club | 9 | 16,800 |
| San Diego Contest Club | 1 | 16,060 |
| Carolina DX Association | 1 | 12,878 |
| Contest Group du Quebec | 1 | 12,604 |
| Allegheny Valley Radio Association | 1 | 11,280 |
| Orca DX and Contest Club | 3 | 10,938 |
| Dallas Ft Worth Contest Group | 4 | 10,746 |
| Deep Dixie Contest Club | 2 | 10,523 |
| Bavarian Contest Club | 2 | 10,396 |
| MVDX/CC | 1 | 8,736 |
| L’Anse Creuse Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 7,585 |
| Big Sky Contesters | 5 | 7,300 |
| Fauquier Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 7,056 |
| Kentucky Radio Operators | 1 | 6,324 |
| Western Washington DX Club | 3 | 6,206 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 5 | 6,158 |
| DELARA Contest Team | 1 | 5,676 |
| Bergen Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 5,530 |
| Central Oregon DX Club | 3 | 5,177 |
| Lebanon Valley Society of Radio Amateurs | 1 | 4,572 |
| Fort Smith Area Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 4,554 |
| Mother Lode DX/Contest Club | 2 | 4,288 |
| QSY Society | 1 | 3,968 |
| Murgas arc | 1 | 3,564 |
| Yukon Canam Contest Club | 1 | 3,540 |
| Thracian Rose Club | 1 | 3,360 |
| Iowa DX and Contest Club | 1 | 3,240 |
| West Allis Radio Amateurs Club | 1 | 3,200 |
| Loudoun Amateur Radio Group | 1 | 3,190 |
| SP Contest Club | 1 | 2,916 |
| Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation | 1 | 2,883 |
| Niagara Frontier Radiosport | 1 | 2,880 |
| SP-DX-Club | 1 | 2,730 |
| VERON | 1 | 2,652 |
| XE-Dxers | 1 | 2,288 |
| USS Wisconsin Radio Club | 1 | 2,214 |
| Radio Club of Redmond | 1 | 2,160 |
| Deutsch Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 2,050 |
| RCC | 1 | 2,044 |
| Utah DX Association | 2 | 1,566 |
| North Fulton Amateur Radio League | 2 | 1,440 |
| Arrow | 1 | 1,428 |
| Synton Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,426 |
| Daviess County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,357 |
| Fox Cities ARC | 1 | 1,092 |
| Cleveland Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,050 |
| Chesapeake Amateur Radio Service | 1 | 903 |
| Radiosport Manitoba | 2 | 758 |
| Badger Contesters | 1 | 720 |
| AVRA | 1 | 714 |
| The Dent County Raiders | 1 | 608 |
| Fort Smith Area ARC | 1 | 558 |
| Pottstown Area Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 494 |
| South Texas DX and Contest Club | 1 | 408 |
| Madison County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 220 |
| W/K ARC | 1 | 220 |
| Daviess County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 210 |
| Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 99 |
| Colorado QRP Club | 1 | 98 |
| Ventura County Amateur Radio Society | 1 | 84 |
| DCT Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 77 |
| Coyote Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 66 |
| CTRI Contest Group | 1 | 50 |
| CSU Pitesti | 1 | 8 |
| Nor DX Club | 1 | 1 |
New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 59 | 3,414,835 |
| CTRI Contest Group | 11 | 596,912 |
| Contoocook Valley Radio Club | 2 | 202,907 |
| The Barnstormers Contest Group | 2 | 158,886 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 8 | 131,684 |
| MassRadio | 1 | 87,424 |
| Cheshire County DX Amateur Radio Club | 3 | 75,777 |
| Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association | 2 | 64,176 |
| Vineyard Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 53,120 |
| Green Mountain Wireless Society | 1 | 31,680 |
| Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont | 1 | 31,620 |
| Meriden Amateur Radio Club | 3 | 26,766 |
| Eastern Connecticut Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 25,100 |
| Nashua Area Radio Club | 1 | 20,900 |
| Saint Albans Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 18,576 |
| Newport County Radio Club | 2 | 17,866 |
| Preston Contest and DX Society | 1 | 15,512 |
| Aroostook Amateur Radio Assoc | 1 | 7,518 |
| Signals, Summits, and Suds | 1 | 5,282 |
| Granite State Amateur Radio Association | 3 | 3,122 |
| Harvard Wireless Club | 1 | 2,408 |
| Greater Norwalk Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 1,102 |
| Tri City DX Asociation | 1 | 644 |
| Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 390 |
| West River Radio Club | 1 | 238 |
| Hop River Radio Club | 1 | 42 |
Activity by County
| County | QSOs | Stations |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | ||
| Fairfield | 719 | 22 |
| Hartford | 1703 | 35 |
| Litchfield | 93 | 10 |
| Middlesex | 168 | 7 |
| New Haven | 744 | 26 |
| New London | 1214 | 13 |
| Tolland | 1121 | 10 |
| Windham | 892 | 13 |
| Massachusetts | ||
| Barnstable | 158 | 12 |
| Berkshire | 1104 | 5 |
| Bristol | 739 | 15 |
| Dukes | 333 | 2 |
| Essex | 772 | 13 |
| Franklin | 132 | 10 |
| Hampden | 542 | 21 |
| Hampshire | 188 | 12 |
| Middlesex | 2651 | 52 |
| Nantucket | 90 | 4 |
| Norfolk | 975 | 18 |
| Plymouth | 1210 | 20 |
| Suffolk | 59 | 4 |
| Worcester | 890 | 28 |
| Maine | ||
| Androscoggin | 64 | 5 |
| Aroostook | 126 | 6 |
| Cumberland | 1217 | 18 |
| Franklin | 131 | 3 |
| Hancock | 28 | 4 |
| Kennebec | 145 | 11 |
| Knox | 60 | 5 |
| Lincoln | 25 | 6 |
| Oxford | 414 | 5 |
| Penobscot | 107 | 5 |
| Piscataquis | 117 | 6 |
| Sagadahoc | 69 | 6 |
| Somerset | 36 | 2 |
| Waldo | 260 | 8 |
| Washington | 712 | 7 |
| York | 101 | 9 |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Belknap | 108 | 4 |
| Carroll | 381 | 8 |
| Cheshire | 328 | 8 |
| Coos | 113 | 5 |
| Grafton | 258 | 4 |
| Hillsborough | 464 | 31 |
| Merrimack | 338 | 19 |
| Rochingham | 1471 | 22 |
| Strafford | 243 | 8 |
| Sullivan | 617 | 10 |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Bristol | 322 | 7 |
| Kent | 753 | 13 |
| Newport | 645 | 12 |
| Providence | 162 | 15 |
| Washington | 767 | 10 |
| Vermont | ||
| Addison | 9 | 5 |
| Bennington | 549 | 5 |
| Caledonia | 46 | 3 |
| Chittenden | 325 | 6 |
| Essex | 114 | 2 |
| Franklin | 153 | 2 |
| Grand Isle | 186 | 2 |
| Lamoille | 382 | 4 |
| Orange | 15 | 2 |
| Orleans | 402 | 3 |
| Rutland | 154 | 4 |
| Washington | 16 | 3 |
| Windsor | 103 | 3 |
| Windham | 492 | 6 |
Awards!
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’re looking forward to seeing you again during the 2018 NEQP !!
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 | Bob Beaudoin WA1FCN |
| USA – single operator QRP | Vern Brownell, W1VB | Vic Shields, K9UIY |
| USA – single opr (W5-W6-W7-W0) | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Frank Widmann, WA2VYA |
| USA – single op (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Steve Moynihan, W3SM | Paul Kirley, W8TM |
| USA – single opr low power (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Whit Carter, K1EO | Bill Sheehan, KB3LIX |
| 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 | San Diego Contest Club – NX6T |
| USA – multi operator – single transmitter | Will and Pam Angenent, K6ND/K6NDV | Barry Cohem, N2BJ |
| USA – single operator – CW only | K1EL Keyers | Bob Patten, WN1GIV (N4BP) |
| USA – single operator QRP (AR-LA-MS-TN) | Steve Kercel, AA4AK | Ron Duncan, W4UT |
| Canada – single operator high power | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Bob Nash, VE3KZ |
| Canada – single operator low power | Gerry Hull, W1VE/VE1RM | 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 | Jonathan Mitchener, M4J/G0DVJ |
| Clean Sweep – Not First, but Farthest | Dennis Egan, W1UE | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| Golden Log – no errors | Jim Spears, N1NK | Vic Shields, K9UIY |
| Top Club | Florida Contest Group | Tennessee Contest Group |
| New England – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Dale Clement, AF1T |
| New England – single operator – low power | Dave Hoaglin, K1HT | Dan Fegley, W1QK |
| New England – single operator – QRP | Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club | Dave LeDuc, N1IX |
| New England – mobile | Boston Amateur Radio Club | Jay Corriveau, NZ1U/m (W1UJ) |
| New England – mobile – multi-single | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F, in memory of James Szewczyk, WB1EYM | Bob Raymond, WA1Z/m (+K1GW W6PH, oprs) |
| New England – County Expedition Award | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Radio Amateurs of Northern Vermont, W1NVT (W1SJ, KB1WXM, oprs), 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 (KK4UHK, W1PL, KD2MAI, oprs) |
| 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 | Alan Fields, K6DTT |
| Connecticut – single operator high power | Candlewood ARA | Tom Frenaye, K1KI |
| Connecticut – single operator low power | Dick Pechie, KB1H, memorial sponsored by the Barnstormers (NZ1U) | Ed Shekleton, K1ZE |
| Maine – single operator | Larry Banks, W1DYJ | Joe Blinick, K1JB |
| Maine – single operator low power | Augusta Amateur Radio Assn | Rick Lindquist, WW1ME |
| Massachusetts – single operator | Framingham Amateur Radio Association | Al Rousseau, W1FJ |
| Massachusetts – single operator low power | Chuck Counselman, W1HIS | Rick Pendleton, N1DC |
| Massachusetts – Hampden County – single operator | Hampden County Radio Assn | Chris Scibelli, NU1O |
| New Hampshire – single operator | Mark Pride, K1RX | Mark Wilson, K1RO |
| New Hampshire – single operator low power | Jim Poulette, WQ2H | Dave Mackay, K1KA |
| New Hampshire – multi operator | Nat Lee,N1BNC, and Dan Norman, N0HF | Nat Lee, N1BNC (+ Dan Norman, N0HF) |
| Rhode Island – single operator | CTRI Contest Group | Karl Wherry, K1KX |
| 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 2018, 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 2017 the winner was Paul Newberry, N4PN!
Log checking
The log checking process found some mistakes, here and there. There were 633 logs overall, a huge 32% increase over 2016, with 469 in electronic format (99%) and only 7 on paper. The best operators have error rates in <3% range. For non-New England stations, cross checking was possible on 22,742 of the 25,883 QSOs reported (87.9%). For New England stations, cross checking was possible on 28,440 of the 53,831 QSOs reported (52.8%).
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+ | 341 | 48,851 |
| N3FJP | 92 | 7,322 |
| WriteLog | 28 | 4,926 |
| N1MM Logger | 27 | 3,541 |
| Win-Test | 4 | 1,017 |
| DXLog.net | 3 | 656 |
| SD | 3 | 612 |
| ADIF2CABR | 4 | 568 |
| WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo | 15 | 495 |
| GenLog | 12 | 404 |
| JL | 2 | 397 |
| TR Log POST | 3 | 337 |
| SkookumLogger | 4 | 306 |
| TR4W | 3 | 211 |
| other | 28 | 1,274 |
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 2017. We’re making plans for 2018 and hope you’ll join us on May 5th and 6th for the next running of the NEQP!!