by Tom Frenaye, K1KI – frenaye@pcnet.com
Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments
Introduction
Activity was down slightly in 2014 from the previous year. A lot of New England hams were engaged as volunteers planning and supporting the large effort needed for the World Radiosport Team Championships in the Boston area.
We received 437 logs with 43 from DX stations, 14 from Canada, 224 from the USA and 156 from New England. The logs combined to show 68,471 valid QSOs. There were 622 different New England stations reported from all counties. Paul/N4PN worked all 67 counties and Bob/WN1GIV found all but one. Jim/K9YC from California and Vic/K9UIY who was QRP from IL found 61 counties to work.
After considerable deliberation, some changes have been made in how scores are listed this time. Rather than placing all of the stations using assistance into the multi-operator category, they have been included in the single operator scores but are shown with a “-A” suffix (SOLP-A is single operator low power with assistance).
Over the years assistance has grown from a few people using packet or the Internet for help in finding stations to work, to a significant percentage of all competitors using assistance. On CW and digital modes this is even more pronounced with the implementation of VE3NEA”s CW Skimmer software and the use of the Reverse Beacon Network. Everyone operating CW and digital modes is now automatically spotted.
Rather than adding new categories for single operator assisted, we’ll list them together in 2015, so the use of assistance will not place you in the multi-op category..
Propagation
The sun provided some extra spin during the overnight hours as the K-index hit 4. This dampened propagation and activity on Sunday morning so totals on 15 and 10 meters was down compared to 2013. On the other hand, 40 and 80 meters produced more QSOs in the early evening hours.
| Valid QSOs | 80m | 40m | 20m | 15m | 10m |
| QSOs made by W1s | 2,874 | 16,687 | 23,181 | 7,031 | 409 |
| Different stations worked | 639 | 2,289 | 4,691 | 1,489 | 240 |
| QSOs made by non-W1s | 1,305 | 5,385 | 9,734 | 1,865 | 46 |
| Different stations worked | 104 | 191 | 443 | 135 | 22 |
Mobiles
Bob/WA1Z/m and his driver Kurt/W6PH decided to test the roads of northern New Hampshire and all of Vermont this year, hitting all 14 counties in VT and 7 in NH. Bob’s 1,246 QSOs was the top mobile score, while he set individual records in two NH and 4 VT counties.
WA1Z/m – with pilot extraordinaire: Kurt W6PH
Elecraft K3 running off car battery. Two Hustler MO-2 Masts (braced by homemade harness attached to car roof rack) on Comet antenna mounts. Monoband Hustler RM-series coil/whips on top. Although I discovered a problem with my car’s AUX stereo jack in the center console a day before the event, between what we could get out of one of the speakers and the K3’s own speaker we were still able to pump enough audio into the car for Kurt to listen in to the action.
There was a lot of ignition noise (or fuel injectors) on 40m. Kurt would keep the accelerator down while I was transmitting and let up if there was a weak signal calling so I could get the call and report! Twenty and 15 were completely quiet.
Kurt and I were moaning and groaning most of the day Sunday “it felt like a nearly unbearable slog most of the day.” After a record-breaking 2013 effort in the NEQP, the score contracted a bit this year. I kept trying to keep in mind that the NEQP is notoriously a slow starter on both days. Aside from 15 Meters being seemingly open without activity Saturday afternoon at the start, we were still on a record pace after the first operating period with 637 QSOs and 67 Multipliers, so we felt really good Sunday morning.
We headed up to Orleans VT immediately Sunday morning before turning west to Lake Champlain. I had visions of a massive pileup for a county in high demand when we got there. We spent 33 minutes and got 21 QSOs out of it. Same thing happened in Grand Isle. Nothing seemed to be working and our only hope was that we’d have the normal Sunday afternoon “crescendo” to the end of the contest when activity/rate tend to steadily increase (at least this is my experience as a 9-year mobile veteran).
We started to sense the rates improving around 2000z, but we were still grousing how week signals were and that we couldn’t get a really good rate going. I kept giving Kurt an update on QSO totals about every 50 or so and before we knew it I was saying a fairly big number. We started to grouse less.
In the last 1.5 hours, the 60-minute rate finally broke 100/hr. It stayed above 100 until the end of the contest, peaking at 117 and settling back to 115 for the last hour. Now we were in a good mood. Originally the plan was to finish at the border of CHEshire and HILlsborough county with no activity in HILNH. But Kurt cut SULNH short and raced through CHENH so we could spend the last 20 minutes in HILNH which proved to be a good idea as the rate on 40m was phenomenal (compared to all day on Sunday).
Our 77 multipliers break down as 52 St/Prov and 25 DX. Down from 1472/88 from last year. There were a lot valleys with high terrain right next to the road. Kurt and I both think that roving in Vermont is more difficult than Maine for this reason. Besides propagation and activity the terrain was definitely a factor in a lower QSO total. Very happy with our totals. For st/prov mults, we missed DE, MS, NM and NV (yeah, W1AW/7 was active all day Saturday from NV – I know), KH6, KL7. Missed NF, LB, PEI, and the territories in VE-land. I was reminded by folks far smarter than I am that signing /M in a CQ transmission is a BAD idea in these QSO parties. RBN/Skimmer doesn’t help “alert” CW operators who use that god-forsaken, um, Thing (tongue-in-cheek folks that I changed counties; I should’ve sent the county designation after / instead. Lesson learned….
It’s nice having a buddy along for the ride in these things. I couldn’t imagine doing mobile contesting alone again ” Now if I could just get Kurt to operate. Thanks to everyone for all the QSOs!
Jay/W1UJ, Kim/N1WK and Derek/KB1SBC, used the Barnstormers Contest Group’s NZ1U/m callsign on a free-range trip through all 16 counties in Maine, plus another five in MA, and one each in NH and their home base in CT. They set a New England record score for a multi-single mobile operation, and set records in 13 of the 23 counties they passed through.
NZ1U/m – A fantastic time with good friends. KB1SBC Drove most of the way, N1WK navigated, W1UJ operated. Was in northern ME where we have never gone before. K3/100 with a motorized High Sierra antenna and a Hy-Gain mast with changeable resonators. 2003 Caddy SLS turned 38k miles on the trip. Used N1MM for logging and CQ/x for county warnings. Two networked laptops with N1MM and navigation software/streets and trips 2010. Wireless LAN in the car to network the PC’s and connect the ‘operating’ laptop to the Rig for CAT, keying and GPS with a Comtrol serial-Ethernet appliance on the LAN.
Headed off-track to give out SUFMA after a couple of requests. 2 lucky QSOs in NORMA with a short corner of that county. We did this in 2012 with good results and a better score. The conditions seemed to be poor but steady, thanks for the ‘regulars’ chasing us through the counties. Some Photos; http://w1uj.net/NEQP-2014/
Notes for next rover effort– Pass counties! Advertising to the guys that constantly call from each county change deserve to know when that is! Pass QSOs to other bands. But fun “shooting the breeze” with nav and driver too!-Have better notifications to the navigator on county changes.-Missed the last 2 hours where WA1Z stated good rates….
Congrats to WA1Z and W6PH! We will see what future Barnstormer efforts bring!
Brian/NJ1F and Saul/K2XA used the YCCC club call W2PV/m while touring through Vermont and western MA covering 15 counties along the way.
Tim/K9WX/m (with Andy/K9ELF) in the Indiana QSO Party worked 67 New England stations while in the Indiana QSO Party. Ted/W8UE/m made 73 New England QSOs from Indiana the first day and another 49 from Michigan the next day.
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 said hello to 262 CW and 268 SSB friends in New England from Georgia for another top single operator high power score, this time with 53,064 points and working all 67 counties. Hal/N4GG, also from Georgia, took the second spot with 248 CW QSOs and 60 counties for a 29,760 point score, while Pat/W5WMU found a mixture of 308 stations to work for 26, 448 points from Louisiana. Bob/K2DSW was close behind from Iowa and Gary/W2CS was fourth with 25,368, just ahead of Jim/K9YC from California.
Bob/N4BP operated low power as WN1GIV from Florida and took first place with 243 CW and 133 SSB QSOs. He only missed one county and had a total of 40,854 points, setting a new SOLP record. Bob/WA1FCN earned second place with 60 counties and about the same number of QSOs for 35,040, leading the Alabama Contest Group’s entries. Craig/K9CT, Paul/W8TM and Joel/NA4K rounded out the top five, with KI0I posting the best score west of the Mississippi River. Joel/NA4K earned the Golden Log plaque with his entry – we couldn’t find even one error in it.
The QRP category was led by Vic/K9UIY with a big 25,010 points, making 205 CW QSOs in 61 counties. Only a couple of stations have ever had a bigger QRP score.
The San Diego Contest Club team at NX6T led the multi-single entries with 193 QSOS in 47 counties.
Canada
Claude/VE2FK had 4,270 points and the top single operator high power score (and a new Quebec record), while Ed/VE4VThad 69 CW and 52 SSB QSOs in 48 counties to come in first among the low power entries with 9,120 points. The big story is that Alan/VA1MM had the top Canadian score with 110 CW and 7 SSB contacts in 50 counties for 11,350 points. Alan also earned a new Canadian QRP record, while Barry/VE6UM set the Alberta record with 3,672 points.
DX
There were logs from 43 DX stations received, the largest number ever, and up 25% from 2013. Russian stations led several categories.
Dmitry/UA2FB and Vlad/UA2FF operated Multi-single from UA2F and piled up 182 CW and 91 SSB QSOs in 60 counties for a big score of 27,300, a new record. Not far behind was Zlatko/9A2EU with 12, 006. George/UA6LCN topped the single operator high power group with 157 QSOs, while Dima/UA3AGW led the low power category with just under 20k points. Alone in the QRP category Fulvio/IV3AOL beat his own record with 108 QSOs and 8,740 points from Italy.
A number of new records were set, and some logs came in from countires not heard from before. Congratulations to the following DX stations for new records – High power: RZ0AF, JA9CWJ and TA5FA from Asia, OH2BN, I1EIS and SP9LJD from Europe; .Low Power: ON3ND, LZ2FM, LY5W, CT7AIX, OM3DX, EA5IIK, HB9ARF from Europe, and YV5OIE from South America.
For a full list of current records –> Records
New England Results
The single operator high power category resulted in a close finish with Dave/K1ZZ compiling 208,512 points with just under a thousand CW QSOs (996) and 180 on SSB, edging out Mark/K1RO from NH who had 851 on CW and 445 on SSB. Dale/AF1T was third with 1,435 on SSB and a 101 for the best multiplier total. The top five were rounded out by Tom/K1KI and Bob/AC1Z. The next few were very close with Ed/W1MA, Chuck/W1HIS, John/K1ESE and Joe/K1JB only separated by a small amount.
Bruce/K1BG ran away with the low power title again, with his 673 CW and 380 SSB QSOs and 167, 422 points from MA. Brian/K1LI grabbed the second spot with 115,584 points from rare Orleans County VT and Matt/W1MSW came in third with a 107,325 total from Hampshire County MA. Bob/W1EQ was back this year finishing forth, followed by Sandor/NB1N in fifth place.
Steve/AA4AK made it two in a row with his 254 CW QSOs using QRP from southern Maine. Close behind was Bill/W1WBB from RI.
The Multi-single category had a lot of competition this time. Dave/NN1N and Sean/KX9X teamed up for the top score and a New England record with 354,590 points. They had 920 CW and 1,165 SSB QSOs and 118 multipliers from CT. John/W1XX and Bob/K1XA finished second with 820 CW and 1,027 SSB QSOs and the top multiplier of 119 states/provinces and countries and 317,373 points, for a Rhode Island record. The team of Mike/K1MK, Brian/NJ1F and Tom/W1TO put the NE1QP callsign on the air from K1TTT’s western MA station and finished third with 278,080 points.
Charlie/N1RR, Mike/WM1K and Will/K6ND were fourth with 165,676 points.
Members of the Candlewood ARA travelled to Newington to operate as W100AW. They posted some pictures of their visit at: https://picasaweb.google.com/103841307499256112753/NEQSO2014
Operators were W1QK W1QH W1QJ NG1R K2ZZ N1NRP N1SUZ and KJ4WKD,
Check here for detailed results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band leaders –> Band-by-band
Twenty-six New England records were set from home stations in various categories during the NEQP in 2014, plus another 25 by mobiles. Check out the NEQP records page for details –> Records
How’d you do hunting multipliers?
Paul/N4PN, led the pack with all 67 counties in the log, followed by Bob/N4BP at WN1GIV with 66. Jim/K9YC tracked down 61 from California, and QRPer Vic/K9UIY matched his total from Illinois.
Some New England stations worked a lot of New England counties, with K1GQ’s checklog showing 53 of them, followed by K1RO at 50, and NE1QP and K1BG at 48
Club Competition
This was the year for the Alabama Contest Group – they edged out the Society of Midwest Contesters by a small margin. Bob/WA1FCN led the way for the ACG, with Charlie/NF4A second. The SMC’s big total was led by Craig/K9CT, closely followed by Vic/K9UIY and Barry/N2BJ.
The CTRI Contest Group led New England clubs, helped by a big score from John/W1XX‘s multi-op effort and Ken, K3IU, both from Rhode Island. (Yankee Clipper Contest Club members submitted 52 scores for just under 3.1 million points.)
Non-New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama Contest Group | 6 | 95,794 |
| Society of Midwest Contesters | 8 | 89,246 |
| Georgia Contest Group | 2 | 74,988 |
| Tennessee Contest Group | 7 | 70,491 |
| Mad River Radio Club | 9 | 69,134 |
| South East Contest Club | 9 | 64,605 |
| Florida Contest Group | 3 | 57,626 |
| Northern California Contest Club | 6 | 42,601 |
| Minnesota Wireless Assn | 4 | 33,130 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 5 | 29,578 |
| UA2 Contest Club | 1 | 27,300 |
| Rochester (NY) DX Assn | 2 | 18,432 |
| Potomac Valley Radio Club | 5 | 17,937 |
| Maritime Contest Club | 4 | 16,948 |
| DFW Contest Group | 3 | 15,205 |
| Heart of Texas DX Society | 1 | 14,798 |
| San Diego Contest Club | 1 | 14,758 |
| Contest Club California Peninsula | 1 | 14,382 |
| Russian Contest Club | 1 | 13,725 |
| Bavarian Contest Club | 3 | 12,013 |
| Croatian Contest Club | 1 | 12,006 |
| Metro DX Club | 2 | 11,832 |
| Bozinga DX and Contest Club | 1 | 10,800 |
| Texas DX Society | 1 | 9,996 |
| Radiosport Manitoba | 1 | 9,120 |
| ARI Trieste | 1 | 8,736 |
| Niagara Frontier Radiosport | 3 | 8,444 |
| Kokomo Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 6,468 |
| Arizona Outlaws Contest Club | 5 | 5,681 |
| SP Contest Club | 1 | 5,478 |
| Carolina DX Association | 1 | 5,472 |
| Vasterbergslagens Sandar Amatorer, SK4DM | 2 | 5,188 |
| Allegheny Valley Radio Association | 2 | 4,994 |
| Czech Contest Club | 1 | 4,680 |
| Saskatchewan Contest Club | 1 | 4,680 |
| Vytautas Magnus University Radio Club | 1 | 4,560 |
| Orca DX and Contest Club | 1 | 4,514 |
| Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 4,409 |
| West SM HF Society, SK6TY | 1 | 4,392 |
| Contest Group du Quebec | 2 | 4,286 |
| Florida East Coast DX Club | 1 | 4,180 |
| Kansas City Contest Club | 1 | 4,158 |
| Kansas City DX Club | 1 | 4,025 |
| Ft Smith Area Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 3,993 |
| Radio Club of Redmond | 2 | 3,714 |
| Purdue Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 3,696 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 1 | 3,420 |
| Southern California Contest Club | 2 | 3,276 |
| Colorado DX Club | 3 | 3,241 |
| South Texas DX and Contest Club | 3 | 2,552 |
| USS Wisconsin Radio Club | 1 | 2,352 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 3 | 2,150 |
| North Coast Contesters | 1 | 1,824 |
| Northeast Maryland Amateur Radio Contest Society | 1 | 1,334 |
| Western Washington DX Club | 3 | 1,058 |
| Mid-State Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 782 |
| CWOPS | 1 | 756 |
| Colorado QRP Club | 1 | 704 |
| Madison County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 555 |
| L’Anse Creuse Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 432 |
| Clark County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 272 |
| Louisiana Contest Club | 1 | 240 |
| Brightleaf Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 234 |
| Twin City DX Association | 1 | 200 |
| NORTEX QRP Club | 1 | 90 |
| Anne Arundel Radio Club | 1 | 50 |
| Radio Club Venezolano | 1 | 50 |
| Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association, Inc. | 1 | 9 |
| Wilderness Road Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 9 |
New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 52 | 3,091,863 |
| CTRI Contest Group | 7 | 527,696 |
| Laird Campbell Memorial HQ Operators Club | 2 | 357,854 |
| Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 167,422 |
| The Barnstormers Contest Group | 1 | 131,692 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 3 | 72,336 |
| Bristol County Repeater Association | 1 | 67,932 |
| Meriden Amateur Radio Club | 4 | 63,739 |
| Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association | 2 | 50,797 |
| Framingham Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 36,830 |
| Green Mountain Wireless Society | 1 | 17,864 |
| Northeastern University Wireless Club | 1 | 17,168 |
| Contoocook Valley Radio Club | 2 | 12,702 |
| Waterbury Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 9,537 |
| Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 3,996 |
| Green Mountain Wireless | 1 | 3,450 |
| Cheshire County DX Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 2,555 |
| Candlewood Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 2,449 |
| YO DX Club | 1 | 1,690 |
| Central New Hampshire Amateur Radio Club | 2 | 1,396 |
| Granite State Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 1,007 |
| Androscoggin Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 912 |
| Westerly Amateur Radio Team | 1 | 416 |
| Falmouth Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 130 |
| Port City Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 32 |
| Boston Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 30 |
Activity by County
| County | QSOs | Stations Active |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | ||
| Fairfield | 697 | 22 |
| Hartford | 1119 | 32 |
| Litchfield | 173 | 14 |
| Middlesex | 299 | 13 |
| New Haven | 711 | 23 |
| New London | 418 | 13 |
| Tolland | 822 | 13 |
| Windham | 915 | 6 |
| Massachusetts | ||
| Barnstable | 355 | 17 |
| Berkshire | 923 | 9 |
| Bristol | 588 | 22 |
| Dukes | 127 | 3 |
| Essex | 589 | 27 |
| Franklin | 115 | 5 |
| Hampden | 457 | 21 |
| Hampshire | 592 | 11 |
| Middlesex | 1628 | 50 |
| Nantucket | 29 | 3 |
| Norfolk | 966 | 21 |
| Plymouth | 660 | 12 |
| Suffolk | 35 | 5 |
| Worcester | 1672 | 25 |
| Maine | ||
| Androscoggin | 91 | 6 |
| Aroostook | 173 | 4 |
| Cumberland | 700 | 12 |
| Franklin | 102 | 5 |
| Hancock | 316 | 3 |
| Kennebec | 175 | 8 |
| Knox | 21 | 3 |
| Lincoln | 37 | 5 |
| Oxford | 320 | 6 |
| Penobscot | 378 | 6 |
| Piscataquis | 44 | 2 |
| Sagadahoc | 19 | 4 |
| Somerset | 40 | 3 |
| Waldo | 48 | 6 |
| Washington | 365 | 7 |
| York | 150 | 14 |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Belknap | 509 | 9 |
| Carroll | 600 | 7 |
| Cheshire | 256 | 8 |
| Coos | 50 | 2 |
| Grafton | 330 | 4 |
| Hillsborough | 498 | 23 |
| Merrimack | 460 | 11 |
| Rochingham | 965 | 26 |
| Strafford | 438 | 11 |
| Sullivan | 738 | 8 |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Bristol | 150 | 2 |
| Kent | 280 | 7 |
| Newport | 598 | 10 |
| Providence | 547 | 30 |
| Washington | 459 | 4 |
| Vermont | ||
| Addison | 49 | 5 |
| Bennington | 439 | 5 |
| Caledonia | 79 | 3 |
| Chittenden | 165 | 12 |
| Essex | 144 | 2 |
| Franklin | 52 | 5 |
| Grand Isle | 44 | 3 |
| Lamoille | 135 | 4 |
| Orange | 66 | 4 |
| Orleans | 305 | 3 |
| Rutland | 233 | 7 |
| Washington | 79 | 5 |
| Windsor | 94 | 4 |
| Windham | 309 | 6 |
Certificates!
Digital (Adobe PDF) certificates will be mailed 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 2015 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 | Bob Patten, N4BP(WN1GIV) |
| USA – single operator QRP | Vern Brownell, W1VB | Vic Shields, K9UIY |
| USA – single opr (W5-W7-W0) | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Pat Sonnier, W5WMU |
| USA – single op (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Jim Monahan, K1PX | Craig Thompson, K9CT |
| USA – single opr low power (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Whit Carter, K1EO | Paul Kirley, W8TM |
| USA – W4 – any category | Gerry Hull, W1VE ex AK4L | Bob Beaudoin, WA1FCN |
| USA – California/Nevada | Calif QSO Party – Northern California Contest Club | Jim Brown, K9YC |
| USA – multi operator – single transmitter | Will and Pam Angenent, K6ND/K6NDV | San Diego Contest Club – NX6T (9 operators) |
| USA – single operator – CW only | K1EL Keyers | Hal Kennedy, N4GG |
| USA – single operator QRP (AR-LA-MS-TN) | Steve Kercel, AA4AK | Ron Duncan, W4UT |
| Canada – single operator high power | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Claude Duberger, VE2FK |
| Canada – single operator low power | Gerry Hull, W1VE/VE1RM | Ed Richardson, VE4VT |
| Canada – single operator – CW only | Bud Hippisley, W2RU | Bud Mortenson, VA7ST |
| DX – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | George Tursky, UA6LCN |
| DX – single operator low power | Pete Chamalian, W1RM, in memory of John Thompson, W1BIH/PJ9JT | Dima Zaslavsky, UA3AGW |
| DX – Russia – any category (min 50 multipliers/200 QSOs) | Dmitri Y Jikharev, N2OW/RA9USU | UA2F (Dmitri Gorshkov, UA2FB and Vlad Gumennikov, UA2FF) |
| Clean Sweep – Not First, but Furthest | Dennis Egan, W1UE | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| Golden Log – no errors | Jim Spears, N1NK | Steve Woods, NA4K |
| Top Club | Florida Contest Group | Alabama Contest Group |
| New England – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ |
| New England – single operator – low power | Dave Hoaglin, K1HT | Bruce Blain, K1BG |
| New England – single operator – QRP | Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club | Steve Kercel, AA4AK |
| New England – mobile | Boston Amateur Radio Club | Bob Raymond, WA1Z/m |
| New England – mobile – multi-single | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F, in memory of James Szewczyk, WB1EYM | The Barnstormers Contest Group – NZ1U (W1UJ, N1WK, KB1SBC, oprs) |
| New England – County Expedition Award | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Fall River ARC – W1ACT (7 ops) |
| New England – multi-single | Wellesley Amateur Radio Society | Dave Patton, NN1N (+Sean Kutzo, KX9X, oprs) |
| New England – single operator – CW only | Andy Bodony, K2LE | Tom Frenaye, K1KI |
| New England – single operator – SSB only | Fred Reed, KK1KW, and Woody Beckford, WW1WW | Dale Clement, AF1T |
| Connecticut – single operator high power | Candlewood ARA | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ |
| Connecticut – single operator low power | Mikey Mavor, W1MKM, memorial sponsored by the Barnstormers (NZ1U) | Bob Garceau, W1EQ |
| Maine – single operator | Merrymeeting ARA, Androscoggin ARC, Yankee ARC, Portland Amateur Wireless Assn | John Huffman, K1ESE |
| Maine – single operator low power | Augusta Amateur Radio Assn | Rick Lindquist, WW1ME |
| Maine – single operator – CW only | Larry Banks, W1DYJ | John Huffman, K1ESE |
| Massachusetts – single operator | Framingham Amateur Radio Association | Ed Lajoie, W1MA |
| Massachusetts – single operator low power | Chuck Counselman, W1HIS | Bruce Blain, K1BG |
| Massachusetts – Hampden County – single operator | Hampden County Radio Assn | Chris Scibelli, NU1O |
| New Hampshire – single operator | Mark Pride, K1RX | Mark Wilson, K1RO |
| New Hampshire – multi-single | SILENT Solutions EMC Consulting | Nat Lee, N1BNC (+ Dan Norman, N0HF, Tad Church, KT1NG) |
| Rhode Island – single operator | CTRI Contest Group | Ken Wagner, K3IU |
| Vermont – single operator | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Brian Machesney, K1LI |
| Vermont – single operator low power | West River Radio Club | Steve Roberts, W1SFR |
| New England Club | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | CTRI Contest Group |
If you’d like to sponsor a new plaque for 2015, 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 2014 the winner is Paul Newberry, N4PN! |
Log checking
The log checking process found some missed dits and dahs. There were 437 logs overall, a 9% decrease over 2013, with 423 in electronic format (97%) and only 14 on paper.
For non-New England stations, cross checking was possible on 16,176 of the 19,300 QSOs reported (83.8%). Of the QSOs not allowed (5.0%), the breakdown was as follows:
| QSOs | Reason not Allowed |
|---|---|
| 183 | Callsign incorrect |
| 467 | QTH incorrect * (most from 7QP stations who didn’t copy the county) |
| 71 | Not in log |
| 211 | Duplicate |
| 3 | Bad mode |
| 19 | Bad band |
| 10 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 964 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
For New England stations, cross checking was possible on 23,076 of the 51,878 QSOs reported (44.5%). Of the 1,743 QSOs not allowed (3.6%), the breakdown was as follows:
| QSOs | Reason not Allowed |
|---|---|
| 441 | Callsign incorrect |
| 555 | QTH incorrect |
| 112 | Not in log |
| 590 | Duplicate |
| 0 | Bad mode |
| 26 | Bad band |
| 18 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 1,743 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
Logging Software
Use of N1MM software continues to grow, with a very large margin over N3FJP and Writelog software. The logs show a wide variety of software versions – you should update your software periodically to get new features and bug fixes. Quite a number of people used the N1MM module that lets people work the NEQP, 7QP and INQP at the same time.
| Logging software used | Entries | QSOs |
|---|---|---|
| N1MM | 227 | 37,648 |
| N3FJP’s NEQP | 71 | 9,036 |
| WriteLog | 21 | 6,060 |
| CT | 2 | 2,094 |
| Win-Test | 3 | 1,347 |
| SkookumLogger | 3 | 1,334 |
| NA Version | 6 | 1,069 |
| GenLog | 15 | 895 |
| WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo | 5 | 591 |
| CabConverter | 4 | 588 |
| Logger | 1 | 511 |
| DXKeeper | 3 | 446 |
| TR Log POST | 2 | 439 |
| JL | 1 | 299 |
| SD | 7 | 286 |
| TR4W | 5 | 265 |
| (17 others) | 22 | 1,311 |
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 2014. A lot of people had a good time finding counties and meeting new friends – hope to see you all again in the 2015 contest – May 2nd and 3rd!