Every year several people or teams go out on mobile trips during the NEQP to make sure some of the rarest counties in New England are on the air – and to enjoy the scenic drives on rural roads when there are few tourists around.
Most activity in the NEQP centers on 20m during the day and 40m/80m in the late afternoon and evening, especially on CW. We generally suggest that activity be concentrated on 3540, 7035 and 14040. Mobiles are usually running low power with modest (short) antennas and want to avoid those running higher power so they tend to avoid the center of activity.
As in many contests, the lower power stations typically move up in frequency to an area with less activity. It’s similar with the NEQP. We reviewed the logs submitted by several stations during the 2018 NEQP and made some graphs for 80-40-20m below that show where they spent most of their rime.
So, bottom line, here’s where you should look (and where mobiles may want to spend their time) – 3545-3550, 7038-7048, and 14045-14050 kHz.
