[FQP] 2011 FQP

[n4dxi@arrl.net]

N4DXI Single Op, Mixed Mode, High Power, Unassisted, All Band
Fixed Station from Inglis, Florida: Levy County

Orion 2, Centurion, A3S tribander up 40 feet, N3FJP Software

40 Meters: a single CW QSO with superstation N4UU (Lev) and another 
with W2TX (Bre)

20 Meters: 72 CW QSO's and 29 SSB QSO's

Total QSO's: 103, Mult: 61, Score: 10,797.  Twice as many QSO's as last 
year!

First contest in a long, long time that I did not work anyone on 10 or 
15 meters...whenever I listened, it was barren, like the surface of the 
moon!  Surprising, I was expecting at least 15 meters to be active.

On 20 meters, many stations were weak and fluttery, very difficult to 
copy; on the other hand, I did work a lot of European stations....what 
does that mean?  If I can work Wales, Germany, Poland and Spain, 
shouldn't I be able to get strong signals out of New York, California 
and Michigan?  Apparently not.  There were also many stations copyable 
that were not in the FQP: a special event station in Maine was booming 
in, a very strong Azores station calling US stations by the numbers, 
and the Nebraska QSO Party stations.

I am reminded of the Tom Hank's movie quote "You never know what you'll 
pick out of the box of chocolates..", and, yes, I'm paraphrasing.

FQP: Loads of fun, always surprises!

73....John Bescher, N4DXI