[FQP] 2012 FLQP - K0RC Score and soap

[Robert Chudek - K0RC]

  Florida QSO PARTY Score Summary Sheet

        Start Date : 2012-04-28

     CallSign Used : K0RC
       Operator(s) : K0RC

Operator Category : SINGLE-OP ASSISTED
              Band : ALL
             Power : HIGH
              Mode : MIXED
  Default Exchange : MN

         Club/Team : Minnesota Wireless Assn
          Software : N1MM Logger V12.4.1

         Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts  Sec
            7  CW      45      90    0
            7  LSB      2      2    0
           14  CW     383     766   66
           14  USB     63      63   30
           21  CW      16      32    1
           21  USB     18      18    7
        Total  Both   527     971  104

             Score : 100,984

             Hours : 18.0

               Rig : IC-756 Pro III, IC-2KL @ 300 Watts

          Antennas : HyGain TH-11DX @ 70' and a 40m vertical wire dipole

           Soapbox : This year (2012) the added attraction to the 
Florida QSO Party was the "Spelling Bee" which consisted of 1x1 call 
sign stations, each with a suffix to help spell out FLORIDA QSO PARTY. 
This added another challenge to the event for the first time in Florida. 
I didn't know how difficult this would be, having to find and work the 
14 stations. In reality, I worked all of them and logged this 
"mini-sweep" on both CW and phone during the first day of the contest.

My second and third goals were to work the 67 county sweep and try to 
accomplish this on the first day. I fell one county short of the single 
day sweep. I got the last county (Calhoun) in the log on schedule Sunday 
morning, followed by 4 "back up" QSOs later in the day. If my log 
survives cross-checking, this will be the fifth FLQP sweep I have made. 
I am way short of making a double sweep (CW + Phone) with only 37 
counties worked on SSB.

Propagation was decent and provided the normal RF pipeline between our 
states, especially toward dusk on 15m and 20m. I found 15m was open 
during the day but was not as active as 20m. Fifteen meters added 34 
QSOs for the log. I checked 10m a couple times but never heard any 
stations. The 40m band seemed to be late in opening on Saturday evening. 
The 20m stations started to thin out but were not yet workable on 40m. 
When the RF path finally "engaged", I found the signals to be stronger 
on the vertical wire dipole compared to the Telrex single element at 65' 
even though the vertical picked up a little more background noise.

I added an unplanned goal toward the end of the contest. The QSO Points 
were approaching the 100K mark so this helped push me to keep on top of 
all the mobiles. They added about 200 points to the score with each new 
county they entered. Some of the mobiles were "revisiting" counties I 
had already worked them in before, thus adding some suspense to the 
quest. The QSO Points were advancing slowly. It was going to be a 
photo-finish ending. I did make it over the 100K mark by 4 QSOs but 
that's not much of a cushion to stay there after log processing!

I had only one station confuse my call sign as KØRF on CW. I never heard 
Chuck over the weekend so that must have been a "best guess" of who was 
calling the FL station. We got the call sign straightened out quickly. 
But there was a different twist from this end. Both myself and Pat, KØPC 
would be calling mobile stations at the same time. There might have been 
a little confusion about these similar calls in the beginning, but after 
a while it was like playing leap-frog to see which one of us would be 
picked out of the pileup first. I enjoyed this "RF partnership" with 
Pat. Dick, NØIM, another MWA club member mentioned he was in some of the 
same pileups. But his QTH near Duluth is about 120 miles to the north 
and off the back corner of my yagi so I never heard him.

There are a number of attractions that draw me to the event each year. I 
find the FLQP "fast paced". Another thing is there is enough activity to 
keep things "hopping" both days. (It certainly helps to have a large 
population to draw from!) All the mobile operators are top-notched and 
play an important role in the event. I enjoy the high speed CW 
exchanges. The "mini band plan" is excellent and helps keep stations 
from landing on top of each other when they cannot hear each other. And 
personally, my wife is a native Floridian, born in Ocala. I feel like I 
get a few kudos when she calls me for lunch and I can tell her how many 
counties (and name drop some from the area she grew up) I have worked so 
far!

Thanks for another great one this year!

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN