[FQP] (no subject)

[Georgek5kg at aol.com]

Florida  QSO Party

Call: K4KG/M
Operator(s): K5KG VE7ZO
Station:  K4KG

Class: M/SMixed LP
QTH: FL
Operating Time (hrs):  20

Summary:
Band  CW Qs  Ph  Qs
--------------------
40:     56     3
20:  1812    297
15:   354    63
10:    15      4
--------------------
Total:  2237   367  CW Mults =  80  Ph Mults = 54  Total Score = 1,297,388

Club: Florida  Contest Group

Comments:

This was our 10th FQP together in the M/S  mobile category.  George does an
excellent job of storing, categorizing  and optimizing our mobile operating
platform so it just takes about half a  day to assemble.  The U-Haul dealer 
down
the road even saves the small  motorcycle trailer for us each year 
simplifying
set up.  (There is a  hole in the center of the trailer bed for a large 
bolt to
mount the Sigma  antenna; we drilled it years ago!)  Once again we used a K3
with ham  sticks on the Toyota Highlander roof for 20 and 15/40 and the 
5-band
Sigma-5  antenna mounted in the trailer.  There is not a great deal of gain 
 when
using the Sigma but the set up provides for instant band switching  
covering SSB
and CW.

We found that conditions overall were excellent  compared with previous 
years
with solid openings on 15m and 10m.  Credit  goes to the K4OJ team for
maintaining a beacon on both of these bands and  showing their potential.  A
quick look at K4OJ/m in the RBN network  shows that 10m was open most all 
of the
daylight hours to the west coast and  South America with extended openings 
into
Europe.   We called CQ  and had some good results into Europe on 15m, but 
there
were few takers on  10m even though the band was open.  

Our operating strategy in the  mixed mode remains the same.  We try moving 
new
multipliers from CW to  SSB from CW on Day 1 as much as possible.  Then, as 
the
contest  progresses, the need to break from the CW pile-ups diminishes
throughout the  weekend.  Regardless though, we still will break from a CW
pile-up to  work those mixed ops outside of Florida on SSB for hopefully a  
quick
QSY.  This can be a questionable strategy from a point perspective  for us 
as a
FL station, but it’s a lot of fun and helps the out-of-state  stations who
find the SSB mults a little harder to come by.  As a  result, we are able to
work many skilled operators like K0HC, K9NW, VE3KZ,  K3WW, K8MR (in New 
Joisey)
and others multiple times in each  county.    This year though, the 
champion was
Laci, OM2VL whom  we would switch bands in many counties, making the Q on 
20, 15
and 10  sometimes on both modes.  The instant band change capability of  the
station made it easy and enjoyable.

Congratulations to the K1XX/m,  aka the “Flying Cucarachas Group (FCG)”, 
for
setting a new county activation  record.  Our 2014 route increased the K4KG 
2013
record to 53 from 52 but  that was demolished by the 55 counties that 
Charlie
and Marty achieved.   Charlie called us on the cell immediately after the 
end of
the event on  Sunday to proudly announce their accomplishment.  Apparently, 
due
to  their lightning-fast driving, their whip became permanently horizontal. 
  

Saturday was beset with laptop problems half way through the contest  as
communications was lost between the F-keys and keyboard multiple  times.  
Not
only did we lose hours operating sitting by the roadside  trying to correct 
the
problem, the number of QSOs dropped off precipitously  in some counties as 
we
waited for the laptop to reboot.  We almost  didn’t work anyone in Union
county due to this problem, and our apologies to  those stations that were
waiting for that mult on Saturday night, OM2VL being  one of them.  
Fortunately,
George was able to run diagnostic software on  the laptop after the 
Saturday run,
and that seemingly cured the computer  problems, as they did not plague us 
on
Sunday.  None of the PC problems  were attributable to WinTest, which 
performed
without a hitch.

With  15m and 10m open we ended up working more Europeans than normal.   The
W8/9/0 were not audible on the high bands with only the occasionally Q’  
with
a weak W9 or VE3.  With 20m fully open on Sunday morning and late  Saturday
night, our 40M totals are the lowest even.  This explains our  lack of Q’s
with SC and GA on SSB.  Two Asians made the log on both  modes and thanks to
JI3MJK and UZ0AF for the QSYs to SSB.  This was a  first for us for both of
these countries in the FQP.  From Europe, good  activity from DL, SP, I and 
even
SM were active.  OH6NIO was the only  Finnish station we worked, and he was 
loud
and active.  RG5A and UA3AGW  were consistent operations on CW but we missed
their SSB mult.

Thanks  to all the out of state operators who make this a fun event and a
highlight  of the contest calendar.  Look for you all next year.

Vy 73,
Jim  VE7ZO and George K5KG.




George  Wagner, K5KG
Sarasota, FL 
941-400-1960  cell