[FQP] (no subject)

[Totya]

Jim and George!

Congrats for nice score and thanks again for many QSO's/QSY's!

73 Laci OM2VL
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Georgek5kg at aol.com 
  To: fcg at kkn.net ; fqp at kkn.net ; ronkk9k at gmail.com ; w7se at arrl.net ; k8mr at arrl.net ; totya at zsmkomds.edu.sk 
  Cc: ve7zo at hotmail.com 
  Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 3:48 PM
  Subject: (no subject)


              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