[FQP] KU8E FQP Observations

[Jeff Clarke]

After looking at K8MR's score I'm totally disappointed with my effort. 
But after looking at my log I see why he beat me so badly. I totally 
screwed up on Sunday and did way too much driving compared to operating. 
I kind of winged it on my Sunday route because so many people asked me 
on Saturday if I was going to Gulf county. I decided to can my Sunday 
route and head over to Gulf. I gave up 5-6 counties by doing this. BIG 
MISTAKE ! It was really too far out of the way from where I was staying 
on the east side of Tallahassee on Saturday night and shouldn't have 
done this.

I had actually planned to do Gulf on Saturday night. I spent too much 
time in Liberty. It was hard to leave because I had a huge pileup on CW 
and the same thing happened when I went to SSB. It was about a 25 mile 
drive from where I was in Liberty to Gulf and then back to FL 20 which I 
was going east on to get to Tallahassee. I really didn't want to get to 
my hotel in Tallahassee really late. So I skipped going to Gulf.

After I checked my log today I realized that I only operated 4.25 hours 
on Sunday and spent almost 6 hours driving ! Ouch!!!! So if you add up 
everything I really only operated 1/2 of the FQP - about 10.25 hours.  
1100 QSO's in 10 hours isn't bad I guess.

I now think the best strategy for me to maximize my score (and operating 
time) is to just operate from fewer counties. Maybe concentrate on those 
rarer counties west of Tallahassee to minimize driving time and then 
stay overnight in Panama City. Even though I spent a significant amount 
of time in HOL and WAG on Saturday I saw many people missed those two. 
Maybe if I had been there at the end on 40 meters, they would have 
worked those two counties.

I'm very uncomfortable about operating while driving.  It's nice K8MR 
records the contest and operates when he's driving but I have no desire 
to spend hours transcribing an audio file and entering QSO's manually.  
I really wish there was a separate true rover category in FQP where you 
could setup an real antenna, make a bunch of QSO's and then move on to 
your next county.

Truthfully the best outcome for me would be that I could find a 2nd 
driver and the W4AN team would be on the air again. But until that 
happens that will not be possible.

73's Jeff


County 	Operating Time 	Driving
JAC 	38.00 	

	
	25.00
HOL 	60.00 	

	
	27.00
WAG 	46.00 	

	
	66.00 LUNCH
BAY 	53.00 	

	
	35.00
CAH 	43.00 	

	
	42.00
LIB 	75.00 	

	
	32.00
LEO 	58.00 	
Day 1 TOTAL 	373.00 	227.00

	
	
County 	Operating Time 	Driving
WAK 	31.00 	

	
	38.00
WAK 	20.00 	

	
	39.00
FRA 	62.00 	

	
	81.00
GUL 	41.00 	

	
	109.00 LUNCH
CAH 	22.00 	

	
	15.00
LIB 	16.00 	

	
	38.00
GAD 	15.00 	

	
	30.00
JAC 	35.00 	
Day 2 TOTAL 	242.00 	350.00


-- 
*Jeff Clarke*
Information Technology Professional
Ellerslie, Georgia

My LinkedIn Profile <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-clarke-ga>