AlQP Soapbox built 6-16-2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA4FU Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 36,360 Had a great time being a "rare one" even with the low multi-band dipole. It worked better than I expected and even worked a couple of DX stations on 80m. QRN was quite bad on 40m early, but it got better in the last couple of hours. Too bad I couldn't hear too many mobiles until about sunset. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0RC Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 21,920 This was the first AL QSO Party I recall ever working. It was fun. I'll be back next year. My basic goal was 100 QSOs. I didn't do a great job following the mobiles although 69 contacts were logged with the 9 stations I found. K4AGM and NY4N were contacted 14 times each, followed by KN4Y with 13, KC4HW at 11, and N5WR at 10. K4EXT, K4NO, KG4BVK, and WA4LWI were in the single digits but brought many needed counties into the log. Thank you mobile operators, you always bring excitement to the QSO Parties! 73 de Bob - KØRC in MN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4AB Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 91,104 It's just a guess on the multipliers...N1MM says I've got 128 and that just ain't possible...We've got to get that software fixed before next year. Great to hear from WB4KDI! Dave and I (among others) used to meet on 75 SSB after school with the old Alabama Teenage Net. Haven't heard from him in DECADES! Talk about a blast from the past. Congrats to DL3DXX who called-in on three bands, and was very loud on 80. Thanks to all who worked tirelessly to put this show on every year. 73, Larry K4AB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4SAV Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 57,200 I really wanted to try 160 but there was no one there and I couldn't leave 40 and 80 which were running 60 to 80 Qs per hour at the end. 160 wouldn't have matched that. Thanks to all for an enjoyable contest. Jerry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4TD Class: SOCW QRP Total Score = 24,444 First, thanks for all the QSO's. Had only intended to operate about 2 or 3 hours but lost track of time and stayed on longer... :-) DL3DXX gets my award for best ears. He copied my 5 watt QRP signal on 80M...I was quite surprised to get a call from him. QRP is a much different world than the normal QRO I run... LOL!!! Hats off to all those who worked me. 73, Rick K4TD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6MM Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 5,977 My compliments to the Rovers -- they kept me in the game. QRM/QRN all over the place. Nice QSO Party -- congrats to the organizers, and thanks for the Qs. 73, John K6MM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KB1NRB Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 112 only played for the last 1/2 hour as i was putting the shack back together... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW Class: SO Mobile+DriverCW LP Great turn out in and out of Alabama! Thanks to everyone that participated in our event! We had perfect weather. Maybe not so perfect propagation, but it was as good as it could be! We need your logs, please submit to logs[at]alabamaqsoparty[dot]org I can't thank everyone enough! I was mobile, CW only with my YL as the driver! Covered Escambia, Monroe, Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Hale, Perry, Dallas, Wilcox, Dallas, Lowndes, Montgomery, Crenshaw, Covington, Coffee and Geneva counties--17 counties! About 744 miles include the trip for an AQP prsentation to the Mobile ARC, Mobile, AL on Friday night for about 40 of their members. They had great attendance at their meeting and it was a spirited group. I have heard from others that there were several Mobile county stations on so I was glad that it worked out. The actually trip operating in the AQP was 503 miles. So about 1 Q/mile. My YL drove almost all the way during the AQP. She began to tire around 9PM and I took over and got us the rest of the way in. The mobile station consist of a 99 Chevy "Red" Truck with 253k miles. Never missed a beat. Radio is an Icom 706MKII. I added the 500Hz CW filter this year and it was a lot better, especially on 40m. The antenna was the Hustler Mobile setup with resonators for 20m, 40m and 80m. Used a laptop with a DC to DC supply, Writelog and a microKeyer USB for the interface. Had an additional back up computer and a LPT CW interface, never had any problems with the primary setup. The 20m antenna was out of resonance some how, but made the adjustment on the fly and it worked very well. My first contact was with KL7AI and I thougth: Man! this was going to be good! 20m was pretty good and yeilded a lot of Qs. 40m was good too, but seemed noisy during the early evening hours. Use 80m at the end and worked several, but there was alot of effort trying to get those Qs. Changing counties was a trip with the pileup each time. It was fun to work through it all. Had a number of Qs from DL3DXX, HK3Q and TI2II. Thanks to everyone for tolerating my CW. I am getting a little better, but still have a long way to go! Thanks again to all that participated and hope that we can see (hear) you again next year! 73! Jim/KC4HW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y/M Class: SO Mobile+DriverCW LP Total Score = 136,242 Great weather, good band conditions and plenty of CW stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS4L Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 15,190 I was actually the source of a pileup a couple of times - WOW! Never had that happen before! Worked 35 mults, including 16 AL counties, 7 from my home county (MDSN), and 8 DX contacts (which apparently don't count as mults). I really hadn't planned on participating, but once I got on, I was hooked! Used my Elecraft K2/100 at 60w-80w, my 80m/20m inverted vee, and N1MM. It was great fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY4F Class: SOCW QRP Total Score = 9,842 Thanks for all the QSOs! Thanks also to K4TD for allowing me to use one of his operating positions for this contest. The original plan was for us to go head to head QRP for 4 or 5 hours. Unfortunately, a slight software issue prohibited that from happening. None the less, I had a great time operating for the hours I had allocated for this effort. Next year I'll do a little better job planning! 73's Doug KY4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: SOSSB LP Total Score = 20,460 TNX to all who gave me a Q. Hope the activity level was noticely up from last yaer on the AL side. AL Mobiles did great job again this year with more particpation than last year. Hope all particpants enjoyed the time they spent. Look forward to next years event. TNX agn for getting involved in the AQP and watch us grow! Special kudos to Jim,KC4HW for ramrodding the AQP once again. C'ya'll in June VHF and IARU coming up. Tim, KY5R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4CD Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 8,424 Good contest. 20M faded mid day so missed a few mults. Lots of good mobiles out running and 20/40M cooperated most of the time. Missed one or two as mobile ran out of county before I made it through, and 40M faded away before the last mobiles hit the last few counties. Lots of fun working 52 of 67 counties. Not a peep on 15M. Did lots of spotting on the ch.w6rk.com county hunting web site. (maybe 63+ counties spotted. Now I can stick my AL sticker on the YSQSO Party certificate as I mail in paper log in tmw mail. Tough in evenings to break the 40M pileups! I imagine how it sounded in the mobiles with dozens anxious to work first. hi hi. Rig; FT-1000 at 150w R5 vertical on 20M 40M inverted vee, up 26 feet in the middle. Paper logging and check sheet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4KG Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 25,608 Three periods of CW activity: 1600 to 1913Z 2240 to 2359Z 0240 to 0400Z I ran until there were NO Takers (happened too often) I listened briefly to 20M SSB around 1915Z but didn't hear much so NO SSB QSO's. ALL Low Power = 100W from Icom 746 40M Beam is stuck South so used High 80M Dipole aimed NE/SW at 130 ft and 100 ft Centerfed at 90 ft aimed JA /SA (or KL7/FLA = 150/330 degrees) TH7 at 40 ft on the High Bands plus 20M Dipole aimed CN/VK7 = 80/240 degrees. Thanks to K4SAV and K4TD for QSY's to finish all 6 Bands. Tom N4KG in Limestone County of North Alabama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4PN Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 11,327 THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED...AND TO THOSE FOR PROMOTING THE AQP. IT'S PAYING OFF... GREAT COVERAGE FROM THE FIXED AND MOBILE STATIONS. FIRST FOUR OR FIVE HOURS "TUFF" FROM HERE NEXT DOOR IN GA. 20M WAS ABOUT AS EXPECTED BUT 40M WAS VERY POOR. ONLY LATE IN THE AFTERNOON DID 40M COME TO LIFE.... 73, PAUL, N4PN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4UC Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 47,328 Shared time with our new grandson after 6 but seemed like there was plenty of activity during the hours I did get to operate. Another fun time and good tune-up for FD. 73, N4UC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5WR Class: Mobile Solo OpMixed LP Total Score = 141,847 This was my first attempt at mobile contesting. I did CW while stationary, SSB while driving. Had about 6.5 hours of actual CW operating time, 4.5 hours of driving/SSB time, and about 1 hour on gas stops, antenna adjustments, and troubleshooting. Conditions were average on 20 early in the contest, not very good in the afternoon, but picked up considerably on 40 in the evening. Have spent the last couple of months building a mobile setup in my car. The Hi-Q 4/80 seemed to play well. I had several software problems however with Winkeyer/N1MM that cost me some operating time. I think I was getting RF into Winkeyer when adjusting the coil on the antenna when changing bands. I had to reboot several times, and ended up shutting down N1MM and disconnecting Winkeyer each time I changed bands as a workaround. Activity was good on CW and I was able to keep a good rate throughout the contest. Phone was quite difficult however with much higher noise, and I was really only able to get a decent run going in the evening on 40 from DeKalb and Marshall counties. I had a very pleasant drive through some beautiful country in rural eastern Alabama. The contest ended by operating in Marshall and Jackson counties on the shore of Lake Guntersville, with a clear moonlit sky overhead. Most QSOs: K9EU - 20, W0BH - 17, N6MA - 15, WA0MHJ - 15, K9OM - 14, N6MU - 13, NO5W - 13, NT2A - 13, WA2VYA - 13, AD5WI - 12, KO1U - 12, W2LHL - 12. There were many other who worked me multiple times as well. Thanks to everyone for the QSOs. Most DX: DL3DXX - 7, HK3Q - 4, OK1AOV - 3, PA3ARM - 3. Honorable mention: K5WE - 10. After spending the week driving a moving truck over 800 miles, helping me move all my stuff, unpacking boxes, spending hours assembling furniture, Dad managed to make it home to get on the air to work me in the contest. Thanks for the QSOs, and thanks for all the help. All in all this was a great contest and hopefully will be the first of many mobile efforts in QSO parties in the future. 73, Erik N5WR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6MU Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 14,300 Good activity both fixed and mobile. Thanks to the mobiles: KN4Y(14), NY4N(14), N5WR(13), KC4HW(6), K4ACG(4), KG4VBK(4), K4NO(4), K4EXT(3). 73... John, N6MU TS-570 & 4BTV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NE4S Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 14,700 Good Party, Many AL stations active the whole session. TNX. Mike, NE4S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NO5W Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 12,508 K3, 80/40/20m dipoles at 25 ft, CQ/X logging software, Navigator by US Interface Wow, that was a great party and, from where I was sitting, the best AL QP yet. The organizers, and all the stations participating deserve kudos for the participation and the operating with a lot of good CW ops and some good signals into Houston on each of the bands. Thanks especially to the mobiles including: NY4N(14), K4ACG(13), N5WR(13), KN4Y(11), KC4HW(8), K4EXT(3). Thanks to all for the QSOs and hope to put you in the NO5W/M Texas QSO Party log in September. 73/Chuck/NO5W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NV4B Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 71,760 Many thanks to those who called, especially on multiple bands. My hat is off to Jim Johnson, KC4HW and the Alabama Contest Group for making the AQP into a real event. Jim and the group's efforts to promote the AQP have paid off tremendously. I hope to hear everyone again next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3UTT Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 11,448 Great rover work made the contest good fun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE9ZX Class: SOSSB LP Total Score = 1,127 Thanks and 73! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 33,764 I had time this year to play the entire day and found lots of company. Thanks to the ACG for sponsoring the event and to all the AL stations for the fun! Propagation from KS to AL was great on multiple bands most of the day. Even 15m was open (loud) for awhile, but I could only find a few AL stations and no AL stations answered my CQs. When 40m, 20m, and 15m are all open to AL at the same time, it's really hard to complain. Overall, I worked 93 unique calls and only missed 4 counties when I combined my CW and SSB mults : Chilton, Fayette, Geneva and Perry. I'm sure they were all covered and I just missed out. Of the mobiles I worked most, I found NY4N/m and K4ACG/m pretty much the entire day. N5WR/m wins the loudest consistent mobile signal into Kansas award and I also enjoyed working you on SSB, Erik. Great job for your first run! Here are the mobile stats - excellent work all and I'll look forward to reading your posts: 19 NY4N 18 K4ACG 17 N5WR 10 KN4Y 9 KC4HW 4 K4NO WA4CQ 3 K4EXT 2 KG4VBK WA4WLI N4LDM WA4CQ and N4LDM were just travelling through the state and kept checking back with me on SSB as they drove into different counties. Also enjoyed working some really dedicated fixed stations: 5 N4NO 4 AA4FU K4AB K4SAV NE4M W4HOD W4LEE WX4RUS Another "fixed" station was W4A at the USS Alabama. Great day to be running a special event. I'm planning to team up with N8II and run mobile in the WVQP on June 20th as a day of fun after a computer workshop in NC the first part of the week. Also look for me mobile in the Kansas QSO Party the last weekend in August. As of today, we have 91/105 counties activated. Already looking forward to the ALQP next year! 73, Bob, w0bh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2LHL Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 12,402 Must stop taking so many eating breaks.Probable it cost me a few new counties. Thanks to all the mobiles, top 4 were, NY4N 20, K4ACG 14, KN4Y 13, N5WR 12. Another great job digging out my 100W. 80/40 vertical, 4BTV, 20 & 40 low dipoles. Didn't hear anyone on other bands. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4HOD Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 40,377 Great contest. K9MUG had a great time and we enjoyed having him. Our goal for the AQP this year was working towards the ARRL Trifecta, CW portion and we made 39 states, thanks to K9MUG. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4LEE Class: M/MMixed LP Total Score = 85,707 It would appear we beat last year’s score by approx 2K pts. Last year, we had 17 ops of which only one was CW experienced, producing 314 Q’s w/42 multis. Phone had 321 Q’s with 46 Multis. This year our CW op had committed to other plans so that left us with a problem on how to fill the void. How would we possibly be able to equal or beat last year’s score? Anybody ever heard how OLE MEN will favor giving a QSO to a YL? Being married to a HAM YL for 44 yrs, I’ve heard it many many times. So we came up with a plan, a secret weapon of sorts, let’s have a YL Phone team and challenge them to get 600 Q’s! This YL team was lead by Mary Moore WX4MM with over 30 yrs as a HAM and lots of experience; assisted by Connie Beckwith KJ4UNA who just got her General License and had less than an hour experience operating on HF; Debra Ward KI4YZY, a Technician Class Ham who had minimal experience operating in a couple of Field Day events; and Deedie Matthews KI4ERR, a Technician Class Ham who had never listened to, much less keyed, an HF radio. What this team did was super incredible. With only one experienced HAM in the group, these gals racked up 612 QSO’s in 11 solid hours of ‘go get’em attitude’. They were hawking Q’s right down to the very last second! It was amazing to watch and listen to them. They were truly having one heck of a good time. We are all indeed very proud of them. Not only did they get 612 Q’s but they got 53 multi’s missing only WY and some VE provinces. Now the same can’t be said for our CW effort. We were without any experienced CW contest op. But we knew we had to contribute ‘some’ CW effort to equal last year’s total score. So Jeffrey Wallace KE4UNA and I bit the bullet and gave it our best shot getting 177 Q’s and 36 Multi’s. We felt like fish out of water – no, we were fish out of water! It was tough, very tough going and we ask you to please excuse all the delays and repeats we asked for. No doubt about it, we are very novice CW contest ops. That said, we’re also proud of our little accomplishment. It was just enough to put our total score about 2K points above last year’s score (assuming all the logs hold up, of course). No Club effort is complete without its support group. These included Hal Cummings KJ4TD, Tom Burkhart KE4KWE, Donnie Ward KI4TXI, Ed Culpeper N4MZR, Dana Persells KJ4IBB, and Steve Nelson KJ4KPT. And, of course, a big thanks to all who gave us QSO's, especially those who had patience with us while we stumbled with our CW effort. Another AQP in the books. We had a great time planning, setting up for, and participating in the AQP. Tom WX4TM AQP Chairman East Alabama ARC, W4LEE Lee County, Opelika, AL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA0MHJ Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 22,878 Back after 3 years, and seeing lot's of growth! Congrats to the mobiles. In the log: N5WR(15), KN4Y(14), K4ACG(14), NY4N(13), KC4HW(9) Pulled the plug right after getting HOUS. See you all in MNQP in February! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA1FCN Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 43,700 Congrats to ACG officials in promoting this qso party to what it is now. Tried cw only and found enough stations to make it fun. This qso party is really growing ! 73 BoB WA1FCN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WA4SM Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 860 Coaching Baseball takes up my contest time wish I more time for this test ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 16,800 The Alabama QSO party continues to get better every year. Good mobile and fixed station activity. Top rover/mobiles: K4ACG (19), NY4N (17), KN4Y (13), KC4HW (10), N5WR (10), KG4VBK (7), K4EXT (2) Great job by all! 73 - Rick WB8JUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF7T Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 1,026 Thanks to all for the QSOs...Had fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI0WA Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 3,906 Nice showing by mobiles. Bill, N0AC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI2E Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 1,700 I dropped by the shack periodically to work everyone I could hear. Thanks to the organizers for putting together a fun event and to everyone in Alabama for the QSOs! 73, Joe WI2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX4RUS Class: M/MMixed LP Total Score = 70,650 FT1000MP, 100W, G5RV; IC756Pro, 100W, B&W folded dipole. Plan was to operate full time with the SSB station on the permanent antenna and a CW station on a temporarily installed G5RV from the Russell County EOC. K4EOR provided the G5RV and, with the expert help of N4DTV and W2YO, SWR problems from nearby metal buildings and RF feedback problems with it were solved before the contest started. I provided two laptops with the NA logging program. Turned out that one didn't have the AQP module installed, so we used the GA QSO Party Module and it worked flawlessly. The other one had a defective AQP module and I had to do a lot of refiguring afterward to come up with the claimed score. The CW station performed well. Turned out that the all band antenna permanently installed and used for the SSB station didn't work well at all. Only on 75 SSB did it seem that it worked even half well. I believe the result will be that the EOC will soon have a better antenna installed. 20M seemed poor throughout and we were unable to establish a run even with the G5RV station. 40M was fair in the daytime and turned very good in the late afternoon and evening. 80M was good during darkness. QRN was present on 40 and 80, but wasn't bad. In the evening, when the rate dropped on CW, the G5RV station went to 40 SSB for a run of 110 QSOs. Highlight was the first HF contest QSOs by Vanessa, KJ4LZG. I'm sure she will be fired up for more HF SSB QSOs on Field Day when many of the same group will be operating as W4AN 4A AL. One goal set by WX4JIM, station manager, was to work all AL counties. Unfortunately, the long skip on 40 and 20 prohibited getting close to that goal. 40M did shorten up by sundown though, and other AL stations that had been inaudible became strong. Our county total was 24. A good time was had by all in spite of frustrations with the SSB station's signal. Fried chicken pieces and the trimmings was provided for dinner courtesy of the Russell County Radio Club. Special thanks for allowing me to participate. Hope to work you all from W4AN in Field Day. DX stations worked: HK3Q, DL3DXX (all 3 bands), SP5SA, DL3IAC, PA3ARM, WP4L, OK1AOV, UA3AGW, C6AMS, F3NB, DK5AD, SM5IMO. 73, John, K4BAI. This information provided by Michael Dinkelman, N7WA, from the 3830 Reflector. Thanks!