Florida QSO Party
Call: NO5W
Operator(s): KN5O NO5W
Station: NO5W
Class: M/SCW LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
40: 23
20: 2546
15: 64
10: 0
--------------------
Total: 2633 0 CW Mults = 71 Ph Mults = 0 Total Score = 747,772
Club: LA Contest Club
Comments:
K3/100, HI-Q 4/80 antenna, 2002 Pathfinder (~156K), N3ZN Mini-mite, Dell D610,
CQ/X 1.8.0.8, Streets & Trips 2013
Arrived back in New Orleans about midnight Sunday road-weary but flying high
after having a total blast and setting a new personal best in the FQP. A big
storm passed through the city Monday morning taking out our power and internet
for about 15 hours so I'm running behind on posting this report. I'll hit the
highlights:
Eyeball QSOs -- they don't count in your score but definitely add to the
pleasure of the event.
Just after the closing bell on Saturday night we were replacing fumes with
actual gas at a service station in Ocala when up walks Wayne-N4FP. Wayne and I
work often in the Wednesday CWTs sponsored by CW Ops but had never met so it
was nice to meet him and his wife and to see his neat setup. Wayne sends with
the paddle with one hand and logs with the other which we found to be an
amazing trick since Ted and I are both primarily keyboard pushers with only an
occasional use of the paddle when absolutely necessary. We were looking for a
place to catch some much needed dinner and understood the place across the
street was open until midnight. So we invited our new friends to continue our
chat over dinner. Well it turned out that the place across the street was a
karioke bar and the singers were loud and awful. After the pure pleasure of the
CW pileup symphony we had been listening to mixed with massive portions of
power line noise it was tough to endure the karaoke. Wayne lives close by so he
graciously declined our invitation and left the karaoke to Ted and myself. So
while the W4AN crew and the NX4N suburbanites were enjoying that BBQ down near
Tampa we were stuck in a karaoke bar in Ocala listening to some really awful
and loud singers -- at least the burgers were pretty good.
Just after the closing bell on Sunday we met Escambia Jay-N4OX at a truck stop
just across the line in Alabama to pick up about 10,000 feet of radial wire for
a friend back in Louisiana. It was good catching up a bit with Jay who I had not
seen since he treated my wife and me to dinner in Pensacola prior to the 2009
FQP. I think I still owe you Jay -- maybe next year:>)
Heading back to Louisiana we usually stop in Spanish Fort for dinner. This year
we had a nice dinner with long time friend and Texan Alan-N5NA and his wife Kay
who had just finished their first FQP after I had raved about it for several
years. Sounds like they had fun, hope they will be back.
Meeting the Schedule -- This year we went out on a limb and published an
estimated schedule of when we would cross each of the county lines. After
totally busting the published schedule in the 2014 Texas QSO Party it was good
to make all of our 39 counties and to do it very close to the published
schedule. As you can see below on Saturday we got behind about 20 minutes in
Wakulla and that schedule slippage carried through the rest of the day. Sunday
was a different story as we practically nailed the schedule. Here's the detais
along with info about who managed to get in the log first and the ten minute
hourly rates generated by the pileup as we crossed into each new county.
Saturday
Miles Initial
into Arrival First 10-min
County Line Route ETA Time in Log Rate
Bay-Calhoun 39 1617 1614 W8WVU 180
Calhoun-Gulf 69 1649 1644 W8WVU 186
Gulf-Franklin 111 1736 1735 K0HC 186
Franklin-Wakulla 161 1858 1831 N1LN 180
Wakulla-Jefferson 195 1934 1953 W8WVU 96
Jefferson-Taylor 202 1942 2001 W3TB 156
Taylor-Dixie 257 2035 2056 W8WVU n/a
Dixie-Lafayette 259 2036 2058 K3TN 204
Lafayette-Dixie 260 2059 2122 K5KPE n/a
Dixie-Taylor 261 2100 2123 HI3TT n/a
Taylor-Dixie 263 2102 2125 DL5KUT 204
Dixie-Levy 292 2129 2152 N5AU n/a
Levy-Gilchrist 293 2129 2153 W1TO 198
Gilchrist-Levy 294 2146 2217 IZ4IRO 204
Levy-Citrus 340 2247 2304 W8WVU 150
Citrus-Hernando 366 2315 2336 N9CK 228
Hernando-Pasco 394 2345 0009 W8PI 234
Pasco-Hernando 397 2359 0023 HB9FBP n/a
Hernando-Sumter 404 0005 0030 K9NW 210
Sumter-Lake 425 0028 0055 W9RE 198
Lake-Sumter 432 0058 1118 VE5MX n/a
Sumter-Marion 450 0113 0133 W8WVU 198
Sunday
Marion-Alachua 20 1202 1207 W8WVU 186
Alachua-Putnam 33 1214 1220 W8WVU 192
Putnam-Alachua 34 1235 1236 W1END 138
Alachua-Bradford 54 1255 1257 W8WVU 222
Bradford-Clay 74 1315 1321 K5OT/2 216
Clay-Duval 81 1338 1338 W8WVU 204
Duval-Nassau 93 1351 1352 W8WVU 138
Nassau-Baker 95 1413 1413 K5YAA 198
Baker-Union 110 1431 1431 N5DO 216
Union-Columbia 138 1501 1503 W8WVU 192
Columbia-Suwannee 165 1524 1526 W8WVU 150
Hamilton-Suwannee 182 1549 1555 K5OT/2 90
Suwannee-Madison 201 1648 1649 K9NW 234
Madison-Jefferson 234 1715 1715 W8WVU 204
Leon-Gadsden 276 1750 1749 W8WVU 180
Gadsden-Liberty 304 1817 1825 K2DSW 222
Liberty-Calhoun 318 1843 1848 ND3R 204
Calhoun-Jackson 335 1903 1907 W1END 192
Jackson-Washington 359 1925 1934 W8WVU 216
Washington-Holmes 373 1949 1951 W8WVU 114
Holmes-Washington 380 1955 1957 K8MR n/a
Washington-Holmes 386 2000 2001 N1CC n/a
Holmes-Walton 395 2020 2008 AA3B 198
Okaloosa-SantaRosa 447 2103 2050 W7ZR 216
SantaRosa-Escambia 471 2124 2135 W8WVU 246
Making the Qs -- Of course eyeball QSOs and being on schedule do not directly
generate any score. For that you have to make some QSOs. You can see from our
band breakdown we were basically "Johnny One-Notes" being practically
glued to 20m. We tried 40m and 15m and even gave out a few CQs on 10m but with
limited success and the pileups we were experiencing on 20m kept calling us
back. Each county was begun on 20m and if the pileup and rate dropped
sufficiently we would try the other bands.
Out of the 408 unique stations we worked, special thanks go to the following
who contributed more than half the QSOs. We hope you enjoyed the party as much
as we did.
NT2A(45), K9NW(43), K5YAA(42), W8WVU(39), K9CT(38), WA3HAE(37), NA8V(36),
K0HC(35), N9CK(35), VE3KZ(34), K3WW(34), N5DO(33), K5KPE(33), VA3DF(33),
K9CW(32), N5ZK(31), W8PI(31), K9PG(31), WI9WI(30), W9IU(30), NS9I(30),
K2DSW(29), WJ9B(28), ND3R(28), K8MR(27), HI3TT(26), N5XJ(25), N3DXX(25),
W8UE(24), K8GT(24), N2CQ(23), K0RC(23), K9UIY(22), K7SV(22), NW0M(22),
KI0I(22), W7RN(22), W1TO(21), VE3KP(21), K1RO(21), K6LA(21), W3HDH(20),
N1CC(20), KS0MO(20), K5OT/2(19), VE9ML(19), K2XE(19), VA3ATT(19), N3EN(18)
Of the above frequent callers NT2A, and K9NW, were the kingpins of the pileups
working us in each of our counties followed closely by W8WVU, and K5YAA who
missed us in only one county. None of these stations were the loudess in the
pileup but their pitch and speed combined to make them easily detected in the
melee of the pile.
Low Lights -- For the most part Murphy stayed away although we did have a few
anxious moments at the start on Sunday when the mouse pad on the
long-in-the-tooth Dell D610 logging computer would not respond. Not that we use
the mouse much but it is useful for launching the logging program and failure to
do so would have been a serious show stopper. As a low light we should also
mention the power line noise in NAS along that short two mile stretch of
Highway 90 in the southern end of the county. It was some of the worst that I
have heard. We had to drive the stretch of highway a second time before we
found a logging road on the opposite side of the highway that made the noise
tolerable but still very bad.
Many thanks to the FCG for sponsoring this premiere QSO party that seems to get
better with each year drawing us back. Take a look at the tight competition in
the M/S mobile CW category and you can see that FQP is one heck of a contest
and a great event to be a part of.
Thanks also to Ted-KN5O for joining in to share the driving and operating with
enthusiasm and skill.
Hope to see everyone again in FQP 2016 and at Dayton in a few weeks.
73
Chuck-NO5W
Ted-KN5O
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