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.
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