[3830] NAQP CW K4HQK Single Op LP

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                    North American QSO Party, CW - January

Call: K4HQK
Operator(s): K4HQK
Station: K4HQK

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Alexandria, VA
Operating Time (hrs): 7

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:           
   80:   90    36
   40:   62    32
   20:  148    48
   15:           
   10:           
-------------------
Total:  300   116  Total Score = 34,800

Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club

Team: 

Comments:

My NAQP enjoyment comes from chasing sections, the ease of being heard with
everyone running 100 watts, and keeping in sync with propagation as it changes.
I do all that comfortably using S&P. My effort this time yielded all but
five sections in the U.S. (ME, RI, HI, AK, NV; and five in Canada, MB, NL, NT,
NU, and YT). 

Starting late (2:30 pm EST) because of family obligations, I found propagation
on 20 meters to be surprisingly short, not reaching the West Coast until around
5:00. At that later time I worked a VY2 and a couple of U.S. Caribbean stations
in addition to some now-audible West Coasters. There was a WJ0W in North Dakota
who sounded as if he were sending two signals a fraction of a second
apart—again, a trick of propagation. Other signals seemed to be pulsing.

Dinner break was 6:17 to 7:40 p.m. I returned to 20 meters and noted activity
thinning, probably as stations began moving to lower bands. QSB had become worse
on 20m since the afternoon, so at 8:13 I switched to the 40m activity madhouse.
I had hoped to find and work the East Coast sections I had missed on 20m, but
40m was now running long, like 20m mid-afternoon—few were audible in the 1st
and 2nd call areas. By 9 p.m. the band was bringing in WY, CO, and MO. 

Frustrated by 40m, at 9:20 I switched to a busy and QRN-noisy 80m in search of
nearby sections. The band was absolutely packed at this hour—pileups, even.
Again, there was not a lot of activity in the 1st and 2nd call areas but enough
that I got all I needed except for Maine. I also picked up PA, WV, DE, NC, etc.,
so the band change was worthwhile. After 10 p.m. the East and Gulf Coast
stations weakened or even disappeared and now the 5th, 7th and 0th call areas
began coming through. 

Online propagation charts indicated deterioration during the evening from
"good" to "fair/poor."

Nighttime was, of course, busier than during the day. My afternoon S&P rate
was 35.5 QSOs/hr, while the evening rate jumped to 49.4. 

I closed down shortly after 11 p.m.

John K4HQK
Alexandria, Virginia

Station: IC7410, Cushcraft R6000 vertical, and dipoles.


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