[CQ-Contest] Florida QSO Party helper [update]...

[James Cain]

Hi Bob: Good job on your FlQP spread sheet; it obviously was quite a bit of work and a real nice thing to do. I had fun playing with it on Sunday morning, when I had a pipe dream of working all 67 Florida counties. I probably could have made better use of it later on Sunday but 20 Meters absolutely died for me. 

Good job on your score, too. 

Although I always have my pathetic low-piece-of-wire antenna for an excuse for poor contest performance, this time I had the added excuse, at least in my own mind, of being at the wrong distance from the target area. My antenna requires Perfect Propagation; anything less won't cut it and I can't make my own propagation like people with stacked beams can. 

Despite the fact that stations the same distance from Florida as I kicked my butt, I persevered with my Distance Theory. I was encouraged in this endeavor by the fact that most of the weekend, on both 40 and 20, Europeans were louder here than Floridians. CT1ILT was just about off the S-meter at the top, G4BUE not far behind. DL3DXX not as strong but beating me in pile-ups. 

I chose Orlando as a compromise Florida point for my scientific investigation; the distance from me, in Atlantic City, to Orlando, is 846 miles. Both Toronto and Boston are 1115, central Wisconsin is 1161, OK City is 1059, and Minneapolis is 1308. 

So there it is, my best excuse! Geography. 

But wait ... W9RE (820 miles to Orlando) is literally the same distance as the K1TN Superstation to Florida. But he's an electrical engineer, so I choose that as my excuse de jour. 

Thanks again for your spreadsheet, a great idea. 

Cheers,

Jim Cain, K1TN/2
Pomona, NJ