[SECC] Comments from W9WUU on GQP

John Laney k4bai at worldnet.att.net
Mon Apr 14 20:43:10 EDT 2003


Hi Guys:  Sorry.  It has been a time since I forwarded a message to the
reflectors and I forgot that the reflectors had been changed a few
months ago so that they won't take forwarded messages any more.  So here
are the comments from W9WUU, George (thanks to AA4GA's instructions on
how to cut and paste):

Subject: 
        Re: 2003 GA QSO Party
   Date: 
        Mon, 14 Apr 2003 11:37:49 -0500
   From: 
        "George H. Shands" <gshands at chorus.net>
     To: 
        John Laney <k4bai at worldnet.att.net>




Greetings, John—hope  you're recovering from your Ga. QSO Party
trek.

Thanks a lot for 37 QSOs from as many counties (and a 38th when I 
jumped the gun on your entering Lowndes County and duped you.) Wish
I 
could have been on the first two and on-half hours of Sunday to get
all 42.

I finished  with some 200 QSOs, 171 on cw and 29 ssb with 144 
multipliers (125 actual counties) for a claimed total of 53,424 pts.
For me, this was a great improvement over last year's total. I don't
have a clue as to how I did compared to other out-of-state guys. I 
heard W7UT all over the place as well as a VE3 and a VE1.

For you, I can imagine a close race among you, K4MUT, N4PN, and
NY4N.  
You four were all over the place. It always was funny to work you at
28-30 wpm and then call Bob, K4MUT, who was operating at about 15
wpm. 
The first half of my call was a blur  before I could crank down the 
speed. I suspect Bob can handle a lot more than the speed he sends
at, 
but I try to match my speed to his—maybe a bit faster.

I sent in my log via e-mail to J. Short with some comments. I felt 
there were more out-of-state players this year than last, but you
folks 
would know that better than I. I was still somewhat disappointed
with 
the number of fixed stations in Georgia. I think my log shows about
26 
fixed stations. That may be better than last year, but I really
can't 
say. A number of them were one QSO only, meaning they probably
worked 
just one band ( or I missed them elsewhere.) 

While it might make things much harder to score, I wonder whether
there 
would be any gain to be had from allowing out-of-staters to work
fixed 
stations once each day? I hated to pass by K4IR and W4DD and others 
forlornly calling CQ and getting no response because all of us 
out-staters had already worked them. One needs a little positive 
reinforcement every once in awhile to stay with the party. A second
QSO 
on the second day might help that situation, although it could cause
havoc with scoring and require changes in all the logging programs. 
Since the Wisconsin QSO Party is one day, seven hours, even we fixed
folks get plenty of action, so such a situation is not a problem.

I called CQ GQP on 40, 20, and 15 CW, but never received a return
call 
from Georgia. All I got were a few calls from around the  U. S. and 
some European DX. I affixed /WI to my call hoping that would deter 
non-Ga. calls. For us outside Ga., this is really only a 
hunt-and-pounce event.

One question for you, John. What sort of antenna were you using and 
what method do you use to affix it to your vehicle? Your signal was 
uniformly good into my QTH (Madison, Wis.). There were several 
occasions when I could not pull NY4N out of the mud when he was in 
Rockdale Co., and for awhile, in Henry Co. Eventually, he came clear
in 
Henry and I could work him. I worked him in Rockdale when he
switched 
to 40m., but when he was on 20m, it was impossible. Others were
working 
him, but I could barely hear him. I thought he must have fallen into
a 
mine.

We had beautiful weather here over the weekend and my wife thought I
should be outside helping her rake the lawn. That's where I'm
heading 
now!

Thanks again to you and all the hams in Georgia who made this so
much 
fun.

73,

George
W9WUU


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