North American QSO Party, CW - August Call: W8FN Operator(s): W8FN Station: W8FN Class: Single Op LP QTH: North Carolina Operating Time (hrs): 10:00 Radios: SO2R Summary: Band QSOs Mults ------------------- 160: 80: 229 41 40: 385 51 20: 107 32 15: 12 6 10: ------------------- Total: 733 130 Total Score = 95,290 Club: South East Contest Club Team: SCCC #1 Comments: This was my first NAQP since moving to NC from TX. It's a somewhat different contest from here, but the differences may be mostly due to my lack of a decent antenna for 20 meters and higher. The first two or three hours were pretty brutal. It took over 2.5 hours to break the 200 QSO barrier. I couldn't get a run going on 20 so set out doing S&P but simply couldn't get myself to be heard in the initial frenzy. Things got a little better as more folks started to show up on 40. I was eventually able to establish a decent run there and things started to look up a bit. I broke for dinner after 4 hours and returned to find conditions considerably better on 20, but mostly to the west coast. 40 took off real well then, and I was able to get things rolling. After a second short break I went to 80 with about 4 hours to go and discovered that having a real antenna was a whole lot better than the non-radial equipped short vertical up against the house I had been stuck with in W5 land. Rates on 80 were great, and I was able to do extended runs at 90-100 rates for the remainder of the contest, with interspersed QSOs on 40 with the second radio. I had set a tentative goal of 700 QSOs, but in the first few hours it looked like I'd be lucky to hit 500. Once 40 and 80 got rolling for me I ended up actually exceeding my goal,so I'm quite pleased with the final results. Can't wait to run one of these thing with a real antenna for 20 through 10, maybe next year. I worked a whole lot of CWops guys; it seemed at times like an extended CWT session. Thanks to all for the QSOs, and CU in the upcoming contests. 73... Randy, W8FN