NEQP Soapbox 2007

Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments

Jump to:
Non-New England W/VE stations
DX stations
New England stations

Non-New England W/VE stations

AF1T - I was able to operate for two hours while visiting W1GUD in Tampa, FL.  I wish I could have spent more time, but was able to contact several I know!

K1AA - Waiting for my "chowdah"

K1GU -Having done this a few times now from outside of W1, I offer these observations:  There are far more contacts to be made on Phone than CW.  CW is largely a YCCC affair (lots of KBs.)  Perhaps 90% YCCC.  There will be lots of YCCC/30 certificates. Nobody can catch N4PN on Phone.  Mobiles accounted for nearly 1/4 of my Qs: N1E 13, N1C 12, K1KI 13, N1RL 3, W1WEF 3, K1DG 1 (I don't know if Doug was really mobile or portable.).Being a NE native and familiar with the roads I could guess where the mobiles were headed.  That let me check out the Remdog for half an inning and come back for the next county.Is there any CW in Suffolk (Boston?)  I worked the Harvard and MIT club stations which are within 1000 yards of Suffolk but that is a close as I came.  Also no NAN this year.  It takes Phone to sweep all 67 counties.

KB1RTE + KD0RIT - First contest QSO ever

KM1C - Thanks for a good contest .... great opportunity to pick up much needed New England counties.

KQ1X - I am a first timer but raised a New Englander (RI) and living in Ohio now.  It was great to work all the states on 5 Watts.  I wish I had got on at the beginning of the contest and worked the whole thing! 

W1IBQ - I was just having a grand time working the other QSO parties and some European contest as well during the NEQP. Next year I will hit it harder and get my computer log system working.

W1MD - Nice to see so many YCCC calls on. And nice job by the mobiles! Not quite the same as driving through 20-30 counties in FL...with maybe 20' in elevation  changes...hehehe

W1RH - Conditions were just horrible and the 7QP guys were all over the place. Still on a TA-33 at 10 feet AGL. Backhoe has dug the holes for the tower, however, and I am doing rebar this weekend.  Expect next year to be better for sure.

WA1FCN - Another fun QSO Party, glad I was here.  Sure wish I would of descovered the 10 meter opening sooner, Only
got one hour of it.Tnx you to all the mobiles you made it fun.

WN1GIV(N4BP) - Lived my first 27 years in MA, 12 of them as W1GIV before moving to SFL.  Ran across several old friends including W1NY, the Hamden County ARA to which I belonged while living in Springfield.  Missed NANMA (couldn't convince any of the mobiles to try the drive!) and GRAVT for the sweep. Got shut down by thunderstorms during the final hour.  Mobile Counties: NJ1F-13   KD1EJ-12   K1KI-10   N1JEO-7  N1C-7

KD2MX - Thanks to a nice flurry of activity on 40m & 80M, I was able to beat my score of last year.  I'm too close for 20M so Sunday was very quiet until the evening. That was OK as the weather was too nice to sit inside contesting.  Thanks for the contest.

N2JNZ - Only on 40 and 80 meters QRP with a TT Omni A and a Half G5RV 40-10 meters , thanks to all the OPs on 80 who heard me and worked hard to get me !!!!!

N2WN - About 7 hours of play, band conditions were interesting, worked K1PQS & K1GQ on 4 bands (heard a W5 on 10, but nada from NE) K1KI provided 6 counties, N1C five and N1E three. Pretty relaxed rate, which was fine by me. Thanks for all the QSOs. CU in the TnQP!

NO2D - Decided to try QRP this year.  Not as many contacts as last year (did not submit entry last year) but just as much, if not more fun.  Thrilled to work K1ZZ on 20 and 40 meters. Also heard world famous N2AA, Gene, making a contact at one point on Sunday afternoon.  Really love the NE QSO Party.

K3MQ - Thanks for a nice contest. Great fun!  I had MAJOR problems getting my logging program to work 3 different qso parties. I have no clue as to claimed score. I know there are dupes. ... but ... I worked the qsop for fun and to hand out points ... and that I did! Not in it for the awards!

K3TW - "Thanks for a great QSO Party.  Short skip conditions on 20m were much better this year with many loud signals.  As always, the mobile stations went the extra miles to activate lots of rare counties."

KA3UOL - I wanted to let you know that I did enjoy it very much even though I did not have much time to talk. I'm really looking forward to next year and wanted to Thank You.

K4CUB - I am a casual contester as you can tell by my log entry.  I enjoy the NEQP because the operators are very skilled and courteous.  Best wishes for a good year on the bands.

K4JSI - Thanks to all those who copied my FT-817 and 30 ft indoor doublet!  Hope to operate NEQP next year with better condx.

K4OD - Great contest - Look forward to next year!

K4XU/m - I hope the noise we make out west is not distracting to your event. Thanks for throwing your party.

KF4UCC - I'm not a contester but I was QRP on 14040 kHz with three watts and one QSO on 7040 with two watts.

KG4TQQ - Great contest.  Conditions were not great as thee was too much noise but that is Ham Radio.  I hope to do better next time.  I enjoyed it greatly.

KG4URP - Thanks all for another enjoyable QSO party.

N4EEB - Thanks for a great QSO party.  This was my first play in the NEQP and had a lot of fun.

N4LF - I did participate in all of the QP's the weekend of May 5-6.  It was great -- and easy.  Unfortunately, the very next day, the hard drive on my laptop had a melt down.  I lost everything.  Not a huge tragedy, because I had done a full backup two weeks earlier.  But all the logs since then are lost. So, no logs to send to you this year!!   Great idea to put so many qp's on one weekend.  It really got the activity level up.

N4PN - What a great contest..!! With an opening on 10m on Sunday afternoon. Got the sweep again this year.

NF4A - Was out of town for most of the weekend at my son-in-law's graduation from law school....caught the end of the contest and made a few q's.

NT4XT - Other forseen requirements kept participation at a minimum this year, even for my favorite Party.  As always though, had a completely wonderful time while at the radio.  Decided to do LP this year since only 2 hrs broken up into about 5 segments.  Still manual everything, via my Lady Corsair and a 102' doublet suspended above the roof.  Tnx again NE for a super event!

W4RQ - Second time in NEQP & did much better than last year.  Lots of fun --- but where were all those rare counties I need ??  Hi!!

W4UTI - Don't any hams from Maine use LoTW?

WB4ZPF - I did better than last year, thanks to several mobiles.  Another good Party congratulations! I know that it took a lot of work to pull it off. Tried SD this year. It worked well and is easy to use.

AD5WI - Well now, that was fun. Enjoyed every contact and more than tripled last years score (ok, that part didn't take much-hi hi). See everyone next year. I worked several of the special event stations in the NEQP (K1C, N1C, N1E, N1Y).

K5AEM - It was a busy weekend and about the only band that worked for me was 20M.

KK5JY - I'll do better next year.

N5AQ - Had a good time, but we could have used more NE stations.  They got very thin most of the day Sunday - but still had a good time.  Thanks for sponsoring the event!

W5QLF - What a great weekend for working rare states with 7QP and NEQP.  Had a great time.  Thanks to all the "ones".

WA5SWN - If it hadn't been for the thunderstorms both days, I would have operated more and done better.  Mother nature won again!

K6CSL - I operated this event parallel to MARAC County Hunters CW, and the 7th District QP. Made a very enjoyable contest weekend. My station runs 100 Watts mainly to a 14 Ft high by 27 Ft wide Delta Loop that is radially mounted on the back wall of my mobile home. I live in a mobile home park that allows no visible antennas. I also use a 10 Ft suare Horizontal Loop in the ceiling of the radio room and an indoor Coaxial Dipole that runs the length of the center beam of the mobile home. See you all next year.

KB6NU - I was operating both the Indiana QSO Party and the New England QSO Party simultaneously. Got a little confusing at times, but I'm pretty sure I didn't log any IN Qs here. :)  Thanks for running the contest.......

KI6OY - The bottom of the sunspot cycle hit this weekend.  Very few strong openings from California to New England.  Thanks for a fun weekend and all your hard work.

NG7Z - Spent Saturday doing the 7th District Party so couldn't do any with this contest. But I tried to make it up on Sunday. 20M was in terrible shape and didn't hear many stations. So I kept tabs on the band throughout the day picking up what stations I could. Still, 36 qso's is pretty pathetic for so many hours twiddling the dial.  Maybe better next year. 73 and thanks for picking me out of the noise.

K8MR - Four contests for the price of one!  And I found KN4Y on 10 meters in what I think was a fifth.

K8VFR - I had intended to be more active in the NEQP, but had company from out-of-state, so couldn't devote much time to the test this year.  CU next year!

KK8I - First contest QSO for my girls KB1RTE and KD0RIT.

N8II - I had to work evenings both days; I hope to be back next year for a serious effort. There was a nice Es opening on 20 from 1825-1910Z Sunday!

N8NA - Glad to hear the activity.

N8XX - Nice contest - had several things come up to make it part time but it was fun!

W8KNO - I was away Saturday and Sunday propogation was strange. DL5GA was load on 40m while NE was week.  20M flipped bewteen NE and Italy. It all added a challange!  No new counties this year.

WB8JUI - Thanks for a great contest.

AA9KH - Many thanks to the organizers of this event for their sponsorship. My thanks to those ops who chose to operate using CW. Hope to be more active next year.

K9SLY - First attempt at contesting...hope I did this log right. Enjoyed working New England Stations.

W9OL - I enjoy working you guys, I'd move to Maine if they didn't have such a high tax hit on my pensions. 

K0LUZ - Enjoyed the chase although I missed my objective of working them all !

W0PQ - K1 (5 Watts) G5RV, Courteous operators.

W0QE/m - I run a 2000 Toyota 4Runner and usually a IC-706mkIIg and a 5 ft. vertical mast with 3 resonators mounted on the roof.

DX stations

CU2JT - A couple of more contacts this year (126) and a few more counties (52) than last year. Working the QSO Parties is an endless scanning of the band looking for rovers in new counties. As usual, I missed Middlesex, MA (Are there any hams in that county ??) and a few others. I still do not have an adequate antenna for 20-15-10 M and no antenna at all for 80M. Next year, I will be operating from a different QTH on the island and by then, I certainly hope to have the 3-el SteppIR up and also a good 80M antenna. That would be fun... Thanks to all the rovers spending the Saturday-Sunday driving around New England to give us new counties. Rig used: Kenwood TS-570D, AL-811 (3 x 572B) and a 33ft vertical. Home made logger with radio control.

DL5AWI - Congratulation to all YCCC-members! Good to hear all the activity! My emphasis this year was the MARAC-test and all counties from New England was very helpful! Hope to hear all HAMs nextyear again by best safe and sound! 

G3ZRJ - Good to be back after absence in 2005. Thanks to all who struggled to copy my little pistol sigs from G. 
HA2MN - The propagation was poor yet though many stations heard me, thanks to them. Due to a thunderstorm my antenna went down just before the band finally closed. The last Qs may have been completed with a wire laying on the wet roof. Thanks for Qs, see you next year!  Rig TS-530SP 100W into a 20 mtrs long wire above/on flat roof.

VA3OR - Just happy to hand out that rare multiplier called Ontario (smile).

VA3QWW - Great contest sorry I did not have the time to make more contacts.

VE5BF - Conditions were tough, but it was fun. Thanks!

VA7ST - Sure not a lot of NE stations heard compared with last year, but enjoyed looking for 'em.

VE7FCO - Worked All I heard

VK4TT - G'day to all Ops. Used programme "SD" by EI5DI, worked very well.

New England stations

AE1P - Had fun, 73 till next year !

AK1W(K5ZD) - Between birthday parties for my 5 year old daughter and work assignments, wasn't much time left over for
NEQP.  Only missed KY and ND for WAS.

K1BV - Relatively poor conditions, but had a lot of fun on CW. Using 80m dipole and tuner.

K1C(W1JQ) -Not a big effort this year.  Probably less than 8 hours, actually... Seemed to be less activity than in previous years.  Then again, who knows?  If I had put in more time, could probably have kicked it up another 150-200 QSOs.  20 meter condx fairly good--had some EUs calling me fairly late.  Scarborough didn't call in, but I managed to work Greenland.
Where was everyone on 40 and 80?  Never found much activity there. That's not quite true--in retrospect, the 40 meter total is bigger than I thought it would be.  But that's mostly from one run starting at about 5PM Sunday.  I expected the low bands to be hopping, and they weren't--far from it.  I did call it quits early Saturday (10PM), so it's possible 80 warmed up later. I did hear N1Y/W1CTN holding court on 10M.  Sounded like a nice pileup. Anyway, that's it for a while.  Turns out I busted up my shoulder pretty bad last February, so I have surgery in about 2 weeks, and a fairly long recovery.  So you won't see me for WPX, and probably not for FD.

K1FK - Only operated 2 hours this year due to other last minute commitments.

K1JB/p - Activity and/or band conditions seemed way down from last year. But it's still fun to get out in the fresh air (even if it's cold and windy) and make some contacts.

K1KI/m - Perfect weather for a trip!   Spotted three moose(s)along the side of the road in northern New Hampshire.  See you next year!

K1LAX - Did not get as much time in as I wanted....the weather outside was too nice to stay in the shack.  NEQP is still a fun contest!

K1PAR - Had a very good time, enjoyed all the contacts, this year was a personal record for me for contact and score.

K1PQS - Between the RTTY operators and the Candian SSB ops, anything north of 7.028 on 40 meters is just about impossible for us cw guys up here in the Maine woods after sundown on Saturday night.  That leaves only 80 meters useable, provided the aurora doesn[t start up the S-9 chainsaw.  Would sure be nice if we had 160m in the NEQP.

K1SEZ - Always a nice little contest!

K1WCC - Nice run on 20 meters, just sat back and let ‘em roll in for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately for my participation, we had all 3 grandchildren that weekend and I was busy with them. Otherwise, it would have been a great contest-lots of stations on.

K1ZZ - Slow at the start, but 10 meter SSB was fun Sunday afternoon!

KB1KIX - This was my first time participating in any QSO party (actually, first time submitting any logs whatsoever!). Thanx for the fun!

KB1CIWm - I ended up having to use an alternative power source, the 20 meter antenna was broken,   the primary (tested 1 week before) microphone did not work and the back up mic shorted out part way through the contest . . . other than that it was a great weekend !  (wait till next year!)

KB1LNJ - New to HF first contest, hope I did this right!

KB1MNN - Wonderful QSO party, TNX 4 having it.  We'll see you next year!

KC1V - Well, we have another NEQP in the logs.  It gets to be more fun, and interesting, each year.  I planned to operate a lot this year and did pretty well time wise.  I knew I would have to miss 6:00 to 10:00 PM Saturday, which was probably "prime time".  What I didn't expect, was to miss the last three hours of the test.  I was QRT when some of the smoke got out of the old TS-930S (anybody have a rig for the 20-meter cw Field Day station?).  Aside from gaining an opportunity to learn more about the insides of my rig, the contest really was fun.  I made more phone contacts this year and about the same number of multipliers as last year.  The QRN seemed high on both 20 and 40 at times.  I made only one contact on 15 (W1XX) and didn't work 80 at all (next year I'll have the 80-M dipole back).  It seemed like there was a lot of RTTY activity on 40 meters at times, as they moved down into the "cw section" of the band.  I didn't copy any of the RTTY, so I don't know what contest generated that activity.  About 2/3 of my QSOs were on 20 meters this year. If I did the math correctly, and don't have any Qs deleted, I ended up with 126 cw and 22 phone Qs with 45 multipliers for a score of 12,330 point.  A good increase over last year, but considering the increased number of hours on the air this year, it tells me I still have lots of things I can improve on for next year.  You can be sure I'm looking forward to NEQP 2008!

KD1XH - My best effort to-date in this contest. Used Buddipole with long arms and my radio in the house. On 75/80m I added wire to the ends and it worked better than I thought it could. Still looking forward to a real antenna someday. Thanks again for the fun!

KK1L - I generally had a great time, but I really don't understand the pleasure some folks get laying down a variety of QRM. It really is amazing how one bad apple can sap the fun right out of something. It must be that I was too close to the almighty kingdom of SSTV at 14.227.5. I was rather enjoying a nice rate over 150 for over 30 minutes when someone in EU fired SSTV right on freq. Since I was not working anyone from EU to speak of I just move the upper antenna back to the US. However is was not much later when someone (naturally unidentified) whose signal peaked at 150 degrees started with static transmissions, then Russian and French rebroadcasts. The transmissions were timed to interfere. A very mature individual I am sure. I feel sorry for him as I picture a very lonely person with no better way to generate selfworth. With half the stations was working below S5 and him at S9 it pretty much took the rate to the outhouse. I ended up moving, but not until after getting frustrated. I wish there was a way to punish folks like this.Despite this I had a good time. The rates (except for that 30 minutes or so) were quite good.

KK1X - More than 2X what I had last year, but condx were still a bit ugly, I thought. Fun anyway.

KO1H - Great Time.  Some complain about having 3 or so other contests going at the same time. I LOVE IT!!.  Digitial contacts on 10m and all the other 10m contacts were a BLAST!  Some of those hams new to 10m are going to make that band a great place even here at the bottom of the cycle!

KV1J - Fun contest!

KX1D - All'ways a privillage, thank you.

N1ABY - Sure didn't look like it at the start, but I ran up the highest score I ever had in the NEQP - most Q's, Mults and NE Counties! See ya next year!!

N1AIA - It won't be hard to improve on this showing!

N1DC - This is one of my favorite contests. Thanks to the other organizers and supporters for another great event. My goal this year was to defend my 2006 MA low power title from my home station in MA (Norfolk County). Not sure if this score will hold up, but I was happy toexceed last year's total by almost 8K points. 20 and 40 were the best bands here and produced the most multipliers. Didn't hear many NE mobiles compared to prior years. I worked everyone I heard with only two exceptions. QSO statistics:  47 states (missed ND, AK and HI), 4 provinces, 19 countries. I was pleasantly surprised by many DX stations answering my CQ. Thanks ! 

N1E(K1EP,W1VE) - Thanks for all the Qs.  We had many Murphy moments during the contest.  One of the funniest moments, however, was Sunday morning when we worked a WV station. I remarked to W1VE that I have noticed a lot of  stations from WV liek 160m.  He said, like N8II?  As soon as he uttered the letters N8II, N8II actually called us on CW for the first time in the contest.  We had several computer problems which at times prevented us from hearing weaker signals and from actually sending the correct information.  That was usually due to pilot error.  At one point we forgot to keep the car battery charged (ie engine running) and we had to push start the car.  The weather was great, but it seemed activity was down.  We got a bit discouraged by the noise problems and lack of signals at times.  We should have hit many more counties, but got a late start and had to fix some computer problems.  We'll do better next time.  QSL VIA K1EP direct or via BURO.  Will get LoTW up as soon as I apply for a cert.

N1FD(K2TE) - Great contest, especially after the stress of trying to get through to BS7H.  Substantially better score than last year.  I even managed to work all 48 contiguous states, something I have yet to do during SS, hi.  Had a 100 QSO hour on 20 SSB late Sunday AM with a lot of uniques in the log.  Maybe the no-code decree is having an effect. 

N1IFP - Thanks for organizing a great contest.  I enjoy it every year!

N1QLL - And thank YOU for sponsoring the best contest of the year!

N1RL/m - Condx were not terribly good.

N1RZ - Fun contest! Thanks for your hard work in putting it together.

N1TYH -Since I was busy with assistant coaching my son's baseball team and daughter's softball team, I jumped on the air in the evenings to hand out points to those involved in the contest.

N1URA - 1st time in NEQP contest. Only operated 5 hours; going to try to operate more during next year's contest.

N1Y(W1CTN) - My first effort in NEQP and it was lots of fun.

W1ACT/p(KE1LI) - Sustained winds and cold temps made conditions in hospitable at times and we couldn’t really see and substantial “Hot” band openings. A nice QSO with St. Croix on 15M (S9) was great to see but there was no one else on the band. We also had a Newbie on 10M work 6 stations with a QSB retiled opening to the South East. It was fun. Great food and company. The ice easily held out this year. Frost on the Island on Sunday morning.

W1END - Had a bout with Murphy and had to log manually.  A couple of short runs made things fun.  There's always next year.  Thanks all. Rig was TS830s and Butternut HF6V vertical.  Again.

W1EQO - Had lots of fun for the short period that I operated.

W1HIS - Single antenna used for all bands: wire, sloping, max. height = 33 ft, max. width = 68 ft. This event was great fun, and I look forward to the next one. Murphy kept me busy:  N1MM Logger v. 7.5.0 and the K1EL CW keyer in my microHAM microKEYER got out of sync, froze, and had to be restarted nine times.  Most QSOs in progress were lost (because my paddle was plugged into the frozen keyer), and I was QRT while restarting and working to diagnose and solve the problem, which recurred in CQWW-DX-CW 2006, ARRL-DX-CW 2007, and now NEQP 2007 despite much work and several supposed fixes, by N1MM et al., microHAM, and me. A family obligation took me away from the radio for six hours, too. All things considered, I don't feel bad about my score.  I do wish I'd worked Hawaii.  I worked 48 states, including Alaska three times, on Saturday.  The 49th (Idaho) called in Sunday morning.  I was surprised that Hawaii didn't show up, too.  I never looked for any state; I just worked whoever called me; and I never used "packet."

W1ON - Great Time but our local noise floor was S9 to S9+20 most of the time.

W1TO - Not much time to operate from home. Most of the time at K1TTT.

W1UE - What a weekend!  Conditions didn't seem to be good; signals overall were weak, and the large storm area in the center of the country moved the S-meter up 2 units when an antenna was pointed west.  The polar paths, however, did open and enough stations were available to create a potential new SOHP record for the W1-area NEQP. N4PN led the way with 7 QSOs, followed by K1RX, AD4EB, N4CW, and WN1GIV with 5 each.  Another 40 stations had 3 or 4 QSOs each. Didn't do much SSB until Sunday- between InQP, NEQP, 7QP, and ARI, 20M SSB was a zoo Saturday afternoon, with an open frequency impossible to find.  Surprised to find 10M open Sunday- only wish more stations had been there to take advantage of the opening. To everyone, thanks for the Qs!

W1VEH - Other QSO parties on 20 meters helped make contacts.  Need more MAINE stations to participate.

W1WIU -  Another great year ! Bands not as favorably as in the past, but a nice 10 meter opening sure did help late Sunday. See you next year !

W1YRC - Had a ball! Didn't know that Providence County could sustain such a pile-up. Hope I can do it again next time.

W1ZPB - Thanks for supporting the NEQP for our collective pleasure.  About the only party or contest I do anymore.  This is just my "speed" and all CW.

WB1EDI - I had some things keeping me from playing full time

WB1HGA - running 4.5 watts using TT Argonaut 516.

WB1Z(KK1W) - Dave and I worked from his vacation home in Windham, VT for a good part of the contest. We ended up pretty well, around 250 Q's about equally split between SSB and CW. The bands were pretty good but the fun was even better.  I heard W1NY on with one of our new hams at the controls, ED - KB1NWH. He was working away Saturday evening with close to 100 contacts at that time. It isso nice to see the new fellows excited and out there having fun. Tell N1RL I gave him another break this year and stayed out of Hampden county. I hope he took advantage of it because I may be back in 2008! As always thanks for the hard work with the organizing and operating in NEQP. It has provided a hundreds of hams with yet another excuse to put aside yard work for another weekend.

AA4AK - Was it my imagination, or were conditions noticeably worse this year than in 2006? I made a slightly better score this year than last, but it seemed to me that the QSOs were much harder earned. I also heard a lot of operators complaining about QRN.  Very odd conditions. 40 m almost dead Saturday evening.

KC6TVF - Nice event.  I really enjoyed it.  This was my first go at a QSO party.  I've done a few Field Days, but not a QSO party on my own.   Since I just upgraded to General, it was nice to "exercise" the new privileges.

N8WXQ - Band Conditions were very bad but still had a great time. Can't wait for the sunspots.