by Tom Frenaye, K1KI – frenaye@pcnet.com
Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments
Introduction
The 2008 contest was the most popular ever with 428 logs received and more than 70,000 QSOs reported, way above previous events. All this was happening while sunspots were missing and only a few dozen QSOs were made on 15m and even less on 10 meters!
The number of electronic logs grew to almost 89%, with just 38 on paper (we do enter all paper logs so they are checked as thoroughly as those sent electronically). The number of QSOs in received logs in 2008 jumped more than 70% when compared to 2007. Comparing QSOs by mode, for stations outside of New England, 67% of the QSOs were on CW, and a few on digital modes, while for W1 stations, 53% were on SSB and 47% on CW. We managed to get all 67 New England counties on the air in 2008 but a couple were very, very scarce, and as a result, no one managed to work all of them this time – though a lot of stations had significant totals. Mobile activity was down slightly, and the six logs from New England mobiles showed they averaged 14 counties each – plus WA1Z/m who had another 15+ counties but his mobile log was lost in a computer crash.
Propagation
The crummy propagation in 2007 was supposed to be a thing of the past in 2008, but the sun is really not very predictable! In 2008, sunspot levels were even lower than the previous year – and geomagnetic activity was up a little, so 10 and 15 meters were almost non-existent, while 20 meters shut down pretty early. The number of stations worked by W1 entrants was up almost 200% compared with 2007. Totals on 40m were up nearly 300% and on 20m the total was up a respectable 85%. Can’t ask for much more there. But on 10/15 meters, the total number of QSOs in W1 logs was under 100 QSOs – compared to more than 1200 in 2007 – and non-W1 stations only logged 16 QSOs on 15m and none on 10m! We’re all looking for more sunspots now. The really good news about the increased activity on 80-40-20m was that the number of different callsigns worked on each band was also way up.
For stations outside of New England, activity was different on SSB than on CW. For the first four hours on SSB, 90% of the QSOs were on 20m, then moving to 40m at 00Z, and 75M after that until the end of the first segment at 05Z. That may change dramatically in 2009 with an improved 7100-7200 (little or no international broadcasting) segment. For the second day, most SSB QSOs during the 13Z hour were on 40m, then for the rest of the day, 20m was the place to be. The problem with 20m is that it is a very crowded band during the sunspot minimum and low power stations don’t get all that many answers to CQs when the band is full. For the last hour 40M had the most QSOs for non-W1 stations, with 75m second-best.
For non-W1 stations, on CW there was much more activity on 40m. That was the band to be on from 22Z until 02Z the first day, and 21Z until the end the second day. QSO totals on CW were much higher as well, roughly two to one… The top scorers found that a mixture of SSB and CW was necessary in order to build the multiplier total up.
For New England stations, the key was to find the right mixture of SSB and CW as well. For the first day, CW and SSB total QSOs were about the same, while on the second day, there were more SSB QSOs made during most hours, except for the 13Z and 23Z hours. On SSB, 20m was the band for all but five hours. Seventy-five meters produced the most QSOs in the 01-02-04Z hours, while 40M was best in the 00 and 03Z hours. 75M was also a good producer during the last two hours. It appears that switching back and forth between 75m and 40m was the best strategy after 00Z.
On CW, New England stations only made half as many QSOs on 20m CW as they on SSB, while on 80 and 40m the totals were higher on CW. Overall, 20m was the best band for QSOs – leading the way from 20-21Z on day one and 14-21Z the second day. Forty meters had the highest CW totals from 22 through 01Z, during the 13Z hour and for the last three hours. 80m was the band to be on from 02-05Z, and was a good choice the last hour as well. For New England stations, the best totals relied on a balance of SSB and CW QSOs to maximize the point totals, and multipliers were more plentiful on SSB.
| 80m | 40m | 20m | 15m | 10m | |
| QSOs made by W1s | 8,901 | 13,450 | 26,033 | 69 | 25 |
| Different stations worked | 1,132 | 2,608 | 4,603 | 35 | 18 |
| QSOs made by non-W1s | 2,315 | 5,612 | 8,526 | 16 | 0 |
| Different stations worked | 198 | 267 | 551 | 12 | 0 |
Mobiles
County coverage by mobiles was almost complete. Gas prices were well above $3.00/gallon, and in some of the more rural areas was approaching $4.00/gallon – that cut some of the excursions a little shorter than usual.
Only four of the sixty-seven were missed – Litchfield CT, Belknap NH, and the two island counties in MA – Dukes and Nantucket. There were eight serious mobiles that provided most of the coverage – N1SV/m(4) K1KI/m(22) K1EP/m(16) NE1QP/m(16) WW1M/m(19) N1FJ/m(5) WA1Z/m(15) and KD1EJ/m(6). Logs showed at least another 25 mobile stations in New England gave out at least a few QSOs each.
NE1QP/m, with Brian/NJ1F operating, covered all but one Vermont counties, Dan/N0HF, operating WW1M/m, covered all 16 Maine counties, and Dave/KD1EJ/m toured all five in Rhode Island. Tom/K1KI/m started the contest after a side visit to the Cabot Cheese factory in Cabot VT. He managed to make it to 13 counties in Vermont, missing a turn during the night for the 14th, then went on two do a couple in NH, western MA and finally his home county of Hartford CT. Les/N1SV/m motored through two in eastern MA and two in southern NH. and Frandy/N1FJ/m teamed up with Larry/WB1DBY to start in southern VT the first day, then did a bit of NH VT and western MA the second day. Bob/WA1Z/m had a great start in Maine, but computer problems meant that his log was lost. See his story below.
WW1M/m had 60 QSOs from Washington County ME and K1KI/m had 72 from Grand Isle County VT (that took two stops, one in the evening, one in the morning) but all the rest of the totals from mobiles were under 50 per county – averaging just 20 QSOs.
WA1Z/m:
WA1Z/m plans were running flawlessly until 1600z on Sunday when the laptop I used for logging failed to boot. As I was traveling down Route 1 in Maine between county runs I had noticed that the laptop had mysteriously shutoff. I suspected that perhaps the battery had been drained somehow (I power the laptop with a few jump-starter style batteries) or that the thing somehow got into hibernation mode. When I got to my operating spot in Lincoln ME I tried troubleshooting the problem for about an hour. After trying every trick in the book I know, it appeared there was no way to recover the log. I couldn’t get into Safe Mode or a command prompt; the thing just failed to boot each time. I’ve never seen a computer fail this hard.
Once I realized that it was possible that the log was lost, and with the deluge of rain coming down, I figured I had two choices. I could log by paper and continue on my planned route of 12 counties (which would require a 2+ hour ride home after the contest) or change routes and head towards home and just work guys doing head copy. I elected to do the latter. I ran guys from Lincoln ME, down route RT95 into NH and Northeast Massachusetts. I ended up activating 14 counties and missed only one planned county, Androscoggin. I talked to N4PN just before I made my final decision and I heard that all ME counties had been activated by mid-day on Sunday thanks to the efforts of WW1M/N0HF (nice job, Bruce) and others.
Despite the problem I still had a blast. I was approaching 400 QSOs when the failure occurred and I think I ran another 100 QSOs on the way home. Also ran about 100 guys on 40 and 80 last night from home in ROC NH. Ed/K1EP/m mentioned the lack of DX. I’ve found that the best strategy for grabbing some DX mults as a mobile is to pick off the stations right away on Saturday at the start of the contest. The ARI contest starts at 2000z and ends on Sunday at the same time. With the local springtime conditions and given where we are in the solar cycle, getting them right away on Saturday at 2000z seems to be the best time if condx allow. The NEQP tends to start slow on Saturday anyway. However, this year, all I could work on 20 were I, IS0 and ZC4LI. It was 40 Meters that saved it around 2300z when I picked up about 10 DX mults. I worked about 10 more Sunday morning on 20.
— Bob/WA1Z
K1EP/m (+W1VE):
Well, Murphy almost got the better of us at the start this year. Everything was checked out before we set off on our journey. We pull up up to our first county about 15 minutes before the start to turn everything on and do the final check out. The computer logging program started to complain and go nuts.
It took about a half hour of debugging and screaming to realize that somehow the PCMCIA serial card was either damaged or something happened to cause Windows to mess it up. A quick switch to a USB-serial cable solved the problem and we were on the air. The serial link was necessary for both computer control and CW keying.
Don’t try using a paddle at 60mph on some of these New England roads! The weather was lousy this year, damp, wet, and cold. It had to be the worst. But on the bright side, I spent some time cleaning up the inverter noise so that it wasn’t a factor in receiving this year, as it was last year. Once the serial problem was fixed, we didn’t have anything technical go wrong. Another big factor was using the K3 mobile. The radio was great!
I set up the mobile so that the operator was in the rear seat. The rear seats are split so the radio was on the folded down part of the other seat. The passenger front seat was pushed all the way up. There was plenty of leg room and it was very comfortable to operate. We almost always were running so even though the radio was handy, it wasn’t necessary to be turning knobs too often. This realization came in handy on Sunday, when I had to go out single op because W1VE had family obligations. I switched the arrangement because I didn’t feel like getting out at every new stop and running around the car in the rain! I folded the passenger seat down and put the radio facing forward but on the rear seat deck. I could turn around to check the radio during operation (always parked!) but I wasn’t staring at the radio most of the time. This also worked well from the driver’s seat.
As far as operating goes, it seemed a little down. It was tough to get some runs going. On the other hand, we were running, the short term rates were as high as around 150 or almost 200. But we quickly ran out of callers. We were going to stick with just 20 and 40, but late Saturday, we decided to try 80. Somewhere in CT, we switched to 80 and found that the car electronics didn’t really like that. So, we had to turn down the power to about 50 watts so that we could drive! But even at reduced power, we had some good runs on 80.
We also had some intentional jamming. As if it isn’t hard enough to deal with road noise, ignition noise, low signal levels, potholes, and being cramped in a car, some yahoo decides to jam us with a RTTY signal. This was intentional jamming, not a RTTY op, we could tell that. Luckily, the K3 has a great receiver and didn’t stop us from making Qs.
We did 14 counties the first day. We could have done as many the second, but as I said before, I was single op. The strategy is different then. You drive to a new county, park, operate, then move on. In multi op, you drive at a leisurely pace because you want to have some time in each county. You can switch off to take food and bio breaks. Very efficient operating.
Speaking of breaks, Sunday about 1PM, I decided to stop and get a sub sandwich for lunch. I parked at my favorite rest stop with the sub (YORME), got on the air and broke out the sub. Normally, there is a short delay when you start a new county before people find you. Not here. Sub in one hand, keyboard in the other, I started probably one of the best runs of Sunday. The meter was in the mid 100’s as I tried to keep the sub from dripping on the keyboard! Coincidentally, when I had the sub finished, the pileup disappeared.
Even though the weather was the worst of any NEQP I can remember, we had a good time because the radio and setup were working well. We didn’t get too lost (well we did miss a couple of turns) and made a decent showing. Since there are a fixed number of mults for US/VE, it is tough to run up a big score without working DX. And we didn’t seem to find too many. Except for a consistent CU2JT who worked us multiple times. We had a few others, but not enough to really impact the score. We also stuck to CW, as both of us are good CW ops. As the FQP people can tell you, CW gets out better mobile. Plus, I had a sore throat and didn’t feel like shouting in the mike.
Thanks to all who called us. Signal reports would be nice. We felt that we were getting out most of the time. If we didn’t come back to you right away, it probably wasn’t that we didn’t hear you, there are a lot of things that happen while you are in a temporary mobile setup that don’t happen when you are at home. It was difficult sometimes to see the keyboard at night. I tried to find a decent night light, but didn’t get one. For a while, I had a 4D-cell maglite balanced on my shoulder to light up the keyboard. Try doing that at 65mph on some New England road! Anyway, thanks again for the Qs and see you next year.
— Ed/K1EP
USA/VE/DX Results
Check here for detailed results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band info for the leaders –> Band-by-band
USA outside New EnglandPaul/N4PN continued his dominance of the NEQP with a big effort in 2008 – 52,800 points in the Single Operator High Power category with 209 CW QSOs and 407 on SSB. He fell short of working all 67 counties, ending up three short, but had the largest total overall. Georgia seemed to have good propagation to New England all day long on 20m – where Paul made more than 400 of his 616 QSOs.
Stations from the 4th call area dominated the top ten in the SOHP category, with John/K4BAI in second place, also from George, then Ned/K1GU from Tennessee in third – and worked 60 counties. Fourth place went to Tom/K3TW from Maryland, making up for being closer to W1 by his low band totals. Tom won the Golden Log plaque he had the highest score with no errors detected in his log! Bert/N4CW finished out the top five with his 22,504 point effort from North Carolina. Ned, Tom and Bert all set state records.
Of particular note were the 8th place finishes of Bob/W0BH setting a new Kansas record, and Dennis/N6KI from southern California breaking in at number nine, winning the California/Nevada plaque and just missed setting a California record with 202 QSOs and 54 counties. Phil/N0KE came in at #10 from Colorado, a new state record. It’s a lot harder from west of the Mississippi!
New SOHP state records were also set by WC4V/KY, K2SX/SC, KG4W/VA, N5PO/TX, N9RV/MT, W7WHY/OR, K8DD/OH, N8II/WV, K9JIG/WI, and AC0DQ/NE.
The Single Operator Low Power category is where the largest number of logs came from – almost 140 of them. When the dust settled, Bob/WA1FCN from Alabama had the biggest score with 153 CW and 260 CW SSB QSOs, 60 counties, a new state record, and a 33,960 point total – enough to have come in second in the high power category! Just behind him was Charlie/NF4A who worked 61 counties from his Florida QTH but had fewer QSOs overall for second place. Another Florida station, Mark/W4SVO claimed third place, then Dick/N4ARO from Tennessee, and Paul/K0JPL from Missouri put in a great effort for 5th place and a state record. Paul now owns both high and low power Missouri records.
Rounding out the top ten scorers in the SOLP category were Gary/WB4ZPF from Virginia, George/W9OA with a FB effort from Wisconsin, Art/N4UC in Alabama, Mark/AD5WI from Arkansas, and Jim/NW6S from North Capolina. Jim/K9YC had the top west coast score from California, a bit ahead of Paul/NG7Z from Washington.
Low power state records were also set by WB4ZPF/VA, KD5JHE/MS, K5WMH/NM, K7RFW/UT, WY7FD/WY, and W0ETT/CO.
The low power mobile category was led by Dave/N9FN/m with 49 QSOs – a portion of his Indiana QP effort. He was followed by Matt/K7BG/m from Montana, active in the 7QP, and Mel/KJ9C operating W9ELI/m in the Indiana QP.
Julius/N2WN pulled out the victory in the QRP category, with a big multiplier of 50 counties from his Tennessee QTH. Jonas/N0LY was second with more QSOs than N2WN but fewer counties worked, and still set a Missouri record. Third place went to Paul/W8TM, who set an Ohio record. Mike/W5JBV/m managed a very respectable 80 QSOs and 29 counties for the only QRP mobile score. AI9I/IL, AF9J/WI, and KE0G/MN also set QRP records.
In the Multi-single category, Barry/N2BJ rose to the top with big 20m SSB totals and 56 counties for 23,016 points, ahead of George/K5KG from Florida and Ralph/K1ZZI from Georgia. Most of the MS entries were just one operator but used packet or the Internet to help out. Six MS records were set.
We’re still looking for our first log from North Dakota and Hawaii, otherwise we’re covered! Special thanks to those who participated in the Indiana and 7th call area QSO Parties, and sent in logs or check logs for the NEQP. We had our highest total of logs from every call area except W2 and W8.
DX
Gary/CU2JT improved upon his effort from 2007 with 169 QSOs and 52 counties for his best score ever to take the top SOHP plaque, and Step/OK2EC set a new Czech record with 95 QSOs and second place. Keith/VK4TT managed more than a dozen QSOs with poor conditions and beat the previous low power Australian record. The first entries from Columbia came from Daniel/HK3Q(HK3AXY) using high power and Enrico/HK3/IZ0GYP who was the top SOLP entry from the DX side and earned a plaque for it.Canada
Art/VE3UTT led the Canadian SOHP effort in 2008. Thirteen stations vied for the top low power score from Canada. Gary/VE1RGB came in first with 161 CW-only QSOs using low power, and just a little short of the record set by VA1MM in 2006. Jerry/VE6CNU turned in the best effort yet from western Canada with 70 QSOs and 5th place in Canada in the SOLP category. Alan/VA1MM, Scott/VE1OP and Christopher/VE9CEH grabbed the second, third and fourth SOLP spots. New records were set by Ed/VE4EAR in the high power category, and Harold/VE5BCS and Bud/VA7ST running 150w or less.
For a full list of current records –> Records
New England Results
Check here for detailed results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band leaders –> Band-by-band
The push for the top Single Operating High Power score pitted John/W1XX against Ken/W1NG – and when the contest ended, John pulled off the victory by a few thousand points from his Rhode Island QTH with new antennas. John’s strength was his 1246 QSOs on SSB – as he said, “20m was a bottomless pit of new stations to work.” Ken had the bigger CW total with 559 CW QSOs from his Connecticut QTH, and had a 108 to 98 edge in multipliers. The final totals showed W1XX with 206,976 and W1NG with 197,748 points.
Randy/K5ZD, operating as AK1W, turned in the third place score from Massachusetts – and found out how addicting the NEQP can be when everyone wants to work you. Other big SOHP scores came from Dave/NN1N, Joe/K1JB and Mark/K1RX. The battle of SSB-only stations was won by Dennis/K1PLX at W1OP in Rhode Island earning 7th place, just besting ninth place Dale/AF1T in New Hampshire, by building up the best multiplier. Ernie/N1SW (now a Silent Key) squeezed into eighth place and Randy/K1SND had a balanced CW and SSB effort for 10th place. The Low Power battle was not as close. Art/K1BX ran up a score from New Hampshire that would have been fifth in the high power category – his 516 CW and 634 SSB QSOs put him significantly ahead of the low power competition. Art finished first in the low power category last year also – but his 2008 score was significantly higher than that of 2007. Second place went to a CW-only effort from Whit/K1EO at his camp in Maine, while Mike/W1JQ in southern Connecticut took third place, just edging Paul/K1XM in Massachusetts. Mill/K1IB from Vermont operated mostly on CW and grabbed fifth place.
The next five low power positions went to Dan/W1QK in southwest Connecticut, just one QSO ahead of Andy/K2LE at his Vermont cottage, then Ed/K2TE using N1FD in New Hampshire, Richie/W1STT also in New Hampshire with a big 936 SSB QSOs, and Don/K2KQ at his Martha’s Vineyard house.
The QRP results were very close. Tom/AA1CA in New Hampshire edged out Steve/AA4AK in Maine for first place. Both had around 300 CW QSOs, but Tom had the edge in multipliers. Third went to Chris/KA1LMR with more QSOs, but fewer multipliers. Oh yes, Tom/AA1CA set a New England record with his QRP effort!
Dave/K1TTT and his Western Massdachusetts crew took the top award in the Multi-operator category again – this time with just under 2000 total QSOs and 111 multipliers for a big 288,711 point effort. Dave and operators Mike/K1KAA, Khrystyne/K1SFA and Tom/W1TO worked 603 stations on CW and 1395 on SSB.
Jose/N1BAA and his son teamed up for second place, their first NEQP effort, with nearly 1000 QSOs and the biggest multiplier of any station – 113 states/provinces/countries. Bill/K1GQ came in third with an all-CW effort from New Hampshire, followed by Norm/W1BYH, another WMA station in fourth place.
The fifth place team was from the Fall River ARC – W1ACT. They operated Field Day-style on Martha’s Vineyard as they have for several years. They documented their trip on the HamCow.net web site: http://www.qsl.net/hamcow/HAMCOW_Events/Vineyard_2008.html
Overall there were 51 New England records set in various categories, that’s up from 2007. Check out the NEQP records page –> Records
How’d you do hunting multipliers?
Fourteen non-W1 stations logged good QSOs in the eight counties in Connecticut – K1GU K3TW K4BAI K5KG KG4W N2BJ N4PN N6KI N8II NE8J VE9CEH W4SVO W9QL and WA1FCN. Forty-eight stations (wow!) worked someone in all five Rhode Island counties. N4PN was the only one to work all 16 in Maine, with four others logging 15 of them. Both N2BJ and NF4A found all New Hampshire counties, four missed one county. N4PN came the closest in Vermont, missing just Essex County. Nantucket was the tough one in Massachusetts, with 13 stations logging nine of the ten counties.
Of the entries from outside New England, 75% worked each New England state, up from 68% in 2007.
From New England, eight stations worked the 48 contiguous states – K1TTT W1XX W1NG AK1W K1RX AF1T W1GUS and K1FWE. Notably, no low power stations managed to do it this year. K1TTT W1XX and W1NG each worked nine Canadian provinces – no one got them all. N1BAA had the top number of DX countries with 62 (but missed three states!), followed by K1TTT at 54 and W1NG at 51. Overall, N1BAA had the top multiplier at 113, with K1TTT coming in with 111 and W1NG at 108. K2LE K1XM and K1BX had the most DX multipliers at 31 28 and 27 for low power stations, but K1BX had the biggest multiplier total for low power stations with 81. On QRP, AA1CA edged out AA4AK by one countries, one Canadian province and three states.
From all W1 logs, NEQP participants worked 111 different counties, but only about 2% of the QSOs were with DX stations. One-quarter of them (522) were Italian stations in the ARI Contest. There was just one JA in the logs and just a handful of others from Asia. Other popular countries in the logs were OK(147), CU2(147), DL(91), G(78), UR(76) and HK(65).
Club Competition
The club competition continued to grow. The South East Contest Club climbed to the top of the non-W1 list in 2008 with seven entries and a record 119,397points for the plaque. The Potomac Valley Radio Club and Tennessee Contest Group were behind, but easily within striking distance. The total of 53 clubs set a record as well.
In New England, the YCCC came in with 59 entries and close to 3m points, but the CT-RI Contest Club won the YCCC-sponsored New England club plaque with 410,934 points – just short of their 2004 record.
Non-New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| South East Contest Club | 7 | 119,397 |
| Potomac Valley Radio Club | 8 | 97,725 |
| Tennessee Contest Group | 12 | 88,384 |
| Florida Contest Group | 7 | 61,594 |
| Society of Midwest Contesters | 11 | 59,504 |
| Alabama Contest Group | 4 | 50,497 |
| Maritime Contest Club | 3 | 28,042 |
| Southeast DX Club | 1 | 23,184 |
| Northern California Contest Club | 12 | 22,854 |
| Mad River Contest Club | 5 | 19,598 |
| Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado | 2 | 16,934 |
| Southern California Contest Club | 2 | 16,542 |
| Lynchburg ARC | 1 | 12,870 |
| Contest Club Ontario | 4 | 11,530 |
| Metro DX Club | 2 | 10,950 |
| Western Washington DX Club | 2 | 9,844 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 4 | 9,817 |
| Mother Lode DX/Contest Club | 1 | 8,557 |
| World Wide Young Contesters | 1 | 8,320 |
| Rochester (NY) DX Association | 1 | 7,257 |
| Southwest Ohio DX Association | 1 | 6,912 |
| Parker County Posse | 1 | 5,832 |
| North Texas Contest Club | 1 | 5,364 |
| Yellow Thunder ARC | 1 | 5,120 |
| Wireless Association of South Hills | 1 | 3,894 |
| Alberta Clippers | 1 | 3,552 |
| Midwest Wireless Association | 1 | 3,290 |
| USS Wisconsin RC | 1 | 3,100 |
| Menominee River Radio Club | 1 | 3,050 |
| Colorado QRP Club | 1 | 2,912 |
| Carolina DX Association | 1 | 2,688 |
| Oklahoma DX Association | 1 | 2,325 |
| Northeast Wisconsin DX Association | 1 | 1,674 |
| Northwest Houston ARS | 1 | 1,672 |
| Delaware ARA | 1 | 1,496 |
| Kentucky Contest Group | 1 | 1,456 |
| Minnesota Wireless Association | 1 | 1,320 |
| Iowa DX and Contest Club | 1 | 1,224 |
| Northern VA QRP Club | 1 | 1,102 |
| Redmond Top Key Contest Club | 2 | 1,102 |
| Hoosier DX and Contest Club (SMC) | 1 | 1,088 |
| North Richland Hills ARC | 1 | 1,029 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 1 | 864 |
| Steel City ARC | 1 | 748 |
| Northern Rockies DX Association | 1 | 608 |
| Heartland DX Association | 1 | 476 |
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 1 | 220 |
| Hudson Valley Contesters and DXers | 1 | 144 |
| Lenoir ARC | 1 | 130 |
| Single Digit Contesters | 1 | 49 |
| LDXA | 1 | 35 |
| Indiana University ARC | 1 | 9 |
| Haros Radioklub | 1 | 2 |
New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 59 | 2,808,972 |
| CTRI Contest Club | 10 | 410,934 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 6 | 239,170 |
| Providence Radio Assoc | 1 | 80,234 |
| Contoocook Valley Radio Club | 1 | 71,253 |
| Nashua Area Radio Club | 1 | 66,551 |
| Fall River ARC | 1 | 61,600 |
| Narraguagus Bay ARC | 2 | 38,526 |
| Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association | 2 | 36,652 |
| Granite State ARA | 1 | 29,950 |
| ARRL HQ Operators Club | 1 | 28,126 |
| Florida Contest Group | 1 | 18,564 |
| Meriden ARC | 5 | 18,515 |
| Candlewood ARA | 2 | 15,700 |
| MIT Radio Society | 1 | 12,400 |
| Waterbury ARC | 1 | 7,733 |
| Green Mountain Wireless Society | 1 | 7,178 |
| Falmouth Amateur Radio Association | 4 | 7,060 |
| Middlesex ARS | 1 | 4,992 |
| NEQRP | 1 | 2,800 |
| Central New Hampshire ARC | 1 | 1,680 |
| Port City ARC | 1 | 240 |
Activity by County
| County | QSOs | Stations |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | ||
| Fairfield | 823 | 24 |
| Hartford | 494 | 33 |
| Litchfield | 80 | 10 |
| Middlesex | 193 | 10 |
| New Haven | 1200 | 39 |
| New London | 318 | 22 |
| Tolland | 500 | 11 |
| Windham | 665 | 14 |
| Massachusetts | ||
| Barnstable | 357 | 23 |
| Berkshire | 566 | 11 |
| Bristol | 325 | 34 |
| Dukes | 571 | 5 |
| Essex | 674 | 26 |
| Franklin | 47 | 5 |
| Hampden | 406 | 21 |
| Hampshire | 546 | 10 |
| Middlesex | 1611 | 74 |
| Nantucket | 1 | 1 |
| Norfolk | 360 | 24 |
| Plymouth | 574 | 17 |
| Suffolk | 66 | 9 |
| Worcester | 1372 | 47 |
| Maine | ||
| Androscoggin | 147 | 10 |
| Aroostook | 113 | 6 |
| Cumberland | 763 | 18 |
| Franklin | 29 | 6 |
| Hancock | 131 | 10 |
| Kennebec | 98 | 13 |
| Knox | 30 | 3 |
| Lincoln | 21 | 3 |
| Oxford | 661 | 7 |
| Penobscot | 446 | 17 |
| Piscataquis | 71 | 5 |
| Sagadahoc | 111 | 9 |
| Somerset | 166 | 5 |
| Waldo | 51 | 6 |
| Washington | 452 | 14 |
| York | 99 | 14 |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Belknap | 153 | 12 |
| Carroll | 457 | 12 |
| Cheshire | 339 | 11 |
| Coos | 5 | 3 |
| Grafton | 35 | 4 |
| Hillsborough | 1208 | 37 |
| Merrimack | 382 | 16 |
| Rochingham | 1359 | 32 |
| Strafford | 78 | 10 |
| Sullivan | 327 | 4 |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Bristol | 220 | 4 |
| Kent | 418 | 16 |
| Newport | 459 | 10 |
| Providence | 451 | 33 |
| Washington | 470 | 11 |
| Vermont | ||
| Addison | 52 | 6 |
| Bennington | 186 | 4 |
| Caledonia | 29 | 4 |
| Chittenden | 443 | 11 |
| Essex | 6 | 1 |
| Franklin | 26 | 3 |
| Grand Isle | 45 | 3 |
| Lamoille | 96 | 3 |
| Orange | 29 | 2 |
| Orleans | 18 | 2 |
| Rutland | 230 | 7 |
| Washington | 22 | 7 |
| Windsor | 309 | 8 |
| Windham | 95 | 12 |
Certificates!
This year we sent out more than 325 certificates – to everyone who made 25 QSOs or more – including top scorers in each New England county, U.S. state, Canadian Province and DXCC country. Thanks to Scott/N1AIA for doing the certificate design work, and again to Bill/K1GQ for doing the really nice job on the printing.
Plaques and Special Awards
Special plaques have been awarded to these top scorers:
| Category | Donor | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| USA – single operator | Southborough Rod & Gun Club (W1SRG) | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| USA – single operator low power | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ in memory of Laci Radnay, W1PL | Bob Beaudoin, WA1FCN |
| USA – single operator QRP | Vern Brownell, W1VB | Julius Fazekas, N2WN |
| USA – single opr(W5-W6-W7-W0) | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Robert Harder, W0BH |
| USA – single opr(W2-W3-W8-W9) | Jim Monahan, K1PX | Tom Warren, K3TW |
| USA – California/Nevada | Calif QSO Party – Northern California Contest Club | Dennis Vernacchia. N6KI |
| USA – multi operator – single transmitter | Dave Robbins, K1TTT | Barry Cohen, N2BJ(+net) |
| USA – single operator – CW only | K1EL Keyers | Ned Swartz, K1GU |
| Canada – single operator | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Gary Bartlett, VE1RGB |
| Canada – single operator – CW only | Bud Hippisley, W2RU | Gary Bartlett, VE1RGB |
| DX – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Gary Wilkstrom, CU2JT |
| DX – single operator low power | Pete Chamalian, W1RM | Enrico Pitrelli, HK3/IZ0GYP |
| DX – Russia – any category (min 50 multipliers/200 QSOs) | Dmitri Y Jikharev, N2OW/RA9USU | (no winner this time) |
| Clean Sweep – Not First, but Furthest | Dennis Egan, W1UE | (no winner this time) |
| Golden Log – no errors | Jim Spears, N1NK | Tom Warren, K3TW |
| Top Club | Florida Contest Group | South East Contest Club |
| New England – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | John Lindholm, W1XX |
| New England – single operator – low power | Dave Hoaglin, K1HT | Art Hambleton, K1BX |
| New England – single operator – CW only | Andy Bodony, K2LE | Whitney Carter, K1EO |
| New England – single operator – QRP | Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club | Tom Doubek, AA1CA |
| New England – mobile | Boston Amateur Radio Club | Tom Frenaye, K1KI/m |
| New England – mobile – rookie | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Dan Norman, N0HF opr of WW1M/m |
| New England – mobile – multi-single | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F, in memory of James Szewczyk, WB1EYM | Ed Parish, K1EP/m + Gerry Hull, W1VE |
| New England – mobile – County Expedition Award | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Brian Szeczyk, NJ1F, opr of NE1QP/m |
| New England – multi-single | Wellesley Amateur Radio Society | Dave Robbins, K1TTT (+Mike DeChristopher, K1KAA, Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, and Tom Homewood, W1TO) |
| New England – school club | Chris Terkla, N1XS | MIT Radio Society, W1MX, Tim Dunn, KT1D, opr |
| Connecticut – single operator | Candlewood ARA | Ken Bolin, W1NG |
| Maine – single operator | Merrymeeting ARA, Androscoggin ARC, Yankee ARC, Portland Amateur Wireless Assn | Joe Blinick, K1JB |
| Massachusetts – single operator | Framingham Amateur Radio Association | Randy Thompson, K5ZD, opr of AK1W |
| New Hampshire – single operator | Mark Pride, K1RX | Art Hambleton, K1BX |
| Rhode Island – single operator low power | CT/RI Contest Group | Jim Bowman, KS1J |
| Vermont – single operator | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Mill Moore, K1IB |
| Maine – single operator – high power | Augusta Amateur Radio Assn | George Monti, K1PQS |
| Maine – Kennebec County | Kennebec Amateur Radio Society | Phil Downes, N1IFP |
| Massachusetts – Hampden County – single operator | Hampden County Radio Assn | Ed Lacombe, KB1NWH. opr of W1NY |
| New England Club | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | CT/RI Contest Club |
If you’d like to sponsor a plaque for 2009, please contact us at info@neqp.org
| Special Awards The top USA (non-New England) single operator winner:The Framingham Amateur Radio Association has donated a Lobster dinner for two from Legal Seafood of Boston to the USA single operator (non-New England) winner. For 2008 the winner is Paul Newberry, N4PN! Other top USA (non-New England) scorers: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream – 250+ QSOs N2BJ K5KG N4PN K4BAI K3TW WA1FCN NF4A W4SVO Maple Syrup – 150+ QSOs K1GU N4CW N8II KG4W W0BH N6KI N0KE N4ARO K0JPL WB4ZPF N2WN N0LY |
Log checking
Thanks to everyone who sent in electronic logs, it made the log checking process go much easier. There were 333 logs overall, with 293 in electronic format (88%) and 40 on paper. This is 20% more logs than last year – and 50% fewer on paper than the previous year. Special thanks to those in the 7QP, MARAC and ARI contests who also sent us logs! We always take the time to convert the paper logs to electronic format for log checking. There is no penalty for duplicates – we encourage you to leave them in the log.
For non-New England stations, cross checking was possible on 16,094 of the 19,522 QSOs reported (82.4%). Of the 611 QSOs not allowed (3.7%), the breakdown is as follows:
| QSOs | Reason not allowed |
| 170 | Callsign incorrect |
| 200 | QTH incorrect |
| 126 | Not in log |
| 112 | Duplicate |
| 3 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 611 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
For New England stations, cross checking was possible on 20,966 of the 50,647 QSOs reported (41.4%). Of the 2,169 QSOs not allowed (4.3%), the breakdown is as follows:
| QSOs | Reason not allowed |
| 805 | Callsign incorrect |
| 548 | QTH incorrect |
| 338 | Not in log |
| 424 | Duplicate |
| 54 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 2,169 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
Logging Software
Looks like N1MM software still dominates for logging the NEQP, followed by Writelog and N3FJP’s software.
| Software | Users | Points |
|---|---|---|
| N1MM Logger | 119 | 2,193,959 |
| WriteLog | 55 | 1,135,971 |
| N3FJP’s NEQP | 84 | 713,860 |
| CT | 17 | 605,652 |
| NA | 6 | 208,214 |
| JL | 1 | 96,824 |
| GenLog | 11 | 52,754 |
| MS Excel | 3 | 30,929 |
| Win-Test | 2 | 22,920 |
| CU2JT Logger | 1 | 17,576 |
| CQPWIN | 1 | 16,121 |
| Excel | 1 | 11,868 |
| Win-EQF | 3 | 11,400 |
| (fifteen others) | 31 | 40,326 |
Soapbox
Be sure to browse through the “Soapbox” comments! You’ll find some interesting advice and some good information about the 2008 event.
Thanks
We didn’t have a whole lot of help with sunspots in the 2008 NEQP, and 2009 is not looking to be much better. Hope to see everyone back again – don’t forget to try 15 and 10 meters, they may be open when you think they are not!