by Tom Frenaye, K1KI – frenaye@pcnet.com
Writeup | New England Scores | Scores from Outside New England | Breakdowns of Top Stations | Soapbox Comments
Introduction
It was another nice May weekend for the 2013 New England QSO Party! Quite a few new records were set and the sun provided improved band conditions compared to 2012.
We received 470 logs with 30 from DX stations, 17 from Canada, 241 from the USA and 182 from New England. The logs combined to show 73,482 valid QSOs. There were 765 different New England stations reported, down a bit from last year, but all counties were available and three stations worked them all – Paul/N4PN, Julius/N2WN and Charlie/NF4A. Dima/RA9USU at RL3A worked 66 counties, just missing one of the mobiles by ten minutes for the last one he needed.
Propagation
Solar activity was up a little bit in 2013, and it showed with increased QSO totals on 15m, and small increase on 10m. Totals on 80m were down. There were no big solar flares or solar storms during the contest so it was smooth sailing for most.
| Valid QSOs | 80m | 40m | 20m | 15m | 10m |
| QSOs made by W1s | 2,874 | 16,687 | 23,181 | 7,031 | 409 |
| Different stations worked | 339 | 1,943 | 4,145 | 1,842 | 133 |
| QSOs made by non-W1s | 1,011 | 5,794 | 10,251 | 2,792 | 119 |
| Different stations worded | 81 | 218 | 410 | 151 | 43 |
Mobiles
Bob/WA1Z/m had quite a trip through 15 counties in Maine and seven in New Hampshire. His 1,472 QSOs smashed the old single operator mobile record and gathered a record 251,768 points. Kurt/W6PH was his navigator, dodging the potholes, deer and moose out for a look at the well-oiled mobile machine passing through.
WA1Z/m – Thanks to everyone who called in this weekend. There were literally dozens of repeat callers from the Canadian Maritimes to California. That really makes county changes so much fun in those first few minutes. Thank you to all and I hope all the NEQP activity kept things interesting on your end! Top QSO total goes to N2WN with 45, followed by N4PN (40), W0EA (31), and NF4A (30). Also had a dedicated group of repeat DX callers: the most being RL3A with 24, followed by UA3AGW (17), OK2EC (15), SP1AEN (13), AH6RE and EA6AZ (5), DK3BN, UA6LCN and SM5CSS (4), PA0LOU and PA3AAV (3) and more. Thanks again to Tom, K1KI, for organizing another great NEQP!
Station – Radio: Elecraft K3, 100 watts. Antennas: Hustler monoband resonators 80-10. Resonators mounted on Hustler MO-2 masts. Two antenna mounts available on the rear hatch. Logging: Computer logging on laptop powered by combination of internal batteries and sealed jump-start batteries.
From an implementation point of view, this was a carbon copy of last year’s effort. Kurt, W6PH, and I joined forces again with Kurt doing the driving while I operated. I sat in the passenger side back seat with the K3 and Win-Keyer set up on a small table to my left. I used a lap desk to hold the laptop and paddle. With the right amount of pressure against the desk or car door, I managed to keep things stable enough to operate as we traveled through the winding back roads of Maine.
Two Comet antenna mounts are installed on the back of the car for quick switching between two bands. These are trunk-lip mounts that are not designed to be used with the medium-duty MO-2 masts. To make the antennas very secure, I constructed a harness made from PVC sections that extends from the car’s roof rack for added stability. Once again, Kurt kept us on schedule in our trek through 22 total counties involving 32 county changes.
Conditions and activity were fantastic. It was nice to have 15 Meters as another option to keep the rate up, especially in Maine’s larger northern counties. I got a couple requests to move to 10 Meters. I moved as soon as we could pull over safely, but found no activity each time.
One of the many highlights of the weekend was getting called by JA4DND and JO7WXN on 15 Meters Saturday afternoon. When we were still looking for OK and MS on Sunday afternoon, Kurt kept crossing his fingers when every W5 called. Lots of thumbs-up signs were exchanged between the front and back seat as multipliers called in, especially in the last hours of the contest on Sunday when YU2A, VE7CV, K5FA (MS), XE1/AA0AA, and TF3Y called in.
NEQP always seems to have a nice activity increase on Sunday afternoon and this year was no different. Combined with the fact that Belknap NH was still needed by many of the NEQP Deserving, the final two hours produced QSO rates of 107 and 123! Funny to hear later that KM3T/Kelly and WA1Z/W6PH were on a “collision course” of sorts, racing to BELNH! Glad we were both able to get a couple sweeps out of it for folks. The multiplier breakdown is 52 State/Prov and 35 DX mults. 487 unique callsigns were worked this weekend.
Tom/K1KI/m focused on Vermont and western Massachusetts, making 855 QSOs from 21 counties – 13/VT, 4/NH, 3/MA and his home county in CT. Dave/KM3T/m started in NH and made the southeastern tour in MA, RI and CT with 18 counties and 785 QSOs. Sean/KX9X/m improved on his previous NEQP effort and 378 QSOs from CT and RI, split between CW and SSB.
KM3T/m – This obviously takes more planning – very impromptu operation and all sending by hand. I’ll never do that again! Great activity! Rig: Icom IC-7000 100wAntennas: Hamsticks (one at a time) Logging: SkookumLogger (Mac)Driver: Kelly (YL) – boy do I owe her now Sending: Almost all by hand. Been >20 years since I did that for this many hours. On day 2 I programmed the IC-7000 M1 to at least CQ. I would have done that on day one but those MA counties go by fast.
Wow, that was fun – for some value of fun.
Last-minute decision to go do a little NEQP expedition. I knew WA1Z and K1KI were going north so I decided to head south with a very minimal plan and then work back toward home. Basically did a big loop from home in HILNH down toward Boston from the north, then along the coast of MA to just about Cape Cod and then west toward RI/CT. Then north and east through CT and back north into MA/NH. Stopped at home for a break then went to do MERNH and BELNH because NF4A needed BELNH for a sweep. He will buy me a beer in Dayton I think. Little did I know that WA1Z was approaching BELNH from the north at the same time I was approaching from the south. Totally randomly we were about 1 mile from each other at the same time. Only second time I ever heard/worked him all weekend!
Hats off to all the out of state ops in this one – they were there religiously for every county change. DX stations had really decent signals – best DX was UA0WW on 15m late Sunday morning. RL3A was loud and even worked me on 40m!
It’s easy to get sucked into this contest. Only regret is not staying up Saturday night to work a few more hours! Also regret not trying 15m more- next year will plan to have my K3 and two hamsticks or the IC-7000 and a multiband mobile antenna.
Brian/NJ1F/m combined operating at NE1QP with a multi-operator mobile trip with Tom/W1TO, covering 13 counties in VT and MA, making 164 QSOs.
Outside of New Engalnd, Tim/K9WX/m in the Indiana QSO Party snagged 38 QSOs with New England stations to lead the small group of single operator mobile logs. Matt/K7BG/m handed out 10 Idaho contacts to some lucky New England stations as well while operating in the 7QP.
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 England
Paul/N4PN continued his perfect record of winning the NEQP with a 63,516 point effort in the single operator high power category, working all 67 counties, and 329 CW and 290 SSB QSOs. That tied his 2009 record when he had the exact same score but 278 CW and 392 SSB contacts. Dave/N4DW in Tennessee was second in the US, with Bob/N4BP using WN1GIV from Florida turning in the number three score. The rest of the top ten were Georgia’s John/K4BAI and Craig/K9CT from Illinois.
Competition in the low power category was quite tight. Joel/NA4K took the ribbon (and plaque) with 247 CW and 85 SSB contacts, 60 counties and a 34,740 point total from Tennessee. Paul/W8TM did the job from Ohio, with 27,664 points, just ahead of Jeff/N8II in WV at 26,600, Bert/N4CW in NC with 26,564, and Tom/N2CU with 20,680 from NY. Low power is always the most popular category. The number 5 to 10 positions are held by Larry/N9AUG in OH, Gary/W4GDG in VA, Tom/KG4CUY in AL, Tom/K4ZGB in AL and Mark/KI0I from MO.
There were two superstars in the QRP category. Julius/N2WN was everywhere, putting 323 CW and 73 SSB QSOs into his TN log, plus all 67 counties for a 48,173 score. Not far behind was Tom/W0EA in IA with 254 CQ and 100 SSB QSOs, 65 counties and a significant 39,585 points. Both scores would have won the low power (100w) category! Jim/K8MR grabbed the third QRP spot with a part-time effort from OH also chasing 7QP stations.
Charlie/NF4A topped the multi-single scores by working all 67 counties and 439 QSOs for 49,245 points from FL, a bit ahead of Bob/WA1FCN in AL with 382 QSOs in 60 counties for 35,940. Third went to N4VV with 22,880. The San Diego Contest Club station NX6T had help from seven operators and snared the 4th spot. The rest of the top ten came from Dick/N4ARO in TN, John/W9ILY from IL, Jim/K9YC from CA, Barry/N2BJ in IL, Hank/W6SX in CA and Henry/K4HAL also from AL Dave/N9FN (+K9FN) operated portable in the INQP and worked a bunch of New England stations. They have quite a portable set-up!
Canada
We’ve never had a tie score at the top before but VE1RGB and VE4VT pulled it off with big efforts. Gary/VE1RGB did it with 189 CW-only QSOs, while Ed/VE4VT had 144 CW and 90 SSB QSOs. Each worked 53 counties and ended up with 20,034 points to lead the single operator category from Canada.
In the high power category, Ken/VE3KP was the leader with 143 QSOs and a new Ontario record. Mike/VE9AA entered the multi-single category this time and set a Canadian record with 143 QSOs and 18,666 points from New Brunswick. Also of note are a new high power record by Bill/VY2LI from Prince Edward Island, and a new Quebec low power record by Serge/VE2AWR.
VE9AA –
Single op + cluster = multi single. Combined 3 QSO parties, so QSO count and scores are just wild guesses,
nowhere’s near to reality. (OK, probably in the ballpark, but not to be used for stats, awards, letters of congrats or yummy pie charts….hihi. Well, going in I knew this would be a tuff slug as it always is, being right next door. These guys are my neighbors. I installed a cloud burner multiband dipole @ 10′ just in case it would help with the close in guys ….it did in certain cases, but usually the ground planes were best. There was a little relief in the fact of an Es opening Saturday night which put a few guys in the log on 15m and to a lesser extent, 20m that otherwise would’ve been unworkable.WA1Z/M has amaaaaazing ears. There was only 1 time in all the times he appears in my log (15) which he struggled to copy me. That guy can copy CW !!! 90% of the time he was literally a whisper here and I usually listened to him send his exchange to other guys a few times before I was sure of his cty. Then I’d wait for a peak, then call…..whew !
Ditto KM3T/M, though he was usually farther away and had a louder signal. I can’t forget K1KI/m, KX9X/m, nor the many portables and home stns out there.I do believe New England was well represented this year. I probably had my best score. Sadly, I didn’t read the fine print until AFTER the contest, and have to submit as a M/S, as I did have the packet turned on this year. For most of the biggie contests, I never use packet, but sometimes for the QSO parties it becomes hard to find guys, so this year I thought I’d try it ….DOH! I made a good number (nearly 100) contacts on 20m , the overwhelming majority of them literally right at the noise level. I am happy to report there are very few alligator stations in New England (though there are still a couple….ARGH) (hi) Cheers from “up here” in NB……
DX
The big news from overseas was Dima/RA9USU’s single operator high power effort from RL3A. Dima managed to make 359 QSOs with New England stations and 40,062 points, setting a new record for a DX entrant. He only missed Aroostook County Maine in his quest for all counties. Dima, also N2OW, has long sponsored a plaque for the top score from Russia, requiring at least 200 QSOs, now he’s the first one to earn it.
Dima’s big effort from RL3A overshadowed the second place score from Dima/UA3AGW who had 24,840 points from 216 QSOs in 60 counties in what normally would have been the top DX score. He did with the Golden Log plaque for having the highest score with no errors, quite an accomplishment from 4,500 miles away listening to weak mobiles…
In the low power category, Wladyslaw/SP1AEN topped the list with a DX record of 20,748 points from 182 CW QSOs in 57 counties. Step/OK2EC wasn’t far behind with 16,308 points and a new record from the Czech Republic.
QRPer Fulvio/IV3AOL improved on his effort from last year by scoring 7,740 points with 91 QSOs at the 5w level and a new DX record.
For a full list of current records –> Records
New England Results
Dave/NN1N topped the single operator high power category with a 159,965 point score, with 546 CW and 403 SSB contact and 107 multipliers from Connecticut. Right behind him was Andy/K2LE operating W2FOC in Vermont. Andy’s 158,592 score from 892 CW QSOs and 96 multipliers was just 1,373 point behind Dave. Gene/W3UA placed third from his New Hampshire QTH in his first serious NEQP effort.
In the SO low power category, the title went to Bruce/K1BG with a new Massachusetts record of 126,984 points from 689 CW QSOs and 250 on SSB. He had 78 multipliers, plus worked the most W1 counties of any SOLP station in New England. Bruce says he only intended to operate for a few hours, “but got hooked.” Second place was earned by Mike/N1TA, also from MA, and Karl/K1KX was third from his QTH in RI.
Steve/AA4AK has been active in the NEQP since 2005, earning a large collection of second place QRP scores. This year he broke the barrier and came in with a first place score to with the plaque. From his QTH in southern Maine, Steve had 50,716 points from 409 CW QSOs. Second place went to John/N1HFE, a newcomer from New Hampshire, and third went to Chris/W1MR in NH.
The NE1QP multi-single effort from K1TTT’s station in western MA was operated by Michael/K1MK, Tom/W1TO, and Brian/NJ1F. They gathered 847 CW and 545 SSB QSOs for 263,235 points, just edging out the Barnstormers/NZ1U team of Ken/K1RAX, Paul/WR1X, Mark/NB1U, and Jay/W1UJ, in Connecticut witih 241,101 points from 431 CW and 1007 SSB QSOs. The Fall River ARC fielded their big trailer in a multi-multi configuration as W1ACT and stacked up 401,000 points from 860 CW and 1060 SSB contacts from Martha’s Vineyard (Dukes County) MA. The operators were KA1EZH, KB1JBC, KB1TWA, KE1LI, N1JOY, N1PMB, W1DJG, W1UE, and W2DAN.
Check here for detailed results –> Score detail
and for band-by-band leaders –> Band-by-band
More than 40 New England records were set in various categories during the NEQP in 2013. Check out the NEQP records page for details –> Records
How’d you do hunting multipliers?
Eight stations worked more than 60 counties, and three had them all in the log. Paul/N4PN, Julius/N2WN, and Charlie/NF4A worked all 67 counties. but not far behind were Dima/RL3A/66, W0EA/65, and Dima/UA3AGW, Joel/NA4K and Bob/WA1FCN with 60. N2WN and W0EA were operating QRP…
Working all of the New England counties is nearly impossible from New England, and isn’t very useful when the multiplier for W1 stations is states, provinces and countries, not counties. Even so, some New England stations worked a lot of New England counties, with W1ACT logging 52, John/W1AN found 50, and Bruce/K1BG Don/W1DWA and Dan/KB1VWQ each working 49 of them.
Club Competition
The Tennessee Contest Group claimed the club title again this year with 157,669 points from eight significant entries, led by Julius/N2WN, Joel/NA4K and Dave/N4DW. Florida Contest Group led by Charlie/NF4A was second, just ahead of the up and coming Alabama Contest Group with Bob/WA1FCN at the top.
In New England, the Fall River ARC mounted another effort from Dukes County (Martha’s Vineyard) MA to take the top club plaque. Others with a significant number of entries are noted in bold type below. (The Yankee Clipper Contest Club submitted 63 scores for 2.9 million points.)
Non-New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Tennessee Contest Group | 8 | 157,669 |
| Florida Contest Group | 9 | 91,985 |
| Alabama Contest Group | 6 | 90,565 |
| Potomac Valley Radio Club | 6 | 78,759 |
| Georgia Contest Group | 2 | 63,516 |
| Mad River Radio Club | 6 | 55,775 |
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 2 | 52,000 |
| South East Contest Club | 4 | 49,134 |
| Maritime Contest Club | 3 | 45,174 |
| Society of Midwest Contesters | 5 | 39,073 |
| Northern California Contest Club | 6 | 35,307 |
| DELARA Contest Team | 2 | 34,022 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 5 | 31,034 |
| North Coast Contesters | 2 | 30,052 |
| Metro DX Club | 3 | 27,516 |
| Russian Contest Club | 2 | 27,513 |
| Minnesota Wireless Assn | 5 | 25,690 |
| San Diego Contest Club | 1 | 21,952 |
| Czech Contest Club | 1 | 16,308 |
| Allegheny Valley Radio Association | 1 | 13,300 |
| Mississippi Valley DX/Contest Club | 2 | 10,788 |
| Mother Lode DX/Contest Club | 3 | 9,880 |
| Kansas City Contest Club | 1 | 8,865 |
| Bristol (TN/VA) ARC | 1 | 7,980 |
| ARI Trieste | 1 | 7,740 |
| Kansas City DX Club | 1 | 7,722 |
| Arizona Outlaws Contest Club | 9 | 7,275 |
| Thumb Area Contesters | 1 | 6,840 |
| Derby City DX Association | 1 | 6,240 |
| Southern Berkshires ARC | 1 | 5,698 |
| Radio Club of Redmond | 2 | 5,176 |
| Gloucester Co ARC | 1 | 4,949 |
| Western Washington DX Club | 2 | 4,760 |
| Southwest Ohio DX Assoc | 1 | 4,650 |
| Bavarian Contest Club | 3 | 4,336 |
| Coos County Radio Club (Oregon) | 1 | 3,936 |
| Willamette Valley DX Club | 2 | 3,368 |
| Central Oregon DX Club | 1 | 3,286 |
| Orca DX and Contesting Club | 2 | 3,235 |
| VERON | 1 | 2,862 |
| Lafayette DX Association | 2 | 2,850 |
| Beemster Contest Club | 1 | 2,784 |
| Hudson Valley Contesters and DXers | 1 | 2,730 |
| Utah DX Association | 1 | 2,160 |
| Isothermal ARC | 1 | 2,133 |
| Northeast Wisconsin DX Assoc | 1 | 2,046 |
| Western New York DX Assn | 1 | 1,820 |
| Iowa DX and Contest Club | 1 | 1,794 |
| South Texas DX and Contest Club | 1 | 1,716 |
| DFW Contest Group | 2 | 1,520 |
| Wilderness Road ARC | 1 | 1,474 |
| Southern California Contest Club | 1 | 1,298 |
| Michael Pupin W1BCD | 1 | 1,220 |
| Eli Lilly Radio Club | 1 | 1,196 |
| Four Lakes Amateur Radio Club | 2 | 1,118 |
| Quarter Century Wireless Assoc | 1 | 680 |
| Southern Utah DX Club | 1 | 630 |
| Contest Club Ontario | 1 | 544 |
| Central Texas DX and Contest Club | 1 | 480 |
| Fox River Radio League | 1 | 435 |
| Ft Smith Area ARC | 1 | 300 |
| NORTEX QRP Club | 1 | 144 |
| Snohomish County Hams Club | 1 | 98 |
| Acadiana Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 96 |
| Williamsburg Area ARC | 1 | 91 |
| Arrow Communications Assn | 1 | 72 |
| North Fulton ARL | 1 | 42 |
| Clark County Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 4 |
New England Club Scores
| Club | Entries | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Yankee Clipper Contest Club | 63 | 2,923,029 |
| Fall River Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 407,000 |
| The Barnstormers Contest Group | 1 | 241,101 |
| CTRI Contest Group | 8 | 226,553 |
| Hampden County Radio Association | 8 | 186,777 |
| Contoocook Valley Radio Club | 4 | 141,959 |
| Meriden ARC | 6 | 107,348 |
| Northeastern University Radio Club | 1 | 100,852 |
| Fidelity Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 83,232 |
| Merrymeeting Amateur Radio Association | 2 | 51,192 |
| Harvard Wireless Club | 1 | 47,586 |
| Eastern Connecticut Amateur Radio Association | 1 | 30,036 |
| Nashua Area Radio Club | 1 | 24,576 |
| Montachusett ARA | 1 | 23,744 |
| Falmouth ARA | 4 | 23,543 |
| Wireless Society of Southern Maine | 1 | 20,923 |
| Bass Hill Repeater Group | 1 | 15,606 |
| Green Mountain Wireless Society | 2 | 15,428 |
| Augusta ARA | 1 | 12,624 |
| Waterbury Amateur Radio Club | 2 | 12,576 |
| Whitman ARC | 1 | 11,653 |
| Frankford Radio Club | 2 | 11,546 |
| Granite State ARA | 1 | 9,744 |
| Norwood (MA) Amateur Radio Club | 1 | 7,194 |
| Southeast Massachusetts ARA | 1 | 1,332 |
| Wireless Operators of Winsted | 1 | 752 |
| YO DX Club | 1 | 432 |
Activity by County
| County | QSOs | Stations |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | ||
| Fairfield | 809 | 23 |
| Hartford | 1311 | 31 |
| Litchfield | 448 | 16 |
| Middlesex | 382 | 6 |
| New Haven | 986 | 36 |
| New London | 664 | 16 |
| Tolland | 917 | 9 |
| Windham | 1214 | 12 |
| Massachusetts | ||
| Barnstable | 860 | 26 |
| Berkshire | 1063 | 10 |
| Bristol | 442 | 21 |
| Dukes | 637 | 3 |
| Essex | 357 | 24 |
| Franklin | 82 | 5 |
| Hampden | 1167 | 33 |
| Hampshire | 159 | 14 |
| Middlesex | 2283 | 66 |
| Nantucket | 182 | 2 |
| Norfolk | 1213 | 23 |
| Plymouth | 506 | 13 |
| Suffolk | 398 | 4 |
| Worcester | 1613 | 33 |
| Maine | ||
| Androscoggin | 110 | 10 |
| Aroostook | 111 | 5 |
| Cumberland | 684 | 16 |
| Franklin | 41 | 2 |
| Hancock | 202 | 4 |
| Kennebec | 207 | 7 |
| Knox | 45 | 3 |
| Lincoln | 55 | 4 |
| Oxford | 278 | 6 |
| Penobscot | 390 | 9 |
| Piscataquis | 124 | 7 |
| Sagadahoc | 48 | 3 |
| Somerset | 59 | 2 |
| Waldo | 39 | 4 |
| Washington | 198 | 7 |
| York | 127 | 19 |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Belknap | 138 | 5 |
| Carroll | 325 | 4 |
| Cheshire | 346 | 8 |
| Coos | 238 | 5 |
| Grafton | 433 | 7 |
| Hillsborough | 1074 | 30 |
| Merrimack | 498 | 11 |
| Rochingham | 1267 | 31 |
| Strafford | 440 | 12 |
| Sullivan | 471 | 8 |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Bristol | 207 | 4 |
| Kent | 478 | 9 |
| Newport | 664 | 10 |
| Providence | 530 | 23 |
| Washington | 96 | 6 |
| Vermont | ||
| Addison | 71 | 4 |
| Bennington | 450 | 4 |
| Caledonia | 40 | 3 |
| Chittenden | 162 | 12 |
| Essex | 172 | 4 |
| Franklin | 41 | 2 |
| Grand Isle | 78 | 2 |
| Lamoille | 145 | 5 |
| Orange | 44 | 4 |
| Orleans | 19 | 3 |
| Rutland | 201 | 6 |
| Washington | 43 | 4 |
| Windsor | 45 | 3 |
| Windham | 470 | 2 |
Certificates!
Digital (Adobe PDF) certificates will be mailed to everyone who made at least 25 QSOs. If you want a paper certificate, please let us know. We hope you’ll be back again in 2014 to earn another one!
Plaques and Special Awards
Special plaques have been awarded to these top scorers:
| Category | Donor | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| USA – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Paul Newberry, N4PN |
| USA – single operator low power | Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, in memory of Laci Radnay, W1PL | Joel Woods, NA4K |
| USA – single operator QRP | Vern Brownell, W1VB | Julius Fazekas, N2WN |
| USA – single opr(W5-W7-W0) | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | Mark Mills, KI0I |
| USA – single op high power r(W2-W3-W8-W9) | Jim Monahan, K1PX | Craig Thompson, K9CT |
| USA – single opr low power (W2-W3-W8-W9) | Whit Carter, K1EO | Paul Kirley, W8TM |
| USA – California/Nevada | Calif QSO Party – Northern California Contest Club | NX6T (+N6KI, N6ERD, N6CY, K6GO, NA6MB, W2PWS, KD6HYN) |
| USA – multi operator – single transmitter | Will and Pam Angenent, K6ND/K6NDV | Charles Wooten, NF4A |
| USA – single operator – CW only | K1EL Keyers | Bert Michaud, N4CW |
| USA – single operator QRP (AR-LA-MS-TN) | Steve Kercel, AA4AK | Julius Fazekas, N2WN |
| Canada – single operator high power | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Ken Dixon, VE3KP |
| Canada – single operator low power | Gerry Hull, W1VE/VE1RM | Gary Bartlett, VE1RGB Ed Richardson, VE4VT |
| Canada – single operator – CW only | Bud Hippisley, W2RU | Gary Bartlett, VE1RGB |
| DX – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | RL3A (Dima Jikharev, RA9USU) |
| DX – single operator low power | Pete Chamalian, W1RM, in memory of John Thompson, W1BIH/PJ9JT | Wladyslaw Wdowczyk, SP1AEN |
| DX – Russia – any category (min 50 multipliers/200 QSOs) | Dmitri Y Jikharev, N2OW/RA9USU | RL3A (Dima Jikharev) |
| Clean Sweep – Not First, but Furthest | Dennis Egan, W1UE | Charles Wooten, NF4A |
| Golden Log – no errors | Jim Spears, N1NK | Dima Zaslavsky, UA3AGW |
| Top Club | Florida Contest Group | Tennessee Contest Group |
| New England – single operator | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Dave Patton, NN1N |
| New England – single operator – low power | Dave Hoaglin, K1HT | Bruce Blain, K1BG |
| New England – single operator – QRP | Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club | Steve Kercel, AA4AK |
| New England – mobile | Boston Amateur Radio Club | Bob Raymond, WA1Z/m |
| New England – mobile – biggest improvement | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | Sean Kutzko, KX9X/m |
| New England – mobile – multi-single | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F, in memory of James Szewczyk, WB1EYM | Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F/m (+Tom Homewood, W1TO) |
| New England – County Expedition Award | Huckleberry Mountain Contest Club | WB1Z (Jim Mullen, KK1W, Frandy Johnson, N1FJ, Dave Cain, AA1YW, + Matt Wilhelm, W1MSW) |
| New England – multi-single | Wellesley Amateur Radio Society | NE1QP (Michael Keane, K1MK, Tom Homewood, W1TO, Brian Szewczyk, NJ1F) |
| New England – school club | Chris Terkla, N1XS | Northeastern University RC, W1KBN (Chuck Councelman, W1HIS, Les Lechowicz, NI1L) |
| New England – single operator – CW only | Andy Bodony, K2LE | W2FOC (Andy Bodony, K2LE) |
| New England – single operator – SSB only | Fred Reed, KK1KW, and Woody Beckford, WW1WW | Dale Clement, AF1T |
| Connecticut – single operator high power | Candlewood ARA | Dave Patton, NN1N |
| Connecticut – single operator low power | Mikey Mavor, W1MKM, memorial sponsored by the Barnstormers (NZ1U) | Mark Mokoski, K1PU |
| Maine – single operator | Merrymeeting ARA, Androscoggin ARC, Yankee ARC, Portland Amateur Wireless Assn | Peter Bither, AI1O |
| Maine – single operator low power | Augusta Amateur Radio Assn | Tim Watson, KB1HNZ |
| Massachusetts – single operator | Framingham Amateur Radio Association | AK1W (Randy Thompson, K5ZD) |
| Massachusetts – single operator low power | Chuck Counselman, W1HIS | Bruce Blain, K1BG |
| Massachusetts – Hampden County – single operator | Hampden County Radio Assn | Mike Christopher, N1TA |
| New Hampshire – single operator | Mark Pride, K1RX | Gene Shablygin, W3UA |
| New Hampshire – single operator low power | SILENT Solutions EMC Consulting | Tom Poland, N9NC |
| Rhode Island – single operator | CTRI Contest Group | Karl Wherry, K1KX |
| Vermont – single operator | Bob Raymond, WA1Z | W2FOC (Andy Bodony, K2LE) |
| Vermont – single operator low power | West River Radio Club | Zach Manganello, K1ZK |
| New England Club | Yankee Clipper Contest Club | Fall River ARC |
If you’d like to sponsor a plaque for 2014, please contact us at info@neqp.org
Special Award
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 2013 the winner is Paul Newberry, N4PN!
Log checking
The log checking process found some missed dits and dahs. There were 470 logs overall, a 5% increase over 2012, with 451 in electronic format (96%) and only 18 on paper.
For non-New England stations, cross checking was possible on 17,915 of the 21,375 QSOs reported (83.8%). Of the QSOs not allowed (6.6%), the breakdown was as follows:
| QSOs | Reason now allowed |
|---|---|
| 202 | Callsign incorrect |
| 709 | QTH incorrect * (most from 7QP stations who didn’t copy the county) |
| 95 | Not in log |
| 375 | Duplicate |
| 2 | Bad mode |
| 26 | Bad band |
| 1 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 1410 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
For New England stations, cross checking was possible on 26,181 of the 52,107 QSOs reported (50.2%). Of the 1,923 QSOs not allowed (3.7%), the breakdown was as follows:
| QSOs | Reason now allowed |
|---|---|
| 536 | Callsign incorrect |
| 625 | QTH incorrect |
| 208 | Not in log |
| 538 | Duplicate |
| 0 | Bad mode |
| 16 | Bad band |
| 0 | Time was outside of contest period |
| 1,923 | Total of QSOs disallowed |
Logging Software
Use of N1MM software continues to grow, with a very large margin over Writelog and N3FJP software. The logs show a wide variety of software versions – you should update your software periodically to get new features and bug fixes. Quite a number of people used the N1MM module that lets people work the NEQP, 7QP and INQP at the same time.
| Logging software used | Entries | QSOs |
|---|---|---|
| N1MM | 248 | 40,280 |
| WriteLog | 28 | 6,768 |
| N3FJP’s NEQP | 65 | 6,706 |
| NA | 8 | 2,242 |
| SkookumLogger | 3 | 1,284 |
| CT | 6 | 1,266 |
| GenLog | 17 | 728 |
| TR Log POST | 3 | 724 |
| JL | 2 | 579 |
| WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo | 9 | 492 |
| HRD | 1 | 491 |
| RUMped | 4 | 364 |
| LOGic | 2 | 319 |
| ADIF2CABR | 1 | 276 |
| SD | 5 | 264 |
| Win-Test | 2 | 261 |
| Excel | 2 | 245 |
| (14 others) | 18 | 1,078 |
Soapbox
You can get a real feel for the contest by going through the various “Soapbox” comments from the big guns, the little guns and everyone in betweern.
Thanks
Thanks to everyone who made QSOs and to those who sent in logs in 2013. A lot of people had a good time finding counties and meeting new friends – hope to see you all again in the 2014 contest – May 3rd and 4th!