These post comments courtesy of Mr Dinkleman "Dink" N7WA. The 3830 Reflector. Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: AA8IA Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 798 WX here in East Ohio was rough - Tstorms and a tornado warning. I heard a few stations on 80m but they weren't hearing my shortened 40m dipole and the noise was horrendous. Fun though. Thanks to the ALQP folks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K0PC Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 8,019 Did some mobile chasing in a limited time effort. Congratulations to all the mobile stations for their outstanding efforts. Some of the mobile stations were calling CQ with just /m after the call. It makes it tough to know whether I can work them again. Several used the /m in their TU/QRZ message which works fine but the CQ should have the county abbreviation. 73, Pat K0PC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K1ZZI Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 8,484 Conditions were difficult here being so close to Alabama along with heavy QRN from storm activity all day. Hats off to all the mobile teams. You guys were all great and it was a lot of fun chasing you around. Nice to see the Tennessee mobile teams N4ZZ/M and W4NZ/M down there. You guys really rock! Most mobile Q's was with Don, N4ZZ/M @ 13. I was hoping to work MORE of you but condx would not allow it. Great fun, thanks ACG! 73, Ralph K1ZZI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K3IE/4 Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 27,950 First AQP - alot of fun. Nice being on the other end of the "pile-up". ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4AB Class: SOSSB HP Total Score = 12,948 Didn't have time to do much of an effort in this one. Thanks to all of the stations who followed us around the bands, and to the Europeans who called in on 20! 73, Larry K4AB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4ACG Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 45,766 Sure wish the propagation gods would wake up. No 10 or 15 QSOs. It's hard to hear other Alabama stations, but seemed like a nice turnout from our mobiles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4BAI Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 6,432 FT1000MP, Alpha 78, 1 KW, TH6DXX, dipole, zepp, inverted vee. XYL came home from hospital after receiving an artificial knee on Wednesday about time the contest started. Got a late start and couldn't keep at it long on phone due to a bad head cold. Surprised to work a few on 20M. 40M was long early and late, but shorted up in the late afternoon. Lot of QRN on 80 caused a lot of requests for repeats, but signals were generally strong. Great turn out by the mobiles! Thanks. CU next year hopefully from a mobile with KU8E again. 73, John, K4BAI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4SAV Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 28,796 My apologies to all the stations that I was not able to copy because of the QRN. There was a line of thunderstorms that moved across the state during this contest. It covered the entire length of the state and the QRN was very bad. Jerry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K4WI Class: SOSSB LP Total Score = 4,200 Thunderstorms really bad on and off all day. Ten and 15 were a no go at all with 20 poor. Made a beer run to town and ran into Jim KC4HW operating! Made my day! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K6LRG Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 640 Very limited effort due to working on 3 new tower concrete pours at the K6LRG station. I think the local gang got a little angry (or shall I say pissed off) with me as I worked this contest for a little time during the work going on.. sri fellas, I wanted to give this group some support. Great energy going with this qso party. big potential here. a few details ironed out and will be up on top with the best of the qso parties. great participation!! Kudos to ACG. 73 and seeya next time Chris N6WM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: K7IA Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 10,404 Much more action than last year! Hats off to the mobiles, who not only put some miles on their vehicles but also had surprisingly strong signals, 20 thru 80 meters. 7 mult mobiles: N4ZZ, N5WR/4, W4NZ 6 mult mobile: KN4Y I checked 15 meters a few times, hoping to hear something, but nada. Sometimes long shots pay off, though. Where were the SSB ops this year? Thanks to Alabama Contest Group for organizing this fine (and fun) event. See you next year! 73, Dan k7ia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KC4HW/M Class: SO Mobile+DriverCW LP Total Score = 24,776 Conditions were not to good! Tried to get on 40m early in the day, but there just was not any activity. It seemed that QSOs were coming in just as strong from short distances as from long distances. So stuck it out on 20m as long as I could. Both 20 and 40 just seemed horrible sometimes. WX was rough in the afternoon. We really ran into some tough WX in Greene, Wilcox, Dallas counties and all the way home. We managed 13 counties. Bless her, but unfortunately Ms Bonnie, is not able to drive at night. So at 7:30PM with stromy WX I took over the driving. We got our last two counties by just driving there and operating some in each county. We drove in from there which was about 125 miles from home. BTW we drove 176 miles just to get to our starting point. All total about 625 miles. Unfortunately I could not make it to Pike county. Worked DX3DXX several times with a great signal. Also worked KP2/K3TEJ and thanks for hanging in there with me while I sorted out your call. Your signal was good, just confusion on my part. At this writing there are 76 logs already submitted. I will confirm all of those later this week. Please submit your log! K4WI/Cort happened upon us close to his place in Uniontown, AL and stopped by to say hello. I also saw KN4Y/m coming through the interseciton of CR 10 and 221 just outside of Camden in Wilcox county. Unfortunately did not get to talk with Ed, but saw that White Van with FL plates and a top hat antenna on the roof. Thanks Ed for coming and support our event again this year. We had 12 mobiles that were participating. Not sure if they all made it, but it was great to see this support from neighbors in TN, FL, GA and the AL mobiles. All those mobiles had to make it fun for those folks outside of Alabama. Thanks to everyone for making our event a success! 73 and cu next year! Jim/KC4HW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KD8GOX Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 4,182 THANKS FOR A GREAT EVENT. MOBILES WERE OUTSTANDING. ALMOST CAUGHT K4TD? (NOW CAN'T REMEMBER CALL) ON 15M CW, BUT THE QSB WAS FAST AND THEN SLOW - SO COULD NOT CHANGE KEYER SPEED TO COMPENSATE. A LITTLE BETTER SCORE THAN LAST YEAR KARL KD8GOX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KE7DX Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 5,304 Despite poor band conditions, a lot of good activity out of Alabama! Thanks much to the mobiles for propping up the multipliers! Join us in the Arizona QSO Party on Oct 9-10, more info at http://www.azqsoparty.org/. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KG4TEI Class: SOSSB LP Total Score = 10,416 This was a lot of fun. I had a great time. Had some really good runs and worked a few new ones. Looking forward to FD. Thanks for all the QSO. 73, Kevin KG4TEI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KN4Y Class: SO Mobile+DriverCW LP Total Score = 61,200 Ran 14 Alabama counties in a loop from Geneva to Houston. Over cast and a rain shower now and then to cool the environment. Ran about equal number of QSO's on 20 and 40-meters. Tried 80-meters but the dash warning lights would come on and the oil and fuel gages go to off position. Unfortunately I have not located any person who knows why this happens and how to correct. In Greenville we came up to a underpass with a 10 foot limit, my antenna is 13 feet. We stopped quickly and I got out and took down the antenna. The cars backed up but no one honked or cussed, they just laughed. Must be a nice place to live. I could have probably increased my total, but feeding the driver and I not being to pass a rest area cut into my air time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KR4F Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 34,560 Very poor propagation. Thanks to all who stuck it out. 73 Johnny, KR4F ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS4L Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 12,950 Elecraft K2/100, 80m inv. vee @ 45'. Much fun! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KS5A Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 2,900 The ALQP seems to be getting stronger and larger, each year. Great job by the mobiles and all the AL stations that made for a fun event. Hats off to the ACG! Calendar is marked for next year ... hopefully with more op time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: KY5R Class: SOSSB HP Total Score = 8,190 True P/T effort this year. Prior week had taken down all HF antennas as starting a refurb project. Great timing eh? Managed to get a 40mtr inv Vee up at 40 ft Sat morning. Well the rest is history. QRN as mentioned in all the AL op's post was the limiting factor in the wide band mode. Sorely missed the 2el spinner on the band. Haven't been without the yagi for 8yrs. Glad to see all the mobiles that committed show up. Hope all got to take advantage of the efforts. TNX fer all the participation inside and out of the "Heart of Dixie". Tim, KY5R......ACG rules! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N1CC Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 7,125 Had an antenna malfunction during WPX, just got around to fixing it and took a bit of time to test it out on ALQP. Wish I would have gotten in sooner, seems like a fun QP. See you next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2AA Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 8,836 Mobiles make it hap'n, Cap'n. Great fun. Tks to all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N2WN Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 6,201 Good turnout, great mobile action... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4BCD Class: SOSSB HP Total Score = 9,805 Lousy condx - both the bands and the un-airconditioned garage. Decided to work on maximizing my rate while I was in front of the radio. 1.5hrs in the afternoon, then 2 hours in the evening. Good practice for FD. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4JF Class: SOMixed QRP Total Score = 26,787 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ORGANIZERS OF THE AQP (KC4HW) AND ALL THE OTHERS INVOLVED. CONDX WERE NOT GOOD DUE TO STORMS AND QRN. RUNNING QRP IS A TEST OF NERVES,ANTENNAS AND ASSORTED PROBLEMS. OVERALL ANOTHER GREAT AQP. NOT MUCH 80 METER ACTIVITY EXCEPT FROM CLUB MEMBERS. 40 AND 20 METERS WERE THE BANDS HERE. HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS I DID..TX TO THE STATIONS WHO PULLED MY WEAK SIGNAL OUT OF THE NOISE. SUPRISINGLY WKD A LOT OF MEMBERS ON 20 METERS. TX TO THE MOBILES WHO REALLY HELPED OUT WITH THE COUNTIES. AGAIN MANY TX FOR THE PATIENCE. HOW DID WE USED TO DO THIS WITHOUT COMPUTERS? 73s JERRY N4JF ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4JIK Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 17,716 FT897D/100W/Windom/Dipole- Where to begin, the plans for mobile went south as work needed me to come in today, so spent the day operating from the house and once I was done with work issue tried to jump in the car and run mobile. Well needless to say the mobile didn't work out at all. Me and the XYL made it all the way to Barbour county and I couldn't get the radio to work at all. Conditions on 40m and 80m were pretty horrible today with the storms in the area and I have now gained a new electrical noise down on 80m (RFI source unknown at this time) that is S4-5 across the band so copying down there was a nightmare! But had a great time didn't seem like there was a lot of activity at first and seemed like every freq I set up on a mobile moved in --- They took precedence in my opinion and I kindly moved off.. But had a great time sorry couldn't manage to activate Barbour, Bullock, Henry or Dale but it wasn't in the stars.. GL CU all next round! Jeremy N4JIK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4UC Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 36,708 My TS-940 died one hour into contest. Went rest of the way on old faithful B-line Drake twins. Guess it's time to look around for a new radio to go the next 23 years. QRN was terrible on 80 all night. Sure wish I'd found #400! Maybe next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N4ZZ/M Class: Mobile Multi-OpCW LP Total Score = 104,490 What a blast! This was the second mobile operation for our team, with Don and Jim operating, and Melody driving/navigating. We were able to cover 28 counties by following our planned route of 550 miles (750 total including from/to TN). We drove our 2000 Montana van, with 2 Hustler verticals roof mounted. We swapped the 20m coil with 80m at 0000z. Radio was a ProIII, and used N1MM logging software. A Garmin GPS was used to alert us as we approached each county line, based on coordinates extracted from Google Earth. Everything worked flawlessly. We drove thru a couple of rain and thunderstorms starting at 2100z, which made copy quite difficult. But for the most part propagation was good, especially during evening hours on 40m. Only saw one other team, K4ZGB Tom, and "WIFE" Charlotte at a gas station/cafe at the intersection of Hwys 118 and 13 (had a nice but quick chat). We frequently swapped bands just as soon as the rates started to decrease, trying to land on the same frequencies every time (except when they became occupied). This seemed to work well, and folks seemed to find us quickly. The pileups were huge, but everyone was very professional which made them a pleasure on our end. Very few repeats of our call/county were ever required. Here is a short list of the stations who we worked most often: W0BH 38, K9EU 30, NO5W 24, W2LHL 24, K4BSK 21, N4ARO 21, W70M 21, DL3DXX 20, then a whole bunch of 19's, 18's, and 17's. We really want to thank everyone for all the QSOs, it sure made for an adrenaline filled trip. Thanks to Jim KC4HW for helping make this contest possible. Also a special thanks to my wife Melody KI4HVY for driving so many miles and helping us prepare for this adventure. And Don, thanks for getting me interested in mobiling, you said it would be fun, fast and furious, but I had no idea how much. 73 - Jim - AD4EB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N5WR/M Class: Mobile Solo OpCW LP Total Score = 73,710 After putting in a full time effort in WPX the previous weekend, I wasn’t sure if I was going to do AlQP this year. I was thinking I would maybe do a part time effort from a few counties close to home. On Friday I got off work earlier than expected and went home and slept all day. I woke up feeling great and decided to make a full time mobile run. Started off in Marshall county and quickly went to Jackson. Band conditions were very poor to start the contest. Only 39 contacts in the first hour despite hitting 5 counties. I really was never able to get any good run going on 20 meters all day. Made about 200 fewer QSOs than last year on 20. 40m was more productive, especially in the evening. I went to a lot more counties this year, operating while driving and only stopping a couple of times for gas. Ran into a brief thunderstorm in the evening, with a heavy downpour and frequent lightning that lasted about half an hour. I also got semi-lost again this year near Lake Guntersville at night. Had to rely on the GPS to get me back on track. I got stopped by a police check near the lake, on a lone county road somewhere in Marshall county. The policeman asked for my license, looked inside the car at all my gear on the passenger seat, and said ‘You know there’s an easier way to listen to the radio.’ Many thanks to everyone for the QSOs. We invite our neighbors to join us for a mobile run in TQP in September. Most QSOs: W0BH(33), K5WE(23), W8TM(21), K9EU(20), NO5W(19), K4BSK(18), N4ARO(18), N4VV (18) 73, Erik N5WR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N6MU Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 11,424 Very marginal conditions on 20. Sunset was 03Z so not much time for 40. Found few phone stations. Lots of cw mobiles with N4ZZ tops for me with 17 Qs followed by NY4N and KN4Y with 9 and W4NZ with 8. 73... John, N6MU TS-570 & 4BTV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: N8II Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 18,338 Score reflects CW only decision; mixed score would be 30,810. My time was cut short due to a friend's recent serious injury from being struck by a car while mowing; I went to see him during the evening and was off 3 hours. Despite very marginal condx due to long skip on 20 to northern AL and some times all the way down to just north of the Gulf Coast, 20 meters produced very well. Having the amp running and the 5 el yagi made the difference between struggling to get thru or not getting thru and getting thru to the mobiles pretty easily. Kudos to Ted W4NZ/M who was worked number of times when I could barely hear him (some pure backscatter) and Jim and Don N4ZZ/M who picked me up first call when weak several times. I didn't have time to compile the most worked list, but N4ZZ and W4NZ were at the top with their A game. Both were worked on both 40 and 20 in the same county numerous times. The mobile activity was concentrated in the northern part of the state, e.g. 6 mobile CW Q's with Winston Co. Jim, KC4HW and Ed, KN4Y drove many miles to activate many counties down south that otherwise wouldn't have been active. N5WR provided quite a few Q's, and W4AQP, K4K, and W4W were worked numerous times. Madison Co./Huntsville was by far the most active with 21 CW Q's and 8 phone finding their way into my log. I'd guess there was some club fanning the flames. The low bands were noisy, but I could copy the mobiles that showed up on 40 throughout the day. There were good signals after 21Z. Mobiles on 80 CW were near the noise level except for W4NZ. I couldn't run many stations on SSB, activty even from the fixed stations was better on CW. Many thanks to KC4HW and ACG for organizing and checking the logs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NA4K Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 10,050 Too close to hear most of the fixed and mobile stations. Activity was pretty good, and a lot of mobiles worked after sunset. The lone 15 meter contact was with KN4Y Mobiles worked N4ZZ (12), W4AQP(9), W4NZ(9), NY4N(9), KN4Y(8), N5WR(8), KC4HW(2) Steve NA4K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NO5W Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 15,810 K3, 80/40/20 dipoles at 25ft, CQ/X version 1.7.7.10 Another Alabama QSO Party is in the log books. And what a fun one it was. I think it even surpassed the 2009 event. At least my score saw a better than 25% improvement with two fewer mults but 37 more Qs. Thanks to all of the Alabama stations and volunteers from out of state who made the party a great success. Special thanks to the following mobiles who kept it interesting throughout the party: N4ZZ(24), N5WR(19), NY4N(17), W4NZ(16), W4AQP(11), KN4Y(8), and K4K(3). Thanks to the ACG for organizing a fun party. 73/Chuck/NO5W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: NV4B Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 58,640 Conditions were about as rough as they could be for this one -- lots of QSB, poor propagation on 20, QRN from thunderstorms on 40 late... I think I wore out the "?" key on my keyboard. Things got really slow around the 2200Z mark, plus we had a small storm (which, fortunately, didn't produce any lightning, but I took no chances) so I ended up taking two hours off to go out to eat and "recharge" for the final four hours. Accordingly, my score is down about 13,000 points this year. Many, many thanks to those who had the patience to work me. I was particularly hoping for some decent condx on 10 & 15 this year, but it wasn't to be. I can't give Jim Johnson, KC4HW enough credit for making the Alabama QSO Party into one of the bigger state parties. The AQP is becoming a real "can't-miss" event. Credit is also due Tom Hardison, K4ZGB for the excellent job he's done publicizing the AQP, and the rest of the Alabama Contest Group for their support. In fact, the AQP has drummed up an incredible amount of contest activity in the state that didn't exist 10 years ago. I managed the AQP myself from 1999-2000, and had just 8 entries each time. It looks like we had over 200 entries last year -- what an incredible turnaround! Thanks again for all of the Q's, and I hope to hear you again next year! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: VE3GTC Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 1,680 I am starting to enjoy the shorter contests and in particular the QSO Parties. Had a blast on 20 and 40 and worked many of the same stations on 20 as well as 40 plus a couple mobiles from several different counties. Some of the big guns where easy to work but it did require a lot more effort to work the weaker ones due to the noisy band conditions. 73, Graham ve3gtc ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W0BH Class: SOMixed HP Total Score = 47,256 The AQP seems to be getting better every year! For once it was nice and quiet here in Kansas, but it sounds like storm QRN was a problem in-state, so hats off for hanging in there. Like last year, 15, 20, and 40 were all open into AL from Kansas at the start, but just couldn't find stations to work on 15. I tried moving a number of mobiles up there, but the ones I asked weren't able to go, so I only made one contact with a loud NE4M (also my only 4 band contact). Overall, I worked a combined 63/67 counties, missing Barber, Bullock, Coffee, and Escambia (also missed Henry on CW). This year I spend a lot less time on SSB and concentrated more on picking up multi-band mobile contacts. It paid off in total score compared to last year, a 40% increase. Several of the mobiles were really predictable and easy to find as they switched bands, and the unsolicited next county timing info was especially helpful: 39 N4ZZ/m 32 N5WR/m 27 W4NZ/m 25 NY4N/m 18 W4AQP/m 15 KN4Y/m 10 KC4HW/m 09 K4K/m 03 K4NO/r W4W/r 02 WA4UHC/m (just driving along) 01 W4AN/m Consistently loudest mobile signal into Kansas award goes to N4ZZ/m this year, although N5WR/m was a close second. I think last year was N5WR's first try at mobile contesting, and I have to compliment Erik on another outstanding job. I did manage one contact with W4AN/m and was expecting many more but it was not to be. After reading Jeff's post, I'm glad to hear that it was only a battery issue. More than once, I've had to jump my van from a spare battery after a really good run. Excellent work coordinating the AQP, Jim, and thanks to the ACG and the Alabama hams who made this so much fun! 73, Bob, w0bh PS Listen for the Kansas QSO Party the last weekend in August. It was really crazy last year and we're looking forward to an even bigger event in 2010. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W1TO Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 988 It was my wife's birthday, so I was limited in time to participate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W2LHL Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 16,638 Many thanks again to all the mobiles for their great job. Good fun, too bad couldn't work 12 hours. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4AN Class: Mobile Solo OpMixed LP Total Score = 3,306 The car battery died in first county (RSSL), so I decided to throw in the towel. Luckily I was close enough to home that my wife came and rescued me. The car started right up when we jumped the battery, but didn't want to risk being stranded in the middle of nowhere if I continued on. I guess I need to get a heavy duty battery or put another one in parallel with the car battery since it must be drawing too much current to keep it charged when I am just sitting and operating with the engine idling. The good news - The MFJ battery booster that K4BAI bought in Dayton seems to have got rid of the chirp/buzz problem we were having in GQP/FQP. Thanks K5KG for the tip. I also used N1MM for the first time in the state QSO party rover mode and it worked great. I need to get K4BAI to switch over for next year. The rovering "season" is over for this year. K4BAI and I made over 4000+ QSO's in our efforts in GQP/FQP and mine in AQP. Hopefully we gave out some new counties to those participating. Thanks for the QSO's (and pileups!) and we will see everyone starting with the GQP in April 2011. All W4AN QSL requests go to K4BAI. 73, Jeff KU8E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4AQP/M Class: SO Mobile+DriverCW LP Total Score = 58,302 Very poor conditions for me. QSB/QRN. Storms while in Coosa/Autauga counties then again from Butler to Baldwin county, so I missed many that were calling. Thanks for participating this year. tom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4AWF Class: SOSSB LP Total Score = 10,176 Great time! Operated from KJ4LTA in Henry Co. working phone on 20 until thunderstorms rolled in and had to QRT for a while. Switched to 40 later in the evening. Still getting my feet wet with contesting, but I gotta say it sure was fun being on the business end of a pileup! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4HOD Class: M/MMixed HP Total Score = 112,143 CW Station: Ten Tec Omni 7 with ALS 600 amp running 350 watts. Antenna - Delta Loop at 40 feet. K9MUG and K4IQJ did an outstanding job considering static and QRM. SSB Station: Icom 746Pro running 100 watts. Antenna G5RV at 40 feet. Lots of fun operating from Macon County. The W4HOD spud gun worked great getting the wire antennas up. We will be in the same place for Field Day. Thanks for all the contacts and patience. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4NZ/M Class: Mobile Multi-OpCW LP Total Score = 82,800 Mobile Multi-op Low Power CW only Thanks to Jim KC4HW for all his efforts and the ACG for sponsoring the AQP. This was our team's first attempt at mobiling in the AQP. Starting in Dekalb County on I-59 we crossed 22 counties, just about all the ones in the North half of the state, travelling around 550 miles. Ended the party in Jackson County on the way home to Chattanooga. Rates were very slow in the afternoon until nearly sundown when propagation improved. Weather was good for the most part except for one thunder shower that we ran through fairly quickly. QSO leaders were: W0BH(29), WD0T(18), K4BSK(18), K4LTA(17), DL3DXX(15, 6 on 40m!), N4ARO(15), N4VV(14), N4DW(13) Mults missed: AK, HI, ND, NE, RI, VT, NV, UT, VE1(Mar), VE5,6,7,8. We had fun and would like to thank everyone for all the QSO's, especially those who followed us county to county and band to band. Thanks for letting us TCGers come play in your yard. Maybe you can come play in ours this September? 73, from the W4NZ/m team: Mark K0EJ, Gary K4VIG and Ted W4NZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W4W Class: RoverMixed LP Total Score = 16,900 Less than optimal band conditions, lots of rain, lots of fun and camaraderie. It's always a learning experience. Thanks for the chance to join in the fray. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W6FA Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 510 Heard a few AL stations on 80m, but couldn't raise any. On Sunday, 20 meters seemed completely dead; no AL stations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: W7WHY Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 234 Wish I would have had more time to play in this one but had to work today. Nothing heard on 20 after I got home. 73 Tom W7WHY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB2ABD Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 5,280 Thanks to the mobiles for their efforts. K3 CL33 @ 45ft invvees @ 60ft N1MM/GHE Radio Boss ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WB8JUI Class: SOCW LP Total Score = 10,780 Sorry I didn't have more time to play in this one. Lots of activity. The ALQP continues to get better every year. Top mobile/rovers: N5WR (15), W4NZ (14), NY4N (11), N4ZZ (11), KN4Y (9), W4AQP (8), K4K (4) Great job by all! Thanks to all for the QSOs. 73 - Rick WB8JUI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WD0T Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 26,352 Great fun working the mobiles, excellent job guys.. Worked W4NZ/m-19, N4ZZ/m-17 N5WR/m-12, NY4N/m-13, and others multiple times.. Worked W4HOD, WX4LEE, and NS friend KY4F and others multiple times.. Great job all getting on and active. Thanks for the great fun, 73 God Bless, Todd WD0T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WF7T Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 5,289 Great job by the mobile operators. Thanks very much for the effort! My gratitude to the organizers. 73 Brad WF7T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI2E Class: SOCW HP Total Score = 6,222 Thanks to everyone in Alabama for a good time on the air. There always seemed to be decent propagation between Bethlehem, PA and AL during my swings through the shack. My final claimed score may move a bit because I was keeping track of the multipliers by hand (would love to see more Win-Test support for the U.S. state QSO parties). 73, Joe WI2E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WI4R Class: SOMixed LP Total Score = 828 I could hear some stations working AL but I heard very few AL stations from my location, about 30 miles from the East Central AL line so I spent very little time at it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call: WX4LEE Class: M/MSSB HP Total Score = 68,286 OPERATORS: MARY WX4MM, CONNIE KJ4UNA, DEEDIE KI4ERR We had originally planned a Mixed (SSB/CW) Hi Pwr effort with the YLs running SSB and us two guys (Tom WX4TM and Jeff KE4UNA) putting in a token CW effort. But after only a single CW contact in the first 2 hrs, the YLs took over both radios and let us know that it would NOW be an ALL YL event on SSB only! We MEN got no respect! So in reversing 'normal roles', we became the cheerleaders and support staff providing drink and food. Even then we couldn't do it right - we got complaints for not providing Margaritas! Gheez! Two of the gals were a little late arriving so Mary kicked it off with a blazing 132 Q's on 20M SSB in the FIRST HOUR! Deedie and Connie arrived shortly and the they were off to the races on two radios. The only bands worked were 20 and 40M SSB. We couldn't believe the pilesups they had for almost the entire contest. Taking an hour and a half off for dinner and thunderstorms resulted in 10.5 hrs on 20M and 8.5 hrs on 40M. A big BIG congratulations to these ladies for such a fine effort representing the Lee County EMA ARC in the AQP. They really had a great good natured good time; often with whoops of "war eagle" when a new multi was logged. Though Writelog gave the team a total score of 77870, I think the WL AQP module has a glitch in it. They got 1198 Q's with 57 Multi's missing only (NT) Northwest Territory. So 1198 x 57 = 68286 claimed score. I have to tell you we're mighty proud of these ladies. Most of you know that Mary is an an experienced contester. Few know that Connie has only a few contests under her belt but has very fast become a capable and dependable contester. Deedie doesn't have the opportunity to get on a radio very often but, I tell ya, she's a fast learner and a real 'war eagle' behind the mike. I'd be proud to have any of them on my team any time! Station setup: Using the WX4MM WX4TM home station - 20M SSB was on FT950, AL80B AMP set at 600 Watts, and a TH-11 Antenna at 85ft that began pointed due North and was moved only once around 2PM to the Northwest. 40M SSB was with an FT2000, QRO amp set at 1KW, and full size 40M vertical at 45 ft w/8 elevated radials. Both radios used Shack-Lan bandpass filters with the antennas separated approximately 250ft. All oprs used Heil headsets. Operator positions were separated by about 4ft. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did. 73, -- Tom WX4TM