New York QSO Party - 2023
Call: K2UA
Operator(s): AG9A K2UA
Station: K2UA
Class: M/S MobileCW HP
QTH: NY
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Dig Qs
----------------------------
160:
80: 341
40: 411
20: 513
15: 104
10: 4
6:
2:
222:
432:
----------------------------
Total: 1373 0 0 Mults = 86 Total Score = 236,156
Club: Rochester (NY) DX Association
Comments:
Thanks to my longtime friend Mark, AG9A, for flying in from Chicago to operate
mobile with me!
Once again this year, N2MG, N2ZN, and I planned this operation for almost a
year. I recruited Mark a few months back to join us so we could once again do a
two-vehicle mobile operation for a fun in-state competition between two
high-power CW mobile multi-single entries, reprising the K1RO/K2UA and N2ZN/N2MG
effort in 2021. Putting two high-power mobiles on the air makes more than 2500
CW QSOs available, and a lot of county multipliers, which we hope helps drive
more activity in NYQP. It is also an embarrassingly large amount of fun for us
as operators! One moment I won't forget is the smile on AG9A's face when JH1GEX
called him on 20. You know the station is working when JAs call in!
Ken, N2ZN, planned a different route this year, starting and ending at an AirBNB
on Oneida Lake near the Syracuse Airport. We chose that location once we knew
that AG9A would be flying in and out of Syracuse and that worked out well
logistically. The route was sort of a bowtie shape that started off toward the
south, down to Broome County and then west along the Southern Tier, north
through the central Finger Lakes, back toward Syracuse. From there we traveled
up I-81 to the Tug Hill Plateau and exited heading east through the much
sought-after Lewis County (where we saw an amazing rainbow), then to the
southeast toward Utica, cutting east through Adirondack Park and then south to
I-90 in Montgomery County. Finally we headed back to the Syracuse area via
I-90.
The N2MG crew continued east from the Montgomery County area, picking up two
more counties (for a total of 20)--Schoharie and Schenectady. AG9A and I
continued west and then north, wrapping up the contest in Oswego County.
It rained. A lot.
Rates were good throughout the day. Our best clock hours were 136 (twice) and
137 and all but three hours were over 100. the last two hours were two of the
best, as always, on 80 meters, though signals were not as strong and pileups not
as big as usual there.
Conditions overall were very good for us, with lots of short skip to the Midwest
and Mid-Atlantic regions on 20. I think this is the first time I've ever turned
in a log with more Qs on 20 than 40 in NYQP. It just kept giving and giving and
we felt we could go to 40 later in the day, but ultimately I think we didn't hit
40 hard enough and gave up some QSOs as a result. There's always something to
tweak for next time. 15 was really good to us also. I don't recall ever coming
close to making 100 QSOs on 15 in NYQP in the past.
In spite of rain and wind nearly every hour of the contest (did I mention that
it rained a lot?), especially during the darkness hours, Mark and I really
enjoyed the operation. Things worked well in general, rates were good, we helped
each other with strategy and pulling people out of the insane zero-beat packet
pileups (WHY DON'T PEOPLE TURN THE BIG KNOB A LITTLE?), and fist bumps with new
mults. We celebrated every time N5OT rang in (40 QSOs--an average of more than
two per county!), as well as weak-but-awesome WN4AFP (32), K1RO (30), and crowd
favorite OM2VL (27), among many others in the teens and 20s. I can't tell you
how much it adds to the experience to have all the serious chasers call in time
after time throughout the contest! The anticipation builds with each county
line, making the time pass quickly. It is such a blast, almost as if you were
there with us--we know you are in a way.
I have a punch list of things to address--I always do--but it's manageable.
Overall I was happy with how the station worked and most of what I need to do is
small. Mostly doing away with the ac charger for the laptop (the power source
for that generates most of the noise in the vehicle) and improving bonding and
choking in a few areas. When we ran the amp on 15 meters, for example, it would
lock up the keyer and require a restart of N1MM and unplugging/replugging the
USB interface. That simply cannot continue. So we ran 100 W on 15 this time out.
A gremlin crept in on 80 near the end, triggering the hands-free "Who would
you like to call?" virtual lady in the Pilot when we would transmit on
80--a long-solved issue that I think is related to either the 2-meter liaison
radio (which we did not use, but has long cables) or the fact that it was
raining so much in the last couple of hours of the contest that water got in
somewhere where it shouldn't have been. Regardless, I'll chase it down.
I'd like to thank the RDXA for sponsoring the NYQP. It is such a pleasure to
have the board's and the club's support, and in particular K2CS, N2BEG, and
KM2B, as well as the activity of all the members in this event! Also props to
NFR for putting on such a big effort in NYQP. It makes a huge difference to
those of us out there mobiling around the state! Out-of-state activity is also
strong and growing--we could not do this without you--thank you!
For Ken, N2ZN, and me, administering NYQP is one of the most fun things we do in
ham radio. Honestly. Thank you all for your kind notes and your ongoing support
and participation in this great little state QSO party! Be sure to join the NYQP
Facebook page (see the link on nyqp.org) and follow the website for updates as
they come along. Delighted to report that as of last night, 48 hours after the
contest we'd already received 355 logs. Keep 'em coming!
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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