[TVARC] FQP W3US SOABMixed HP

[w3us at casa-aloha.net]

Fairly good conditions, although not many Europeans were heard.

Wow, what a weekend, and what a terrific showing by TVARC members —  K2PS, WB2ART, K3ZGA, N4FP, K8YM, NK7U, AD4J — all in the log.  Y’all really put TVARC on the map!  Please don’t forget to submit your logs to 3830scores.com and to FCG, the FQP organizer.  There is recognition for top club, and FCG ins NOT in the mix, so I believe we have a good chance.

Saturday started off just great with good runs on 20 CW and SSB.  Rates were high and things were going well, too well, when afternoon thunderstorms rolled in.  Reluctantly, I disconnected antennas and shut everything down.  Saturday evening 40 produced excellent results on CW, but I wasn’t able to garner a single QSO on SSB.  My 6-BTV is tuned for the CW portion of the band, so with the Flex internal tuner I was only able to muster 100W on 40 SSB and was totally lost in the noise.  Lesson learned for next year.

Band conditions were okay, but not up to expectations.  There were a few Europeans, which were not very strong, so not many multipliers to be gathered there.  By the end of day one, I still needed WY, AK, and HI for all states.  KK4NAW surprised me Sunday morning for WY, and I got really excited when NL7WA called.  My excitement however, was short lived when he gave AZ as his exchange.  VOCAP indicated 15 meters was the best band to catch KH6 beginning in our early afternoon.  Once 15 opened up it was pretty hot. I stuck with it and eventually KH6AQ called for the much needed mult.  15 was going so well, I switched to 10 meters where it seemed pretty quiet.  Called a couple of CQs and the first response was KH6AQ!  Now that was luck.  I kept moving back and forth between 15 and 10 and ended with two dozen QSOs on 10 meters.  Not bad for a “dead band."

Sunday morning was so s-l-o-w.  It was so slow, Pete and were texting back & forth on how slow things were.  :-)

Sunday afternoon things picked up, but so did the wind.  The Big Ear wouldn’t stay put and kept turning into the wind, while the fiberglass mast bent so far I thought the antenna would touch the roof.  Since 15 was so hot I thought I’d retune the Big Ear for 15.  Although results were slightly better than okay, it wasn’t worth the effort.  Another lesson learned — DON’T play with antennas in the middle of a contest!

Third lesson learned - Florida QSOs DO count, although not as multipliers.  I had simply misunderstood the rules and found myself scrambling Sunday afternoon to get as many FL stations as possible in the log.

Last (but not least) my profound thanks to Pete, K2PS for spurring me on and pushing me to new limits.  Pete is an experienced contester and VERY formidable competitor who kept me looking over my shoulder the entire weekend.  In the end, we both exceeded the FQP Sumter County record.  Well done K2PS!

73 to all and happy contesting.

Rusty - W3US

>                    Florida QSO Party - 2023
> 
> Call: W3US
> Operator(s): W3US
> Station: W3US
> 
> Class: SOABMixed HP
> QTH: FL
> Operating Time (hrs): 19
> 
> Summary:
> Band  CW Qs  Ph Qs
> --------------------
>   40:  202       
>   20:  458    578
>   15:  128     30
>   10:   24       
> --------------------
> Total: 812    608  CW Mults = 73  Ph Mults = 69  Total Score = 316,944
> 
> Club: The Villages Amateur Radio Club
> 
> Comments:
> 
> What an amazing contest!  Bested my previous record, but only because K2PS was
> pushing every step of the way.  Thanks Pete for challenging me.
> Flex 6600, Flex PGXL, Hustler 6-BTV flagpole vertical, MFJ “Big Ear” on 20.
> 

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