The PAÂ QSO Party may be my favorite event of the year! It is as competitive as any other contest, but it has a uniquely friendly atmosphere. Your "foes" in the competition can be some of your best buddies! If you need a tough multiplier and stuble upon another station working it, chances are good that the operator will temporarily relinquish his frequency so you can bag the multiplier! I've been on both sides of that exchange and it always shows why this is such a special contest.
Score:
The 2010 running of the PAÂ QSOÂ Party will stand as one of the legendary contests of my time. It is my third best score in the PAÂ QSOÂ Party to date, so that itself makes it a great contest. That's far short of my Carbon County record of 207,140, set in 2002, but the real reason this score is notable is that it missed the mark ever so slightly to win Carbon County this year. How close? It doesn't get much closer than a 100 point loss to K3NG! Had IÂ made a SINGLEÂ QSOÂ MORE, I would have won!! Shame on me and congratulations to Goody, K3NG for an amazing QRP score!
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K3PPÂ 2010 PAÂ QSOÂ Party
|
||||||||||
|
Band
|
CW
|
SSB
|
Digital
|
QSOs
|
Points
|
Counties
|
Sections
|
DX
|
||
|
160
|
27
|
23
|
0
|
50
|
77
|
64
|
69
|
1
|
||
|
80
|
55
|
209
|
0
|
264
|
319
|
Total Mults:
|
134
|
|||
|
40
|
147
|
216
|
0
|
363
|
510
|
|||||
|
20
|
3
|
156
|
0
|
159
|
162
|
K3MJW Bonus QSOs:
|
9
|
|||
|
15
|
1
|
110
|
0
|
111
|
112
|
|||||
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
QSOÂ points:
|
1,180
|
|||
|
VHF
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Multipliers:
|
x
|
134
|
||
|
ALL
|
233
|
714
|
0
|
947
|
1,180
|
Raw Score:
|
158,120
|
|||
|
Bonus Station Points:
|
1,800
|
|||||||||
|
Club competition:Â Carbon Amateur Radio Club
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FINALÂ SCORE:
|
159,920
|
||||||||
I am not a great CWÂ operator, but I did run CW a little in this one! If I can improve my CW more, I should really do well in this contest, especially now that the 1.5 point CW scoring has been rounded up to 2 points for all CW QSOs.
Special Thanks!
Skyview Radio Society
One of the fun elements of the PAÂ QSOÂ Party is the bonus station. You get an extra 200 points for each QSOÂ with the bonus station. IÂ had the honor of hosting the 1999 W3HAÂ bonus station and it was a real blast! The Skyview gang did a bang-up job with the bonus station this year! In fact, they ran MULTIPLEÂ bonus stations, which was extra exciting for the rest of us! VYÂ FB Skyview Radio Society! We thank you for a great effort and anothe fun facet of the PAÂ QSOÂ Party! You guys were everywhere!
Nittany ARC
A special "dah dididah" must go out to the Nittany ARC every year for sponsoring the PAÂ QSOÂ Party. Without the hard work of these people, and especially chairman Mike KB3EIA, there would be no PAÂ QSOÂ Party! You folks run a super event enjoyed by hams around the world! Your famous local boy Joe Paterno would be proud if he knew what you do!
Performance Statistics
At the end of many of the big contests, I produce what I call a K3Â Performance Plot (shown below). The Performance Plot indicates several key performance indicators over the period of the contest, including the score (red line), multipliers (orange), 10-QSO rate (green), frequency (pink circles filled in yellow), and the number of QSOs (dark blue with squares). The QSO line is especially telling. High rates will be solid blue and have a high slope (notice the line around 0100 UTC) and slower rates expose the white fill of the squares. Extended periods of off time have no squares at all (note the break between 0200Â and 0300 UTC). A steep, solid line is what IÂ want!
Multipliers
IÂ missed three counties this year. I haven't managed a county sweep in years. Will next year be the one? We'll see! Here are the counties and sections I worked (in green) and those I missed (in red):
Rates
I had some decent rates, but also some slow times resulting from some distractions. You can see these more clearly in the Performance Plot above, as noted, but it's also useful to show the hourly breakdown as a bar chart:
IÂ started the contest with a run of Europeans on 15m. This is usually how I start this one because you can get a lot of stations in the log quickly, provided band conditions allow it. They certainly did on 15m! Europe was very strong and the band was generally quiet. Since the PAÂ QSO Party is a bit of a "test drive" for the CQWW DX contests that follow, the conditions on 15m were encouraging news for both modes of CQWWÂ DX.
I listened on 10m at various times and beam headings to no avail. I didn't hear a peep from anyone on 10m. As uplifting as 15m was, the silence on 10m was a reminder that we are still very near the bottom of the solar cycle. I also made no QSOs on the VHF bands or any digital modes. My VHF antennas were taken down to facilitate a new roof installation without getting in the roofers' way. There usually isn't must activity on those bands anyway, although it would be nice to see more activity there. Although digital modes are allowed, it seems there are very few people on those modes for this contest. Again, it would be nice if there was, but I guess we're all so busy on CW and SSB anyway!
The 15m opening was about to run dry. The first hour was good, but then it trailed off pretty quickly after that. IÂ thought about moving from 15m to 20m to continue running Europe, but 20m was noisy and signals were not very strong at that time. I then resorted to the tactic that makes the PAÂ QSO Party more than just another contest. IÂ hopped on 40m and started chasing my fellow Pennsylvanians.
The 40m burst was a good one until the band "went long" and the local gang were just not that loud any more. IÂ hopped back to 15m, pointing west now and had a brief, but intense run of western section multipliers. After that dried up, I tried 20m and had some fruitful runs there as well, peppered with a few quick hops to other bands.
By this time of the night, 80m was finally getting active. IÂ did a little S&P and then had my best run of the contest on 80m SSB, holding the rate meter above 100 per hour for an hour and a half. I then began my first CW run, also on 80m. My rate wasn't nearly as good on CW, as I'm not a great CW operator and was going QRS by most standards. Still, it was a good run and the rate was respectable. Following my success on 80m CW, I hopped over to 160m CW for another short, but fruitful run and a little on 160m SSB.
I shut down a little early for the night, a decision I now hugely regret. I was pooped from an intense week, but I'm still disappointed that I didn't tough it out for that extra 45 minutes or so.
Day two started off with some nice activity on 40m, with a little 80m thrown in for good measure. I was able to run some Europeans on 20m and 15m to fill the log some more. Forty meters was clearly the band of the day and I tried to focus on CW more this day than I did the previous day.
County Multiplier Breakdown
The following is a breakdown of the Pennsylvania counties I worked. The color coding of the bar chart is relative to the number of QSOs. Those supplying ten or more of my QSOs are in bright green, five to nine are in blue, and the sparse ones are in yellow (two QSOs) or orange (one QSO).
I decided to also list the counties in tabular form, along with their population and some comments on most of them. There is no solid correlation between population and QSOs, as one might think. Yes, Allegheny has lots of people and yielded lots of QSOs, but then near-barren Sulllivan generated a decent amount of activity. You can see the impact of the mobile, rover, and portable stations in this contest, a pattern that is typical of many state QSO parties. It's one of the big reasons IÂ love the QSO parties, and this one in particular!
| PAÂ County |
QSOs
|
Population*
|
Comments | |
| ADA | Adams |
5
|
102,323
|
|
| ALL | Allegheny |
32
|
1,218,494
|
ALL is always the center of PAÂ QSOÂ Party activity! You keep this contest busy! |
| ARM | Armstrong |
2
|
67,851
|
Thank you KB3QGB for both of my ARMÂ QSOs! |
| BEA | Beaver |
4
|
171,673
|
|
| BED | Bedford |
4
|
49,579
|
Great operation by N3XUD with Dad N3KKM and young daughter KB3STA!! |
| BER | Berks |
14
|
407,125
|
With a bunch of FRCÂ big guns, BER is always a good source of QSOs! |
| BLA | Blair |
7
|
126,122
|
|
| BRA | Bradford |
4
|
61,131
|
|
| BUT | Butler |
6
|
184,694
|
|
| BUX | Bucks |
16
|
626,015
|
|
| CAR | Carbon |
13
|
63,865
|
Thanks to my fellow Coal Crackers, the visiting AA3K and now local, G7UVO/W3! |
| CEN | Center |
4
|
146,212
|
|
| CHE | Chester |
3
|
498,894
|
|
| CLA | Clarion |
4
|
39,479
|
|
| CLE | Clearfield |
3
|
82,324
|
|
| CLI | Clinton |
6
|
36,797
|
|
| CMB | Cambria |
1
|
143,998
|
Thank you, N3XVU! |
| COL | Columbia |
5
|
65,111
|
|
| CRA | Crawford |
4
|
88,521
|
|
| CRN | Cameron |
2
|
5,163
|
Least populous county. A single Las Vegas hotel sleeps more people than CRN county! |
| CUM | Cumberland |
10
|
232,483
|
|
| DAU | Dauphin |
5
|
258,934
|
Fellow FRCer, KQ3F provided me with all five of my DAU QSOs! Thanks Joe! |
| DCO | Delaware |
1
|
558,028
|
Thank you to my new buddy, KW3A! DCOÂ came almost at the end of the contest! |
| ELK | Elk |
2
|
32,011
|
Thank you KE3FO for both of my ELK QSOs! |
| ERI | Erie |
7
|
280,291
|
Activity in ERI seemed a bit down from past years. What's up Northwestern friends? |
| FAY | Fayette |
4
|
142,605
|
K3MI, the beacon of FAY had some help putting this one in lots of logs! |
| FOR | Forest |
0
|
6,775
|
BUST! This is usually a tough one! This is the only one I missed in both 2009 and 2010! |
| FRA | Franklin |
4
|
144,994
|
The Grump (W3TDF) gave his usual legendary performance from FRA this time! |
| FUL | Fulton |
0
|
14,852
|
BUST! Another semi-rare one, but I don't recall struggling to find it before! |
| GRE | Greene |
5
|
39,245
|
AA3JKÂ is usually the only GRE, but N3GC joined him this year! |
| HUN | Huntingdon |
6
|
45,395
|
|
| INN | Indiana |
2
|
87,450
|
Both via mobiles! Thank you W3USA/M and N3DZ/M! |
| JEF | Jefferson |
12
|
44,634
|
|
| JUN | Juniata |
3
|
23,118
|
All from mobiles! Thank you N3LI/M, W3DYA/M, and K8RYU/M! |
| LAC | Lackawanna |
1
|
208,801
|
Thank you, KM3X! Really? All those Murgas ARC members and only ONE QSO? |
| LAN | Lancaster |
4
|
507,766
|
|
| LAW | Lawrence |
3
|
90,160
|
|
| LEB | Lebanon |
3
|
130,506
|
Thank you N3RM, who gave me all three of these! |
| LEH | Lehign |
14
|
343,519
|
|
| LUZ | Luzerne |
23
|
312,845
|
The Murgas ARC is a hotbed of PAÂ QSOÂ Party activity! |
| LYC | Lycoming |
5
|
116,840
|
|
| MCK | McKean |
3
|
43,196
|
|
| MER | Mercer |
4
|
116,071
|
|
| MGY | Montgomery |
15
|
782,339
|
|
| MIF | Mifflin |
4
|
45,937
|
|
| MOE | Monroe |
10
|
166,355
|
Enjoyed bumping into some MOE buddies, including W3IZ and friends at W3T! |
| MTR | Montour |
4
|
17,715
|
All four were mobile or rover ops! Thank you K3YTL/R and W3DYA/M!! |
| NHA | Northampton |
29
|
298,990
|
Gotta love those DLARC ops, including the "Alaskan" in PA (NL7XM)! |
| NUM | Northumberland |
0
|
91,311
|
BUST! IÂ know at least one mobile was there, but I missed him! |
| PER | Perry |
4
|
45,502
|
|
| PHI | Philadelphia |
5
|
1,557,297
|
Good to see more action from Philly!! This is usually a rare county despite all those people! |
| PIK | Pike |
4
|
60,529
|
|
| POT | Potter |
2
|
16,714
|
|
| SCH | Schuylkill |
8
|
146,952
|
|
| SNY | Snyder |
3
|
38,519
|
Thank you W3VPJ, who supplied all three of my SNYÂ QSOs! |
| SOM | Somerset |
9
|
76,953
|
|
| SUL | Sullivan |
4
|
6,140
|
A nice showing from three stations in sparsely populated Sullivan County! |
| SUS | Susquehanna |
2
|
40,646
|
|
| TIO | Tioga |
4
|
40,875
|
|
| UNI | Union |
2
|
43,560
|
|
| VEN | Venango |
4
|
54,183
|
|
| WAR | Warren |
1
|
40,638
|
Thank you, KF3DJ! |
| WAS | Washington |
13
|
207,389
|
|
| WAY | Wayne |
1
|
51,337
|
Thank you, W2GZB! IÂ thought IÂ had at least one other, but the log doesn't lie! |
| WES | Westmoreland |
8
|
362,251
|
The bonus station made this one an easy catch this year! |
| WYO | Wyoming |
4
|
27,808
|
|
| YOR | York |
5
|
428,937
|
|
* USÂ Census Bureau 2009 estimated population
Thank You to the Road Warriors!
A special "Thank you!" must be extended to all the mobiles and rovers who make this contest so special! Without them, PAÂ QSOÂ Party is a great contest. With them, it is the absolute best of them all! You may or may not log a lot of QSOs with these stations, but when you do log them, you're probably getting a juicy multiplier! Many of the counties would be impossible without their tireless pursuit to give the rest of us the rare ones!
I'm sure I'm missing some, but these are in my log for sure:
| K3AIR/M | VEN and LAW |
| K3ONW/M | ADA |
| K3YTL/R | CRN and MTR |
| K8RYU/M | GRE, SOM, FAY, and JUN |
| KA3QLF/M | CUM, PER, SCH |
| N3DZ/M | INN |
| N3LI/M | JUN |
| W3DYA/M | BUT, MTR, and JUN |
| W3USA/M | INN, MIF, and CLI |
| WB3CAI/M | WES and ALL |
Three of my counties are in the log ONLY because these mobiles and rovers paid them a visit:
- INN is in my log thanks to N3DZ/M and W3USA/M!
- JUN is in my log thanks to N3LI/M, W3DYA/M and K8RYU/M!
- MTRÂ is in my log thanks to K3YTL/R and W3DYA/M!
Call Sign Breakdown
As always, there are some stations who stand out for their high activity. Here are the superstars of my log, topped off by the VYÂ FB effort put forth by the K3MJW bonus stations.
| Call |
QSOs
|
| K3MJW |
9
|
| WA3HAE |
6
|
| AA3B |
5
|
| KQ3F |
5
|
| NY3B |
5
|
If you think you can succeed in a contest by relying only on your fellow die-hard contesters, the following table proves you wrong. Clearly, the big secret to success lies in the casual operators, who are participating just to give the rest of us QSOs and just to play a bit at their own pace. If you only employ search and pounce techniques, you will miss logging most of these. You have to run to get them in the log! In fact, 148 of my QSOs were with stations who gave me a serial numbe of ONE, which meant I was their only QSO in the contest at that point!
|
Station Activity Summary
|
|||
|
1
|
station with |
9
|
QSOs |
|
1
|
station with |
6
|
QSOs |
|
3
|
stations with |
5
|
QSOs |
|
7
|
stations with |
4
|
QSOs |
|
37
|
stations with |
3
|
QSOs |
|
95
|
stations with |
2
|
QSOs |
|
588
|
stations with |
1
|
QSO |
Thank you!!
Once again, thank you to everyone who contributed to the joy of the 2010 PAÂ QSOÂ Party weekend! I loved every minute of it!