Vic, W4VIC, emails:  Hi, Gordon.  Thought you might be interested in seeing the 'publicity' you got in the QCWA Chapter 119 Newsletter this week.

Thanks again for making the VAQP metadata available.  Good luck on getting the job finished.

It would be great if there were some way to help you guys out -- maybe we could do some proselytizing at the various clubs in the area for you next year.  I recall you came down to the Va Bch club one year and your presentation was very well received.

Take care, Gordon.  Thanks for everything.  73, Vic, W4VIC

Dick, W2YE, reports all had a good time at the K4NVA operation. See pictures.

Mark, N1LO, writes:
Thought you might enjoy this. My trusty flyweight 80m OCF is barely visible in the tree, being guarded by my pet osprey.
 
Sure had fun activating 5 counties, and got lots of practice with my portable gear.
 
The feedline is disconnected from the mobile antenna and connected to the gray balun. My mini window line is propped up on those fiberglass rods before continuing up to the antenna.
 
--...MARK_N1LO...--

Bill, K4KSR, writes:

While waiting for the dust to settle, I've been pondering my previous recommendation to allow QRP expedition stations to use home 80m antenna at night.   I'm no longer sure the fix is that simple, at least based on this year's results.

I deliberately confined all activity to a low (22 ft) trapped dipole to best simulate what I thought would result from portable expedition antennas.  The results are a little better than last year, but also more  informative.

I worked 28 counties/cities.  Of these 26 were on 80m and 2 were 40m, plus 3 overlaps. 8 counties/cities worked last year were not worked this year, reasons unknown. Adding those 8 mults would have made a more competitive total.

I had 24 non-VA mults.  Of these, 4 were uniquely on 40m, 3 of which were within what I consider my 80m footprint, but not worked on 80m.  In other words, 40m contributed only 1 mult not normally obtainable on 80m.  To my surprise, I also worked 3 DX mults on 80m -- so much for a purely NVIS antenna.

The significance of 80m operation is obvious.  Less obvious was the number of 80m QSOs during daylight hours.  Sunset was about 2315Z  with 30-45 minutes until one could claim night conditions.  Daylight/twilight 80m QSO are essential, even dominant.   Well, 80m NVIS is a 24hr medium, although a lot of us don't think of it that way.  If you look at last year's scores for 80m (only) phone, you will see a several stations with very hight county/city numbers.  Sure, these are the guys who hang out on 75m in sufficient numbers to make a large count possible.  Quite a different population from the CW/mixed gang.

My conclusion from all this is that it really doesn't pay a QRP CW op to set up a single-op  expedition station and then race home to set up for 80m operations before it gets dark.  There is too much going on in the late afternoon/early evening.  It might make sense to operate a QRP expedition station early on Sunday from a rare county to build up a QSO count and to capture mults over a wider range on the higher bands, but there really isn't a reason to set up a respectable 80m expedition antenna unless the population of 80m NVIS stations increases significantly.   As matters stand, expedition stations are best left to clubs/groups and 100W mobile rigs.

So, I've been pondering on what to recommend.  The objective is to promote activity within VA, with a scoring system heavily dependent on QSOs within the state.  There certainly is a need for education about NVIS (to include need to bend a mobile whip near horizontal.)  Is it somehow possible to treat the VAQP as a warmup for FD, whether done from home QTH or from a club expedition site?  The key here is to promote daytime 80m NVIS activity and not force indivituals/clubs to man the operation at night.  If every county EOC operated on 80m during daylight hours, the number of mults available would skyrocket and a lot of hams would learn something about regional emergency preparedness.  I don't know exactly how to do this or what rules need changing, but I think you can see the intent.

I did enjoy the contest.  Had wanted to try expedition, but glad I did not.

Screen capture below shows distribution of VA QSOs, including NVIS up the I-64 corridor.

Stan, K4UK, writes:

I did it again this year, ran CW mobile in the VA QSO Party.

I had planned on Saturday to run: ROX, SAX, ROA, CRA, BOT, ALL, CVX, RBR, LEX, BVX, BED, BEX

I did run: ROX, SAX, ROA, CRA with fair results - a total of 48 QSO's in 2 hours.

But In BOT only 6 QSO's in 49 minutes. Whereupon, I asked myself if I was still having fun. The answer being NO - I decided to abort and go to the Dinner and Auction at our Church in BED.

I did make 2 QSO's in BED and 3 QSO's in BEX and the way. But RTTY was basically wiping out the 40 Meter CW band.

I had planned on Sunday to run: BED, BEX, CAM, LYX, AMH, NEL, BHM, APP, PIT, FRA

Rather than missing Church and Lunch I operated from home using the callsign WW2DDM and had 21 QSO's in 47 minutes.

After Church I made a few QSO's in BED and FRA before lunch. Then I began the route I had planned. All went fairly well in BED, BEX, CAM, LYX - a total of 51 QSO's in 2 hours, 30 minutes.

But the trip through AMH was very disappointing - 7 QSO's in 55 minutes. I was about to give up and head for home but stopped for a root beer in NEL and while parked I made 11 QSO's in 12 minutes. So after a 17 minute drive to BHM I parked and made 10 QSO's in 12 minutes.

Then I drove 35 minutes to APP and parked and made 11 QSO's 1n 16 minutes. The last QSO was very tough due to the RTTY stations taking up most all of the 40 Meter CW band.

Rather than fight the RTTY folks, I abandoned going to PIT. I stopped at my golf course in BED and put the 80 Meter antenna on the mag-mount. I made 15 QSO's during the 41 minute drive in BED. After arriving home in FRA I operated mobile and made 21 QSO's in 43 minutes.

Propagation on 40 Meters was quite poor and I contacted no stations in the 5, 6, 7 and 0 call areas. The Oklahoma QSO Party made the 20 Meter band practically useless for a mobile.

Due to 40 Meters being "long" I had only 5 County/City multipliers while I was operating on that band. However, on 80 Meters I was able to pick up 11 additional County/City multipliers.

On Saturday I spent 4 hours 16 minutes driving through the 7 County/City locations making a total of only 59 QSO's. I picked up 5 County/City multipliers and 18 State multipliersand 2 Country multipliers.

On Sunday I spent 7 hours driving through 9 County/City locations and made a total of 133 QSO's. I picked up an additional 11 County/City multipliers and only 6 additional State multipliers and one additional Country multiplier.

On Saturday the 59 QSO's were with 44 different stations. On Sunday the 133 QSO's were with 80 different stations. For the weekend the 192 QSO's were with 109 different stations.

Hope I haven't bored you with all this information. - Hi !

As a mobile in the Virginia QSO Party I wonder why we have to wait until 2 PM on Saturday to get started. I think a lot of good operating time is missed during Saturday morning. Other that the standard "We've never done it that way" answer, why couldn't the start time be changed to 9AM on Saturday ?

I've never done much driving during the QSO Party after dark on either Saturday or Sunday. Most of my contacts in the evenings have been either here at home in FRA or after a short drive across the bridge at the lake into BED.

Since I didn't work another mobile during the Party I don't know how many were operating. We do need to figure out how to get more counties and cities activated during the QSO Party.

Look forward to seeing the scoring summary from this year's Party. Hopefully other folks had better results than I did. But, by golly I did work K4NVA for that 500 point bonus.

With that I'll end and thank you again for all you do in sponsoring the VQP

73, Stan- K4UK

Doug, KF4VTT, emails:

Please see the attached files for the submission from the Alamance Amateur Radio Club, K4EG.  Participants were KF4VTT, N4MIO, and W1ES.  Let me know if you see any potential errors or if you have any questions.  We have found it extremely difficult to find a logging program that works well with the expedition class, so some tweaking was required to get it straight.

Below is a link to some photos of the fun.

Set  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kf4vtt/sets/72157615739541149/

or

Slide show  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kf4vtt/sets/72157615739541149/show/

Thanks again for an extremely fun time.  The VAQP is a blast!

Our donation for our sponsorship for the Expedition plaque and some to cover postage will be on the way soon.

73,

Doug Fleming

KF4VTT