This year’s North Carolina QSO Party was a blast. I like this contest a lot because I’m “the DX”, it’s only 10 hours, and I don’t feel pressured to use mind-numbing CW speeds (I ran at 23 WPM). My goal was to operate 100% CW and make more QSOs than last year. Both were achieved, despite taking a 45 minute lunch and a 3 hour family commitment during the 10 hour contest period.

For this contest, I used my Icom IC-7300 running 100W to an MFJ-986 tuner connected to ladder line and a center-fed Zepp dipole antenna. All performed well.

N1MM log screenshot

My strategy, for better or worse, was to start on 40m in the morning, bump up to 20m in the afternoon, and try 15m or 10m before a family commitment at 3:30pm. Then at 6:30pm, get on 80m until the contest ends at 8pm. In actuality, I started on 40m in the morning and bounced up and down between 40m and 20m during the afternoon. I never tried 15m or 10m and did not check if they were open. The SFI was consistently 97 during the contest.

I was pleased with my effort. I had 280 QSOs with less than half hour left and made 300 QSOs my goal. The K1USN SST had started at 7pm, making band conditions crowded. I achieved 308 unique QSOs (not counting dupes). I hope to have at least 300 once log checking is complete. My claimed score of 73,046 would have been good for 7th place out of 14 in last year’s Single Op/In State/CW/Low Power category. I ended the contest with 8 foreign countries, 39 states, 6 Canadian provinces, and 34 North Carolina counties in the log.

Thanks to the stations that worked me and especially to those patiently repeating their call and exchange. I hope to work you again next year!

From N1MM

Here’s my Score Summary:

 Band     QSOs     Pts  Mul  Pt/Q
   3.5      99     297    4   3.0
     7     129     387   54   3.0
    14      80     240   21   3.0
 Total     308     924   79   3.0
Score: 73,046
1 Mult = 3.9 Q's

Here’s my Runs summary:

QSO Parties (US and Canada) - 2022-02-27 1500Z to 2022-02-28 0059Z - 311 QSOs
K4CBW Runs >10 QSOs: for computer named: WIN11-HAM

2022-02-27 1613 - 1628Z,    7043 kHz, 24 Qs, 95.0/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-27 1716 - 1747Z,    7045 kHz, 39 Qs, 77.0/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-27 1835 - 1919Z,   14046 kHz, 51 Qs, 68.5/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-27 1930 - 2004Z,    7042 kHz, 38 Qs, 66.3/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-27 2007 - 2030Z,   14035 kHz, 29 Qs, 76.6/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-27 2343 - 0014Z,    3535 kHz, 55 Qs, 105.2/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-28 0022 - 0041Z,    3546 kHz, 30 Qs, 95.2/hr K4CBW 
2022-02-28 0054Z - 0058,    3545 kHz, 11 Qs, 138.0/hr

Here’s my Off Times:

QSO Parties (US and Canada) - 2022-02-27 1500Z to 2022-02-28 0059Z - 311 QSOs
K4CBW - Off Times >= 30 Minutes

2022-02-27 1500Z - 2022-02-27 1509Z     00:10  (10 mins)   (Start late)
2022-02-27 1748Z - 2022-02-27 1834Z     00:47  (47 mins)
2022-02-27 2031Z - 2022-02-27 2329Z     02:59  (179 mins)

Total Time Off 03:56  (236 mins)
Total Time On 06:03  (363 mins)

Notes for Next Year

  • Try 15m and 10m.
  • Keep a better look out for bonus stations (use the N1MM Available Mult's & Q's feature). I was N4D short of bonus station sweep.
  • Fake death to operate entire duration.