[OhQP-mail] Thanks for the fun!

[AA8IA]

I have to tell you I really had a great time in the OhQP this year.   I participated in two OhQPs in previous years but couldn't find my scores to compare.   But I'm guessing I did better than prior years.

There were definitely a lot of stations on.   I rarely heard from a mobile or rover for most of the contest... until I decided to actually go look for them.   Then, there they were.   K8MR, W9MSE, W1NN, W8TK, K8RYU, and many others.   It was great to work Ralph in all of those southern counties.   And Jim K8MR never ceases to amaze me with his high speed  copy/send in the mobile.   That is really insane.   I had a blast in the end jumping back and forth between W8TK, K8MR.

I'm glad the Eastern counties were on the air... unfortunately, I didn't end up hearing anyone from most of the ones surrounding me, except for N8KI in Columbiana and K8T in my county.   Followed Gary KC8YJJ up and down 80 SSB but never managed to find a spot where I could ask him to QSY real quick.   Heard many S&Ping that I never managed to work when they or I were CQing.   Overall 80m was very quiet (QRN-wise) for me and was packed full of stations.

I couldn't tune on 80m SSB, but there were so many stations that I couldn't resist keying up and snagging some.   Come on, I'm not the only one who does that :)    Had I been able to achieve an easy tune, I would have certainly parked on 80 SSB for at least and hour and I'm sure I would have had a great time.    Finally SSB is fun, now that I don't have to repeat myself 20 times because of atrocious audio.

Most of the time when I went to 40m I just couldn't find any CW action -- the RTTY and other digital modes on 40m seemed to swamp a large portion of where I'd normally expect everyone to be.

I really don't have the knack for knowing when the best time is to be on the various bands and modes...I just wing it.   I need to get myself together for next year.
  
All in all a great time.   Thanks to Kenny in particular for his outstanding PR work this year.   All of the stations [OH and non-OH] made for one helluva good time!  It was really great to work so many of the MRRC guys.

mike / aa8ia

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