[OhQP-mail] 2011 OQP - WW8OH Summary - Highs and Lows

[w3hkk at roadrunner.com]

809 Total QSOs from three stations.  272 CW and 537 SSB
81 Total Counties Worked ( 43 CW and 77 SSB )
80-75-40-20-15M operated.
Combined Clean Sweep efforts fell short by seven counties:  HOCKING-LOGAN-MARION-MONROE-PAULDING-PERRY-ROSS.
Station Details.  The CW station ran  100w (IC7600) to all bands via a tilted (west) loop anchored at 70 ft-50 ft -30 ft.
The 75M SSB station ran 100w to a 15 ft high dipole.
The 40-20-15m SSB station ran 100w to a 50 ft high fan dipole.
Conditions:  FAIR.  80/75 didnt seem to open to all parts of Ohio as much as expected, esp. on CW. The pickings were slim at the end forcing me up to 20m CW at the end. 
40 and 80/75 were the main bands.
CW Summary:
178 40M QSOs on cw or 65%
54 80m QSOs on CW or 20%
33 10M QSIs ib CW or 12%

Conclusions:  

Our one station, all band CW ops  needed more counties.  They were hard to find on 80 CW. Plus the skip  tended to be a bit long on 40 CW this year.  Hence the county total was disappointing.  CW QSOs were slightly higher than 2010.

Our two SSB stations performed admirably, making  537 QSOs in 77 counties, on 75-15M.  More details on this in another  email. 

We operated until about 11 PM, then began tear down.  

Mosquito count was very low.  Moth count was astronomical.  Coyotes were howling not too far away from Four Churches Farm. 
Weather was perfect, although a cool breeze  came up in the evening.  A long sleeve shirt or light jacket would have come in handy.
Tearing down in the dark is a challenge but was managed without any incident. 

Hopes for 2012:  More activity on CW, especially 80m, plus in the 7  counties that eluded us.  And more NVIS openings on 40M as the solar cycle climbs.