[OhQP-mail] OhQP at WW8OH (Fairfield Co.)

[w3hkk at roadrunner.com]

Details/statistics to follow, but  the highlights/first impressions are these:

This year's  M-O set up at WW8OH  consisted of:

-400w to AC8GX's  brand new Spiderbeam at 52 ft for 20/15/10 SSB.  (Well, forget 15 and 10...)  But 20m  was the highlight band for us, with Iron-man Brad taking 1st place among our three stations for QSO totals.

-Kevin, AC8GI,  brought his 200w rig for  80/40 SSB and his two man (with a solid 12 hours from Jack, K8EM)  team slogged it out, bringing in the highest multiplier total of the three stations.

-The CW station and it's much needed 2 pts per qso was run by Bob, W3HKK,  his IC-7600 and it's 100w to an ocf inverted vee with apex at 35 ft and ends at 10 ft.  While the antenna loaded on 80-40-20-15-10, I only dabbled on a quiet 20M CW band, and even struggled on 40 CW ( which is usually the main band for nearly the entire contest), instead seeking refuge time and time again on 80, even during midday, for  a few paltry contacts per hour.  Overall rate on CW was 24/hr for the 12 hour period with minimal breaks.  Brutal! And the best rate was a mere 43 for the first hour of the contest.


Overall, with   gritty determination, the four man M-O team  appears to have broken last years club record for the OhQP, by  around 15-20%.  But, Man, it was rough. So many unanswered CQ's. Very quiet bands during the daytime, and only scattered  Ohio counties being heard.  CW worked fewer than half of the Ohio counties, which was disappointing to say the least.  

Thanks to RYU, MR, and the others who tried hard to  bring us much needed multipliers! 

Propagation:   Sunspots were up nicely prior to the Party, but multiple CME's  really did a job on absorption, especially during midday and early evening.   

The first hourly rate was in the low 40's then it was a struggle to keep the CW station in the low 20s.