NAQCC January 2011 Challenge

Results:

Note: The challenge was to make (at least) 10 mW QSO's. We are only listing 10 in your results. If you made more, you can mention them in your soapbox comments if you wish.

Call   QSO's
K3WWP  N9FGC N3AQC W4LGJ WM8E N4UEB WY3H WA2EJT W9OEY WA8KOQ WB9KFH

N8iup  w7cnl w7ji k1sez kc0joe k2thd k2ogt ac8ap wa1wsd n4qr n3fks

N8XMS  W3DF K1YS W5GHZ K4BAI N9ZXL KN5L KD1W K3WWP WB9AZQ WA2DAC

KB1PBA EA5HT KB1LZH VE1ZA AK2ZD WQ1RP AA1ZT W1XP VE1ZA WA3VAT N2END

VE3FUJ ki0e k3gnk k1yan ac0dk ws1d kc9snc k1nba w2gb nk3y k2myo

KB3AAG WA9HUF KA4HQO/9 K0KC WQ4C K4ENG AE4FA WQ4C W9ZN W3DF KF8R

K1IEE  KE4DRJ N2EI W2QF KA2PJO AA3EJ VE3EBN N4BNO WW8D VA3AGZ KF4YP

K1YAN  KE4RUN KW1C AA3I KA3NZR N4KGL/4 VE3FUJ P4/WA2CAM W3HKK WK8V K4AXF

KQ1P   AA1MY W2BPI C6ANM G0FWX IZ2CPO RW2A S51WO SM5CAK T77C VO1HP

K0MDS  A1BXY KK0I W2DEC K4CML WA0BGV K6JSS/4 KL8DX K6JSS/5 KF4CLO K6JSS/0

WY3H   WA2NSD K2OGT N2ESE K8LYR W8BJO K3BSY W1XP K3BZY W3BI NS3E

W2JEK  KM4DB K3Y/2 K3Y/4 K3Y/8 K3WWP K3Y/3 W1JSB K4ENC K3Y/8 K3Y/2

NU7T   KE7LKW NZ5K

Certificates go to: All the above except NU7T

Soapbox:
K3WWP - Because of my mW 'streak', I knew that it was pretty certain I would get at least 31 mW QSO's this month. A couple however probably would be in contests, so I decided on January 8, I'd just go ahead and finish the challenge. I had 7 QSO's for the month, but one was a contest QSO. So needing 4 more, I went and got them. They're the last 4 in my list above. 3 of the 4 came on 40 and the other one (WA8KOQ) on 30. It really isn't all that hard of a challenge. I would say to make it as easy as possible if that's what you want to do, forget about 80M, and use 40M during the late morning and early afternoon. In my daily mW QSO's since May 1st, I've found it has been very hard to get them on 80 lately, but easy on 40 (and sometimes 30). Have fun!

N8IUP - i got the majority of my mw Qso's on 40 meters and the others on 20 meters. Calling CQ did not work for me. I either tailended or got someone calling CQ. I was amazed at how easy it really was.....I really enjoyed mwing...

N8XMS - I'm not sure that this should really be called a "challenge." Late afternoon and early evenings on 40 meters usually provides plenty of opportunities for solid regional mW QSOs. Nine of my contacts were on 40 and one was on 30. I ran 900 mW from my K2 into my old R7 vertical. I actually had 11 mW QSOs but one fellow that I worked was participating in a weekend sprint for another club. He paused his contest work to chat with me for a few minutes but I figured that it was still breaking our challenge rules. 73, Paul

KB1PBA - Wow, never thought I could work across the pond wid less than 1 W. Also first contacts wid new rig, Weber Dual Bander on 15m and 80m, wid 10.8v supply and 7 dB attenuator. Cud use better ant, now 67 ft doublet at 28 ft height. 2 contacts wid PFR-3a and 7dB attenuator on 40m.

VE3FUJ - It is challenging, operating at QRPp. I was putting out a bit less than 800mW from my Sierra, (abt 780mW by measuring). Lot of CQ'es and no answers. Actual Qso time must be less than 2% of total QRPp time. Anyway it feels so much better making a contact at that level. I got my first Qso on Jan 4th with a K3Y/5 stn. (K5ENA) but ended up not wanting to count it. I considered it a contest Qso, just the vitals exchange, no gabbing. 9 Qso's on 40 and 1 on 20. It looks like 8 of my Qso's was an answer to my CQ. Fun it was and see you all again. Brion -30-

KB3AAG - I enjoyed this one, simple, and I had no doubt that it would be easy. I worked one station that wasnt qrp but some minutes latter he hunted me up again and he was qrpp that time. Two of them were over an hour rag chews! Worked twelve states. Frank

K1IEE - This was an interesting month for me as the only rig I used was my Heathkit HW-8 @ 900 mW into the G5RV. During the NAQCC sprint the little rig manage over 1 watt on 80 mtrs. Overall I had 51 mW QSO,S the breakdown is, 15 on 20 mtrs, 9 on 15 mtrs, 10 on 40 mtrs and 17 on 80 mtrs. Think I will let the little rig cool off until the next mW challenge. Had a fun time. 73 Dick.

K1YAN - A fun challenge that will hopefully get some more mW activity on the bands. I built an attenuator to get my FT-950 on QRPp (550 mW) for this challenge. It is an easy project, requiring only 8 resistors, available at Radio Shack. Check out the N5ESE attenuator design on the web. Mine is a take off, built dead bug style on a piece of PC board. Highlights were working W2UW who was running 20 mW with a one transistor transceiver and working Aruba (3696 mpw) to make the QRPp DXCC count 5.

KQ1P - I ran close to 1,000 mW on 80M, 900 mw on 20M, and 750 mW on 15M as measured into my dummy load. I had much better luck with mW QSO's than usual. In fact I think we may have to try micro-watts next (my previous attempt was to work about 1 mile!). During January I worked 54 stations while running <1 watt: 21 on 80M, 9 on 40M, 13 on 20M, 4 on 17M, and 6 on 15M. When QRN was down, mW QSO's on 80M were easy and long winded. Getting 10 non-contest QSO's was not difficult. My best luck was in answering a CQ. Now I am motivated to get QRPp WAS and DXCC. 73

K0MDS - Other than last month's sprint, this was my first attempt at milliwatt operation. The results were a great surprise--nearly 40 QSOs and 23 states in a month. Power ranged from 75 to 750 milliwatts, including 200 and 500 mW QSOs with KL7 stations. Like others have mentioned, this challenge turned out to be a lot of fun and something to try again in the future. 72!

W2JEK - A good challenge. Had 8 qso on 80 and 1 each on 20 and 40. (NOTE - Don had Day #6000!!! listed after my QSO since he worked me on the 6,000th day of my QRP streak. Thanks for mentioning that Don. I removed it from the list along with a couple other notes he had with his QSO's to make the list neater and more uniform - K3WWP) Six were SKCC special event stations celebrating their 5th anniversary. 72 and 73 Don Younger W2JEK #1135

WY3H - Really enjoyed working the milliwatt challenge. It got me out of a temporary hiatus. I managed to get 68 milliwatt QSO's for the month. Lots of fun and the most distant state worked was Florida. Found it amusing that several stations could not or did not believe that I was QRPp. In almost every QSO I mentioned the NAQCC. Several stations worked were NAQCC members, but only one was milliwatt. Hope to do it again soon. Most stations were worked on 40 meters with several on 80. Looking forward to February so I can zap some of those lying groundhogs.

PREMISE:
Very simple. Make QSO's using milliwatt power (less than 1 watt) and a simple wire antenna.

TIME FRAME:
The first day of the month 0000Z through the last day of the month 2400Z

RULES:
Make at least 10 QSO's using milliwatt power at any time during the month on any band(s). NO contest or sprint QSO's.

All QSO's must be INITIATED and finished with milliwatt power. No starting with higher power, then reducing to milliwatt levels. The entire QSO must be at milliwatt power.

AWARDS:
A certificate goes to everyone who makes at least the required number of QSO's.

PARTICIPATION AWARD AND WEB LISTING:
To get a Participation Point and to be listed in the results all you need do is participate and send in your results no matter how many QSO's you made.

LOGS:
For your report, simply tell us you mastered the challenge and if you wish, list the 10 QSO's as K3WWP did below.

You may also include details about the challenge in your soapbox comments.

Please preface any comments you want posted with "SOAPBOX:" so we will know what you want posted and what is private.

Send your results to:

E-mail:

You must type that address into your email program.

Subject must read: (your call) NAQCC (month) Challenge

For example: K3WWP NAQCC May Challenge

Postal mail:
John Shannon, K3WWP
478 E. High St.
Kittanning, PA 16201

All entries must be RECEIVED before the 10th of the following month at 2400Z.