NC QSO Party Results - 2024

 2024 Full Results - Stats - Soapbox - Bonus Station Sweeps

by Marty Young W4MY

Chairman, North Carolina QSO Party

As the saying goes, “Out with the old, in with the new!” Maybe it should be, “Let’s bring back the old and make it new!” We hit the jackpot on revising the Portable and Expedition definitions. The participation was stellar. What a coincidence it was that the portable and expedition categories got a once over just in time for the NCQP theme this year, “Celebrating North Carolina Outdoors” It looks like the POTA activators were out in spades!

Propagation this year for our QSO Party, like last year, was outstanding as we continue toward the peak of the sunspot cycle. Judging from all the very positive soapbox comments, a great time was had by all. We set a new all-time total NCQP QSO record again this year, exceeding 64,000, shattering the old record.

As you review the standings this year, note the TWO DX entries at the top of their categories in the Non-NC arena. That is an NCQP first. North Carolina surely had a worldwide presence on the air this year! Logs were submitted from 46 U.S. states, 5 Canadian Provinces and 6 DX countries.

A 50/50 split between SSB and CW has stayed pretty consistent over the years. The actual numbers this year were 53% CW and 47% Phone (SSB); right where we would like it to be. And look at all the QRP logs submitted! It seems that the interest in lower than low power isn't going away any time soon. I’m glad to see that.

A note about Digital. FT-4/8 have not come on line as suitable modes for NCQP with 33 digital QSOs among the 64,350 total. These modes may be on the chopping block for 2025. No final decision yet, but we have a few ideas about some new categories as replacements.

Marc, W4MPS, has informed me that we had 49 bonus clean sweeps this year, down from 2023. It was a little more challenging, with the majority of the bonus stations being out in the field POTA style.

As it is every year, we are thankful to our plaque sponsors who stepped up and really made that process easy for us. We are really getting in a groove with this process. Dwayne, N4MIO, and JNS Crafts make this chairman's job very easy! There was no shortage of willingness to step up and get our awards sponsored and financed.

Last, and certainly not least, a big thank you and high fives go out to all the hams in North Carolina who simply got on the air and worked all of our friends in the ether. This event wouldn't be anything without you. (and I haven't forgotten ya'll out there in the rest of the USA, Canada, and DX...thank you too!)

Oh, and one more thing. If you are a POTA hunter and participated in NCQP this year, check your POTA stats. There were a lot of park activations / POTA two-fer operations. Your NCQP log submitted to the POTA administrators count! There were some very good operations set up Portable and/or Expedition in parks.

So now on to the results! Enjoy. Kudos well deserved all around.

NC OPERATIONS

Expedition: Expeditions have always been an important aspect of NCQP. They have continued to grow in popularity and our leadership team is responding accordingly. We brought this classic category back this year. What a success it was, with Lewis, K4TCT, in the top spot among six competitors. A distant second, but with a respectable effort, was KW4EE, Kevin Alt.

Portable: Eleven stations were competing in this “new” category this year. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that the winner, N4E, was none other than Kyle Chavis, WA4PGM, back from a long break. I remember Kyle being quite active as a mobile back in the day, lighting up most of northeast NC, He certainly brought that tradition back to the future with his first place finish. With more QSOs, but a little shy on the mults, was second place finisher, Paul Raiche, N1XI. Carl, KA4HIM, came in third and is worth mentioning, as all three of these guys were just a few QSOs apart at the top of the list.

Mobile: There were six mobile logs submitted this year. Hats off to our road warriors. It’s grueling out there, as those of us that have done it know. You drive in and out of noise, bumps, vibration, ambulance sirens, rain, flat tires (yes, ask me about that!) and who knows what else, making you sound like a poor operator over the air. But believe me, that is not the case! These are among the best of the best! And speaking of the top operators, Bert N4CW, and Jim W4TMO, teamed up again this year, and to no surprise, they were at the pinnacle of the mobile category list. Congratulations to team N4CW. A great score was turned in by N2CU and N4Q (K4QPL) as well. We count on these exceptional Ops being there with us every year. There were nearly 3,800 QSOs in this category.

Multi-Op: This is a mixed mode only category allowing for both low and high power entries. The winner of high power group are the North Carolina Kilo Watts (NC4KW) manned by Bruce, N1LN, and Laurie, N1YXU. The low power winner, out of a group of seven, was The Cape Fear ARS, K4MN, operating from Cumberland County. A very nice QSO count was turned in by the second place low power finisher, Bob Lukaszewski, K4HA, operating as the Carolina Contest Club, W4MR. Almost half of all the contestants in this category got clean sweeps of the bonus stations.

Multi-Op Phone: There were only two logs turned in this year in this single mode category. It used to be pretty popular, but I guess the allure of adding CW in these times of better propagation is too tempting. You certainly can add a lot of QSOs by doing that. Anyway, the Alamance County club, K4EG, came in first, and the Misfits ARC, W4MIS, second.

Single-Op CW: Jim, NA4J, took the top spot with a score of 262,554. He worked 788 QSOs and 111 mults. That's a good score in any set of conditions, and from one county only-Forsyth. It says a lot about the ability of a good op using CW to get the job done. Not far behind was Bruce, N6NT, his second year making a good account, operating from McDowell County. That was the high power group. Doing the same, only not using the afterburner, was winner KS4S, Nyles McKeithan in Robeson County. A very close second operating the same way was Al, N4EII. Good showing guys!

Single-Op Mixed: Nate, N4YDU, took the top prize over eleven others in the high power side of the house for this category. His sizable score didn't dwarf the rest of the group like it usually does. There was a razor thin difference between second and third. AD8J and K8AC were neck and neck with John Getz (AD8J) taking it by a whisker. The ops that chose to go with the regular output from their transceiver were 15 in number. Dave, NC4DA heralding from Gaston County took the prize. Getting the second place certificate is Cliff Conklin, WA2LMC, operating in Durham County.

Single-Op Phone: Phone operation accounted for 47% of all QSO's in the party this year, and Steven, KT4Q, took first place for the second year in a row among the high power group. Right behind was Daryl, K4DCP, who gave it a valiant effort exceeding 600 QSOs from Surry, Both guys are to be commended. Low power phone had 54 entries vying for first place. To win here means something. Charles Pitts, K5OF, operating from Carteret emerged from the crowd as the winner I'm going to make a guess here and say that Charles commanded a running frequency almost the entire contest period. I'm basing that on the fact that he only got one of the six bonus stations, meaning he did very little hunting and pouncing. A winning strategy for sure! Good job of pulling those voice signals out and staying in the chair Charles! The story in this category is the second, third, and even fourth place finishers Have a look at the standings. Less than ten QSOs separated this group. John, KB4OI, came out on top to get second place accolades.

Single-Op QRP: Paul Stroud, AA4XX, was operating at the other end of the power equation and accumulated a whopping 574 contacts from only one county, Gates. A winning score at any power level. In the field of four in-state submissions, David, W4JL took second place wall paper, with fewer QSOs but a clean sweep of all six bonus stations. Third place finisher, WN4OFT, is worth mentioning here as he also obtained a clean sweep. That’s not an easy task for someone using this level of power.

NON-NC OPERATIONS

Single-Op CW: Counting both Low and High power, there were 110 logs submitted by hams outside of NC, from all over. On the high power side of the house, taking the plaque, is Dietmar Kasper, DL3DXX. Yes, you see it right, a DX station took it! Dietmar also achieved a bonus station clean sweep. The CW low power plaque goes to K9CW, Andrew White, who finished first from Illinois. 200 QSOs with 74 NC counties sealed it for him. And a clean sweep to boot, that was a top notch effort.

Single-Op Mixed: There were quite a few more clean sweeps in the mixed mode than in any other category. Stands to reason having two modes to choose from. Bonus QSO's were available for those that wanted them! That said, let’s look at the first place finisher- Laszlo “Laci” Vegh OM2VL, heralding all the way from the Slovak Republic, another DX station on top in the high power side. We don't need our maps to show us that's a very long way away! Laci is a “QSO machine” knocking out 339 QSOs and a whopping 86 NC counties! If all 100 NC counties had been on the air, Laci would undoubtedly be the one that could work them all! Paul, NS2N, worked a respectable 77 NC counties coming in second from New York. Single-Op Mixed Low Power: My friend, and state QSO party guru, Jeff, N8II, came in first again this year among the outsiders, running low power and choosing to go on CW and SSB. No surprise here. Scott, W2LC in New York, earned second place.

Single-Op Phone: John, W3JJL, finished in first place high power, coming out ahead, with Jeramy, KC8QDQ finishing second. Both did a good job. John got the bonus clean sweep as well. On the low power side of things, wow, 96 logs here. Our neighbor to the south (SC) Scott Hostetler, K4MDI, was the clear leader and is deserving of the plaque, with nearly a hundred and a half QSOs. Coming in second is AJ4HP sporting a bonus clean sweep too, as a highlight to an already great effort.

Single-Op QRP: The state of Florida is where our repeat winner Tom, K3TW, operated his station, topping 27,000 points from 150 QSO's. That's what I call sticking to it! The improved conditions are sure helping you out, Tom! The next closest was Dave, K2YG, who was just 20 QSOs behind. Both were one shy of the bonus sweep. Honorable mention goes out to VE3SIF and W7LG, both attaining a 5 figure score operating QRP.

Top DX: Of course, it is no surprise that OM2VL also gets the plaque for this award. Winning in the SO/Non-NC/Mixed/HP category puts you in pretty good stead to get it, and Laci did. Congratulations!

Bonus: The “Celebrating North Carolina Outdoors” theme was a tremendous hit and bonus stations N4A, N4W, NC4QP, NI4BK, and N4AMW were all in POTA parks. So, if you worked any of these stations during the QSO Party, check your hunter stats for some more parks added to your list. Special thanks to the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society (sponsors of NCQP) and President Fin Gold, NC4FG, for organizing and putting bonus station N4RAL on the air. They worked just shy of 1000 Q's, not bad for Fin's first time organizational effort since becoming RARS president! Personally, I really enjoyed my time spent at NI4BK, the Battleship North Carolina in New Hanover County, helping with the CW effort. MNI TNX ACARC FOR UR GREAT HOSPITALITY.

SUMMARY

Thank you for submitting your logs and letting us know your ideas and comments about this year’s event. We've got a great hardworking committee team that has brought this to you. A special thanks to Marc, W4MPS, our logs manager and analyst who was responsible for getting all these hundreds of details in a form we can all read easily. I'll be thanking Dwayne, N4MIO, for getting the plaques and certificates made and mailed out. Of course, I can't leave out Andy, AA9P. He churned out thousands and thousands of lines of code data developing our LogBot automated system. That great (and constantly improving) system is, in large part, responsible for our ability to get results posted in a timely manner. Then finally, Steve, W4MGT, who is in charge of getting everything up on the website for all to see. Thanks Steve! In addition, our newest committee members Bob, W4TTX and Marty, N4AMW did an admirable job handing out bonus points from their two respective POTA locations.

We're already getting ready for next year. The date is February 23, 2025.

73

Marty Young

Chairman, North Carolina QSO Party

 

 2024 Full Results - Stats - Soapbox - Bonus Station Sweeps

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