NC QSO Party Results - 2025

 2025 Full Results - Soapbox - FT4/FT8 Results

by Marty Young W4MY

Chairman, North Carolina QSO Party

Propagation for this year’s QSO Party was good as expected at this point in the solar cycle.  We received a log from the far east this year to show that out.  Spirits were high and, judging from all the very positive soapbox comments, a great time was had by all. Thanks to everyone who participated for making NCQP 2025 another success.

As you review the statistics, you’ll notice a drop off this year in the number of logs received. That didn’t stop us here in North Carolina from giving out the QSO’s however.  There were just under 52,000 transacted all total.

The big change this year was replacing the usual spelling be with a “Bonus Club” competition of sorts.  It was the club callsigns that were worked for those 50 extra points.  And, in addition to doing a great job of handing out the QSOs for the bonus, the clubs got to vie for a plaque which would go to the one with the highest score.  They are usually recused from competition, but not only did we have the chance to recognizing them for their work in the community, they got to engage in the thrill of competition.

In an effort to encourage digital participation, we rolled out the “Weak Signal Showcase”   That was an experiment that tried out FT8/$ digital mode for the North Carolina in-state folks.  We had some participation with 12 logs submitted.  That’s a nice entry for one category, we’ll see what the future holds for it.

We are thankful to our plaque sponsors who stepped up and really made that process easy for us. There was no shortage of willingness to help out with getting our awards financed.  They deserve credit for stepping up in this big way.

Now on to the results!  Enjoy!

North Carolina OPERATIONS

Bonus-Club: In celebration of the great community service exuded by our North Carolina amateur radio clubs, societies, and associations we made them the bonus this year.  They set up group stations and proudly put their club call into the ether.  There were 10 stations in all and they did a great job.  We put them in their own competition category and the first place plaque goes to Cape Fear Amateur Radio Society, K4MN, in Cumberland County.   Coming in second is the Watauga Amateur Radio Club, WA4J, making almost 900 QSOs.  Honorable mention goes to NI4BK at the North Carolina Battleship Memorial coming in third.  These three operations alone made just under 2,500 QSOs.  That alone is more than half of all the bonus QSO’s made in total!  A job well done goes out to all the bonus clubs!

Expedition: This is a category where the committee has struggled over the years.  As the tremendous rise in popularity of “portable” operation in POTA has transpired, the different ways of operating present a unique challenge keeping a level playing field for fair competition in a radio contest.  Portable ops optimize movement efficiency becoming little more than “a mobile that has stopped.  While there’s nothing wrong with this, it’s not fair to group these ops with those that want to go out “Field Day” style and enjoy more of the outdoors with better antennas and a more relaxed experience.  (Thus, less mobility.)  I’m anticipating some changes in coming years.  That said, the old school method of taking amateur radio into the outdoors winner this year is James Marks, KN6VTC, who operated phone mode exclusively.  A win in this mixed mode category using only voice is not easy, but Jim, coming all the way here from his home in California, did it.  I suspect “CQP Expedition” experience is in play here.  Jim may be interested to know that the original NCQP Expedition class was modeled by CQP back in the day.  Second place competitor in this class was Stan Zawrotny activating Richmond and Stanly counties.  Stan is a Florida resident and his QRZ page tell a lot about his portable activities and participation in state QSO parties.  Hope your visit, Stan, to NC wasa good one.  We appreciate your participation.

Portable: One thing is for sure, The Portable Category is certainly very popular.  Ten stations took to the road with four opting to operate from more than one location.  Moving is certainly an advantage and our winner this year, Trip Owens, N4NTO, operated from five different counties:  EDG, HAL, MAR, NOR, WAR.  Tripp did a minimum of driving off the air and a maximum of operating while situated.  Second place finisher, Mike Sprinkle, K4MLY, made allot of QSOs using phone only going to three counties, AVE, MCD, and MIT.  What a great finish by this relatively new ham in this very competitive category!  I have to give a shout out to my good friend Keith “Kaz” Zeringue, W4KAZ who also visited three counties and ended up in a very respectable third place.  Don’t give up buddy, you’re almost there!

Mobile: Bert, N4CW, and Jim, W4TMO, teamed up this year as usual and no surprise they were at the pinnacle of the mobile category list traversing 28 counties.  Some serious driving and operating … 1,179 QSOs in total.  That’s 10 hours of driving and riding with the total amount of minutes stopped you can show with two hands.  Congratulations on the win, the plaque is well deserved.  The second and only other mobile log received was from Tom Williams, N2CU.  It was great to have Tom visit us for the event from his home in New York.  More QSOs were made in this second-place effort, but he came up short in the score with bagging fewer multipliers visiting 8 counties in total.  To give you an idea of the impact mobiles have on the QSO party, these two mobiles combined compiled 2,368 QSOs in the 10 hours. That’s an average of 237 QSOs per hour!  Thanks guys, you surely made an impact!

Multi-Op: This is a mixed mode only category allowing for both low and high-power entries.  The winner and only entrant of the high-power group are the North Carolina Kilo Watts (using NC4KW) manned by Bruce, N1LN, and Laurie, N1YXU.   An explosive 986 QSO count was achieved from Bruce’s superstation in Chapel Hill.  The low power winner, out of a group of three, was headed up by Steve Schwab, KT4Q, with Laurie, K4LOJ and Carl, KA4HIM helping out.   Also, a very nice multi effort was turned in by the second-place low power finisher, the Stanly County ARC, K4OGB.  Both first and second finishers in the less than 150 watt class worked seven of the eleven bonus stations.

Single-Op CW: Coming in first for the Single-Op In-State CW-HP category is Bruce, N6NT, operating from McDowell County with a score of 207855 making 685 QSOs and bagging 101 multipliers.  Not bad from someone with a stealthy HOA friendly antenna system.  Second place in this full smoke category is Jim, NA4J, hailing from Forsyth County in the central part of North Carolina.  In the low power arena were two contesters not unfamiliar to the top tier of NCQP standings.  John Getz, AD8J, taking the first-place plaque and Brantly West, K4CBW, coming in second.  With John out west in Buncombe and Brantly in Wake they had the state covered with dits and dahs. Job well done goes out to all the in-state CW ops!

Single-Op Mixed:  Using both CW and Phone modes requires a balancing strategy of when and where to be to get the maximum number of QSOs in the log.  Using high power helps.  On top of the standings this year are two experienced contesters.  Nate, using AA4NC-The NC Contesters, and Dave, AG4TT-Corncrib Contesters Club.  Nate racked up an astounding 448,046 points and Dave was the closest next a little north or 150K.  That’s more than a half million points between the two.  Not only is that a testament to their operating prowess, but also the great participation of the party in general.  Glad they had so many on the air to work!  It is well to recognize Nate’s use and tribute of the call AA4NC which belonged previously to another well-known contester, Will Roberts, AA4NC, SK, who was an avid participant and plaque winner in previous years.

Not to forget the Low Power effort in this operating class, the title was won here by Floyd Sense, K8AC.  Floyd, a previous winner and spelling bee bonus op, accomplished this by staying in the chair making nearly 600 QSOs from his home in Ashe county out west.  A respectable score was entered by runner up Doug Snowden, using call N4U working a total of 348 QSOs and getting 90 mults.  Thanks goes out to them and all the in-state mixed mode ops.

Single-Op Phone: Newcomer to the Tarheel state coming up from Florida, KK4TE, Chuck Moss, takes first place in the high-power part of this phone only category.  Chuck made 886 Q’s multiplied by a whapping 122 county/state/dx mults.  And he didn’t do bad with 9 bonus stations in the log also.  Runner up congrats go to Daryl, K4DCP, operating from Surry.  Russel Johnson, K3PI is the top winner in low-power.  Davidson county, in the middle of the state, was well represented in Daryl’s effort at the mic.  Second place certificate here goes to Peter Wene, WA5T, emitting his Hermon Munster barreling voice!

Single-Op QRP: KF4VE, looking at the other end of the power equation with little more than it takes to light one Christmas light bulb, J.J. Falkanger managed a dominating winning score. In the well represented lowest power field, Rick, AI3W, took second place operating from Wilson County. Good job guys, and good ears to those that worked our QRP contestants from NC.

Outside North Carolina OPERATIONS

Single-Op CW: DL3DXX, Dietmar Kasper, was the winner of this very popular mode using maximum allowed power.  I suspect Dietmar has some pretty good antennas also to be able to score competitively in this popular category.  Up the coast in Maine, John, N1CGP, put in a respectable score north of 20K points for second place probably using his half kilowatt station.

The low power class of brass pounders had Andrew White, K9CW, coming out on top here.  Andy operated from central Illinois grinding out more QSOs to NC than 82 competitors doing the same.  Just to his north across the border in Onterio was our second place CW low power competitor, VE3AQ, Jack Stezhka.  A place in the award standings in this category is something indeed.

Single-Op Mixed: Let’s look at the first-place finisher in high power to start off. Laszlo “Laci” Vegh, OM2VL, heralding all the way from the Slovak Republic. Another DX station taking the top award here. We don't need our maps to tell us that's a very long way away! Laci is a “QSO machine” knocking out 314 QSOs and 69 NC counties!!  Bob, W0BH, from Kansas, worked a respectable 66 NC counties coming in second. In Single-Op Mixed Low Power, Paul, W8PI, came in first choosing to go on CW and SSB. Bill, AC0W, gets second place here from the great white north of Minnesota.

Single-Op Phone: We are usually represented very well with our friends to the north in Canadia.  Glad to see a Canadian station from New Brunswick, VE9CF, Stewart Craford in the first-place spot for HP-Phone.  Stuart was certainly “Out N’ Aboot” with his radio on the air for this event!  Our close neighbor from Tennessee, W4TTA, came in second.  Being so close operating from central TN, that can be a disadvantage, especially 20 meters not being available usually.  But the conditions were cooperating this year and Curt took advantage of it.  The Single Op Phone Low Power title was won by Tom, WA9YI, operating from Indiana with a score of 11,468 which included 53 different NC counties.  Of note, while there were no more additional points for working all eleven bonus stations this year, WA9YI was one of only a few accomplishing a “sweep”. Next in line with less than 10 QSOs fewer difference was Olon, AJ4HP, showing a willingness to hang in there and work us here in North Carolina.

Single-Op QRP: The state of Florida is where our winner, Tom Warren, K3TW, operated his lowest power station and garnered 26K+ points from 160 QSO's. That's what I call sticking to it, good job Tom! The next closest by a whisker was Rusty, K4SAA, about the same distance away from us here in North Carolina but in Connecticut.   The 164 belonging to this second-place holder was more than the winner, but deficit in the multiplier count.  Wow, what a race there!

Top DX: OM2VL also gets the plaque for this award. Winning the SO/Non-NC/Mixed/HP puts you in pretty good stead to get it, and Laci did. Congratulations

SUMMARY

Its time now to present the standings and soap box. Click the links below to read more about all that happened. Take your time and read through all the results and enjoy! A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated, and mark your calendar for Sunday, February 22, 2026.

Marty Young W4MY

NCQP Chairman

 

 2025 Full Results - Soapbox - FT4/FT8 Results

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