2023 Kansas QSO Party

Results

First of all, a big THANK YOU to W0BH, Bob, for all the work he puts into making the KSQP one of the best QSO Parties.  Jay, WA0WWW, and I, K7TQ, travel a long way from our homes in Spokane, WA and Moscow, ID to participate and we have a great time.

In the contest, Jay and I made 1,294 QSOs with 50 mults for a claimed score of 194,200.  The band breakdown was 949 Qs on 20 m, 248 Qs on 15 m, and 97 Qs on 40 m.

For us the best parts are 1) counties are squares of about 30 miles on a side making for just the right amount of time in each one before the next one comes along, 2) propagation in KS is much different than we are used to in the Pacific Northwest, 3) the terrain is flat which allows our 100 Watts to get out unimpeded by mountains, and 4) having an assigned frequency eliminates frequency fights.

We started on a county line and had three other ones planned.  We got ahead of our schedule, so we were able to squeeze in nine other county line operations.  We ended on an unplanned county line.  Great fun to watch the rate meter go sky high when on a county line.

Our most frequent customer was N6MU, John in CA, with 30 Qs in all 25 of our counties.  He was our first contact on Saturday morning and our fourth one on Sunday morning.  Close behind John were N5RZ, Gator in TX, and VE3YT, Vic in ON with 28 Qs each.  Others with 20 or more Qs were OM2VL, K2DFC, N8II, K7SV, K9CW, and W9DC.  A total of 24 folks worked us 10 or more times.

We found 15 m to be great to EU with OM2VL, DL3DXX, and DK2CF making it into the log.  Both K2DFC, Fred in NJ, and W1END, Eldon in NH, contacted us ten times on 15 m.  Others have commented that 15 m was better on Saturday.  We had 168 Qs on Saturday and 80 on Sunday.  With half the number of available operating hours on Sunday, it looks like we found the two days to be about equal.

The mobile was a 2002 Ford Ranger with a KX2 and a KXPA at 100 W to a Scorpion 680 antenna mounted in the center of the truck's bed.  Logging was done with a 14" screen HP laptop running N1MM+.

Jay and I thank everyone who worked us and those who tried, but we didn't get you in the log.

Pictures and comments from along the route.

We are sitting on a section line road on the Morton - Stevens county line.  Flat country all around and that truck was about the only traffic on KS 27.  It is almost 2 pm CDT Saturday.  Jay collected 10 Qs here in 4 minutes.

One can't have a picture from Kansas without sunflowers.  This time we are sitting on the Gray - Haskell county line just off US 56.  It is still Saturday at almost 6 pm CDT.  At this stop, Jay made 34 Qs in 25 minutes.

Early Sunday morning before the contest restarts and while at the Wichita - Scott county line, Randy and Jay's shadows discuss strategy.  We made 650 Qs on Saturday and are looking to add more in the final six hours.  That is sorghum in the field over our heads.

One of the few times we saw trees that were not in towns or cities.  This location is on the Logan - Thomas county line.  Jay's 24 minute stay netted 82 Qs.  We ended the contest one county line farther north with a total of 1,294 Qs for the contest.

The Plan

Jay, WA0WWW, and I will activate 25 counties in the Kansas QSO Party, August 26 and 27 using the 1x1 call of N0Q.  We will be CW only close to frequencies ending in .0375 MHz, such as 14.0375 for 20 m.  During the day we will try to be on both 20 and 15 m with excursions to 40 m.  After our sunset around 0115Z we will be less on 20 m and more on 40 with excursions to 80 m.  In each county we will try to be active for at least 30 minutes.

You can work us each time we change counties or bands.

Our call of N0Q will be one of three "Q" calls that contribute to the spelling of "QSO Party" using the last letter of the 1x1 calls.  Further info. 

In addition to the RBN, the KSQP Hub Spotting Page will be a great site to follow us, the other mobiles, and the fixed Kansas stations.

Here are the counties we hope to be in during our morning, afternoon, and evening for both days.

1400 to 1700Z August 26 (UTC)

1700 to 2300Z August 26 (UTC)

2300Z August 26 to 0159Z August 27

1400 to 1700Z August 27

1700 to 2159Z August 27