2011 Indiana QSO Party

Contest: Indiana QSO Party
Date: May 7-8, 2010
Mode: Mixed
Period: Starts 1600 UTC Saturday, ends 0400 UTC Sunday

BAND/Q PH / Q CW
15 / 1 / 0
20 / 4 / 5
TOTAL: 5 PH / 5 CW QSO / 7 Mults
SCORE: 112 (TIME ON: 4 H 44 Mn)

SOAPBOX: Together with the 7QP and the NEQP, this made up a great contest weekend. Unfortunately for me it also seemed that the majority of my activity in the INQP happened within the first 90 minutes because after 1830z I only had 3 QSOs.

While I don’t remember the solar conditions, I am guessing that 15M and 20M both went long, which which gave me better conditions to the East Coast, but very little within the skip zone. Either way, I did increase my total QSO count by a single QSO over 2010, while the multipliers remained the unchanged. I did note some stations I worked last year I did not hear this year in the 4+ hours I was spinning the dial on 15/20M.

All in this is a nice contest to work in conjunction with the other weekend. Many Q’s to be had, unfortunately it was not as good as I had anticipated. I will return in 2012 to participate again.

Down & Out

It’s been a rough7 day stretch as the entire family has been sick at some point. First the wife, followed by my son with an ear infection and then myself with flu like symptoms and either a migraine or sinus headache that persisted for about 4 days. Needless to say, nothing got done last week, as I spent most of my time in bed and only worked 2 days. Too bad some people don’t understand the reason for sick days.

As for the house the process has slowed. We are still waiting for the first allotment of insurance money to arrive, but in the meantime we did receive our personal property check from the insurance company. Now I see why insurance fraud could be so easy to commit. But my wife an I were honest and did not include anything that was not ruined by the water damage. My best guess is August before the house is 90-95% complete.

The world of radio has been rather slow. There is one big contest remaining at the end of this month, CQWW DX CW and then nothing I will participate in until July. My eyes are actually on the CQP, sponsored by our contest club in October. I was able to work some 150 QSOs in the 7QP, IN QSO Party and NEQP. It was a great time participate in 3 contests at once. If I were set up differently I probably could have made some QSOs in the ARI International DX.

The 2010 World Cup is now 32 days away as the world awaits the arrival of the beautiful game. Of course I cannot convince anyone at work that football even exists if it does not include a pigskin. I still believe Italia will have a great showing and hopefully raise the World Cup. Spain has taken a big hit with El Nino injured and not participating, which lessens their hopes. Germany will be strong, as always. England won’t surprise and still need a keeper and Holland could have a nice run into the final four. More on the 2010 World Cup as we get closer.