Sunday, May 8, 2016

7QP Stresses & Successes

7QP 2016 is now complete. The log has been submitted and uploaded to all of the online QSL sites I use. I would say the event was a success for me with 87 stations contacted.

The 7QP was not without stresses however. Having a new computer in the shack since the last contest I participated in I realized the I had not setup N1MM Logger for digital modes after reinstalling it. With a lot of review of the software's documentation I got the digital settings correct, the macros set for 7QP, and finally made some successful psk-31 contacts.

Successes came throughout the QSO party, which made the stresses fade from memory. My goal was to get 50 QSOs. After reaching that number in the early evening and with most of those on 20 meters I switched to 40 and 80 meters. The propagation on these bands improved throughout the evening until the end of the 7QP.

While most of my QSOs came from searching and pouncing, which worked very well, I did get a small run of stations in the last 20 minutes when I finally decided to find a frequency and just call CQ.

7QP 2016 was a success. Now it's time to start thinking about the next contest which, for me, may actually be 7QP 2017. 73!

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