Well another Ohio QSO party is in the books and this is my first attempt at administering this contest after assuming the duties from Jeff, KU8E. For the second time in the past three years, the start of the contest was marred by an X-Class solar flare an hour after the start of the contest that pretty
much destroyed the bands for a couple hours. This made it especially for the mobile stations that could only manage to work only a handful of stations while waiting for he band conditions to rebound. But once conditions rebounded, the contest proved to again be a fun event.

Overall, participation was as good in this year's contest. All in all 198 logs were received representing 88 entrants. A total of 12,080 QSO's were reported from the 1675 active stations in the QSO party. Now if we can get all of the other stations to send in logs! There was good participation from both inside and outside of Ohio as QSO's ll the DX were reported from 57 US States and Canadian Provinces. Also a big thanks you to the number of DX stations that took time to pass out QSO's during the contest. There was also great participation from within the Buckeye State for the contest as all 88 counties were activated. QSOS were reported with 86 on CW and 85 on phone.

RESULTS:

In the single-op Ohio category Scotty, N9AG won with 124,528 points amassing 208 Q's on CW, 308 on phone and 172 multipliers. He was followed closely by Dan W8CAR with 106,386. K8AJS, K8ND and N8IE rounded out the top five. Out of state honors go to AD1C. Jim netted 143 Q's on CW, 72 on SSB and 112 multipliers to finish with 40,096 points edging out Frank, WB8OFR by 6688 points. Hot on their heels were K9WA, K5IID and N6MU.

Winning the Ohio multi-op category was W8VND with 118,584 points. The second and third race was a bit closer. When the smoke cleared in this shootout, W8FT emerged as the second place station with 62,976 points and N8HR finished in third at 57,876.

Ten teams loaded up their cars with equipment and set out to do mobile efforts. These stations AD8J (see OQP from the back of an '85 T-Bird), AF8A, K8CC, K8MR, KB8UUW, KU8E, NN1I, W1NN, WA8DFD, and WD9BVV made it much easier for the fixed stations to grab a QSO from some of the more rare counties in the state. Top finisher in the mobile category was W1NN, followed by K8MR, K8CC, and AF8A. I know I had fun operating with Gary as a part of the AF8A crew and once the conditions stabilized, I am sure that all of the mobile stations will agree that it is a lot of fun to roam the roads of Ohio and pass out Q's.

The AF8A mobile station: look at those towers...uh...mobile whips.

The club category this year was won by the Queen City Emergency Net with a score of 151,992. Second place was won by the North Coast Contesters with 136,557 and third place was grabbed by the Wayne Amateur Radio Club from Wooster.

SCORES:

PLAQUES:
Ohio Single Op High Power - Findlay Amateur Radio Club Winner: N9AG
Ohio Single Op Low Power - Cincinnati Buckeye Netters Winner: W8CAR
Ohio Single Op QRP - Kanga USA Winner: N8IE
Ohio Multioperator - Wayne Amateur Radio Club Winner: W8VND
Ohio Mobile - W8AV Winner: W1NN
Ohio Club - Mad River Radio Club Winner: Queen City Emergency Net
Out of State First Place USA - Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club Winner:
AD1C
First Place DX - Northern Ohio DX Association Winner:LY3BA

HOUSEKEEPING:

There were a few stations that submitted logs that were either impossible to read or difficult to translate. Some of you are using older versions of TRLog that gave the computer a bit of a fit during the analysis. We also received one electronic log that was totally unreadable and another one that had times a messed up. Please take a minute to review our log before submitting it so that we don't have to come back to you at a later date for revisions or corrections. It is also strongly suggested that you submit you logs electronically in the future. I had to enter about 30 logs manually in the computer and although I try very hard, I am human and do occasionally make typing mistakes. There is a version of NA on the OQP web site that is freeware for use with the OQP and almost all of the other software vendors have modules that support this contest. If you do have to submit paper logs, however, please make sure that someone other than you can read them. I could decipher most of the logs, but some were nearly impossible.

SUMMARY:

I want to take the opportunity to thank Jeff, KU8E for administering the contest over the past two years. I also want to take the time to thank K8CC for checking the logs, K8MR and AF8A for giving me much needed assistance in trying to make this contest run smoothly during the transition period. I also want to thank all the stations that took time out from a busy summer weekend by braving the solar flare and getting on the bands to hand out QSO's. Finally, I wish to thank all of you that exercised great patience with me while it tried to juggle my job and family and still manage to get the results to you. Now that I have somewhat of a learning curve established it should get a bit easier as time goes on.A reminder, the 2002 OQP falls on Saturday August 24 this year. This is a week earlier than the normal last Saturday of the month to avoid a conflict with the Labor Day Holiday Weekend. Also be thinking about OQP 2003. Since this is the Bicentennial event, we need to start planning for a big event to celebrate Ohio's Birthday.

SOAPBOX:

Old Sol gave me time in spades! I remember working N9AG on 20 CW and Scott's
signal was an honest S9. A couple of minutes later, it was a fluttery S1, and a minute later
all signals were gone. My log shows no QSOs between 1630z and 1800z...ADIC 1st
participation. Very difficult with low power on 75 meters and no propagation on 10
meters.BUT no disappointment to give the opportunity to get new-one! I'll try to do better
next time...FY5YE Only 25W and shortened dipole antenna in attic here at home. Nice
mobile activity!...K5OT The solar flare dampened my hopes for a while,but when the
bands came back, they came back in great form, and made the contest period a fun time.
I'm already looking forward to doing this again next year...K8AJS It is a bitch trying to
drive and log. Not Recommended !!...KB8UUW solar flare, storm static, honey do's--not
much to s/p--did mostly runs--still had a good time. cu next year!!!...KC8HWV Had a great
time for the amount that I operated. Between the usual family obligations and the unusual
solar flare I managed to get on for part of the contest. Activity was good although I did not
here many of the mobiles...KW8W I've been preparing myself for improving my
OQP-2000 score. Unfortunately, Sun played it's bad role again. There was no signals from
US stronger than S5 during entire OQP. Mobiles were just readable....LY3BA This was a
fun contest! I like the 12 hour period. Heard some comments that the scoring keeps the
mobiles off the higher frequencies. There wasn't much activity on the higher bands even
after the flare. CQing on 20 and 15 got a pile of DX, but not many OQPers. Had a nice
chat with BA4DX, hi....N9AG What a hoot! Worked FY5KE on 3 bands...and K8MR and
K8CC everywhere....ND8L Only able to get on for a 2 + hours. Mostly S&P from here on
40 and 80. Thanks to all of the Ohio stations for the contacts. Hope to see you next
year....NQ4U Thanks for another great party. Mobiles did a great job. Thanks to all that
copied my K2 running 4.5 watts to a vertical....W3BBO