Results 2008 by K8MR

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The 2008 Ohio QSO Party was held on a delightful late summer day – warm, only a few showers around the state. But as has often been the case in the ten years since the OQP was revived in 1999, we all were disappointed by the radio conditions. At least in the past few years we have had lots of company and lots of experience with unexciting conditions. Forty meters was long, allowing very few Ohio to Ohio qsos. Eighty worked, but the QRN levels were what one generally expects on eighty in the summertime. Fifteen and ten? Come back in a few years, we hope!

But in spite of these difficulties, a lot of radio operating took place. All 88 Ohio counties were active, ranging from 741 QSOs reported with Butler county, to 8 in Paulding. The median county still had over 100 reported qsos. From out of state, Tennessee was the most worked state, with 1020 QSOs. 16377 CW QSOs were submitted, along with 11124 on SSB. Forty meters, the traditional workhorse band, still was tops for CW with 7140 qsos, but 80 CW was not far behind with 6449. On SSB, 75 out-QSOed 40, 5128 to 4051.

The top Buckeye single op score came from Joe Papworth, K8MP, of Delaware county. Joe also led the Delaware Amateur Radio Association to win the Ohio Club trophy.

Tops in the low power category was Ken Silverman, K2KW, who operated from the excellent N0FP station in Butler county. OQP Log Checker Pat Collins, N8VW, took the QRP honors from his Columbus QTH.

One time Buckeye AD8J teamed up with WA3C at the later's Jefferson county QTH to take the multiop honors as K8T. They were able to erect antennas far enough from each other to be able to run both CW and SSB on the same band, which kept their profile very high.

The team of Jims, Stahl/K8MR and Snell/W8DRZ, covered 28 counties in eastern and central Ohio in winning the mobile category. Doing it all by himself was Hal Offutt, W1NN, who gave a good chase in taking second place while operating from only 12 counties. A special thanks goes to Jeff Bechner, W9MSE, who again joined us all the way from Wisconsin to mobile around in this year's OQP. And Ralph Matheny, K8RYU, once again owned the rover category by ably activating 9 of southeast Ohio's more remote counties.

Bob Roberts, K8BSW, operated SSB only and took the plaque in that category. No plaque, but N8BJQ's microphone-less operation was the highest CW only score. And finally, Sharon Martarello, KJ8F, from Allen county, earned the Buckeye Belles' plaque for the top YL score in the contest.

From outside Ohio, there was a good horse race between two OQP regulars from Georgia, K4BAI and N4PN. Paul, N4PN, who has won the OQP a number of times, got a late start due to a granddaughter's gymnastics meet, and never could close the gap on the eventual winner, John Laney, K4BAI. Making many Ohio ops happy with the Wyoming multiplier was Alan Brubaker, KO7X, who took the plaque for top score from the Mountain/Pacific time zones. Tennessee was another place with good propagation to Ohio, and from there Julius Fazekas, N2WN, submitted the top out of state QRP entry. In the low power category, Jim Callow, K8IR, topped the out of state competitors from his QTH in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Another great effort in a non-plaque category was turned in by Michigan multiop station K8CC, with second op KK8I. In spite of very little propagation from the Detroit area to Ohio on 40 meters and above, they worked eighty meters very hard all day and night, and came up only 3000 points short of the old out of state multiop record.

Propagation from Europe can be difficult, but Jonas Paskauskas, LY2ZZ, made the most of it to win the Northern Ohio DX Association's plaque for the top DX station.

The 2009 running of the Ohio QSO Party will be on Saturday, August 22. Note that this is not the last weekend of August. In 2010 the calendar returns to August having only four Saturdays, at which time OQP will again be on the fourth, and last, Saturday of August.

Thanks to all who participated in the 2008 OQP. Get your plans ready for August 22nd, and encourage your clubs and friends to do the same. See you all then!

Joe Phillips, K8QOE, SK

The Ohio QSO Party lost a great friend with the death on June 20 of Ohio ARRL Section Manager Joe Phillips, K8QOE. I'm not sure if Joe ever really operated the Ohio QSO Party, even though every time I'd see him over the years I would good naturedly bug him about doing so. But Joe always was helping to spread the good word for the OQP as he traveled about the state in the course of his ARRL duties, as well as supporting us with his communications to the hams in Ohio.

RIP, Joe. We'll miss you.