Tennessee QSO Party 2004

Scores are up over 2003; indeed, this year's scores are exceeded only by our record year, 2002. LY3BA simply blew away the previous record score for a DX station (which he set himself in 2001). PA3ARM, SP4JWR, and UT5UIA also easily exceeded the old DX record.

Within the U.S., Bill K4LTA broke his own mobile record; and the Tennessee Mobileers soundly defeated Team Catnip's record in team competition. Another record was in participation. 74 entries were received, as opposed to 55 last year and 61 in the record year.

Several races were as tight as this year's U.S. Presidential election. 6 CW QSOs or two multipliers would have given Don, N4ZZ first place; one QSO was the difference between K4AMC and W4NZ for third place! Out-of-state competition is by state/province/country, but the races between 1st and 2nd, and between 3rd and 4th place here are also very tight. The competition in Ohio was tied, until W8KNO lost a QSO to a busted call.

Scores: (√ denotes certificate winner)

Tennessee Single-op:
Call	QTH		Score	QSO Pts	Mults	Bonus
√NA4K	McMinn		88,056	826	106	500
√N4ZZ	Davidson	86,537	863	99	1,100
√K4AMC	Davidson	47,776	572	83	300
√W4NZ	Hamilton	47,586	639	74	300
√N4ZI	Tipton		35,870	490	73	100
WO4O	Robertson	31,519	451	69	400
W4HZD	Knox		29,920	411	67	100
K9IL	Weakley		28,588	442	64	300
K4HSM	Knox		13,516	258	52	100
K1GU	Blount		12,442	242	51	100	
KE4OAR	Loudon		9,165	197	45	300
WD4PTJ	Gibson		9,100	182	50	0
AB4GG	Hamilton	7,580	180	41	200
K4KO	Wilson		5,750	150	37	200
AA3VA	Hamilton	4,994	141	34	200
AB4SW	Franklin	3,080	96	30	200
WA4OSD	Sumner		2,017	79	23	200
KI4BIY	Tipton		1,848	66	28	0
K4BP	McMinn		1,780	70	24	100
W4DWB	Hamilton	288	24	12	0
W4TDB	Dickson		286	22	13	0	
K4DXU	Grundy		60	12	5	0
WB9BSH	Davidson	24	6	4	0

Out-of-state:
√K9CW	Illinois	10,634	222	47	200
√LY3BA	Lithuania	9,917	219	43	500
√AA4FU	N. Carolina	8,231	173	47	100
√KM4FO	Kentucky	8,195	195	41	200
√W0ETC	Iowa		7,071	183	37	300
√K4AQ	Georgia		6,830	170	39	200
√K0JPL	Missouri	6,257	161	37	300
√WA3AAN	Penna.		5,808	162	34	300
√W2LHL	New Jersey	5,613	161	33	300
√W9MSE	Wisconsin	5,365	135	39	100
AE4Y	Georgia		4,788	148	31	200
√K6RB	California	3,654	129	26	300
K3GY	Penna.		3,591	133	27	0
√VE2AWR	Quebec		3,581	147	23	200
KI4EGT	Georgia		3,150	105	30	0
√PA3ARM	Netherlands	2,822	114	23	200
√K0HW	S. Dakota	2,680	119	20	300
√KB6NU	Michigan	2,596	96	26	100
√W6RLL	Arizona		2,594	114	21	200
√K5SF	Texas		2,569	103	23	200
√W1END	N.H.		2,531	111	21	200
√AD4AX	Virginia	2,212	96	22	100
√SP4JWR	Poland		2,101	87	23	00
√UT5UIA	Ukraine		1,985	105	17	200
√VA7ST	B.C.		1,712	84	18	200
K4BAI	Georgia		1,660	80	17	300
W2CVW	New Jersey	1,628	84	17	200
W2UDT	New Jersey	1,432	77	16	200
√VA3IX	Ontario		1,264	76	14	200
K8ZZ	Michigan	1,156	66	16	100
W4ZPR	Virginia	856	54	14	100
WA1JSD	Texas		585	45	13	0
K0LWV	Missouri	485	35	11	100
N4NTO	N. Carolina	370	30	9	100
K4IR	Georgia		270	30	9	0
√G3ZRJ	England		205	21	5	100
WA4VAP	Kentucky	190	18	5	100
√W4BCG	Alabama		112	16	7	0
√OZ4FF	Denmark		108	18	6	0
√KC8YKQ	Ohio		98	14	7	0
W8KNO	Ohio		72	12	6	0
N4JED	Virginia	18	6	3	0
K5WW	Texas		2	2	1	0

Tennessee Mobiles:
√K4LTA	(mobile)	148,878	1,623	86	9,300
√NY4N	(mobile)	110,375	1,195	85	8,800
√KY4L	(mobile)	68,257	867	71	6,700
√WA4JA	(mobile)	1,636	96	16	100
√KI4FZT	(mobile)	192	32	6	0

Tennessee Multiops:
(K4TCG)	Cheatham	93,884	958	98	0
√NQ4U	Coffee		31,940	452	70	300
√NO4Q	Humphreys	1,234	63	18	100

(Operators:
 K4TCG: W9WI, N1WI
 NQ4U: NQ4U, N0EUU
 NO4Q: NN5A, W4MGY)

Tennessee Teams:
√TN Mobileers	260,889	K4LTA, NY4N, WA4JA	
Team Extreme	35,080	K4DXU, NQ4U, AB4SW
Team of One	31,519	WO4O

Out-of-state Teams:
√South East Contest Club	11,888	K4AQ, AE4Y, K4IR
Society Of Midwest Contesters	10,634	K9CW
Kaunas University of Tech. RC	9,917	LY3BA
Kentucky Contest Group		8,195	KM4FO
N. California Contest Club	3,654	K6RB
Kiev Contest Group		1,985	UT5UIA
Frankford Radio Club		1,432	W2UDT

TQP Records:
Category	Score	Holder		Year
Single-op	111,714	K0EJ		2002
Multi-op	201,472	K4TCG		2001
Mobile		148,878	K4LTA		2004
VHF/UHF		968	WA4JA		2002
Out-of-state	11,136	N4IG		2002
Tenn. Team	260,889	Tenn. Mobileers	2004
Non-Tenn. Team	11,888	SE Contest Club	2004

A few notes about log checking...

All TQP logs are imported into a spreadsheet. This sheet is first sorted by emission mode, to assign 2 points to all phone QSOs and 3 to all CW QSOs. Next, it's resorted by callsign to check for dupes. Dupes are rescored to zero. K4TCG bonus points are also entered here. Then, the sheet is sorted by QTH and multipliers totaled. The spreadsheet is then exported to a text file, and everything sits aside until after the log deadline.

Once the deadline is reached, another sheet is prepared containing the callsign and QTH of each received entry. All logs are searched for each occurrence of “AA3VA”, and checked to ensure “Hamilton” was logged as his county. Notes are taken of those entrants who got it wrong. Those QSOs will be rescored as zero points, and if AA3VA was the entrant's only Hamilton County QSO the Hamilton multiplier will also be removed. This process is repeated for each other entrant.

Finally, each log is examined for probable “busted” calls. For example, one entrant claimed a QSO with “K4TLA/m” in Jefferson County. Again, notes are taken of each suspected busted call. I then check the log of the station I think he really worked. If a QSO is found (in this case, if K4LTA was in Jefferson County at the time and claimed a QSO with the operator who busted his call), that QSO will be rescored for zero points and the multiplier removed. (unless he worked someone else in the same multiplier) (only the operator who logged the busted call loses points – in this example K4LTA would keep the QSO.)

There were three common errors:

K4CTG instead of K4TCG.

K4TLA instead of K4LTA.

LAUDerdale county instead of LOUDon.

Unfortunately, one entrant logged K4LTA as K4TLA the first time they worked – and then depended on his computer's “super check-partial” - logging Bill as K4TLA six more times. That cost him not only eighteen QSO points, but six multipliers. Ironically, he got Bill's call right three times.

Soapbox:

K9CW: Great contest this year!

KI4FZT: Well - I had fun, got my feet wet, and I reckon that's something good! Have met some great folks since being a part of TCG. Helps keep me motivated to move on and upgrade the ticket so I can play on HF! Thanks for all your work with TCG and the TQP! (TQP 2004 was Bill's first attempt at contesting)

K4DXU: Well, because of Sunday obligations, I only got to operate for 28 minutes....but I guess a few points are better than none...73.

VA7ST: Thanks for the contest... was good to get in there for a few QSOs.

KB6NU: The TQP was great fun. My thanks to all the rovers that gave me a fair number of multipliers.

LY3BA: Lot of FUN! Thank you for the nice mobiles activity. 73&CU next year.

PA3ARM: I enjoyed this year a lot; all previous years had less contacts than this one. Tks to all the mobiles es all of U fer organising

AB4SW: This is my first time in the TN QSO Party and I enjoyed it very much though I did not make many QSO's.

WA4JA: Mobile from two locations on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Williamson County. Severe thunderstorms prevented raising of the 11 element 2m and 3 element 6m beams until mid afternoon. Skewed propagation noticed as stations ENE in NC peaked when aimed North towards the back of the thunderstorm for lots of the QSO Party. Kind of odd to find a 6 m contact on direct path and the 2 m skewed. Had fun, lets do it again!

K4IR: I didn't have much time to operate, but it was fun.

K4AQ: Mobiles accounted for almost 40 pct of my QSO total:

N4NTO: Enjoyed the brief time I got to play!

K6RB: Enjoyed the contest. Was jumping in and out while writing a business white paper. The mobile stations really helped. Was surprised I was being heard on 40 m, in daylight, running low power. Guess the 2 el yagi helped. See you next year.

G3ZRJ: I had a lot of domestic QRM and could only get on for the last 20 mins or so,

KC8YKQ: I didn't score a lot, but it was fun!

W2UDT: The short time I could operate was fun. The mobiles should get all the credit.