I got this in the mail yesterday:
My first thought was, “Boy, it sure took them a long time to send this to me.” I honestly don’t even remember working this contest.
Then, I saw the info sheet for this year’s contest. The 2013 Florida QSO Party takes place the weekend of April 27-28. They’re just trying to drum up business. I’ll have to try to get #1 this year. If you’re in Florida, listen for me.
Dave, N8SBE says
Heh. I got a certificate for:
1st Place, Single Operator, SSB Only — Michigan
5th Place, Single Operator, SSB Only, Low Power — USA
8th Place, Single Operator, SSB Only — USA
I had also received earlier a certificate .pdf via email for working all fifteen special event stations whose last letters spelled ‘FLORIDA QSO PARTY’.
This is running my Elecraft K3 at 100 watts into a two-element spider-boom quad at 40 feet. Running in the low power category gives you the best power multiplier — 2x over high power. Going to QRP at 5 watts only gives you 3x total. I might be tempted to go QRP if the multiplier was 4x…
You have to admit that the Florida Contest Group does a nice job of promoting the FL QSO Party. They also included in the envelope with the latest certificate a nice map of FL showing all the counties and a table of their contest abbreviations, suitable for posting at your operating position the weekend of the contest. Also, the times of the contest are nice, running 10 hours each on Saturday after noon and Sunday, starting in the morning, Eastern Time. This really encourages the casual operator to engage, and makes it easier for the more serious ones to work most or all of the contest period.
Finally, when the bands are even just decent, Florida comes into Michigan real well, so once I point the quad down there, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
Have fun!
Dan KB6NU says
I agree. I did like the info sheet with the county map and list of county abbreviations.