1998 Wisconsin QSO Party
Official Results

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GENERAL COMMENTS

A RECORD YEAR in more ways than one. We had a RECORD 248 entries. Best ever prior to that was 217 in 1996. This year, the 248 entries consisted of 173 from Wisconsin, compared with 147 last year. We also received 75 from out-of-state, compared with 69 last year. Canada was represented by the Provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan, and Argentina was represented by LU6EF. And that is only from the stations who sent in logs. It appears many other stations stopped by to either give out contacts, or to try and work one of the many counties that were on the air during WQP 98, but did not enter the competition.

We had FIVE category records broken and one tied:

1. In the Single Operator Fixed category, the old record of 89,600 points set in 1994 by KA9FOX
operating W0AIH, was smashed by our 1998 winner, WE9V, who scored 108,677 points.

2. In the Single Operator Mobile category, W9MSE trounced the previous record of 26,380 points
set in 1993 by W9OP. W9MSE came in with 44,638 points, all on CW while mobile in 9 different
counties. In fact, each of the top 3 entries in the Single Operator Mobile category all broke
the previous record, with the top 2 strictly CW-only entries.

3. In the Multi Operator Mobile category, the previous record was set by NZ9Z in 1991
with 24,118 points. The 1998 WQP winner in this category, AA9PB, broke that with
44,774 points.

4. In the Multi Operator Multi Transmitter Mobile category, held by N9EZ since 1997,
the record was for 76,966 points. This year they scored 102,110 points using N9KS
( N9EZ and N9KS are the same team - they alternate use of callsigns each year ).

5. In the Single Operator Technician category, KB9AMM scored 10,715 points.
The old record was held by N9NUN, who in 1993 scored 8,400 points

6. The remaining record that was tied, was the Out-of-State Highest Score, set by AC9C
in 1991, operating from Illinois, with a score of 23,085 points. This year, our
out-of-state winner K9OM, also scored the same 23,085 points and he also lives in llinois.

Another RECORD. 1998 WQP had 40 mobile station entries. In 1997 we only had 24. Those 40 mobiles traveled thru 51 Wisconsin counties. These same 40 mobiles were in 20 counties that did not have another station operating in it, based on the total entries we got. Of course there could have been stations on from those 20 counties that did not send in logs, but I bet most of those 20 would not be in your logs except for contacts from those 40 mobiles. To me thats what makes WQP what it is each year. Great efforts by the many mobiles, one of which was in 25 counties alone. I think that type of effort by all the mobiles is worth a big THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! Are the above results directly related to the change we made in the number of QSO's needed to qualify for the 500 bonus points in each county visited? Time will tell. I personally think the change helped a lot by increasing the total number of counties visited by the mobiles, and perhaps even in the total quantity of mobiles that participated in 1998 WQP.

One last RECORD - late entries. 1998 WQP resulted in the worst number of late entries I have ever seen since I started tabulating the results for WARAC. I am of the opinion that this is going to need attention in the WQP Committee's discussions before 1999 WQP. It is hard on me as I must constantly make revisions to the database. More important, it affects the results that you see published. It also delays the results being sent to Smoke Signals. We set a deadline for a reason. We need to have that deadline observed. Perhaps a solution is to hold to the postmark deadline and drop all late entries OR perhaps we should start deleting points from entries when they are late. Comments ?

Another area that turned out well was our web site, which had a lot of visits. Judging by the logs that were submitted, a lot of entries downloaded the entry/rules forms and/or the WA1UJU WQP computer program that is available there. It looks like perhaps 30% of the entries were submitted based on those two items. The site is visited via http://www.execpc.com/WARAC ( you need to capitalize WARAC or it will not get you there ). WQP results are also posted there.

Now for the festivities. Our plaque for the best SINGLE OPERATOR - FIXED station goes to Chad Kurszewski, WE9V. He operated at W9JA ( which is the former KS9K superstation ), making 205 CW contacts and 601 phone contacts, contacting 52 counties, 48 states and 7 provinces, for a score of 108,677. This is WQP's first single operator score over 100K. Congratulations Chad.

The plaque for the best OUT-OF-STATE entry goes to K9OM, Dick Van Zandt, from Illinois. He bettered his last years' winning record with 108 CW contacts and 189 phone contacts, contacting 57 Wisconsin counties, for a total of 23,085 points. Congratulation Dick. Another possible direct result of the many mobiles on the road during WQP?

The battle of the Wisconsin clubs. This year we had 28 clubs enter, versus 23 last year. Score totals were up this year, resulting in several clubs moving up several notches in the listing, as compared to their position last year. I think that is wonderful in that it shows the efforts that a number of clubs put forth trying to rally their membership to participate, which apparently worked. That is the spirit of WQP. Our plaque in the CLUB COMPETITION goes to Kettle Moraine Radio Amateur Club. Their 13 entries produced a very nice total of 474,800 points, which is getting close to our standing record of 540,970 points, scored by Badger Amateur Radio Society in 1984. Four Lakes ARC, last years top club, increased their score by over 100,000 points compared to last year, but only managed to come in second place. Their total of 440,701 points was accomplished with 30 entries, compared to 33 last year. I just wonder what 3 more entries would have produced?

There is not too much more to say except - WITHOUT ALL YOU GUYS AND GALS, THERE WOULD BE NO WISCONSIN QSO PARTY. Numerous stations stopping by to give out points, chasing counties, just seeing what is going on with all the activity, 40 mobile stations, covering as many as 52 counties, resulting in a lot of participation. I, for one, am thankful for all this participation. Without this participation, a lot of stations would not be getting their QSO totals. Perhaps next year we should acknowledge this participation as we WI stations talk with "them" during '99 WQP. Its all these efforts that keep WQP rolling along like it is - we think the best State QSO Party in the USA. See you on the second Sunday of March, 1999, good Lord willing.

Lynn Tamblyn, K9KR
for Wisconsin QSO Party Committee

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