WOW! Another successful Wisconsin QSO Party. In the twenty years that our West Allis Radio Amateur Club has sponsored WQP, I do not remember this much activity. I think I will call 1999 WQP "the year of the MOBILE STATIONS." 27 mobile stations took to the Wisconsin highways on March 14, passing through 67 counties. If no other stations had taken part in WQP 99, only the counties of Burnett, Douglas, Florence, Forest and Marinette would have been lacking a mobile station to talk with. Even better than that are the number of contacts that those 27 mobiles made. Their scores are amazing.

I try not to glorify specific stations, as WQP is a contest in which EACH STATION is important. However, I think this year I need to highlight some of the mobile accomplishments. Can you imagine doing 507 CW Qs, passing through 15 counties, while mobile, in just 7 hours. W9MSE did just that, while bettering his 98 score by 64% to a total 73410 points. Right on his tail was K9DAF, whose 390 CW QS and 13 counties bettered his 98 score by 52% to a total 53300 points. And right behind both of them was W9YQ with 296 CW Qs and 15 counties. The top three entries in Single Operator Mobile were CW ONLY entries. The best Single Operator Mobile increase in score was by KF0UK, who did 366% better. All this for WQP.

Multi operator mobiles followed the single operator leads. KJ9O crossed through 17 counties, with 445 QS (380 CW) to score 72025 points. NE9U bumped his 98 score up by 75% while hitting 16 counties. KS9WI was in 16 counties, N9VIB in 15 and K9LU in 10. Best increase in this category was K9LU, with a 133% increase over 98. The N9EZ team, from the multi multi category, repeated their 98 efforts with 24 counties and 703 Qs. And let us not forget our Technician mobile stations, such as N9SGG, who hit 13 counties with 202 Qs. ALL THE MOBILE ENTRIES should be proud of their efforts in 99 WQP - I am.

Comment after comment from the entrants for 99 WQP mentioned the mobile activity. Best way to sum it up is to quote the Soapbox comment made by K9DAF - "345 miles, 1.04 miles per contact, motor run time 6.5 hours and a 53 MPH average." All for WQP. Amazing. I take my hat off to each and every mobile operator. You sure did WQP proud. Mucho thanks.

The "multi fixed" categories did well too. The winner in the Multi Operator Fixed category, W9SF, did a real nice job with 78300 points, which represents a 45% increase in total category score over 1998. In the Multi Operator Multi Transmitter Fixed category, the winner W0AIH, did 204228 points, with 957 phone Qs and 345 CW Qs, which is a 123% increase over the 98 winning score. Our 98 winner, K9OT, bettered his 98 score by a whopping 65%. ND9Z bettered his 98 score by 69% and N9CK bettered his 98 score by 55%. Again all for WQP.

All of this activity with the overall level of entries decreasing. 1998 was our biggest year so far, with 248 total entries. 1999 only had 222 entries, with 146 Wisconsin entries and 76 from outside of Wisconsin. In 1998 we had 173 from within Wisconsin and 75 from outside the state. Canada was represented again by the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. Argentina was again represented by LU6EF. Of course there were many other states and countries in the logs of those who entered 99 WQP - they just stopped by to either give out contacts or to try and work one of the many counties that were on during 99 WQP. I cannot determine how many Wisconsin counties were on, because of missing data, but I can tell you this - superstation W0AIH worked 68 of Wisconsin's 72 counties.

As to records, W9MSE almost doubled his 98 score in the Single Operator Category. In the Multi Operator Mobile category, KJ9O takes the new record with his 72025 points, over the 98 record of 44774, held by AA9PB. N9EZ again bettered the Multi Operator Multi Transmitter category record with 109108 points. And the Single Operator Technician category has its record broken too. N9SGG scored 10944 to better the 98 record of 10715 held by KB9AMM. We do intend to place the standing records on our web site, as soon as we can get them all together.

We did have a lot of activity on the web site. A lot of entries used the WA1UJU logging program, as well as the entry forms. The negative side of this is what was missing. Part of a COMPLETE entry is the "part" that most entries did not include - the DATA. The COUNTIES-STATES-PROVINCES are needed. I have to go thru each log that does not include that information to make sure that what is claimed is what was worked. The WA1UJU logs do include that information. Down loading an entry form lacks the data unless you also include the rules sheet with the counties-states-provinces crossed off as worked.

One problem this year was assuming. Just because you put down a callsign and name does not mean I could read it. I spent a lot of time on the callbook site determining proper names and/or callsigns, so I could list them in the results. If you find errors, that is probably the reason - I could not read enough to be able to find what I needed. I also found a problem with clock times. I suggest you all use WWV at the start of the contest. Some log times were at least 10 minutes off of times shown in other cross-check logs. Mis-copied callsigns, another problem. It seems as more and more Qs are being made, I am seeing more and more of this. A correct entry includes the correct call. And lastly, I need to mention about club entries. In addition to the rule where all entries for a specific club need to be within 50 miles of the club except for mobile stations, I also need to know the CORRECT NAME OF THE CLUB, not some abbreviation or just a callsign. I do not know all the groups and it was quite bad this year. I hope I got all the entries into their correct clubs. One nice thing is that some of you included your Email address on your entries. I would encourage that.

In the CLUB COMPETITION, or should I say, the battle of the Wisconsin clubs, we had a change. Last years winner moved to 3rd position. Last years third place club came in second and last years second place club WON. Four Lakes Amateur Radio Club, scored 499189 points with 25 club entries. While this is not a record, it is a 5% improvement in the winning score of last year AND a 13% improvement in their 98 score. The standing record is 540,970 points, made by Greater Rice Lake Contest Club, in 1986. I believe this is the second time that FLARC won WQP Club Competition. Congratulations 25 FLARC'ers.

The OUT-OF-STATE winner of last year also lost, after winning for the last several years. Our 1999 plaque goes to WA3HAE, Keith Pederson, of Pennsylvania. He made 122 CW contacts and 99 phone contacts with 55 Wisconsin counties, for a score of 18865. (The record remains at 23085, held by K9OM of Illinois.) Congratulations Keith.

The plaque for the best SINGLE OPERATOR - FIXED goes to last years winner, Chad Kurszewski, WE9V. He made 219 CW Qs and 524 phone Qs with 111 multipliers, for a score of 107282, which is just below his last years score. He does hold the record for this category with 108677 points, his 98 WQP score. Congratulations Chad.

Before finishing, I want to mention something. As we all know, the FCC is doing a restructuring of amateur radio licensing. We suspect it will happen before the next WQP. Pending what happens, we suspect there will need to be changes in the WQP categories, at least. If you have some comments you want to make, please send them to me, either via mail to my home address (5436 Scenery Road, Waterford, WI 53185) or to my Email address (k9kr@powercom.net).

There is not much more I can 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; 27 mobile stations covering 67 counties; all resulting in a lot of participation. I am thankful for this participation. Without this participation, a lot of stations would not be getting their QSO totals. It is 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, 2000, good Lord willing.