2007 Alabama QSO Party Post Game

By Jamie Dupree NS3T 

Months of preparation and promotion paid off this past weekend for the sponsors of the Alabama QSO Party, as a familiar callsign from a neighboring state took the early lead in the 2007 AQP.

Paul Newberry N4PN had planned to go mobile in a few counties in Alabama, but bad weather associated with Tropical Storm Barry caused him to stay home. Newberry not only flipped on the radio, but had the early clubhouse lead with over 24,000 points.

In second place from out of state was defending 2006 champ Hector "Joe" Kessell W2LHL.

The early in-state lead went to Tim Winniger KY5R, who made 954 contacts on SSB for a score of just over 90,000 points.

"The response on SSB was tremendous" said Wininger. "Very seldom did I not get a response from a CQ or QRZ for the first six hours. It was just a lot of fun."

Wininger said he tried to treat it more as an operating event rather than a contest.

"I couldn't have asked for much better except more sunspots. Put a lot of new HF operators in the log without the high paced rate driven style of a major contest. That's what seemed to fuel the QSO pool" said Wininger.

A good-sized group of mobiles also zipped around the state, providing plenty of contacts for stations outside of Alabama, led by KC4HW, who operated with the special call K4A and is in charge of the AQP.

"I have spent a lot of time at clubs (in Alabama) talking about just operating, making and enjoying contacts" said Johnson. "I really have tried to promote the AQP as an operating activity much like Field Day and not so much a contest."

"Several members of the Alabama Contest Group have been promoting this event to their local clubs this year" added Johnson. "I feel it is extremely important to get the local clubs involved in the AQP where possible."

Wininger KY5R gives a lot of the credit for the success of the AQP to Johnson. "Jim did a lot of footwork at the club level in Alabama, hawking the AQP to any club/group that would have him."

"Now we have to start strategizing for next year."

For more information, go to the Alabama QSO Party website.