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Despite propagation conditions that remain in the doldrums, this weekend's 2009 Florida QSO Party is sure to stir up action on the HF Contest bands, as Ken Meier W8MJ takes aim at his seventh straight FQP win.
Meier's seventh overall triumph in 2008 came as the Florida QSO Party notched a record 826 logs, evidence that you don't need conditions from the best part of the solar cycle to have a successful ham radio contest.
Meier also has another notable record in the last eight Florida QSO parties, as he's swept all 67 counties in the state in each of those contest years. His 2008 sweep came just six hours and four minutes into the contest - more than two hours ahead of anyone else.
And don't think you can only make the sweep from the US or Canada, as Felipe Lopes CT1ILT showed everyone last year as he set a new DC score record on his way to an eighth place finish overall for stations outside of Florida.
The money band from Europe was 20 meters, as 15 meters produced little propagation across the Atlantic in 2008 - that may well be repeated in 2009.
As for the rules this year, "No major changes to the 2009 rules," reported Ron Wetjen WD4AHZ on the FQP reflector, adding there was a "slight change to the 40 meter CW mobile window."
That CW window for Florida mobiles is now a few kc higher between 7.025 and 7.035, while the SSB mobile frequency is now lower in the band between 7.180 and 7.190.
You can find all of the suggested mobile frequences on the Florida QSO Party home page.
The FQP has always seemingly had a very successful group of mobiles on the roads, and that may be especially true this year when you consider that gasoline prices are about half what they were for the 2008 contest!
As for propagation this year, the scoreboard on the sun only reinforces what we've been dealing with for awhile now, as April 2009 has not seen one sunspot as yet.
In fact, the sun has been spotless on almost 90% of the days of this year. If conditions stay that way the rest of 2009, it would be a worse year for sunspots than last, which set a record for fewest sunspots since 1913.
This reporter got a sweep in 2003 using only dipoles from Maryland, so don't think it's only something for the big guns!
In 2008, there were 34 sweeps registered, up from 28 a year earlier.
Charlie Wooten NF4A is the defending champ in the Single op mobile mixed category, as he had less than 1% errors in his log. Not bad for doing all the work with no driver!
