On the weekend of April 30 and May 1, 2011 The Lake Amateur Radio Association  club station K4FC located at our club house in Leesburg ,Florida took part in the Florida QSO Party. This event is a radio contest where amateur stations outside of Florida contact as many stations in Florida that they can while also trying to work all  Florida Counties. Florida ham radio stations attempt to make contact with as many other amateur stations as possible both within the state and  any place outside of it.

 

    The event was spearheaded by Steve Schwab-KT4Q and Bob Thames-K3RT. Steve brought in his Yaesu FT 1000 MP MARK V , his contesting equipment and logging system.  This equipment was set up in one of the bays of our new radio console and hooked up  to the club beam and 40 meter dipole.

 

    Some of the other club members who took part in the Florida QSO Party were, Emil Vandevelde-WA2UPK. Steve Flynn-WA2ENT,  Paul Hemby-WN4AMO,  Levon Tomon-KT4LST and Ron Ruebush-KE4WBI.

 

    It was obvious that Steve - KT4Q was an avid contester and knew how to set up the station and logging system for fast operation. It had been over 10 years since Bob-K3RT has participated in a contest using Morse Code but it came back to him quickly.after just a few contacts. Then he copied at his old speed that gave him the reputation as a "hired gun" contester back in Maryland. Once the clock hit noon on Saturday they were off and running with very few wasted words. They kept the station humming for the full 20 hours. Time will tell how well they did in the contest

 

    Following are the results of the contest:

 

        Band        CW        SSB

 

            40          156        63

            20           288        350

            15              8          10

            10              5            1

            ________________

 

      Total            457           424    CW Mults = 70  Phone Mults. = 62       Total Score = 353,232

 

        Class: Multi/Single,Mixed Low Power ( 150 watts ) 

( L to R ) Steve Schwab-KT4Q and Bob Thames-K3RT getting the station ready for the Florida QSO Party.	They had a "ringer" with Emil Vandevelde-WA2UPK who was a past winner of the Florida QSO Party.	( L to R ) Bob Thames-K3RT at the microphone and Steve Schwab-KT4Q doing the logging.
( L to R )  Steve Flynn-WA2ENT , Steve Schwab-KT4Q and Bob Thames-K3RT making good use of the new radio console.	( L to R ) Levon Tomon-KT4LST and Emil Vandevelde-WA2UPK take their turn making contacts during the FL-QSO Party.