I spent an hour in the South Carolina QSO Party yesterday. Ten contacts, all phone. The first time I’ve touched the microphone this year. Another non-serious effort on my part, I just wanted to make a few contacts and engage. In fact, it was sorta comical. The party was well underway by the time I decided to jump in. I had to find the microphone. I was pretty sure it was in a box in the garage. It wasn’t, I found it in a desk drawer.

Then I had to download and install an updated contest module from N3FJP. Following that, I visited the SCQP site to get the deets on the exchange and recommended frequencies. I was ill-prepared for sure, but that busy work only took 30 minutes and I was on the air. An hour later, I was done. It was a good way to spend a chilly Saturday. I can’t say enough good things about the N3FJP contest logging software. Easily one of the best investments I’ve ever made in amateur radio. I submitted my Cabrillo formatted results online before walking out of the shack.

I used the Elecraft K4 at 100 watts into a 17-foot ground mounted vertical on 14 MHz. 10 stations worked, 9 county multipliers, and a whopping 600 bonus points for working two of the three bonus stations for a claimed 780 points.

Thanks to the organizers and all the friendly SC operators for the enjoyable run!