Several members of the Tennessee Valley DX Association took part in the 2022 running of the Tennessee QSO Party, an annual contest sponsored by the Tennessee Contest Group (TCG). This year Mark K0EJ offered his contest station as our operating site, letting us set up multiple stations as we do for Field Day — but with the advantage of his big antennas, high atop Mowbray Mountain.
A QSO Party is a specialty contest sponsored by an organization within a state or region to activate counties that may not normally see much amateur radio activity. These counties are highly sought by awards chasers.
We entered the multi-operator, multi-transmitter, fixed-station, high-power category. Our operators were Gary K4VIG, Bill W4XK, Billy KE4CMA, Paul WA4AA, Mark K0EJ, and Ted W4NZ, operating under the W4NZ call — which means dealing with all the QSL cards asking for Hamilton County! Greg WA4NFO came by to watch the fire drill as we readied things for the 2:00 PM Sunday start.
Stations & Antennas
| Station | Provided By | Radio + Amplifier |
|---|---|---|
| Station 1 | K0EJ | FlexRadio 6600M + Alpha amplifier |
| Station 2 | W4NZ | FlexRadio 6600M + Ten-Tec Titan amplifier (by K0EJ) |
| Station 3 | W4NZ | Elecraft K3 (low power, no amp) |
The antenna farm at K0EJ's is extensive: a 160m inverted-L (~80 ft vertical over many radials); 80m half-sloper off the 20m tower plus an 80m 4-square; on the 40m tower, a 3-element Force 12 yagi at 85 ft and a rotary dipole at ~50 ft; for 20m, a 5-element yagi at 90 ft over a second 5-element at 45 ft fixed NE; for 15m, a 5-element at 75 ft over a second 5-element at ~37 ft fixed NE; for 10m, three 6-element yagis stacked at 90/60/30 ft (top rotatable, lower two fixed NE); and a Bencher triband yagi for 10/15/20m on its own 40-ft tower.
Each station had a computer for rig control and logging with N1MM Logger+, networked through a local wireless router.
Band & Mode Summary
| Band | Mode | QSOs | Mults |
|---|---|---|---|
| 160m | CW | 51 | 33 |
| 80m | CW | 157 | 57 |
| 80m | SSB | 90 | 15 |
| 40m | CW | 238 | 29 |
| 40m | SSB | 374 | 38 |
| 20m | CW | 169 | 49 |
| 20m | SSB | 182 | 15 |
| 15m | CW | 28 | 15 |
| 10m | CW | 2 | 2 |
| 2m | FM | 2 | 1 |
| Totals | 1,293 | 254 |
1,293 QSOs · 254 multipliers · multi-op, multi-transmitter, high power
Estimated score was 3,879 × 254 multipliers = 985,666 before bonus, plus 400 points for four QSOs with the K4TCG bonus station.
During the party we contacted 73 Tennessee stations across 35 of the state's 95 counties. We also worked 48 states (missing only Hawaii), 5 DXCC entities, and 7 of the 13 Canadian provinces (AB, BC, NB, NS, ON, QC, SK).
| Tennessee | 73 TN stations across 35 of 95 counties |
| U.S. states | 48 — missed only HI |
| Canada & DX | 7 provinces, 5 DXCC entities |
| Bonus | 4 QSOs with K4TCG = 400 pts |
Photo highlights: the towers on Mowbray Mountain and the crew at all three stations. See the full photo gallery →
About the Tennessee QSO Party
The TQP is held on a Sunday in September and is sponsored by the Tennessee Contest Group (TCG). See the TVDXA TQP event page or visit tnqp.org.