May 20, 2025 - Results from the 2025 7QP posted (see Tab 2: "2025 Results"). Here are K4XU's thoughts on this year's 7QP:
The 2025 7QP will go down as having the worst HF conditions in years.
I was N7XU/m in Oregon. With a triband antenna on the fender and a 40m ham stick mag-mounted on the trunk, I thought we were set. But every time I checked 15m there were one or two weak ones and nothing on 10m.
A couple of early morning QSOs on 40m before everyone went to 20m. After
530 miles, we returned to the starting point in Bend. My driver, W7AM, went home to dinner. I changed antennas to a home brew 9 foot 20m on the mag mount and a 10 foot 40m or 13 foot 80m job with top hat on the fender. I drove 30 minutes up to the ORDES/JEF border and was rewarded with high rates on 40m and later on 80m too. In short, 372 contacts in
11 hours of mobile in motion and 280 QSOs in five hours on 40 and 80m while parked in three locations ORDES, JEF and CRO….
After reading the comments on 3830.com, this seems to be the conclusion of most and pretty much sums up the 7QP weekend: Poor conditions on the high bands and much better conditions on the lower bands after 01Z (6PM PDT), with some local QRN from storms. This is confirmed in the statistics provided by our score keeper, K2DI. Rather than show graphs and tables here, Bill has put together a tab called “More 2025 Info”, next to the 2025 Results tab. Almost anything you might want to know about this year’s 7QP is in there. Plus there is a complete listing of all call signs appearing in any log. This is the information that enables log and score checking.
Participation was down about 18% from 2024. This tracks the other three weekend QSO parties. It’s like playing football on a muddy field – it’s the same for everybody.
What can we do to improve 7QP for next year? More mobiles, we had just nine this year. We need more activity in the thinly populated states:
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Maybe with some help from the neighboring states to the east.
Anyway, it was fun. See you all next year …and thanks for your support of the 7QP!
Dick K4XU
Category Winners:
K5CM Non-7 Single-Op High Mixed
VE5MX Non-7 Single-Op High CW
W6AFA Non-7 Single-Op High Phone
KG9X Non-7 Single-Op Low Mixed
N6MU Non-7 Single-Op Low CW
KD5ILA Non-7 Single-Op Low Digital
K6GHA Non-7 Single-Op Low Phone
WQ6X Non-7 Single-Op QRP Mixed
KE0TT Non-7 Single-Op QRP CW
KN6OKY Non-7 Single-Op QRP Phone
AE1P Non-7 Multi-Single High
W9YH Non-7 Multi-Single Low
N6RO Non-7 Multi-Multi
KJ9C Non-7 Mobile Single-op Low Mixed
K1EP Non-7 Mobile Single-op Low CW
KA6BIM 7th Area Single-Op High Mixed
N7AT 7th Area Single-Op High CW
K7ZSD 7th Area Single-Op High Phone
W7CXX 7th Area Single-Op Low Mixed
WJ9B 7th Area Single-Op Low CW
K9SAT 7th Area Single-Op Low Digital
NF7E 7th Area Single-Op Low Phone
W7YAQ 7th Area Single-Op QRP Mixed
WY7N 7th Area Single-Op QRP CW
N7DX 7th Area Multi-Single High
N7T 7th Area Multi-Single Low
N7A 7th Area Multi-Multi
K7C 7th Area Single-County Expedition Single-Op
W7M 7th Area Single-County Expedition Multi-Single
N7N 7th Area Single-County Expedition Multi-Multi
K8TE 7th Area County-Line Expedition Single-Op
N7E 7th Area County-Line Expedition Multi-Single
K7KC 7th Area County-Line Expedition Multi-Multi
K7SHR 7th Area Open Expedition
K7JSG 7th Area Mobile Single-op Low Phone
N7XU 7th Area Mobile Multi-single Low CW
May 1, 2023 - "Self-Spotting" now allowed in 7QP.
In 2022 the ARRL changed their HF contesting guidelines to allow participants using SSB to spot themselves. Those of you who use a band map may have noted that while the CW end of the band is full of spots, the SSB end is nearly empty. This rule change will surely put spots in the phone bands.
If you are using N1MM for logging, put your call in the log pane and hit alt-P. Or you can put the {spotme} macro in a function key. You can even add a note to show your county. A similar feature is available on other loggers like N3FJP. This should change the way SSB is played and can be a real asset to low power stations in rare counties.
April 20, 2021 - We've updated our Rules to confirm that WSJT digital modes are not allowed, since they don't support the 7QP exchange. | 