Blast From the PAST: Hawaiian QSO Party (HQP)

2 0 1 1 - H Q P  (from Mt. Diablo)

HQP is an "interesting" QSO party;
as QSO Parties go.  Being in the
South Pacific, band opening times are different from other QSO parties. 

Just like the other 49 states, Hawaii is also segmented into counties.  The purpose of a QSO Party is to activate
as many counties as possible, during a relatively short period; although the 48 hour length of this GiG makes it the lengthiest of all state QSO parties.


During after-math "processing" of this years KQP event I took an insightful look into the past, recollecting the handful of HQP GiGs, many of which resulted in 2nd & 3rd place certificates.

It all began with a 2011 camping trip (powered by a pair of poorly-charged marine batteries) atop
Mt. Diablo, overlooking the SF bay, giving more-or-less direct access to the South Pacific.  I've run the All Asia contest from atop Mt. Abel in So. California several times; running HQP from atop Diablo was done in the same spirit.



During the time-period for the 2012 & 2013 HQP events, I happened to be running portable from
the Phoenix Lodge.  The point of those exercises was to demonstrate the viability of a 2nd-story operation using only an MFJ "Apartment antenna".  While it of course could not compare to a full-sized vertical, and was more-or-less pointing away from the South Pacific, somehow KH6/KH7
was heard and worked.

During 2014 - 2016, I was doing other things during HQP weekends.  In 2017 WQ6X found time to put a meager 28 QSOs in the HQP Log while working other QSO parties and YO DX contest remotely from NX6T in Fallbrook.

The BI-directional capability of the Stepp-IR allows working Hawaii as well as the N-E USA, on into Europe.  If a desired signal is marginal, the Stepp-IR can be pointed "directly" at that station, returning to BI-directional mode after
the QSO is snagged.


For 2019, the goal is to Dual-OP the multi-contest from W7AYT's QTH.
LooK for an upcoming BLOG entry describing what actually happened.

Do YOU ever play around in the Hawaiian QSO party?
How many Hawaiians are in YOUR LoG?