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Previous MNQP travels:  2013 MNQP   2014 MNQP   2015 MNQP   2016 MNQP   2017 MNQP   2018 MNQP
  2019 MNQP   2020 MNQP   2021 MNQP   2022 MNQP   2022 MNQP   2023 MNQP

We knocked out 4 counties in the Arrowhead. Beautiful country!

We pre-located to Grand Rapids, MN on Friday. A pleasant and unusally warm drive. We stayed at the Americinn in Grand Rapids. We dined right next door in the restaurant in the Timberlake Lodge. It is known as the Timberlake Restaurant. We thought it was a fine "Supper Club" experience!

We drove to our first spot for Itasca County and noted that there had been freezing fog overnight. Made the trees look pretty.

Here is the special QSL card we will send out this year. We make a small "limited edition" printing run.

We upload to LOTW. We build locations in each of the counties that we operate. We sign our logs as W9FZ, W9FZ/m, and as W9FZ/XXX. Looking in LOTW, of the 273 QSOs, I see 140 QSL'd QSOs. 61 to W9FZ, 69 to W9FZ/m, and 10 to W9FZ/XXX. (as of Feb 12, 2025)

Please know that we will gladly QSL any of our QSO's (and we'll probably send your SASE back to you).

                   MN QSO PARTY Summary Sheet       

    CallSign Used : W9FZ
      Operator(s) : W9FZ KA9VVQ

Operator Category : MULTI-OP Mobile
             Band : ALL
            Power : LOW
             Mode : SSB
 Default Exchange : JAN MN
     ARRL Section : MN
        Club/Team : Northern Lights Radio Society
 

        Band    QSOs     Pts   Mul
		  
        3.5        4       8
          7       19      38
         14      250     500   
		  
Total            273     546    66    36,036

            

Q's per county:

ITA 86
STL 37
LAK 52
COO 98

Our goals for MNQP are to have fun and see some of Minnesota that we have not seen before. We achieved that in abundance!

We appreciate every operator who finds us CQ'ing and works us. As the day proceeded, we would hear familiar callsigns as we were found multiple times by some operators. These multiple q's were 99 of our 273 QSOs. So we apparently worked 174 other stations just once.

2024 W9FZ/M Honor Roll
   
    4 contacts:  KA6BIM, W0BH
    3 contacts:  AB3AH, K0TRL, K8TE, VE3HZ, W3JJL, W8PI, WN4AFP
    2 contacts:  AA3R, AI0M, AJ4HP, K2WPM/P, K3WJV, K6DAV, K7SEN, K8BF, K8WGB, K9PW, 
                 KD2VZT, KE0DFA/M, KJ7OKW, KQ4LQL, KZ3P, LY5W, N0RDF, N4VZ, NS2N, NT4J, 
                 VA2KD, VA3PC, VE3RGO, VE9RLW, W0AMT, W2LC, W4KW, W8LYJ, WA2JQK, WA4JA, 
                WA4PGM, WA9DLB, WA9YI, WB9HFK, WW5L

You'll note that we log on paper. Once home after the contest, I load the log into N3FJP software to help me prepare the Cabrillo file and the .adifs to upload to LOTW.

This is Lake County. It was getting kinda dark when we got to Cook County so we didn't take any pictures there. At this Lake County spot, I had the headlights on and shut the car down for a bit less hash on the HF receiver. Well, when I went to start, barely a click on the solenoid. (We have a West Mountain Radio power conditioner that keeps the rig happy.) Fortunately, we had a portable battery with us to jump ourselves back to life. Lesson: don't leave headlamps on. Plus, we replaced the car's 4-year old battery when we got home.

After the QSO Party was over, we drove to Finland, MN where we dined at the Four Seasons Restaurant and Bar. It was ok. It was what we needed. Then we drove down to the Duluth area where we stayed at a Hampton Inn. We drove home to the cities on Monday morning.

Thanks to all the stations who found us and worked us.

If you would like a QSL card, just let us know.
See you in just under a year!
Bruce W9FZ and Janice KA9VVQ

BRUCE RICHARDSON
w9fz (at) w9fz.com

W9FZ/m 2024 Minnesota QSO Party Travelogue