I had a great time working the Colorado QSO Party ham radio contest on Saturday.  This is your typical state QSO party where the rules favor working Colorado stations with an emphasis on activating Colorado counties.

I operated from our cabin located in the somewhat rare Park County, using my new FT-950. I am still getting used to the radio as it has more buttons and knobs than any other rig I have owned. I can tell that I am learning the radio as I was able to take more advantage of the contesting features.

Recently, I picked up a Heil Pro Set headset with the HC-4 mic element. I noticed that the serious contesters gravitate towards using a headset, logging computer and foot switch. This sets you up for a very focused operating setup with your hands on the keyboard and your foot pushing the transmit button. I was very pleased with how this worked out. I used N1MM software for logging and the antenna was a trap dipole in the trees.

I operated exclusively on phone as I don’t consider my CW skills up to the task of an HF contest. Maybe someday I’ll give that a try. Most of the time was spent on 20 Meters which produced contacts across North America. 40M was great for working stations around Colorado and picking up different counties.

Here’s my score:

 Band    QSOs    Pts  Sec   Mul
      7   81     162   30    1
     14  197     388   34    0
     21    8      26    2    0
    144    2       4    1    0
    420    2       4    1    0
  Total  290     584   68    1
Score: 40,296

Thanks to the Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association for sponsoring this event.

73, Bob K0NR