The 1999 Georga QSO Party

The 1999 GA QSO party took place on the weekend of July 31 and August 1. This years contest seemed to generate more activity than in past years. So I jumped in for the fun. Operating time was a bit limited as most of Saturday was lost. That was the due of my son, KB3BUR's baseball picnic. But Sunday was a different story. There was one thunderstorm that put me off the air for a bit more than an hour. It could have been worst.

This was one where I went for the low power route. I started out with 500 mWatts. Into GA that worked well. Most operators had no problem picking me out. All but one gave me a 599 signal report so of course thay had easy time hearing me - hi, hi. A few did complain of of bit of QRN. In the end I worked 86 QSO's in 63 counties with 66 of the QSO's being at 500 mWatts or less. In some cases I had to go to 5 Watts, and a some I just choose to do it. Not one QSO was lost for lack of power.

These state QSO parties are always fun as you sit and watch the mobiles drive around the state to give out a new county.