2026 VERMONT QSO PARTY RESULTS

AN APOLOGY

I'm sure a few of you have noticed how late this report is. It normally is filed in May. Here it is finally coming out at the end of October, some 5 months later. I am a stickler for good customer service. That has not been demonstrated here. I should be fired. However, efforts to find a replacement with the skill base and available time and level of insanity needed to do the job have not borne fruit.

I will offer that I have no excuse. However, during these months I have been organizing HAM-CON, our Vermont Convention, operating in the ARRL DX Contest, vacationing in Nashville, attending Near-Fest in May and October, attending Dayton Hamvention, doing three park activations, mountaintopping in the VHF QSO Party in June and September, organizing and running our W1NVT Field Day, attending WRTC and vacationing in jolly old England and attending a couple of non-ham conventions. Oh, and somewhere in there, I had to move the RANV, HAM-CON, Hamclass and the VT QSO Party sites over to a new provider. I haven't exactly been lying around! I can also say that the 2026 Vermont QSO Party results, as late as they are, are still more timelier than the New England QSO Party, which is typically published after 11 months.

For patiently waiting, I'll toss in an extra two Vermont Maple Syrup awards to the 4th and 5th place outside Vermont finishers!

ON THE AIR

This may come as a complete shock, but solar conditions have been going down the dumper since last year. We are a good ways down the solar cycle, and it will only get worse as the years go by. I didn't seem to notice anything during the large pileups I had, but the total number of QSOs from Host Station W1NVT was down from 4000 to 3000 QSOs. Doesn't seem like much, until you figure that it is a 25% drop! And while the top ten outside Vermont stations did real well, the median number of QSOs was HALF was what it was last year. I handed out a ton of 20 QSO Certificates last year. This year, that is down to a more reasonable number. Not a good sign, but at least it is less work for me!

W1AW/1 ON FOR THE QSO PARTY

We set things up so that the W1AW/1 Vermont activation would occur during the Vermont QSO Party. Vermont stations had the option of operating W1AW/1 for the entire time, operating part of the time, or not operating W1AW/1 at all. We used careful scheduling to make sure we didn't have multiple instances of W1AW/1 on any one band/mode combination. At the host station, I spent 4 hours as W1AW/1, but focused more as being W1NVT since that is the club multiplier. A few others operated both their stations and W1AW/1. K1VMT, AA1SU, W2HDI and N1GB were exclusively W1AW/1. Stations outside Vermont picked up an additional 2 points for every W1AW/1 they worked, which helped pick up their scores a bit.

VERMONT LOG ANALYSIS

There were 27 Vermont stations submitting logs, counting the hidden W1AW/1 operators. Another 28 Vermont stations were on the air, but did not submit logs, for a total of 55 Vermont stations active at one time or another. We had 2 very active rovers who put many of Vermont's 14 counties on the air. All Vermont counties were seen in the logs. The drop in solar activity was certainly reflected in fewer operators on the air.

AC1RI  ORL    KB1OPD CHI/FN34    NB1O   ADD

K1HTJ  WAS    KC1GGA BEN         W1CGT  CHI/FN34

K1LJL  CHI    KC1KUW CHI         W1DWE  CHI/FN34

K1XB   CHI    KC1MMC CHI/FN34    W1KOK  ORA/FN33

KA1ZQX WNH    KC1NXH CHI/FN34    W1KR   WAS        

KB1LOT CHI    KC1QXL ORA         W1NGO  CHI

KB1MDC GRA    KC1WZN CHI/FN34    W1TAM  CHI

KB1NFQ BEN    N1WGU  WNH         W3AJL  FRA

KB1ODO RUT    N1ZIG  ORL	 WA1TBV BEN

                                 WV1DX  WNS

VERMONT COMPETITION

LOGGING

While there were less problems with logs, logging inaccuracies are still seen. For each QSO where we receive both logs, a comparison is made, looking at the callsigns, received reports, bands, modes and time. If the incorrect callsign is logged, that is a busted QSO. If the incorrect state is logged, that is miscopied information. The operator making the mistake loses the contact. But there are more complicated situations where there is a mismatch with the logged bands or modes or times. The software will tag this as "Not In Log" (NIL) and will remove the QSO from both stations. Where possible, a human (me) will review the mismatch and judge who made the error and adjust the QSOs accordingly. Examples of busted callsigns showed W1NV instead of W1NVT, K1VT instead of KE1VT, K1TB instead of K1IB and K1IP instead of KI1P. And we see many instances of the mix-up between WNH (Windham) and WNS (Windsor). Make sure you log the correct information!

A lot of QSOs had the wrong band or mode. I understand that most operators have their logging software control their radio and this type of mismatch should be a rare. Nonetheless, we see a lot of mismatches, resulting in lost QSOs and sometimes, lost multipliers. In the Vermont QSO Party, we only remove the QSO judged to be incorrect. In other contests, an additional penalty of one extra QSO is lost. Accuracy counts!

Some submissions contained inaccurate information which caused problems. The Vermont QSO Party uses specific abbreviations for the 14 Vermont counties. When the submitter uses unknown abbreviations for the sent or received location, or spells out the county name, or even misspells it, that triggers a mismatch, which must be adjudicated. Then there are those logs which include entries which are not clearly in Vermont. There is a bit of confusion on FT8 where our 5 possible grid squares are shared with other states. But the logs contained stations from all over the world. Going forward, there will likely be a penalty for this as it slows up the processing.

A few submissions have zero score and are classified as Checklogs. In one case, the submitted log contained no received location. This is required for a valid contact. In other cases, logs with 1 or 2 contacts had either miscopied information or were not in the corresponding log. This ended up removing the QSOs, leaving no valid QSOs in the log. I know all too well about Not-In-Log situations. I end up going back to ONE station, and 2 stations are talking back to me. I make it clear who I am talking to, to no avail.

Accurate logging when operating on ham radio is essential. Inaccurate logs will result in QSOs being removed, no matches in LOTW and no QSLs being issued.

OUTSIDE VERMONT LOG ANALYSIS

OUTSIDE VERMONT COMPETITION

AWARDS

HOW DO I GET BETTER?

Looking the results, it is clear that some participants work a lot of stations, while others work few. How do I get better? First, make sure you have a well performing antenna. While it would be nice to have a yagi on a tower, a high dipole will often produce good results. Remember, if you cannot hear them, you cannot work them. Be sure to be on the air during peak times of 1600-0200 UTC each day. If you are a Vermont station, spot yourself and call CQ a lot. If you are outside Vermont, watch the DX spots for Vermont stations and also tune up and down the bands to look for stations. During other times keep at eye on FT8 as there are Vermont stations who operate there. Make an effort to operate all three modes - phone, CW and digital. That will result in the most number of QSOs, points and multipliers. For those outside of Vermont, consider finding a place to operate from inside Vermont. There will be a lot more stations to work and you'll have a ball!

LOOKING AHEAD

As we head down the solar cycle, contacts will become harder to make, especially on 10 and 15 meters. Competitors will have to make use of the lower bands and have better antennas to hear weaker signals. With activity on phone, CW and digital, I'm sure you will be able to find activity. Consider learning CW - it gives you more points and access to a whole group of multipliers. If you have any ideas on how to improve the event, please let us know!

SOAPBOX

Knowing that I would not have a lot of time to dedicate to the event, so decided to make it fun with a new challenge (for me) by running 100% QRP CW. Thanks to all those with good ears and bands that were kind for my 135' wire doublet antenna. (N1SP-VT)

Had a great time, took it easy, but when calling CQ, got a surge for about 20 minutes. Unexpected, but happy. We always want to prove there are operators in VT! (K1MAZ-VT)

Used an indoor fan dipole and 90 Watts. (K2MN)

KX3 with gutter for antenna. (AA0CL)

Tnx for the Vermont QSO Party contacts. (W1QK)

There weren't a lot of stations on 40 meters for the close by states to work, like here in Connecticut. It was a good contest otherwise. (W4FMM)

Participated in several QSO parties in parallel. Our operators: VE3MNO, VE3LAF, VE3FFK (VE3RHQ)

I had fun, but I was less successful than I hoped. The VT activity was low, and unfortunately, I missed the low freq bands activity Friday night. Thanks for this good VT QSO opportunity. (WB8WUA)

This was another QRP MNQP gig run remote from Ramona. Despite a 48-hour contest, poor VT turnout did not allow us to make QSOs on 40, 80 & 160 meters from the west coast. Wassup with that? Despite the claim that we in California need to operate from the East coast, the REAL answer is for more VT stations to run CW/SSB. Lack of internet spots tell me that did not much happen. (WQ6X)
FROM CONTEST MANAGER: It would not feel like a proper Vermont QSO Party without bellyaching from WQ6X about lack of activity. It's an annual rite of passage. But from looking at your log, it appears you were only on for a few hours on Saturday. To do well, you need to operate more than that. N6MU from CA was in the top ten - he had no problems finding us. As far as lack of Vermont spots, I saw hundreds of Vermont spots all day long. Maybe DX spots from Vermont don't make it all the way out to CA??

Thanks for Vermont! Both stations were very patient with repeats. (KN6FKQ)

VT QSO Parties one of my favorites. Props into NE terrible here this weekend thus the miserable score. It was much easier when I lived in Mass. (NO2D)

Thanks everyone for another fun event. Again, I'm sorry for the delay in reporting the results. The 2027 version of the Vermont QSO Party will be February 6-7. Conditions will likely be worse than this past year. That means you should put up bigger and higher antennas! I'll see you in the SS, 160M, 10M and NAQP events in the coming months!


Vermont QSO Party
Updated: 10/30/2026