British Columbia QSO Party - 2021
Call: VA7ODX
Operator(s): VA7BEC VA7KO
Station: VA7ODX
Class: Multi-OpMixed HP
QTH:
Operating Time (hrs): 20
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs CW Mults Ph Mults
----------------------------------------
160: 9 3 9 3
80: 16 29 13 20
40: 52 18 34 19
20: 337 400 69 60
15: 69 85 32 38
10:
----------------------------------------
Total: 483 535 157 140 Total Score = 891,594
Club: Orca DX and Contest Club
Comments:
Normally, I have my 3830 post ready within a few days of BCQP ending. That was
not possible this year because I was so busy confirming receipt of BCQP logs.
Maybe it's time for a contest robot? But then, you'd all miss out on my
charming, personalized emails. LOL
And I’d miss out on all the lovely replies.
I think participation was up this year, especially on CW. Quite a few operators
did mixed mode, so they would periodically disappear from CW when they switched
to PH and vice versa. That might have created the impression that there were
fewer operators calling CQ at any given time. But overall, I believe the BC
presence was quite solid.
Some people who have posted to 3830 don't share this view. It's interesting to
read how some operators heard and were heard by a lot of BC stations and built
very nice-sized logs -- certainly larger than last year -- while others felt
there was a dearth of operators to contact.
Perceptions vary from station to station, of course. It's the whimsical, or
fickle?, nature of the propagation gods that make signals strong, clear,
armchair copy, are-you-in-my-driveway beautiful into one area and down in the
mud to another area, regardless of actually distance. But then, so many factors
are at play, from equipment and operator ears to CONDX, band + time of day and
good timing when a band opens.
I'm not sure if CONDX was all that much better than last year. Zero sunspots.
Horrible QSB. Major noise -- maybe just local, but hard to catch callsigns on
the first try. But stations near and far certainly persevered. Despite the
challenges, the depth of participation seems to have improved, or maybe it's
just that the regular crowd stayed in the chair for more hours?
I noticed some new BC callsigns in the mix, some calling CQ in little-activated
districts. A fabulous development that I hope is the beginning of a new trend.
But some of the regular participants, many of them multi-op teams at club
stations, weren't on the air. Undoubtedly a consequence of COVID-19 restrictions
on gatherings.
From my perspective at sponsor station VA7ODX and from what other BC operators
have told me, 10m was a blank, 15m had moments -– so, of course, it was a
matter of good timing to move to 15m at those moments -– and 20m was the
workhorse band. But for that reason, maybe, 20m was very crowded. I had a hard
time finding a place to run and running is what the sponsor station must do.
40m, 80m and 160m were, naturally, most productive in the evening. For CW
operators, Saturday evening activity was hindered by NA Sprint. But happily,
Sprint shifted to a 0300z start and ended an hour earlier than in the past which
gave BCQP participants an hour clear of Sprint mayhem to log some Qs on the low
bands.
I feel that BCQP 2021 was very well attended. As always, it would be nice to
have more BC stations on the air and calling CQ. It's a gradual process. I know
a number of regular participants who still aren't comfortable calling CQ. They
have good signals when they do S&P, at least when I hear them, but they
don't or won'’t or can't call CQ for whatever reason. As a result, it seems
like there aren’t many BC stations involved. That said, several times I looked
at the cluster, mostly to make sure that VA7ODX had not been busted. If it was
listed as VE7 or DOX, I would have moved. Anyway, I often saw several other BC
stations above and below. Great stuff! Makes S&P a lot easier and more fun
for everyone near and far. The CW OP saw the same on CW. A terrific development.
And obviously there were so many U.S. stations keen for a QSO. The State QSO
Party Challenge put BCQP in a very bright spotlight. People who used to only
focus on MNQP or maybe MNQP with a little VTQP on the side realized they would
benefit by responding to BC stations calling "CQ BCQP". A lot of
people did, achieving results perhaps beyond their expectations.
On numerous occasions, as I was looking for a running frequency, I came across
U.S. stations calling "BCQP. Looking for BC stations." A nice
strategy. It does have a downside -- the outside-BC station gets responses from
other stations outside BC, so no BCQP points. But it absolutely has an upside
-– BC stations that only do S&P will throw out their callsign and probably
a nice mult to boot.
QSO parties are typically casual events. They are a great entry point into more
competitive international weekend marathons because they allow participants to
become comfortable with equipment, learn how to call CQ and efficiently exchange
required information, and fine-tune operating strategies in a less stressful
on-air environment.
It was wonderful to hear so many familiar callsigns and to exchange a quick
hello amid the VA7ODX pileups. Let's all do this again next year -– Feb 5-6,
2022 -– and bring your friends to the party. The more, the merrier -– well,
actually, the more, the bigger the pileups. And that is absolutely more fun.
Stay safe. Stay well.
73
Rebecca VA7BEC
BCQP Contest Coordinator
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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