See Paul's comments below. I agree with him that we need to get more
fixed and portable stations in more counties active in GQP, as well as
keeping up the level of mobile activity. No reason we shouldn't get all
159 counties QRV one of these years. 73, John.
GM John:
Read with interest you comments on the GQP. Times are important for the
reasons you stated.
However, the most important element of a state QSO Party is activity.
Throughout the year, when
I run across someone on the low bands in GA that I don't know, I inquire
about their county and
how much they could add to the GQP. One recently is W4OW in Seminole
county...big operator
on 160 and with lots of antennas on all bands. Knowing that we have the
second most counties in
the US only to Texas, it's hard to imagine, with past history, that all 159
would be activated. But, it
could be done of course. By myself, I can usually activate 25-30 counties
and with a driver that number
goes up to around 40+. Doing the math and some planning, only FOUR mobilers
could activate all 159.
When you and I get prepared for the FQP or CQP, we know it's pretty much a
done-deal that we will
get a sweep long before the contest ever starts....looking back over
activity in this years Texas party,
they did a great job on the 254 counties there. I worked 104 and missed a
bunch that were activated.
Anything is possible but it takes a little dedication and promotion. In the
days when you were a larger
part of the GQP, you did a yeoman's job of getting people on the air.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!
BTW, my email addresses are: n4pn at cox.net or pnewberry at farsmarketing.com
You have an extra "n" in your email below....
73, Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Laney" <k4bai at worldnet.att.net>
To: "secc" <secc at contesting.com>; "Paul Newberry N4PN" <n4pn at cox.net>;
"Southeastern DX Club" <SEDXC at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 9:09 AM
Subject: Times for the GQP
>> I can tell you the history of the times for the GQP, but not a good
>> reason for them. The GQP rules when the contest was rejuvenated in 1999
>> were take from the recently rejuvenated and very successful Fla QSO
>> Party rules. We took their times. They have since changed some of
>> their rules, but not maybe the times. I think the later start on Sat
>> was to allow for some work on that day and to allow for preparation of
>> the mobiles and transport to their start points. They moved their start
>> time on Sunday earlier than it had been to allow for more DX contacts.
>> Now, with the bad conditions in the mornings for DX on 15 and 20 and no
>> conditions on 10, it doesn't help much to start that early. But, if
>> there are to be any DX contacts on 15, the contest needs to start that
>> early. The past few years the first few hours on Sunday have been
>> unproductive for most of us.
>>
>> Anyway, the answer is that we took the FQP hours and adopted them
>> without rethinking. I'd favor an earlier start on Saturday to give us
>> DX QSOs possible and a later start on Sunday to allow for church.
>> However, I'd not like the see the ending time extended on Sunday. It
>> ends pretty late as it is and the mobiles and the operators need to get
>> back home and be ready for work Monday. Maybe if we wanted to keep the
>> 20 hour total time period, we could start two or three hours earlier on
>> Saturday and the same time later on Sunday?
>>
>> BTW, it might be helpful for someone to get Paul, N4PN, in on the
>> conversation. He is a big supporter of GQP and one of the more
>> enthusiastic contesters in GA right now. He is a member of SECC and
>> SEDXC, but I don't think he subscribes to either reflector. His e-mail
>> address is n4pn at cox.net.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> John, K4BAI.
>>
>>
|