John is absolutely on the money! I would like to add a couple of thoughts to
his post.
Promotion and Participation
One, I think that the plaque program, especially last year, brought in a lot
of participants.
Out of the 36 categories 33 offered a plaque to the winner and 3 categories
were offered
a certificate! Everybody would like a plaque over a certificate! Surely we
can get a sponsor
for three more plaques. Does any other QSO Party offer plaques to ALL the
category winners?
Promote the fact that the GQP is the contest that honors the winners with a
plaque.
Along with the plaque program the prize program can be expanded. I will
offer a super prize
this year to be announced later if the "prize manager" gives his ok. I will
try to get this approved
by the end of the year if I can find out who is doing that now.
Two, I noticed that the SECC web site has changed a little. There is no
mention or link to the GQP
on the home page. How about a nice banner promoting the GQP on the home
page. That is the first
page anyone gets when they visit the site. Most organizations that support a
state QSO party will
have something on their web site's home page about their QSO Party, even if
it is just a banner.
Maybe the SEDXC can do the same since they are a co-sponsor.
Three, It would be nice if there was an insert to include with outgoing QSL
cards (individual and club)
that promote the GQP and list the categories. DX stations do participate in
GQP and they really love
those plaques (right Mike?). I would like to see more DX participation and
the plaques and prizes are
as good an incentive for the DX as it for the K/VE stations. If anyone knows
of overseas email reflectors
it would be helpful to post something on them as well as state side. I will
email last years winner in the
Low Power CW DX category and ask him if he will do some posting for us. He
may not like to add to the
competition though.
John, you send out a lot of QSL cards. Would it be too much trouble to add
an insert to each envelope?
This could be a year round thing.
Last, if you belong to a local club, or any club for that matter, talk up
the GQP. Two years ago the winner of
the in-state club plaque was a one log entry! A local club with
some participation from it's members could win a
plaque! I will be working on my local club members again this year. I
hopefully will be wearing them down!
It all starts here so lets hear YOUR ideas. It seems to always be the same
people who post their opinions and
desires on the reflector. Surely there are SECC members out there who have
some good ideas. Most
important, participation in some way by everyone who wants a successful GQP.
And I'm sure that Mike would
love to have a whole bunch more logs to score. Gee, it might even take him 6
weeks to do it this year. ;-)
K4PIC
p.s. There is a hamfest in Greenwood, SC on January 12. If I can get some
flyers I will be glad to hand them out
to our SC neighbors. I sure that the vendors would let me place some on
their tables.
On Dec 7, 2007 2:53 PM, John Laney <k4bai at worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> Hello all:
>
> Probably we should have some more organized promotion of the Georgia QSO
> Party than we have had in recent years. There are four areas that I
> used to promote the GQP in the 1960s through the 1980s when it was quite
> successful without tremendous mobile participation, which has been the
> heart of since the 1999 revival.
>
> 1. Hamfest flyer promotion. Handing out and making available at booths
> flyers for the upcoming GQP. Certainly the Kennehoochee hamfest takes
> place before GQP, as it is in March. There may be one or two others.
> We should have some promotinal flyers available and in the hands of club
> attendees to be handed out as we meet people there and there should be a
> stack of them at the SEDXC table.
>
> 2. On-the-air promotion. This can only be organized by announcements
> on nets. A brief, enthusiastic announcement to be made on local 2M nets
> and on 75/80M traffic and emergency and ragchew nets can be very
> effective. I used to be active on all of the 75M nets, but am not any
> more. I can certainly send out a "QNC" (all net stations copy) message
> on the GSN and GTN CW nets in the weeks before the contest. Do we have
> any members who could do the same for the Ga SSB net, the GA Tfc and
> Emergency Net, the Ga Cracker Net, the Georgia Traffic Net (SSB), and
> other 75M nets? Same for large metropolitan 2M nets? I guess I could
> do it on the Sunday morning (only) Cracker net of which I am still a
> member after almost 53 years. Otherwise, everyone should talk it up on
> the air, particularly with other GA stations.
>
> 3. I used to send personal letters to hams that I knew had stations and
> could be on the air from counties that were not usually represented in
> GQP. I don't think this is necessary and the cost of such letters is
> much greater than in the past. A few well chosen letters might help. I
> even got K4EWG on for a GQP once. In place of letters, we could have
> some e-mails sent on a personal basis. Jeff, KU8E, and I have done a
> bit of this in the past. You have to be careful in sending out e-mails
> to a list as your server may limit the number of addressees. Probably
> NE4S could provide a list of calls of stations in state and out of state
> that have participated in GQPs for which he has records. We could try
> to get their current e-mail addresses off QRZ.COM <http://qrz.com/> or
> other such data
> bases and send out e-mails reminding of the current GQP, any rule
> changes, any known mobile or portable operations, special awards, etc.
> and encouraging participation.
>
> 4. I used to have a short version of the rules (usually prepared for
> the ARRL Contest Corral, which no longer summarizes rules of contests)
> that I would insert in envelopes with QSLs or other correspondence going
> to GA and non-GA hams for months before the GQP. As a QSL manager and
> active ham, I send out a lot of envelopes to other hams and inclusion of
> a GQP flyer would be very little trouble and might help activity. Other
> QSL managers (N4XP and other DXers) could do the same once we have a
> short version of the rules that could be dowloaded and printed.
>
> We have tried to get out information to all the clubs in the state in
> past years based on a list kept by Susan, AF4FO, the GA SM. This should
> continue. Most clubs have shown very little interest, but it is
> possible that this has gotten word out to some individual club members
> that has helped participation.
>
> Of course, we need to continue to encourage mobile participation from
> hams inside and outside GA. Outside GA hams should be encouraged to
> come to GA and give out counties. This year, we might actually get
> activity from all 159 counties. Last year we came very close to that
> goal.
>
> Anyone who can help with any phase of the promotion campaign should let
> Mike, NE4S, know and should post it and any other ideas to the reflectors.
>
> Happy holidays to all. 73, John, K4BAI.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> SECC mailing list
> SECC at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/secc
>
--
K4PIC celebrating 50 years in amateur radio! June 1957 to June 2007.
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