[CQ-Contest] QSO Parties

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/4/99 10:52:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
utahfolk at konnections.com writes:

> 
>  I don't want to start a thread here ... just toss out a couple of ideas
>  and
>  see if someone wiser than I can formulate a better contest ....
>  
>  Except for a few, these (State) QSO PARTIES ARE A WASTE OF TIME!
>  


etc.

Hey Dave, 

Are you bummed out that you aren't in Box Elder County and therefore can't be 
the hunted in the Box Elder County Utah QSO Party this weekend?   ;-)

(BTW, has everyone checked out those rules?  They are a hoot.  I still 
haven't quite figured out Net Control Operator points.)

State QSO parties certainly are not the be-all/end-all of contesting, but 
they do have a place.  I find them a good way to hack around at the radio 
among all the usual weekend tasks and projects;  sit down and operate for 
five or ten minutes, then go do something useful for half an hour.  In that 
time the mobile expeditions have moved onto a new county, and maybe another 
home station or two shows up.

Three things absolutely necessary for a successful state QSO party:  

    1.  Good promotion within the state.  The PA and CA guys are the best at 
this,  turning out lots of otherwise inactive or semi-active contesters.

     2.  Some well organized mobile operations, preferably enough to make a 
"clean sweep" possible.  (This assumes enough counties to make it all 
worthwhile - sorry Delaware, with your three counties).

     3.  A time frame appropriate for the activity.  I think the single day, 
12 hour format for a state the size of Michigan was ideal. California can 
justify 20 hours out of 30.  I suspect 24 hours will be a tad long for Box 
Elder County Utah.

	Simultaneous QSO parties for several states would be great, but there 
is a computer problem:  the major logging programs only run one contest at a 
time, so switching contests requires dumping out of the program and 
restarting with the other contest.  I have avoided working guys in the 
Illinois party because my computer was doing the PA party at the same time.  
Any solutions out there?

	See you all in the BECUQP this weekend   ;-)    !!

Jim   K8MR



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