[CQ-Contest] 45th Annual PA QSO Party October 12th & 13th

[Ron Notarius WN3VAW]

Well, once you've whetted your appetite with California and some of the
"johnny come lately's"...

The 45th Annual Pennsylvania QSO Party, sponsored by the Nittany Amatuer
Radio Club, will take place October 12th & 13th.  Look for activity from all
67 PA counties; from an assortment of portables, mobile & rover stations;
from special event stations; and from stations sitting on county lines.

Complete rules and entry forms can be found at
http://www.nittany-arc.org/parules.html

For those who want to read further, some of the highlights:

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OPERATING PERIODS - 1600Z October 12 to 0500Z October 13 and 1300Z October
13 to 2200Z October 13, 2002 -- yes, there is an 8 hour overnight break!
FREQUENCIES:  SSB: 1850, 3980, 7280, 14280, 21380, 28310, 50.125, 146.55
(12,17,30 meter QSOs NOT permitted.)
CW: 40 KHz up from the bottom and 1810 KHz.
160 METERS - Try at 0300Z Sunday. Follow 160 Band Plan, CW - 1.800-1.830,
SSB - above 1.850
TECH & TECH PLUS: 28310, 50.125, 146.55
MOBILE WINDOW - 5 KHz below listed frequencies. KEEP CLEAR FOR WEAK MOBILES.

SPECIAL HIGH BAND ACTIVITY PERIODS - Saturday & Sunday: 10m - 1800z, 15m -
1900z, 20m - 2000z

SSB on the hour, CW on the half hour!! (Great way to increase your
multipliers!!)

EXCHANGES - Sequential SERIAL NUMBER plus COUNTY or ARRL or Radio
Association of Canada (RAC) section. Stations on county lines will give out
ONE serial number per contact but all counties may be counted as
multipliers. Work stations once per band and once per mode. Work mobiles and
Rovers again as they change counties.
SCORING
QSO POINTS - CW QSOs on 160 and 80 - 2 points, Other CW QSOs - 1.5 points,
SSB/FM QSOs - 1 point

MULTIPLIERS
Pennsylvania Stations: ARRL sections + RAC sections + PA Counties + 1 for
DX. (152 total)
Out-of-State Stations: Pennsylvania Counties (67 total)
FINAL SCORE - Total Points X Total Multipliers
QRP BONUS MULTIPLIER - Multiply your final score by 2 if less than 5 watts
output.
NOVICE/TECH BONUS MULTIPLIER - Multiply your final score by 3 if a Novice or
Tech.
PA MOBILE BONUS POINTS - If mobile, add 500 points for each county operated
from (10 QSOs Minimum).
PA ROVERS BONUS POINTS - Add 500 points for every location operated from (10
QSOs Minimum).
SPECIAL EVENT STATION - Each year, a different Pennsylvania Club will set up
and operate a special event station as part of the contest. The Frankford
Radio Club (FRC), W3FRC, is this year's special event station. This
operation is a part the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the
founding of the FRC.  Add 200 points to your final score for each QSO with
W3FRC after all other bonuses have been taken.

ENTRY DIVISIONS - Single op medium power (150W), Single op QRO, QRP (5W); CW
ONLY (single op, 150 watts max); Multi-single, Multi-multi, Portable (single
op or multi-single only), Novice/Technician, Mobile, Rover. NOTE: QRP is
defined as all contacts on any radio running 5 W or less. NOTE: Single ops
and multi-single - ONLY ONE SIGNAL on air at one time!

AWARDS - Plaques to top scores in all entry divisions plus single op
out-of-state plaque for winner in Eastern, Central, and Western Time zones,
single op med & high power EPA, single op med & high power WPA, plus others
as warranted. Plaque to top Canadian entry. Certificates to county and
section winners. Trophy to Club winner. (Plaque in "Rover" and Canadian
division if enough entries). Out-of-State Medium Power & OOS QRP plaques.
Anyone who makes 100 QSOs during the Party is eligible for a handsome PA QSO
Party Coffee Mug personalized with your call. To order, include your log
showing 100 or more QSOs and a check for $15.00 made payable to "NARC".
SPECIAL PLAQUE FOR WORKING ALL 67 COUNTIES
SPECIAL PLAQUE FOR TOP FIRST TIME ENTRANT - Intended to encourage new
contesters, a plaque will be awarded to the top single operator entry from
Pennsylvania who enters the Party for the first time. If you got your feet
wet logging or operating briefly at a multi-op station you're still
eligible. Attention Clubs , encourage your new members to get on and compete
for this handsome plaque. This is not intended for "Big Guns" from other
Contests!

LOGS AND DUPE SHEETS - Logs and dupe sheets must be submitted with an
official summary form or reasonable facsimile. 100 points will be deducted
for each dupe found. The summary sheet can be downloaded from the web site.
SEND LOGS by Nov. 16, 2002 to: PA QSO Party 2002, c/o Nittany Amateur Radio
Club, P.O. Box 614, State College, PA 16804-0614.  A DONATION of $2.00 or
more with your entry will help defray the costs of mailing, printing, etc.
and would be greatly appreciated. PLEASE NO SASEs - they only get lost.

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...and look for me during the contest weekend.  Due to some scheduling
concerns, I still don't know if I will be operating my home station,
portable from a nearby county, or helping my club out with one of our two
club stations, N3SH/3 Clarion/Forest County Line, or WA3SH/3
Westmoreland/Somerset County Line.

Disclaimer:  I am not now a member of the Nittany ARC and/or the Pa QSO
Party committee, just an active participant.  And I promise to not follow
the example of the QSO Party of the State of Chads (that's "chad" as in
paper ballots, not the DXCC entity) by innundating the reflector with daily
posts, probably just a reminder next week and one last one right before the
contest.

73, ron wn3vaw

"And they give you cash,
which is just as good as money!"
Yogi Berra, AFLAC Commercial, 2002