[CQ-Contest] NAQP - it IS a serious contest

[Jim White, K4OJ]

I think the NAQP has finally cemented its presence by virtue of the 
tremendous amount of club activity - many radio clubs are using it for 
training purposes in prep for Sweepstakes, etc and the increased 
activity leveks allow the big guns to stay busy for their ten hours.

Because the exchange is simplistic it is perfect for training SO2R - and 
the higher activity levels allow those who do use SO2R to stay busy the 
whole time.

NAQP is a perfect marriage with station auotmation and with two rigs 
automatically tracking band changes in the software and making sure the 
correct antenna is attached to the rig a dit later a Q can be made on 
another band.

All this one takes is a sharp mind to keep focus and no TV QRM (January 
NFL playoffs are inavoidable) for the time to literally fly by... sure 
glad the Bucs performed their carnage on Sunday.

Congratulations to the proponents of NAQP who said be patient - looks 
like their time has indeed arrived - days when I could land in the Top 
Ten in this one simply by operating 10 hours are long gone!

How the heck do you guys get in the SO2R groove at the gitgo?  Seems 
like it takes a few hours before I sort things out and then I get a 
headache!

73,

Chuckie, K4OJ