[CQ-Contest] Upcoming NAQP CW and SSB Contests

[Bruce Horn]

Hi,

As a reminder, the North American QSO Party CW and SSB contests are 
scheduled as follows:

CW:  1800Z, Aug 6 to 0600Z, Aug 7
SSB: 1800Z, Aug 20 to 0600Z, Aug 21

Complete rules can be found at:
http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php

Teams, consisting of up to 5 single operators, must be registered prior to 
the start of the contest using the web form available at:
CW:  http://www.ncjweb.com/cwnaqpteamreg.php
SSB: http://www.ncjweb.com/ssbnaqpteamreg.php

The start-of-the-contest deadline for team registration will be strictly 
enforced. Team members are not limited to a single geographic area or club 
membership.

The maximum power for all entry categories is 100W. Single op QRP entries 
are limited to 5W. Submitted logs that indicate "HIGH" power will be 
interpreted as representing the use of power greater than 100W and will be 
used as check logs.

Please submit your logs for either mode using the web form available at:
http://www.ncjweb.com/naqplogsubmit.php

You will receive an immediate detailed response of any problems found with 
the formatting of your log or a log summary/acknowledgement if everything 
is OK. The deadline for log submission is 14 days after the contest (CW: 
August 20, SSB: September 3). You may submit corrected logs via the web 
form up until the submission deadline.

Certificates will be distributed electronically in the form of full-color, 
print quality pdfs immediately upon completion of log checking. For those 
who are unable to receive or print the certificate, a certificate will be 
mailed.

How to increase your score:
1) be aware of the maximum operating time (10 hours) and off time rules for 
single ops. Periods of inactivity must be of at least 30 minutes duration 
to count as off time. Periods of less than 30 minutes are considered as 
operating time.

2) for all QSOs with North American stations, you must log the call, name 
and QTH (state/province/country) of the station you work. The QTH may be 
omitted for QSOs with stations outside of North America. "59" or some other 
signal report will not be considered a name.

3) be sure to log the correct band for each QSO, particularly if you use 
multiple radios or change bands often during the contest.

4) during the SSB contest, be sure you log the correct name. Many names 
sound similar on HF SSB: Ken/Kim/Kent, Joe/Joel, Dick/Mick/Vick, etc.

5) be familiar with the standard 2-letter postal abbreviations for US 
states and Canadian provinces. Although you don't have to use these 
abbreviations when specifying the QTH for a QSO, the use of a wrong 
abbreviation may result in an unintended QTH (e.g. use of AK for Arkansas, 
when AK=Alaska).

Have fun!

73 de Bruce, WA7BNM   (bhorn at hornucopia.com)