[CQ-Contest] 2006 Pa QSO Party Plans

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

A couple of things to note about the Pennsylvania QSO Party:
 
1.  Last weekend 15 meters was open very nicely (on both days) to  California 
during the CQP. I suspect the band was also open further north, but  since it 
was not open from OR/WA to CA there was no W7 activity heard. So  left 
coasters, give 15 a try in PaQP.  Please try CQing to make some noise  so those of 
us back east might realize that the band is open.
 
2.  Unlike most state qso parties, PaQP uses ARRL sections, not  states, as 
multipliers. Therefore activity from places like EWA, WTX, and all of  
California will be especially appreciated!
 
3.  Last year, as seems to be the norm these days, 40 meter CW was  wrecked 
by RTTY contest activity in the early evening hours. It turns out that  the 
RTTY DX contest of the week is the German sponsored Markrothen RTTY  contest.  
This contest has an interesting twist: it runs in three  eight hour long 
segments. The second of these segments ends at 0000z Sunday.  Therefore if 40 meters 
seems to be a waste early, check after 0000z and the RTTY  QRM will likely 
have disappeared.  AFIK the RTTY Sprint (also Saturday  night) hangs out higher 
up in the band and its QRM is not an issue.
 
4.  The European CW Sprint is Saturday, which may make things on  20 CW 
rather confusing for the first few hours.  It may be a battle between  its activity 
migrating to the lower bands as that contest progresses and  improving NA - 
EU propagation later in the day.   But in any event the  EU sprint will be done 
at 2000z.
 
5.  PaQP runs from 1600z Saturday to 0500z Sunday, and then again  1300z to 
2200z Sunday.  I'll be out mobile as W3USA/M.  Hope to see  lots of you from PA!
 
 
73  -  Jim   K8MR