[CQ-Contest] QSO Parties

[w2lc at twcny.rr.com]

QSO Parties

I have been asked on several occasions to resurrect the New York QSO Party. Seems that there are a few people out there with good memories, that remember that the SUNY at Buffalo ARC sponsored the NYQP years ago, and that I did all the arrangements for a few years, as well as other UB Alumni before me. If I remember correctly RPI, Cornell and other NY school clubs also sponsored the NYQP over the years. I believe sponsorship was passed around from school to school for awhile.

So with that said comes the hard part, rules and a date for the NYQP. OK the rules seem pretty easy, since I basically copied the successful CQP and PAQP rules. Thanks guys. I took the easy way out, but put in a few of my own tweaks.

Now for the date. This is the hard part. Winter months are OUT. I live in upstate NY and it has a tendency to snow here, a lot, especially near Buffalo and Watertown along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. A fall date would be nice with the cooler weather and leaves changing. Maybe in the spring, but I see a lot of other state QSO parties then, and contest limiters like college graduations and high school graduations to contend with. Winter can still play havok here through the end of March or so. Some decent driving weather would be a big plus. I would have to avoid NY hamfests in the spring and maybe neighboring state hamfests. So a date in the fall is the option of choice.

Fall Dates/weekends that are definitely OUT:

CW Sprint Sept 6
ARRL Sept VHF QSO Party & SSB Sprint Sept 12-14
CQWW RTTY Sept 26-27
Stew Perry Oct 17-18
CQWW SSB Oct 24-25
ARRL SS CW Nov 7-8
ARRL SS SSB Nov 14-15
CQWW CW Nov 27-29

I think I got all the dates right. 

December thru March, too many contests in December, and usually too cold and snowy anyway

Fall dates that may be good in order of preference:

October 10-11, PAQP is this weekend
October 3-4, CQP is this weekend, and there is a local conflict on the 3rd
October 31 – November 1, a long shot - in between big contests
November 21-22 – maybe but probably not, too many other contests this month

There is the hazard of choosing a weekend already used by another good QSO party. Will it sit well with them? Or maybe more activity might be better for them too?

Anything else to be aware of?
I can think of a few like logging software/checking, sponsorship, etc...

My date choices are #1 October 10-11, #2 October 3-4, even though these are the PAQP and CQP weekends. 
So CQP and PAQP and other fellow contesters what do you think? 

Or should I just pretend no one ever asked me about doing the NYQP again? I might do this, so don't tell anyone. :)

Thanks, if responding directly please send responses to W2LC at twcny.rr.com

73 Scott W2LC