[CQ-Contest] Who Is the Oldest?

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

I have a certificate for winning the Western Pennsylvania section in the  
16th Pennsylvania QSO Party held in 1973.  It was then and now sponsored by  
the Nittany Amateur Radio Club, and I believe it has been a continuously 
running  party for all those years.
 
My first contest as a General (or maybe just the first after I got a VFO)  
was the New Jersey QSO Party in the summer of 1965. Sadly although this  
still goes on, it is a contest that should be put out of its misery.
 
73  -  Jim  K8MR
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/17/2009 7:43:34 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
hwardsil at gmail.com writes:

Such a  subject is sure to generate some discussion :-)  The specific 
subject is  "which state QSO party is the oldest?"  In the last issue of the 
Contest  Update (www.arrl.org/contest/update) I printed the claim of 
California's QSO  Party to being the oldest of the lot.  Subsequently, a question was  
raised about that - is the Pennsylvania QSO Party older?  I don't know -  
and possibly there are others with a claim to the title.

Now - let's be  sure we distinguish between "longest continuously running 
state QSO party" and  "first state QSO party".  I'd kinda like to know both.  
This year is  CQP's 45th running - that's pretty good!  Can any others 
match or exceed  that?  And when was the very first state QSO party, anyway, 
regardless of  activity since then?  And no regional or local contests - it has 
to be a  contest aimed at a single state (yes, territories are OK, too, you 
KL7's and  KH6's).

An interesting question - let the games begin!

73, Ward  N0AX
Editor - Contest  Update
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