[SECC] California QSO Party This Weekend

[John Laney]

Hello all:

This is a reminder that the annual California QSO Party this weekend is 
a lot of fun and that there is a club aggregate score competition.  I 
know the ACG is encouraging their members to submit scores and I hope 
SECC can win it this year.  We have been second several times in the 
past.  Often big competition comes from CCO (Ontario) and TCG 
(Tennessee).  The club competition rule reads as follows:  "Club 
Competition is encouraged.  Club members can submit their logs for the 
club competition by entering the club name in the Cabrillo file 'club' 
field.  A Club is defined by the ARRL competition rules.  NCCC, SCCC, 
NCDXC, and SCDXC are not eligible in the club competition."  They give a 
certificate for top CA club and top club outside CA.

The ARRL rule means that the ARRL club circle applies for eligibility to 
submit score.  When you put the club name in the Cabrillo header put it 
exactly as:  "South East Contest Club."

Naturally, the higher power you legally run and the more modes and babds 
you operate, and the more time you put in, the more points you 
accumulate for yourself and for the club.

Quick summary of the rules:  Times:   1600 UTC Sat to 2200 UTC Sunday 
(noon Sat to 6 PM Sun EDT).  Work each station once on CW and one on 
Phone (SSB or FM) on each band 160-2M).  Phone QSOs are 2 points each 
and CW QSOs are 3 points each.  There are 58 counties in CA, so that is 
your maximum multiplier.  Exchange for us is serial # and state.  For CA 
stations, it is # and county abbreviation. There is an official list of 
county abbreviations on the CQP web site.

Power Categories are:  HP (over 200W).  LP (up to 200W).  QRP (up to 5W).

Maxmium operating hours for single ops is 24.  Minimum off times are 15 
minutes.

No spotting net, packet cluster, or skimmer assistance is permitted for 
single ops.  But, those who wish to use such assistance may enter as 
multi-single and may operate the whole 30 hours.

Suggested frequencies:  CW:  1815 nd 40 kHz up from lower band edges. 
Phone:  1845, 3850, 7230, 14250, 21300, 28450.  Try CW on the half hour, 
160M at 05Z, and 80/75M at 03 and 07Z.  On open bands, you will find CA 
stations scattered out across the bands, with perhaps a concentration 
around the suggested frequencies.  Don't forget to look down in the 
Extra class bands a bit if you have privileges there.  There will 
probably be a few mobiles and you can work them in each county as a new 
station.  But, this is really a fixed station and a group/club station 
contest from CA.  When you aren't finding new stations to call by S & P, 
pick out a clear frequency and call CQ California (or on CW, CQ CA or CQ 
CAL).   You will get a lot of calls from CA guys who don't have 
commanding signals to hold a frequency with or who are a bit shy to CQ 
themselves all the time.  Try this even if you are LP or QRP and the 
band is open good.  I recommend that if you call CQ CA on CW that you 
send "/GA" or "/yourstate" at the end of your call to try to discourage 
callers from states other than CA.  (When such non-CA stations call 
anyway, be couteous to them. You can give them a quick RST and your 
state.  Maybe they need your state for some award and maybe they will be 
back for GQP in April.

The log submission deadline is October 31.  However, don't wait, as it 
is easy to forget if you don't submit your log promptly.

The top 20 non-CA stations will receive a personalized bottle of NCCC 
Private Reserve California Wine.  I look forward to my bottle every year.

This is a busy weekend for us this year, so some of the rest of you may 
be competing for my bottle of wine, but I will be as active as other 
commitments will allow.  I will spend some time at church Sunday and 
with the family otherwise.

Have fun and make a lot of CA QSOs!  73, John, K4BAI.