[SECC] Announcement: BC QSO Party Next Weekend

[John T. Laney III]

Hi,

Rebecca VA7BEC, contest coordinator for the BCQP. I would like to update you on preparations for the 2012 event. If you know someone who might benefit from the content of this post but does not belong to this Yahoo! Group or does not check regularly, please forward the post.

If you belong to reflectors or other Yahoo! Groups, check online calendars on a regular basis, are members of contesting-oriented organizations, have connections to clubs in the Pacific Northwest or clubs organizing a QSO party on the Feb 4-5 weekend, and/or have access to the January/February issue of The Canadian Amateur (specifically, pages 53-54), then what follows may be old news to you.

Suffice it to say, the profile of the BCQP has never been higher. Some of you in the QSO Party Group have contributed to this heightened profile. My sincerest thanks to you all.

Here is what has happened since my last post to the Group back in November 2011.

* BCQP 2012 appears in more online and printed contest calendars than ever before, not only in Canada and the U.S. but in Japan and Germany as well. (Many of you in the Group generate calendars of your own and have included the BCQP. Thank you!)
* BCQP 2012 has been announced during nets, blogged about and tweeted. It is showing up in reflectors and Yahoo! Groups, some that I have posted to directly, some that have picked up the news from elsewhere.
* BCQP 2012 has appeared in amateur radio-related news feeds, largely thanks to RAC Bulletin links.
* The BCQP is the focus of a guest column in the January/February issues of The Canadian Amateur. Of course, I hope this will boost participation in BCQP 2012, but I think the article will raise awareness of and interest in other QSO parties, too.

Naturally, the participation of BC stations is crucial to the BCQP because, like the state QSO parties, out-of-province/state participation relies on local involvement.

Getting VE7/VA7s on the air was one of the most difficult challenges for the BCQP under the original sponsor and that is the main reason the other club gave it up. But for 2012, under the Orca DXCC banner, interest and awareness seems to be way up. I have heard from a number of BC clubs that they will form teams, not only to support the BCQP but to take advantage of the on-air opportunity to practice skills. Teams are not as likely as individuals to call it quits after 30 minutes. Greater on-air activity will raise Q potential for BC and non-BC stations, attract more participants overall and fuel the Q count, which will make CQing productive, which will draw more participants, which will expand the potential for more Qs... and on it goes. This is the snowball effect that the more well-established QSO parties have already achieved. I hope this year, BCQP will see this effect, too.

The heightened profile of the BCQP bodes well for this.

I know that most of the QSO Party Group is stateside and on the Canadian East Coast and, logistically, the state QSO parties and 10-10 International, and maybe the Mexican RTTY contest and the CW contests, too, are more inviting. But I would ask, if at all possible, please provide a reminder to members in your contesting groups or in updates for your own QSO parties if they take place the Feb 4-5 weekend so that participants are aware of the BCQP and be prepared to trade a QSO if necessary.

BCQP 2012 will run from 1600z Feb 4 to 0400z Feb 5.

> From outside BC, the exchange is RS(T) + state/province. And you will receive from BC stations a three-letter code representing the federal electoral district in BC. Rules and other details are available athttp://orcadxcc.org/bcqp.html  .

For participants in the QSO parties coinciding with the BCQP, trading a QSO may be a little cumbersome, but every contact in the log is appreciated, right? Moreover, a good showing for VE7/VA7s in the BCQP may encourage them to reciprocate when other QSO parties take place later in the year. It is a win-win situation for us all, no?

Good luck to those of you holding parties the Feb 4-5 weekend. Hope to work you. I will be on phone with the sponsor callsign  VA7ODX.

73,
Rebecca VA7BEC
Orca DXCC, Contest Coordinator, BCQP



------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*>  To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qsopartygroup/

<*>  Your email settings:
     Individual Email | Traditional

<*>  To change settings online go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qsopartygroup/join
     (Yahoo! ID required)

<*>  To change settings via email:
     qsopartygroup-digest at yahoogroups.com
     qsopartygroup-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com

<*>  To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     qsopartygroup-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*>  Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/