Tom Frenaye, K1KI writes:
Greetings!
The New England QSO Party is coming in just one month – the weekend of May 5-6 – and we’d sure appreciate it if you would spread the word within your club through your newsletter or at the next meeting and help us to encourage activity from Eastern Massachusetts. Last year we had 222 different stations from all Eastern Massachusetts counties on the air, and we’d like to have more activity this year.
The NEQP is a great way to test your antennas on 80-10 meters and to be the focus of a lot of activity as stations from around the world look for Eastern Massachusetts stations.
Here is a summary of the New England QSO Party rules:
Object: To contact as many New England stations (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) in as many New England counties as possible on 80-40-20-15-10m. (New England stations work anyone)
Date: First full weekend of May. (May 5-6 in 2012)
Contest Period: 2000Z Saturday until 0500Z Sunday (4pm EDT Saturday until 1am EDT Sunday) and 1300Z Sunday until 2400Z Sunday (9am EDT Sunday until 8pm EDT Sunday).
Categories: Single-operator high power, low power(150w or less) and QRP(5w or less) categories, plus multi-operator, single transmitter. Same four categories for mobiles. Single-operator stations using assistance during the contest (packet or Internet spotting nets, etc.) will compete in the multi-single category.
Contest Exchange: Send signal report and state/province (DX stations send signal report and “DX”). New England stations send signal report, county and state.
QSO Points: Count one point per phone QSO, two points per CW (includes digital modes)QSO.
Multiplier: Stations outside of New England use counties as multipliers for a total of 67 (CT/8 MA/14 ME/16 NH/10 RI/5 VT/14). New England stations use states(50)(Count DC as MD), Canadian provinces(14) and DXCC countries as multipliers.
Scoring: Total score is QSO points times the multiplier. Mobiles count QSO points per county and multipliers from all counties (counted once).
Suggested frequencies: CW – 3540 7035 14040 21040 28040, SSB – 3850 7280 14280 21380 28380. ** Now that the broadcast stations are mostly out of 7125-7200, try 7180 on 40m SSB.**
Reporting: Logs should indicate times in UTC, bands, modes, calls and required contest exchange. All stations include your club’s name in the log header or summary. Entries must be submitted within 30 days and sent to NEQP, P.O.Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 or via e-mail to logs@neqp.org (Cabrillo format preferred).
Awards: Certificates will be awarded to the top scorers (25 QSO minimum) in each New England county, U.S. state, Canadian province and DXCC country. A number of special plaques will also be awarded to top scorers.
Additional details can be found on the NEQP web site at http://www.neqp.org
See if you can have a competition within your club for the top scorer. Several Massachusetts clubs are challenging each other for the best club score.
We’re especially looking for mobile stations to put the rarest counties on the air. In Eastern Massachusetts, that’s Suffolk and Nantucket.
If you think you might be on for at least a short time in the NEQP, let us know with a brief message to us at info@neqp.org
Thanks!
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Tom/K1KI for the NEQP Committee
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New England QSO Party – http://www.neqp.org – May 5-6, 2012