[ILQSO] 2003 ILQP

[Peter E. Beedlow]

Congratulations to the RAMS organization for sponsoring another
well-attended Illinois QSO Party, it seems as though there is more and more
activity every year. However I do have some comments and suggestions that
hopefully will help make the ILQP the premier state QSO party in the nation.

There are some issues I feel need to be addressed in the current rule
structure, one of them is county line operations.  In looking at some of the
other state QSO parties there are some interesting rules regarding county
line operations. The Texas QSO Party rules say "NOTE: If a Texas Mobile
and/or a Portable Station is on a County Line or Junction between 2 or more
Texas Counties - A SEPARATE QSO AND EXCHANGE MUST BE MADE AND LOGGED FOR
EACH COUNTY LISTED AS WORKED. You can't count or log a QSO that you didn't
make!" Florida's rules state "Florida stations on a county line may be
claimed as a QSO and a multiplier from each county (2 QSO's and 2
multipliers). County lines, whether land or water, are defined as per
"County Hunter" rules. And the Wisconsin rules state "Mobiles cannot sit on
a county line." But interestingly enough their rules don't mention anything
about portable stations operating from county lines. But that is a March
contest and well we're close enough to Wisconsin to know what March weather
can be like!

Is it really equitable for a station to operate from a multiple county line
and claim two, three or four contact points for making a single contact? If
everyone could have a multi-county line to operate from it might be.........
Or is the existing point structure considered a bonus for those willing to
do a Field Day operation during the ILQP?

Another issue is the additional multiplier for working any Illinois county
eight times. As it was so nicely pointed out on the reflector a few days ago
by Chuck, KI9A, if a few people collaborated before the contest they could
easily build a huge score with very little effort so I won't belabor that
topic.

And the eight county multiplier issue leads into log submissions. Under the
current rule structure it takes a considerable of time and effort to build a
log for submission. It's ironic that it only takes minutes after a 48-hour
contest to have a log ready and submitted to the sponsoring organization and
it takes 48, well OK, a number of hours, to get a log ready after an eight
hour QSO party. And why no e-mail submissions?

Mobile operation-A year ago I commented on my feelings about the mobile
category. I still feel that a mobile is a mobile, and the wheels should keep
turning.

Contest starting and ending times-consider changing the starting to Noon
local (1700 UTC) and then ending eight hours later.

Alright I've vented about some of the major issues I feel need to be
addressed, but I'm also willing to offer some suggestions that I think may
help make the ILQP a better party with more attendance and activity. I did a
search on the ARRL web site for clubs in the Illinois section-there are 66
listed. What if every club donated $10.00 yearly to an ILQP fund? Could we
offer plaques instead of paper to the winners? Could we have more
categories? Could we have a program written that would process Cabrillo
files and accept e-mail entries? Could we have a traveling Illinois club
trophy? Could we do a lot more to promote the ILQP?? I think the answer is
yes! I belong to a club with 18 dues paying members and although we have a
very small treasury I'm sure my club would participate in this kind of
effort. Granted not all of the 66 Illinois clubs would probably be willing
participate and donate but I'd bet that a majority would be willing.

I have high hopes that the RAMS organization will take the time in the next
few months to review and discuss the existing QSO party rules and consider
revising or refining them for 2003 and the future. Our hobby and its
technology have changed drastically in the past few years and maybe the QSO
party rules should change also.

Dit-dit,

Pete, NN9K