[ILQSO] Advice for QSO Party organizers?

[Danny Pease]

Good advice from everyone. I am sure N9JF and a couple of others will chime
in too.

We gave out 27 certificates this year, that was one for every 9 logs sent
in. 

The first step it to get a group to sponsor the event, probably a good,
active club, but a group of dedicated individuals could work if they have
the financial resources. A good sponsor would be nice. My best guess at the
awards expenses for the ILQP last year will wind up around $300.00, and that
is with donated wood plaques. It is not inexpensive, but it also is not cost
prohibitive either.

Getting your rules set and publicized at least 6 months in advance is a must
and having a web site with downloadable files for the rules, lists,
operating aids and links  An email reflector really helps with getting
people involved ahead of time. The ILQP has over 110 subscribers and it
grows a few more every year.

I would suggest starting simple and small and grow as activity demands. I
would limit the number of classes, it is very easy to lose all your help in
the log checking and scoring process. Scoring is an issue, it pretty much
has to be done manually and getting the results out is the result of
hundreds of hours of work for us, but we also probably scrutinize the logs
closer than most other QSO parties. Keeping the rules and classes to a
manageable level is very important when starting out. It also seems to be a
bonus if you have something a little different from most of the other QSO
parties, in the case of the ILQP, it is the more than 2 counties per QSO (up
to 4).

Getting in state activity is a priority. You will most likely never get a
fixed station on from every county (we actually have over half of the IL
counties activated by mobile or portable stations), so it is very important
to have a group of stations that are willing to dedicate their time and
resources to your effort. Getting out of state activity is a comprise of
time. If you run longer hours, it is easier to get more out of state
interests, a shorter contest makes it very hard for longer distance
operators to find your in state stations on while they have time to operate
and propagation. We catch grief every year about our hours being too early,
being too late, being too short.

Hopefully N9JF and maybe a couple of RAMS members will chime in.

Danny  NG9R


-----Original Message-----
From: ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of david cripe
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 10:09 AM
To: ilqso at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ILQSO] Advice for QSO Party organizers?


A bunch of '0'-landers here are trying to put together an Iowa QSO-Party.
What advice would the ILQP group have for us?  Things to do - or not do?

73 - Dave Cripe NM0S


      
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