[NLRS] 17th Annual Minnesota QSO Party

[Jon Platt via NLRS]

The 17th running of the Minnesota QSO Party will be held Saturday, Feb 7, from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm CST.   This is an extremely fun and laid back operating event where everyone in the World is looking to work stations in Minnesota.  The contest exchange is your name and your Minnesota county, for example "Jon in Hennepin".   When you work stations outside of Minnesota they send their name and state, for example "Tom in NY".   You can work a station on each band/mode; for example I can work W2XX on 20m SSB, then again on 20m CW, then on 40m, etc.  If you are a mobile, each time you enter a new county you are fresh meat much like a VHF rover when they move into a new grid.  

Full rules can be found on the w0aa.org website under MN QSO Party.   The link provides rules, a list of counties and their CW abbreviates to use, paper logs, a downloadable MnQP software logging tool, and a cool MN County activation map.  Check it out.  All major software contest logging programs also support the MnQP format.

The operating event features a club competition, so make sure to enter Northern Lights Radio Society as your club when you submit a log.

I encourage all club member to get on and to have fun in this great event.  Disconnect your IF rig from the VHF+ transverter and connect it to a HF antenna.  Call "CQ MNQP" or "CQ Minnesota QSO Party" as stations worldwide will be looking for you.

73, Jon
W0ZQ