[NLRS] Minnesota QSO Party

[Jon Platt]

Hello NLRS land No, the Minnesota QSO Party is not VHF, so I apologize for the bandwidth.  But, with this contest you can unplug your transveters from that HF rig and try it out the low bands !    The Minnesota QSO Party is this coming Saturday, Feb 2, from 1400 UTC (8:00 AM) through 2359 UTC (5:59 PM).   Activity can be found on 160m through 10m (excluding WARC bands), CW and SSB.  On any given band a station can be worked once on CW and once again on phone.  Minnesota stations work the World (including other MN stations) while the World works MN stations.   The contest exchange for MN stations is your name and your MN county, for example Jon, Hennepin.  Non-Minnesota stations send their name and their State/Province (DX stations provide just their name), for example Fred Florida. Full information can be found at http://w0aa.org/index.php/mn-qso-party .   This website is excellent and full of useful links including a link to the full set of rules, MNQP resource tools including a software logging tool (if you don't have one), a list of MN counties and their abbreviations, and a mobile activity map.  In the mobile activity map click on any given county to see who is activating it.   There is a special link for ARES stations as well.   Check it out.  If you have any questions, ask. The best way to enjoy this fun event is to turn your rig on and to call CQ.   As the World is looking for MN stations, a CQ will produce lots of fun and Q's, and its a great way to promote the State of Minnesota. Please note that the British Columbia and Vermont QSO parties will be running concurrently with the MnQP, so don't forget to give them a Q as well using their contest format.    Assuming the weather is adequate, look for the W0ZQ/R mobile to be out and about, minus the transverters ! 73, JonW0ZQ/m