[nrv-hams] On the air on Labor Day weekend

[Kay Craigie]

Well, I didn't work Hawaii on 160 meters last weekend, but I had a boatload
of fun with the Kansas and Ohio QSO parties.

If you aren't already booked up for the holiday weekend, there are two state
QSO parties to play in.

Colorado starts at 1200 UTC on September 1 and ends at 0400 UTC on September
2.  They use CW, phone, and digital modes (try PSK31) on 10, 15, 20, 40, 80,
and 160 meters.

The exchange (what we send and receive) for non-Colorado operators is our
name and our state. Colorado stations will send their names and counties.

Tennessee starts at 1800 UTC on September 2 and ends at 0300 UTC September
3.  They also use CW, phone, and digital modes on 10, 15, 20, 40, 80, and
160 meters.

The exchange is signal report and state (for us) or signal report and county
(for Tennessee operators).

You'll note that in the state QSO parties, the in-state operators use 3- or
4-letter abbreviations for their counties.  Why is that?
 
Two reasons. One is that most contest operators now use logging software and
submit their logs to the sponsors electronically. For computerized log
checking to work, people have to use standard abbreviations. Contest logging
programs know the standard abbreviations for each contest and won't let you
enter something creative.

The other reason kicked in before the advent of computerized contest
logging. When we logged contests with pencil and paper, writing down full
county names was slow, error-prone, and a pain in the neck for operators and
sponsors alike.

Some counties are hard to spell and/or pronounce (Geauga, Ohio, for
example). Some counties have short names (Elk, Pennsylvania) and some have
long names (Isle of Wight, Virginia).  By creating standard abbreviations,
contest sponsors leveled the playing field, so operators in counties with
long or tongue-twister names didn't waste time repeating their information
and operators in counties with short, easy names didn't have an advantage.
 
State QSO parties' web sites have lists of standard abbreviations we can
print out and refer to. It may seem complicated, but I remember the old way
of logging counties. Today's way is better!

Have fun on the air. 73 - Kay N3KN