[nrv-hams] Virginia QSO Party is this month

Thu Mar 21 09:54:58 EDT 2013

Hi Kevin, KJ4OAP,
Too bad about your 40M problem. That would have been your best chance to 
work back this way. Still, it sounds like you had a grand expedition! Way to 
go!
73,
Carter N3AO

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kevin Sterne
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 7:54 AM
To: NRV-Hams: A mailing list for members of the New River Valley (VA) 
Amateur Radio Club.
Subject: Re: [nrv-hams] Virginia QSO Party is this month

Well, just wrapped up typing up the log and figuring up the stats for
this year's VAQP.  I didn't quite get to the plan below, only 13
counties activated after my car almost died in Farmville.  Also opted to
try to not do drive-and-log for safety.  I had a great deal of fun
though driving around to parts of Virginia that I had never been before.
  Here's the summary stats of the log:

Counties with at least one QSO logged: 13
VA County multipliers including self activated: 23
States worked: 19
DXCC Entities worked: 16
Number of Q's: 112

Last new VA county multiplier: 21 min left in contest
Last new state multiplier: 4 min left in contest

Sadly, the only station I heard on from Montgomery, W2NAF, I could not
work due to compromised TX situation.  I plum forgot about RF getting
back into my radio and so 40m did not work all too well, most contacts
reported me just above the noise on 40m.  15m, 20m, reported booming
signals.  We'll improve next year, although we'll see if its the same
contesting vehicle or not...

73 and hope to catch you on the air in the June V/U!
-Kevin,
KJ4OAP

On 03/05/2013 09:25 PM, Kevin Sterne wrote:
> Hello!
>
>
> As Kay pointed out and you can see on the SPARC's website, here's my
> rough plans for mobiling during the QSO party:
>
> Day one of VAQP:
> Halifax (HAL)
> Charlotte (CHA)
> Prince Edward (PRE)
> Cumberland (CUM)
> Powhatan (POW)
> Amelia (AME)
> Nottoway (NOT)
> Dinwiddie (DIN)
> Sussex (SUS)
> South Hampton (SHA)
> Emporia (EMX)
> Greensville (GVL)
> Brunswick (BRW)
> Lunenurg (LUN)
> Mecklenburg (MEC)
>
> Day two of VAQP:
> Danville (DAX)
> Pittsylvania Co. (PIT)
> Martinsville (MVX)
> Henry Co.  (HRY)
> Patrick Co. (PAT)
> Floyd Co. (FLO)
> Montgomery Co. (MON)
> Radford City (RAX)
> Pulaski (PUL)
> Wythe (WYT)
> Bland (BLA)
>
> I haven't timed everything out, so I may not get to ones at the end of
> the list on each day if I run out of time.  I do plan to sit and operate
> some from each county I get to.  I'll have the traditional APRS on every
> once in a while, though the coverage might not be that great.  We'll
> have most of the bands from 80m to 2m going and chasing propagation.
>
> I hope to catch you on the air!
>
> -Kevin, KJ4OAP
>
>
> On 03/05/2013 03:59 PM, Kay Craigie wrote:
>> Unless someone is very new in ham radio, the prospect of working a
>> Virginia
>> station doesn't create much excitement. Wyoming, we're not. One
>> weekend of
>> the year, however, we are the cool kids everybody wants to talk to. The
>> Virginia QSO Party, sponsored by the Sterling Park ARC, brings out all
>> sorts
>> of hams who want to work us.
>>
>> The contest time period is Saturday, 16 March 1400 UTC - Sunday, 17 March
>> 0200 UTC and Sunday, 17 March 1200 UTC - 2400 UTC. For Virginians,
>> this is
>> Saturday 10 AM - 10 PM and Sunday 8 AM - 8 PM Virginia local time.
>>
>> The exchange is a serial number and your county or independent city for
>> Virginia stations. Stations not in Virginia will send a serial number and
>> their state, Canadian province, or "DX" if they're outside the USA and
>> Canada. The list of official Virginia county abbreviations is posted
>> on the
>> QSO Party web site at
>> http://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2013_VQP/2013_VQP_Main.html.
>> Know
>> what your city or county's abbreviation is, because somebody is bound
>> to ask
>> you.
>>
>> Contacts are not to be made on repeaters or on 12, 17, and 30 meters.
>>
>> We can work a station only once per band / mode, unless the station has
>> moved to a different city / county. Mobile and Expedition stations will
>> indicate their location by appending the official abbreviation to their
>> callsigns, so we will know if it's okay to call them again. For
>> example, if
>> I work N3AO/MON on 40 meters SSB but later hear him calling CQ on 40
>> meters
>> SSB as N3AO/GIL, I know that he has moved from Montgomery County to Giles
>> County, and I can work him again on the same band / mode.
>>
>> One member of the Virginia Tech ARA has an ambitious plan to operate
>> from a
>> bunch of counties. Listen for Kevin KJ4OAP mobile. I assume that's the
>> callsign he will be using.
>>
>> Why do people from outside the state play in our contest? Some do it just
>> because it's fun. I get into a lot of state QSO parties for that reason.
>> Other people do it to work Virginia counties. There's an award for
>> confirming all the 3000-plus counties in the USA, and state QSO
>> parties are
>> good opportunities to work lots of counties.
>>
>> Last year I operated only on 40 and 80 meters. If I really wanted to
>> go for
>> a big score, I would call CQ on 10, 15, and/or 20 meters to pick up more
>> states. That's a lot like work, so I tend to stay on 40 and 80 and (if I
>> stay awake that long) 160 meters where it's easier to find contacts.
>>
>> Counties and cities in our part of the state are not that easy to work in
>> the contest, so if you can be on the air just for a little while you can
>> make some people happy.
>>
>> Have fun in the Virginia QSO Party! 73 - Kay N3KN
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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