[PaQSO] PAQ Ramblings (part 1 - a bit long winded)

[Scott Jones]

Hello everyone.  

I think this is my first posting to this reflector. In reading what I 
wrote below, I find I must be in a reflective mood today.  Sorry about
that.  

I am going to send this in a couple of separate emails.  Hopefully,
this won't bore anyone too much.  Thanks for taking the time to read
these.

First thing I will do is give my view of PAQ and my background with it.

PAQ has a long rich tradition as the finest State QSO party around.  
Other may argue, but we are all allowed our favorites.  :-)   As that
magic weekend in October approaches every year, I get a really
wonderful feeling of excitement.  It is hard to explain, but few other
radio events have the same impact to me.  Maybe it is because I am from
PA (although living in Ohio now). I'm not sure, but it was and remains
special.

I have not been able to be as active over the last several (too many) 
years due to starting a family and new work commitments.  That
inactivity however has not diminished my enthusiasm for this great
annual event.

I've read over the last many months the suggestions for improving 
activity levels and interest.  They all of course have merits.  I think
the most important thing to remember in all of these discussions is
that everyone who is commenting loves the PAQ.  All suggestions are
made with the best interest of PAQ in mind.  We may disagree about
specific ideas, the relative merits or even the need for change, but
there should be no doubt that they are always put out there with the
best of intentions.

Doug, W3HDH and more recently Chuck, K3CM have been instrumental in 
keeping PAQ alive and growing.  Their continuing enthusiasm and
dedication for this event is amazing.  I also wanted to publicly thank
them for what is usually a thankless job.  I my years at Penn State I
can recall once or twice working with the PAQ folks in helping check
logs.  The dedication of these folks is something hard to imagine
unless you've seen it.  There are many others who have contributed
greatly over the years, but the two I am most familiar with are
mentioned above.  All of them deserve our thanks. The PAQ
history tab on the PAQ web site lists all those contributors.

There have been many rule changes suggested for PAQ over the last year.
Change for the sake of change usually is not helpful, so I am not going

to debate any of their merits except the ones I mention here and in the

other postings.

1 - To me the most important addition to PAQ would be the acceptance of
email logs.  I would suggest allowing this only if they are sent in 
Cabrillo format, but whatever it takes to get this to happen would be
good.  My out of state log (~300 Q's) for last year never did get
printed (don't have a printer for that PC), but I sure would have
emailed it in a hurry.  Shame on me for not printing it though!! 
Perhaps we can find a volunteer to handle the email logs and assist the
PAQ committee in this way.  Florida does not have an automated email
log collection system, but K1TO has an AOL address that he uses to
collect the logs.  I worked 66 counties but had I managed to work all
67, I would not have been so lazy about printing it.  I'll follow
up with a couple of other ideas in another posting.

Part 2 to follow shortly.

Sorry it got so long.  73 - Scott, N3RA (ex WB3KKX and WR3G)




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