[PaQSO] PRTC: A Thought for 2004
Ron Notarius WN3VAW
[email protected]
Wed, 15 Oct 2003 22:16:19 -0400
I will concede that trying to get a team in all 67 counties the first time
up would be difficult. Of course, you never know... and once some
publicity gets out, I suspect that you might get interest from contest ops
who normally might not travel to PA...
I will further concede that trying to place teams in rare counties may be
counter-productive. It certainly couldn't hurt to make suggestions, if
requested, of counties that may need activity. Of course, look at what's
happened each of the last few years -- the county that was rare one year
gets swamped the next, and vice versa (excepting, of course, most of the
counties with major population centers, which are usually well represented
every year). And of course, those who are "in the know" about how the
contest works usually can figure out the best place for their team to go.
Again, keep the KISS principle in mind, we want to keep it simple and fun!
However, I would respectively disagree with Mike and Axel that trying to get
all 67 counties QRV for the bulk of the contest, though, is detrimental --
again, knowing they're on is one thing, but you still have to find them and
work them!
One thought towards awards would be for the PRTC contest-within-a-contest to
charge a small but reasonable application fee -- I'm thinking somewhere
between $10 and $20 per team. Participants (regardless of where they
finish) would get a special commerative T-Shirt that would not be available
to the "regulars" [and I know someone who'd print them, too!] which would
cover about half to 2/3's of the fee. The rest would go towards an
appropriate award, to be decided.
I certainly don't have a problem with Hal's idea of including family members
along for the trip -- so long as two and only two operators actually
operate.
Of course, the number of ops and antennas etc. would be on the honor system,
as is most contest operating.
Finally, if enough people are interested in the idea to make a go of it,
I'll volunteer to help organize the effort and coordinate as neccesary with
K3CM & NARC to avoid unnecessarily burdening them with the results of this
little idea.
73, ron wn3vaw
"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the WAR Room!"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hal Offutt" <[email protected]>
To: "Ron Notarius WN3VAW" <[email protected]>; "PAQSO Reflector"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: [PaQSO] PRTC: A Thought for 2004
Hi,
I think Ron's got a good idea here. Everyone knows how much fun Field Day
is, and we're basically talking about a FD-style operation here. I really
like the idea of a competition among portable stations within the PAQP. I
would see these stations competing just like everyone else and following the
same rules, but in addition having their own competition among themselves.
I'm sure we could get enough donations to offer some trophies or awards.
(It's important to do this ourselves and not to add to the burden of the
sponsors.) I do think it would be overly ambitious (and unrealistic) to
attempt to field 67 teams next year, or to try to tell the teams where they
should operate. In fact, I don't see this as a way to get rare counties on
the air as much as just a way to increase the interest and the fun of the
event. I would think that the teams should be free to go where they want to
go (many would probably want to stay fairly close to home). It could even
be a way to get the whole family involved. Even a modest start next year
with just five or ten teams would be pretty cool and should add a lot to the
interest of the Party and increase overall activity. If it turns out well,
there would likely be more teams wanting to participate the following year.
The goal would be to make this so much fun that people come from all over
the place, even out of state, to participate, like some of the mobiles do
now. If this is successful, other QSO parties around the country would very
likely follow the PA lead. Is there enough interest in this idea to put it
into action next year?
73,
Hal W1NN
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Notarius WN3VAW" <[email protected]>
To: "Pa QSO Party Reflector" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 9:49 PM
Subject: [PaQSO] PRTC: A Thought for 2004
> You ever get a feeling that you're on to something and you just can't let
it
> go? I've had that feeling ever since I replied to Larry N2OCW a little
> while ago. The germ of the idea was trying to put a 2-person team in
every
> county for next year's affair -- and how. I made mention of doing
something
> on the lines of a local version of the World Radiosport Team Championship
> (WRTC) competitions that we've seen over the last few years. It's been
> bugging me ever since; can't even enjoy the baseball game, it's annoying
me
> so much! <g>.
>
> So here's a thought (not so much as suggested rules but a guideline at
this
> point in time).
> What do you think?
>
> The Contest Within The Contest: PaQSO [Party] Radio Team Competition
(PRTC)
> 1. PRTC will take place during and as part of the Pa QSO Party
> 2. All rules of the PaQP will be followed. PRTC teams disqualified
from
> PaQP are also disqualified from PRTC
> 3. PRTC stations will consist of:
> a. 2 person teams (no more, no less) running Portable stations.
> b. Maximum output power 100 Watts (no linears). No QRP category.
> c. Single transmitter only. (Backup equipment is OK, but only one
> transmitter QRV at a time -- and not running the backup transmitter on
> another band to hunt for mults.)
> d. Simple HF antennas, maximum 3 -- dipoles, longwires, beverages,
> trap verticals (or equivalent). No beams, no log periodics, nothing
fancy.
> Teams choosing to run VHF are permitted a single 2 meter VHF antenna, 70
cm
> UHF antenna, or 2/70 dual band antenna for contest purposes. V/UHF
> antennas used for non-contest communicating are excluded from that count
> (ie, you can run a single V/UHF antenna to work contest stations, but if
you
> want to turn a beam towards your home repeater to talk to your friends,
that
> one doesn't count -- and is a separate antenna system anyway)
> e. No packet.
> f. Stations will be "true" portables. Borrowing an existing shack
> from another amateur or a club station or equivalent is NOT permitted.
> Running a mobile station with fixed antennas is not permitted (ie no
> potential Rovers). The idea is that each team will set up it's station
from
> "scratch" and tear it down when their operation is completed.
> g. To the best of their ability, each station will be operational
for
> the entire contest period. This is not to say that the team can't take a
> short break to share a meal, or for related reasons, and it is understood
> that Murphy happens. But the team must be committed to being on the air
as
> much as possible during the PaQP operating period.
> 4. Both operators must be licensed amateurs. Both must operate; they
may
> take turns operating, or one may log as the other operates, but BOTH must
> participate (no phantom second ops), and for a reasonably significant time
> period (not a token one) -- this is a "team" category! (They would not
> necessarily be FCC licensed, but they must be licensed --and if not by the
> FCC must have permission to operate in the US)
> 5. PRTC teams are only permitted in the 67 Pennsylvania Counties.
> Stations QRV from outside PA are not eligible for the PRTC.
>
> Now that's the raw, basic idea. How far to go with this? Well, that
> depends (remember, we'd want to keep it "fun" and we'd also want to
attract
> all sorts of ops, not just the "power contester" types)
> a. Charge an entry fee? Only if this goes towards the cost of prizes
> etc. (t-shirts for participants?)
> b. Pre-register teams?
> c. Who determines which teams go where... remember, part of the idea is
> to make sure EVERY county is QRV, so you'd want to place one team in every
> county before "doubling up."
> d. WRTC had a certain number of teams picked from various countries and
> regions of the world, in addition to "at large" teams. Now I wouldn't
want
> to go THAT far -- open it to any and all, I say -- but one thought would
be
> that the members of each team may have to belong to the same club, or be
> sponsored by that club.
> e. Do you run with special calls? IE, would you apply for 1x1 calls to
> be used by the teams -- and again, who applies for them and who assigns
> them -- or let each team pick their own call to use? And if they pick
their
> own, could they use the call of a club they belong to?
>
> Again, I could go into a lot more detail, but not just yet. I'd like to
> hear from some others out there, and if I'm off base, well, it wouldn't be
> the first time. But what a way to attract interest to the contest,
> especially with the sun spots on their way down!
>
> 73, ron wn3vaw
>
> "Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the WAR Room!"
>
>
>
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