2008 California QSO Party (CQP)

Sponsored by the Northern California Contest Club

Begins: 1600 UTC - 4 October 2008             Ends: 2159 UTC - 5 October 2008

OBJECT:

Stations outside of California work as many California stations in as many CA counties as possible. Stations in California work everyone.

EXCHANGE:

California stations send QSO number and county.

Stations outside of California send QSO number and State, Canadian area, or Country. 

Note that California stations working other California stations must log the complete exchange, including county even though they all count as the “CA” multiplier.  Entries with incomplete or improperly logged QSOs will be subject to penalties or disqualification.

QSO POINTS:

Each complete non-duplicate Phone contact is worth 2 points.  Each complete non-duplicate CW contact is worth 3 points.  No partial contact credit.  Duplicate contacts must be clearly identified in log except for Cabrillo style format.  Do not remove duplicates from your log.

MULTIPLIERS:

California Stations

Count U.S. states (50) and Canadian areas (8): QC, ON, MB, SK, AB, BC plus

• MR - Maritime provinces plus Newfoundland and Labrador (NB, NL, NS, PE)
• NT – Northern Territories (NT, NU, YT)

Maximum of 58 multipliers.

Note: The “CA” abbreviation is not used as a multiplier in this contest. California stations must log all CA contacts with their 4-character county abbreviation, everything else as two characters, including "DX" for all stations outside of the U.S. and Canada. The first valid CA county logged will count as the multiplier for California.

Non-California Stations

Count California counties for a maximum of 58 multipliers.

SCORE:

The total score is the total number of QSO points multiplied by the total number of multipliers (58 maximum).

FREQUENCIES:

160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meters.  WARC band contacts do not count.

Suggestions:  CW on 1815 and 40 kHz up from band edge. Phone on 1845, 3850, 7230, 14250, 21300, 28450.  Try CW on the half hour; 160 meters at 0500 UTC; 80/75 meters at 0300 and 0700 UTC.

VHF: Look for 2M FM activity on 147.54. For 6M and 2M SSB/CW, first try 50.135 and 144.210.  If no activity, make a short call on 50.125/144.200 then QSY back.  Rally at 2000Z, 0400Z.

CLASS ENTRY:

• Select one:
• S/O
• M/S (Includes single operators with outside assistance)
• M/M
•  Select one:
• HP
• LP
• QRP
• Select one if it applies:
• California County Expedition
• Mobile
• School
• Novice/Technician

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Send only one county per exchange.
• Single-Operator (S/O) entries limited to 24 hours maximum; off times must be a minimum of 15 minutes and clearly marked in the log. Multi Operator entries may operate the full 30 hours.
• Low Power is all transmitter output less than 200 watts.
• QRP is all transmitter output less than 5 watts.
• Multi-Single consists of multiple operators with only a single transmitting operator at a time.  The single transmitting operator cannot be replaced before 10 minutes after their first transmission.  There is no time limitation on band or mode changes. Other operators can listen, spot, or perform any other station function except transmitting.
• Single-Operator entries are allowed no outside assistance.  This includes the use of packet, spotting networks, instant message systems, chat rooms or alerts of any kind.
• Single-Operator and Multi-Single entries are allowed only one transmitting signal.
• Stations may be worked once on CW and once on Phone per band.
• All CW contacts must be made outside the Phone sub-bands except for 160 meters and VHF.  MCW is not permitted.
• All contacts must be simplex.
• California stations that change counties are considered to be a new station and may be contacted again for point and multiplier credit.
• Mobile is a station that is self-contained, capable of legal motion (street, water, or air) while operating, motion optional.
• A County Expedition is an operation from a temporary location using temporary antennas installed for the contest period, using temporary antenna supports (natural supports like trees permitted).
• A Novice/Technician entry must use a Novice/Technician call sign and operate exclusively within the Novice/Technician bands.
• Club members can submit their logs for the club competition by entering the club name in the Cabrillo file ‘club’ field. A Club is defined by the ARRL competition rules.  NCCC, SCCC, NCDXC, and SCDXC are not eligible in the club competition.
• School entries must indicate such on the summary sheet, use the appropriate school call sign and operate from the campus station if one exists.  Any school club members may operate including students, faculty, staff, and/or alumni.
• Final and complete rules are available at http://www.cqp.org/Rules.html.

FREE LOGGING SOFTWARE:

For free CQPWin logging software, and much more, please visit the CQP web site: http://www.cqp.org/Software.html.

ENTRIES:

Entries must be submitted no later than November 15.  Please only submit your log by ONE of the following two methods.  If you have any difficulty with either method, please email a description of the problem to info@cqp.org.

Contest log submittals – the preferred method is to use the web server for submitting your contest log:  http://logs.cqp.org.  Go to this URL and follow the instructions.

Logs can also be submitted by e-mail to logs@cqp.org.  Electronic logs should be named with your call (e.g., AD6E.SUM, AD6E.LOG, etc.).  All files should be zipped into one file such as AD6E.ZIP before attachment.  Cabrillo style format is preferred but not mandatory.  CT logs must include the summary file.  Duplicate QSOs are not counted for points and will not result in penalties, but they will be counted for multiplier credits.  Separate dupe sheets for electronic logs are waived.  Logs may be submitted via postal mail to: NCCC, c/o Rick Eversole, N6RNO, 1225 Vienna Dr. #919, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. A $1.00 donation to help defray costs of printing and mailing results is encouraged.

If you have a paper log, it will be very helpful if you convert it to electronic format, such as an Excel file.  Here is a blank Excel file that you can use to enter your log data.  When complete, please email it to logs@cqp.org.

AWARDS:

• 33 plaques (real lumber to hang on your shack wall):
  • Top three CA and non-CA Single-Op
  • Top three CA and non-CA Single-Op Low Power
  • Top CA and non CA Single-Op QRP
  • To CA Multi-Single and Multi-Multi
  • Top CA Multi-Single and Multi-Multi CA County Expeditions
  • Top Two Single-Op CA County Expeditions
  • Most CW QSOs CA and non-CA Single-Op
  • Most SSB QSOs CA and non-CA Single-Op
  • Most Mobile QSOs CA
  • Most VHF QSOs CA
  •  Top non-USA/non-Canadian (DX)
  • First to 58 CA and non-CA Single Op (Worked all 58 multipliers)
  • Top CA and non-CA School
  • Top CA and non-CA Club
• Special CQP Wine Award - The top 20 CA and top 20 non-CA S/O stations will receive a personalized bottle of NCCC Private Reserve California Wine.  Winners under the age of 21 will receive a non-alcoholic personalized award.
• T-Shirts - Like the wine, each year’s T-shirt is a special vintage.  Entries with 100 or more QSOs (waived for DX entries) qualify for the special CQP T-shirt.  Place your order for a T-shirt by sending an email to info@cqp.org stating the sizes and quantities for each size (M/L/XL/XXL), the call sign of the CQP operation, the call sign of the person placing the order, and the address to ship to.  All orders are due by Nov 15th.  Send payment, $12 ($17 for DX entries), either as PayPal to paypal@nccc.cc, or a check to NCCC, 1225 Vienna Dr #919, Sunnyvale CA 94089.
• Gold Star Certificates - top Single Operator entry in each CA county, USA state, Canadian area and World country.
• Certificates - all entries with 100 or more QSOs.