Virginia QSO Party Infoand

Highlights and Trends of the

FARA Club and Members

What is VaQP?• Virginia QSO Party is a radio event and

competition to activate and contact as many counties and independent cities within Va.

• VaQP is sponsored by Sterling Park ARC

What is VaQP?• Event time:

– Sat. Mar. 19 1800Z – Mon. Mar. 21 2100Z– Sat. Mar. 19 2PM – Sun. Mar. 20. 9PM

• VaQP has multiple competition categories:– Operators: Rookie, Single, Multiple– Transmitters: Single, Multiple– Location: Fixed, Mobile, Portable/Expedition– Power: QRP, Low, High– Mode: CW, Phone, Digital, Mixed (All)– Bands: Single, Multiple, V/UHF only

• VaQP information exchange includes:– Sequential serial number for each contact completed– Section/Multiplier: Va cnty or city, State or DX (other countries)– Log date, time, band, mode, call sign, serial # snt/rcvd, section

• Rules and scoring:– You may contact a station once per band per mode– Points per contact: Phone=1, CW=2, Digital=2, Mobile=3– Multipliers or sections include: Va. counties/cities + States + DX– Final Score = (sum of total contact points) * multipliers + bonus

What is VaQP?

FARA Competes inVaQP Club Competition

The Club Combined Score Race

The Club Va. Contacts Only Race

2010 QSOs by Band vs. Time

2010 QSOs by VA-NA-DX vs. Time

2010 QSOs by Mode vs. Time

Yearly Trend of FARA QSOs by Band

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

QSOs Band Breakdown

0.23

0.7

1.25

2

6

10

15

20

40

80

160

Year

Total

QSOs

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Percentage QSOs by Band

0.23

0.7

1.25

2

6

10

15

20

40

80

160

Year

Yearly Trend of FARA QSOs by Mode

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

QSOs Mode Breakdown

Digital

Phone

CW

Year

Total

QSOs

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Percentage QSOs by Mode

Digital

Phone

CW

Year

Total

QSOs

Member Recognition

2010 VaQP Plaque Winners

• Single Operator Digital Mode – Karen Russo, W4KRN – 11,172 pts (114 QSOs)

• Single Operator Novice/Tech/Rookie – Ross Primrose, N4RP – 12,988 pts (143 QSOs)

• Virginia Single Operator Phone/Mixed QRP – Ross Primrose, N4RP – 12,988 pts (143 QSOs)

• Virginia Mobile Multiple Operator – Henry & Greg Moyers, K4G/M (KI4ZKI & KI4ZKJ) – 14,492 pts (208 QSOs)

• Virginia Single Operator Phone High Power – Dave Buckwalter, W4VA (K3SK) – 151,079 pts (749 QSOs)

• Virginia Single Operator Low Power – Andy Zwirko, KW4VA (K1RA) – 310,460 pts (1065 QSOs)

• Virginia Club - Virginia QSOs Only – Fauquier Amateur Radio Association – 712,533 pts (3,976 QSOs x 109 CCs)

Yearly Top 20 FARA Scores# Call Sign Score

1 K3SK 231,768

2

KW4VA

(K1RA) 231,500

3 K5EK 174,548

4 W4AKO 156,480

5 K1HTV 147,227

6 KD6AKC 68,375

7 KX4O 63,215

8 W4NHJ 51,895

9 K4MSG 34,772

10 KI4FYO 30,299

11 K4Z (KG3V) 29,200

12

K4M/M

(KI4ZKJ

KI4ZKI) 22,323

13 KG4YLZ 20,130

14 W4KRN 15,876

15 AJ4LL 14,780

16 W4MOG 12,225

17 N4CY 8,964

28 N7DC 8,330

19 N4YXW 7,512

20 KG3V/M 6,694

# Call Sign Score

1 AC8Y 166,050

2 K1RA 138,198

3 W4AKO 95,292

4 K5EK/M 73,504

5 N4CY 73,527

6 KX4O 46,310

7 KG3V 45,245

8 W4KRN 44,060

9

W4VA/P

(KI4FYO

KD6AKC) 40,834

10 W4NHJ 31,205

11 KG4YLZ 28,775

12

KI4ZKJ/M

(+KI4ZKI) 17,225

13 W4MOG 13,226

14 K4GUN/M 10,000

15 N7DC 6,976

16 AB4YK/M 6,927

17 KD5CMI 4,460

18 WB3BIC/M 2,755

19 N4JAM 2,310

20 KJ4CIG/M 1,464

# Call Sign Score

1 AC8Y 157,268

2 K3SK 152,162

3 K1RA 91,773

4 N4CY 73,004

5 K5EK 71,057

6 KG4YLZ 44,532

7 KG3V 33,368

8 N2VA 33,170

9 W4MOG 24,788

10 W4KRN 19,089

11

W4VA/P

(KD6AKC

KI4FYO) 12,156

12 KX4O 8,910

13 W4AKO 7,136

14 W4KTF 6,380

15 K4JJR/M 4,627

16 W4KRN 2,700

17 KX4O/M 1,564

18 KX4O/P 1,514

19 WB3BIC/M 1,194

20 KD5CMI 910

2007 2008 2009

# Call Sign Score

1KW4VA (K1RA) 310,460

2 W4KKN (AC8Y) 307,534

3 K1HTV 221,756

4 W4VA (K3SK) 151,079

5 N4CY 106,403

6 KX4O 86,050

7 K4Z (KG3V) 65,791

8 KD6AKC 46,175

9 W4KRN (Mixed) 29,126

10 KG4YLZ 20,450

11 W4NHJ 17,355

12

K4G/M (KI4ZKJ KI4ZKI) 14,492

13 N4RP 12,988

14 N4YXW/M 12,865

15 W4KRN (Digital) 11,172

16 N3KTU/M 10,776

17 W4MOG 8,918

18 KJ4RKA 7,650

19 N4RP/M 5,950

20 K4JJR/M 5,210

2010

FARA Member Contact Totals

• Every contact helps.

• Get on the air!

Contest Hints and Kinks

Hints and Kinks Pre-Contest• Mark your calendars Mar. 19-20, 2011• Check transmitters/amps power,

tuners/antennas SWR• Check receiver, microphones, headsets, • Check and preprogram voice/cw keyers• 2m Nets Wed/Sun eve’s – Run bands

Hints and Kinks Pre-Contest• Familiarize self w/ logging software (N1MM, N3FJP)• Check out FARA spotting page http://w4va.org/spots/

– Or try and learn how to use a DX Cluster (telnet w3lpl.net)

Hints and Kinks Pre-Contest• Set a personal goal

– Number of contacts and multipliers (counties/cities + states + DX)• Mobiles

– Plot and publish course– Check terrain maps (avoid valleys) – Use Google maps and Andy K1RA Va county KML overlay

• All members send your plans to John KX4O• Check out www.w4va.org for operating links, aids• Ask questions and contact club members for help, assistance and advice!

Hints and Kinks Contest Weekend• Have a contest plan and most of all have fun!

– Set a schedule: time on and time off for, eating and sleeping– Sleep midnight – 6AM, low activity hours– 80/75m mainly active dusk through just after sunrise– 40m can be a great band all day long, morning, noon and night– 20m good sunrise to sunset, make use for working DX– 15/10m – will sunspots help these bands open during day time?– 2m FM 146.55/58 frequent every ~15 mins, look for mobiles– If any band is slow, change bands, call CQ, search and pounce

Hints and Kinks Contest Weekend• Work FARA members on all bands

– Run the bands (band hop) and modes if possible– Phone 1865, 3865, 7265, 14265, 21265, 28365, 50165– CW 1865, 3565, 7065, 14065, 21065, 28065, 50165

• Russian DX contest overlaps until Sun. 1200Z (7AM)– Work and call DX stations to gain multipliers– Their exchange RST & Serial # (log multiplier as DX)

• Use spotting web page and/or DX Cluster to boost score

Hints and Kinks Post-Contest

• Save log and back up to second location

• Get a good nights rest

• Send copy of Cabrillo log to John KX4O

• Document experience and lessons learned

• Share experiences with club members via email reflector, repeater/nets and meetings

• Make plans for VaQP 2012 !

The End – Where To Go From Here

• Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club VaQP info– http://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party– Rules, info, awarded and past results

• John KX4O’s VaQP data base– Contact John via email for URL – Charts and graphs of club and member logs

• Andy K1RA VaQP County Operating Aid maps– http://www.k1ra.us/w4va – Counties and independent cities overlay in Google

Maps and Google Earth