[bars] New England QSO Party - How to operate and submit

[wo1n]

Hi all,

 

A few questions have trickled in. I sometimes forget I am one of those
"Contesters" (aaacckk!) and I take a lot for granted because I've been doing
it so long.

 

While many a contester was born on Field Day, in fact FD is quite a
challenge because of the environment, unfamiliarity with radios and logging
software, marginal antenna, noise etc. The NEQP is a great opportunity to
learn to be a proficient contester using your own equipment/home station
that you are comfortable with.

 

You probably don't want to be using your general purpose logging program for
the event. A contest logger will help make contacts go much smoother. I can
highly recommend N1MM+ (hint, this is what we have been using for Field Day
logging). It is free and probably the most feature rich contest logging
solution available. There are others like WriteLog ($), N3JFP (free), I am
not as familiar with those.

 

A detail description of setting up N1MM+ is beyond the scope of this
message. If you are new to it and have questions about its setup, drop me a
note or give me a call and I can help walk you through it.

 

Anyone can call CQ and you can answer anyone calling CQ NEQP. Note there are
at least two other QSO parties going on at the same time this weekend. Don't
sweat it, just log what they give you. 

 

A typical SSB Exchange when you are calling CQ might go like:

 

You: CQ NEQP WO1N

Participant: WI1ZRD

You: WI1ZRD 59 MIDMA

Participant: 59 MIDMA

You: QSL, WO1N NEQP

 

If the participant is not in New England they will give their state, or
possibly county+state (like we do). Just log what they give you.

If they are DX they might say their country but you would log as "DX".

 

Club Competition / Submittal:

 

So, you have entered the contest using your own call and category. To
support the Club Competition:

 

At the end of the event, the contest sponsors need a "Cabrillo" formatted
file for your entry. Cabrillo is a standard format that all the contest
sponsors have agreed upon.

 

Use your own call sign and after the event make sure the Cabrillo file that
is generated calls out the Billerica Amateur Radio Society on the "Club"
line. The header will look like this:

 

START-OF-LOG: 3.0
LOCATION: EMA
CALLSIGN: WO1N
CLUB: Billerica Amateur Radio Society
CONTEST: NEWE-QSO-PARTY
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-ASSISTED: ASSISTED
CATEGORY-BAND: ALL
CATEGORY-MODE: CW
CATEGORY-POWER: LOW
CATEGORY-STATION: FIXED
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
CLAIMED-SCORE: 24274
OPERATORS: WO1N 

etc....

 

The sponsors will take care of the rest, they will just group all entries
with the same Club call out, total them up and that determines the Club's
standing. Your individual score will also be shown on the results page under
the category you entered (Single Op etc.).

 

If you are using a purpose built Contest logger as I recommended, when you
input your Station Configuration info there is the opportunity to define you
Club name. Otherwise, you can edit the header after the fact and add the
line shown above.

 

N1MM+, will generate the Cabrillo file for you (File --> Generate Cabrillo)
and store it on your disk as callsign.log (e.g. wo1n.log).

 

Use the sponsors log submittal page
(https://neqp.contesting.com/neqpsubmitlog.php ) and follow the
instructions. Upload your callsign.log You should be all set, you've entered
the contest and supported the Club Competition effort at the same time.

 

Finally, to keep your logbook up-to-date, you would import an ADIF of the
event log. N1MM+ will generate for you. (File --> Export --> Generate ADIF).

 

What happens if we win?

 

We all go to Disney! 

 

Wait no, that's a different competition..

 

The Club would receive a nice plaque. In this case the Yankee Clipper
Contest Club sponsors the plaque. By tradition, the winning Club President
gets to keep the plaque, displayed proudly on their contest Wall of Fame,
forever.

 

73,

 

Ken - WO1N

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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