We've had a nice re-birth of the NC QSO Party, with many mobile
operators running through our 100 counties. The Alamance ARC introduced
the mix/match awards system, which offers PLAQUES for 10 different
categories. If you've never received a plaque for a radio contest, the
NC QSO can make a new contester's day! And lots of little pistols have
gotten their feet wet in this, and other QSO parties. In fact, some in
our contest group got bitten by the contest bug while operating our own
QSO party. They have their value.
And try it mobile like Jim said! I had a ball in our first NC QSO 2
years ago- see
http://summitschool.com/faculty/w4ws.html for the full story...
I also believe they are a bit long, as rates do drop off, and the
endless mostly unanswered CQ's begin to annoy people on the bands. And
80 down here in a contest; A war zone. Wear headphones, keep the kids
out of the shack, hi...
State QSO parties are fun ,even if you can only jump in for an hour-
I make an effort to throw my call into as many as possible (weekends are
tough with 2 young children...) Heck, I sent a log with 18 q's to the
MQP last week- I only had an hour to play, but it was a fun hour, hi.
And if you work QSO parties, you'll be sure to meet guys like Keith,
WA3HAE who works 'em all! He even works the NC QSO Party on his
anniversary weekend!
Other than shorten them up a bit, I say let the sponsor decide-
they pay the bill-leave the parties alone! FWIW.
See you all in Dayton-
Henry, N4VHK
W4WS Contest Crew
Winston-Salem, NC
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