The 2020 Virginia QSO Party was held during the weekend of 21-22 March 2020.
          Saturday, 21 March 2020 1400 UTC - Sunday, 22 March 0400 UTC and
          Sunday, 22 March 1200 UTC - 2400 UTC.


Awards Ceremony:  We held an on-line Awards Ceremony on Saturday, 13 June, at 0900 local (1300 UTC).  2020_VQP_Awards_Ceremony.pdf   We had 18 participants. Some pictures were captured from the computer screen and others when their plaques were delivered.   We also held a follow-on event in Warrenton, VA on 8 August 2020 for members of the Fauquier Amateur Radio club to pick up plaques and certificates.  Pictures from this event were added to the awards ceremony web page.

The plaques and certificates have been mailed except for those to members of the Fauquier Amateur Radio Association.  We are trying to arrange a personal delivery for those.

Youth Plaque Awarded: K4AMG announces the award of the 2020 Virginia QSO Youth Plaque to Audrey, KN4CHI.

Post Party Tidbits:  Comments about the Virginia QSO Party.

Log Meta-Data:  The log metadata file (Updated 30 July 15 May 13 May 4 May 27 April, posted 24 Apr) contains summary information about each log submitted to the Virginia QSO Party.  This is a draft and is subject to change as we continue to process and error check the logs.  This version has data from all submitted logs.  Comments may be emailed to [email protected].   

Log Submittal:

Name your log with your call sign.   If a mobile or expedition log add an "-M" or "-E" to you call sign.  Examples:  NQ4K.log  NQ4K-M.log  NQ4K-E.log.
Remember to put your email address in the header information in the log.  You logging program may do this for you, but please check.

Preferred way to submit your log is through our on-line portal at:  https://www.employees.org/~mschulma/SPARC/VQP/   This only accepts cabrillo formatted logs. This is a multi-step process. This is new this year.  If your log does not make it completely through the process (you will get an email saying your log has been submitted), then email your log to us. 

Alternate way to submit your log is to email it to: [email protected]     We will manually process your log but this may take a while.

Alternatively, if you cannot submit your log electronically, please mail your log to:  VA QSO Party, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167. 

Questions, comments, or problems may be emailed to VQP@verizon,net or to [email protected].

Operating Aids

John, KX4O, operates a QSO Party DX Cluster.  See http://www.qsoparty.com/.

Andy, K1RA, is sponsoring the VaQP APRS Mobile Tracker.  See https://k1ra.us/2020/02/05/vaqp-2020-aprs-mobile-tracker/  Mobile and expedition stations should email Andy their information, so he can enter them into the real-time mapping system.

Mike, N4CF, developed a history file for use with some logging programs.  See  http://n4cf.mdodd.com/vaqp-ch.html 

Announced Operations:  This is a list of announced operations in Virginia.  We hope to get coverage of all the counties and independent cities identified early.  If you are planning on operating a station in Virginia, please send an email to [email protected].   We also have identified those counties and independent cities with low coverage in the past. 

Plaque Sponsors:  Updated:  16 February 2020 13 January 2020 10 January 2020 1 January 2020 20 Dec 2019 18 Dec 2019.  We have completed soliciting  sponsors for the plaques for the 2020 Virginia QSO Party.  

We have one new sponsor this year.  Harv, K2PI, from Warrenton, VA, has volunteered to sponsor the Dxpedition plaque.  He is taking over from the group in North Carolina (Dwayne Ayers, N4MIO; Steve Wedge, W1ES; Doug Fleming, KF4VTT; and Garner Fleming, KK4CLY) who originally started the plaque and who have won it many times.

We will award one additional plaque this year.  It will be awarded to the individual or group who provides an outstanding service to the Virginia QSO Party.  We especially want to recognize those hams who foster additional participation in the Party, especially from those counties and independent cities with low QSO rates.  See the briefing for information on county and independent city coverage.

Certificate:  The 2020 Virginia QSO Party certificate will be awarded to all participants in the Party who submit a log.  The certificate for 2020 was designed by the Alexandria Radio Club (ARC) and highlights their many activities.  The Alexandria Radio Club has been a long time sponsor of two plaques and many of their members actively participate in the event.  Thanks to Don, KI4D, from the ARC, who coordinated the design effort. For more information about ARC, see http://www.W4HFH.org.

VQP Briefing: (PDF format ~10 MB ) A presentation suitable for club meetings on the Virginia QSO Party. Includes rules, Party statistics, descriptions of certificates.  This will be updated aperiodically to reflect new or changed information. Updated: 16 February 2020 6 February 2020 5 February 2020 19 January 2020 3 January 2020 1 January 2020.

VQP Contest Rules.  ( html format,   MSWord format,   PDF format )  There are no rule changes for the 2019 Virginia QSO Party.  The rules remain unchanged from last year. 

We are making a few changes

    1) We will award one additional plaque.  Tentatively named the President's Plaque, it will be awarded to the individual, or group, who provides an outstanding service to the Virginia QSO Party.  We especially want to recognize those hams who foster additional participation in the Party, especially from those counties and independent cities with low QSO rates.

   2) We are trying to further automate the log submission and format checking process.  This will offer the option of submitting the log through a web page in addition to emailing the log.

   3) We will distribute certificates after the VQP awards ceremony by mailing the certificates to the highest scoring person at the log submitter's club.  We hope to rely on that person to distribute the certificates at a club meeting or other gathering.  For those logs with no club specified, we will mail the certificate directly to the station operator.

Contest Logging Programs.  Logging programs designed for the Virginia QSO Party always help. We accept any logs, but logs submitted electronically and compliant with any cabrillo format are preferred. The following logging programs have been used in the past and they have been modified to support the Virginia QSO Party.  We re-score all logs submitted, so it is important to ensure your log contains all the required information.
    * N1MM Logger http://www.n1mm.com.
    * Scott & Kimberly, N3FJP & KA3SEQ Amateur Contact Log  http://www.n3fjp.com/.
    * WriteLog http://www.writelog.com/. 
    * WA7BNM Web2Cabrillo http://www.b4h.net/cabforms/   A manual entry cabrillo file generator.  Easy to use for those with QSOs not already in a cabrillo file.  Go to the web site.  Select Virginia QSO Party.  Fill in the forms.  In the last step, the program e-mails a Cabrillo file to [email protected], with a copy to the submitter's e-mail address. 
    * SkookumLogger for the Mac  https://www.k1gq.com/SkookumLogger/

Virginia Counties and Independent Cities: 95 counties and 38 independent cities (html format or MS Document or PDF format).

Paper Log Summary Sheets: (.pdf or .doc) Remains unchanged from last year. Used to record header information for paper logs. This form is not required for cabrillo formatted electronic logs.

Worked All Virginia Award:  The "Worked All Virginia" award is offered by the Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club. 

Presentation Offer and Schedule: SPARC will give a presentation on the Virginia QSO Party to any group in Virginia.

Planning Calendar: The calendar is available for review.

Comments, questions, and recommendations should be emailed to [email protected].