2020 Virginia QSO Party Rules

SPONSOR
Sponsored by the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167.

OBJECTIVE
To promote amateur radio activity in the 95 Virginia Counties and 38 Virginia Independent Cities.

DATES
Saturday, 21 March 2019 1400 UTC - Sunday, 22 March 0400 UTC and Sunday, 22 March 1200 UTC - 2400 UTC.

(For Virginians, this is Saturday 10 AM - 12 Midnight and Sunday 8 AM - 8 PM Virginia local time.)

ENTRY CATEGORIES
    Operator Categories
Single Operator - One person performs all operating and only one transmitter may be on the air at a time.
Multi Operator / Single Transmitter - Two or more operators with one transmitter on the air at one time.
Multi Operator / Multi Transmitter - Two or more operators with two or more transmitters on the air at one time.

    Station Categories
Fixed Station
Mobile - Single or Multiple individuals operating Mobile under a single call sign with only one transmitter on the air at a time. A mobile station is self-contained and capable of legal motion (land, water or air) while operating. Motion is optional, and discouraged, during operation.
Expedition - One or more operators of a station that moves between two or more Virginia locations during the course of the contest. All equipment, power supplies and antennas must be transported to each operating site.

    Power Categories
High (greater than 150 watts), Low (150 watts or less) and QRP (5 watts or less)
    Band Categories
Multi-Band or Single Band
    Mode Categories
Phone, CW, Digital, and Mixed
    Club Entry
Club - Minimum of three valid contest entries each indicating club affiliation.

VALID CONTACTS
Virginia stations work all stations. Out-of-State stations work Virginia stations only. Work fixed stations once per band/mode.

Work Virginia Expeditions and Mobiles in each Virginia County or Independent City from which they operate. Stations on County or Independent City lines count as one QSO and one County/Independent City multiplier.  Mobile and Expedition stations must use appropriate suffix in call sign.

Satellite contacts allowed.  

No cross-mode or repeater QSO's. Spotting nets, DX clusters, etc., may be used to locate other stations - no self-spotting permitted.

Logs with a significant number of QSOs with the same station will be categorized as check logs.

EXCHANGE

Exchange QSO number and QTH (Virginia County or Independent City for VA stations; State, Province or "DX" for others).

Virginia Mobile and Expedition Stations log QSO's by Virginia Independent City or County of operation.

Identify all QSO's with band/mode, sequential QSO number sent/received and date/time of contact in UTC.

Please follow standard contest practices by making and responding to "CQ Virginia QSO Party" calls.

Multiple Transmitter stations may maintain sequential QSO numbers independently for each transmitter.

SCORING
    QSO Points:
QSO's count 1 point per Phone, 2 points per CW, 2 points per digital mode (RTTY, PSK31,etc.), and 3 points per contact made with a Virginia Mobile (Phone or CW or Digital).
    Multipliers:
Multipliers are only counted once, i.e., contacting the same Virginia County, Independent City, State, Province or Country using a different band or mode counts only as a new QSO, not as a new multiplier.

Virginia Mobile, Expedition, and Fixed Station multipliers are the total number of Virginia counties, Virginia Independent cities, U. S. States (except Virginia), Canadian Provinces, and DX entities.  No extra DX multiplier for U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii), Virginia, and Canada.  

Mobile and Expedition stations that contact 10 (ten) or more different stations while operating from a county or independent city may claim it as a multiplier, if not otherwise worked.

Outside of Virginia station multipliers are the total number of Virginia Counties (95) and Independent Cities (38) worked.

    Bonus Points:
Virginia Mobile and Expedition stations receive a bonus of 100 additional points for each Virginia County/ Independent City from which they log a valid QSO.

    Final score:
Final score is the number of QSO Points multiplied by the number of Multipliers plus Bonus Points.

FREQUENCIES
160 meters and up, except no WARC band QSO's permitted. Suggested frequencies:
    CW - 1805 KHz and 50 KHz up from band edge on others.
    PHONE -1845, 3860, 7260, 14270, 21370 and 28370 KHz.
    Novice/Tech Plus - 10 KHz up from the edge of the CW band and 28370 KHz on PHONE.
    VHF - 50.130, 144.200 (CW & SSB), 146.580 and 223.50 MHz.
    UHF - 446.00 MHz.
    Digital contacts should use normally accepted sub-bands for these modes.

ENTRIES
For award purposes, Fixed, Expedition, and Mobile operation will be considered separately. Please submit separate logs for Fixed, Expedition, and Mobile operation.

Multiple operator stations should indicate all operators by call sign.

Electronic (preferred) or paper logs, summary and dupe sheets (200 or more QSO's) are required for all entries. The summary and 'dupe sheet' requirement is waived if recognized contesting software is used. Paper forms are available at the contest web site.

For Club Competition purposes, be sure to indicate club name on summary sheet and log.

Submit log entries by 15 April by mail to the VA QSO Party, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167 or by email to [email protected].  If you have problems, please send an email to [email protected].

A $1.00 donation to help defray the costs of printing and mailing is encouraged.

AWARDS
All participants submitting a log will receive a certificate.

The Plaques to be awarded are identified on the contest web site.

INFORMATION
Additional information may be obtained by mail at VA QSO Party, Call Box 599, Sterling, VA 20167; from the SPARC website www.qsl.net/sterling; or by contacting Gordon, NQ4K, at [email protected].

Anticipated Plaques