Why I Work State/Area QSO Parties

"Littered" throughout the radiosport calendar each year are dozens of State and Area QSO party events.  The purpose of each QSO Party is to radio-activate areas of the USA and Canada over

a short period of time (usually 12 to 30 hours), often activating counties and areas with a sparse amateur population.

N6GEO & WQ6X activated S/W Modoc county in 2010, 2012 & 2013 (while the contest group
from Bend Ore ran from N/E Modoc).  As you can see from the K6M & W6C QSL's, we were
literally operating from out in the middle of literally nowhere.  In later years when George and I operated from other locations (Contra Costa, Sacramento & Tuolumne counties in particular)
we were always thankful for the Bend group and one Modoc local who puts 50 - 100 QSOs
from Modoc in the system.

An immediately obvious benefit of state QSO parties is to assist amateurs in communicating
with "new" counties towards the USA-CA (Worked All USA Counties) Award. 

There are other benefits to working QSO parties that may not be so immediately obvious. 
These benefits include:

• Learning/Studying short/medium range propagation and the effects of
  Space Weather on this range of communication.
• Learning new operating methods such as: SO2-V, SO2-R & RBN analysis.
• Learning the Art/Science of rover and portable operations.
• Testing new equipment/software configurations.
• Testing new/different antenna configurations.

For me (WQ6X) a MAJOR reason I play in QSO party events is to "collect certificates".....

 

AND EVEN SOME WOOD

So there you have it - a number of good reasons to play around in QSO parties.

 

Do YOU play in state/area QSO parties?

 

What are YOUR reasons for doing so?

 

Whatever your reason, I invite you to play in the GRANDEST of all QSO parties - the

California QSO Party - CQP.