What CQP means to ME

"Officially", I have been involved w/CQP events since CQP-2000; my, final year using my former callsign: KX6H.  Joining up with W6KC, W6SW, W6JTB & K6JI as W6ML (Whiskey Six Mexico London - Whiskey Six Mammoth Lakes) from MONO county.

Joining up with the team making up W6ML introduced me to what a multi-OP collaboration (outside of Field Day) is all about.

Team W6ML won the HP Expedition class 4 years in a row (2000 - 2003), setting an all-time high score for MONO county in 2001, right after the 9-1-1 disaster.  

Beginning in 2004 I struck out on my own, using various 1x1 callsigns as: W6C, W6E, W6K, K6C, K6M, K6S,
K6T & K6U.

Running the 1st weekend in October, we get to enjoy more-or-less "perfect" weather (and this year) perfect Space-WX.  I like to think of CQP as the perfect practice exercise, for the Sweepstakes GiG that happen in November, and even the 160/10-meter events which follow in December.

For me, CQP is a near-variation of Field Day.  I look for any reason to run a camping-style portable operation.  For the 2010, 2012 & 2013 CQP events, N6GEO and I ran Field Day-style events from MODOC county.  The orange Coleman "Insta-Tent" was in use as late as last year.

While the known WQ6X call is often preferred for contests like the November Sweepstakes, using 1x1 callsigns seems to be more appropriate for CQP; hence the reason for not using "personal" callsigns.  For 2021, running CQP as the Amateur Radio Club of Alameda made using the K6QLF club callsign (Kilowatt SIX Quebec London Foxtrot) the correct thing to do.

Beginning with CQP-2022, a different approach was taken; namely, the idea of running a triple-OP operation:

• Putting in op-time remotely with team-NX6T, running from RIVE (Riverside) county,
  as usual taking the 2am operating shifts.
• Running a low power (LP) station from Contra Costa County as W6Q.
• Putting WQ6X on the air, also from Contra Costa County running QRP (5-watts).

Since CQP (OCT. 1st), QRP operations have figured into 4 other contest events, beginning with
a triple-OP Cw Sweepstakes, moving on to the CQ W.W. Cw contest, a triple-OP 10-Meter contest,
and ending with a brief QRP run in the Stew Perry Top Band Challenge (SP-160) GiG; all events showcasing the WQ6X callsign.

If it hadn't been for taking a 1st-place (for QRP) in the California QSO Party (CQP), I might well have never considered the QRP challenge.  Looking back to previous CQP events in the WQ6X Contest Blog, it seems that CQP operations often set the groundwork for enjoying new operating methods.

On a different note, CQP helps me keep a geographical awareness of the 58 counties which make
up the state of California.  Despite what outsiders may think, California is TRULY the Golden state.

And THAT is what CQP means to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

01-01-23 - UPDATE:
The 2022 CQP Results are already in:

• NX6T set a county record for RIVE (Riverside)
• WQ6X set a QRP county record for CCOS (Contra Costa)
• K6Q took 1st-place as SOALP for CCOS (Contra Costa)