Ham Radio QSO Parties

A fellow by the name of Kyle, WA4PGM/M, is planning a long route around SE Virginia.

http://www.wa4pgm.us/VQP/VQP.htm

His route will involve operations from 74, yes seventy-four, counties and cities.

To quote

Depending on your station’s capabilities and your experience as a contest operator, you may find yourself employing one or both of two basic strategies. Listen to others throughout the weekend and you will find yourself hearing most of the same types of operating practices.

Some folks wish to try the six meter band for the Virginia QSO Party. This is great. Some questions were asked about how best to try this. Obviously a good beam would help, but short of that what can you try.

Here is a list (that I hope others will add to by adding comments) of good locations for operating mobile in the Northern Virginia area.

Skyline Drive is the obvious answer for some very good QSOs.

GPS would seem to be the obvious answer. However the GPS units I have seen seem to tell you which town or city you are close to, not necessarily in. I invite comments from folks who have more positive experiences with GPS systems with regards to knowing precisely which county or city you are actually in.

In another post I am comparing many aspects of several logging programs. Eventually each will be compared feature by feature.

I already use N3FJP software so am familiar with it. I decided to try out N1MM to learn its advantages.

Someone asked the N3FJP email reflector what the keyboard shortcuts for the state logging programs are.

The answer is handy to have and here it is…

Question:
Which logging program should I consider?

Answer:
Just for the record printable log sheets are available on the www.w4va.org web site if you are only going to make a few QSOs.

Question:
Last question — I read your post regarding the use of phonetic callsigns . . . do most VHF’ers use those or not? Again, I’ll prep my son as needed either way.

Question:
The rules give suggested frequencies for use — during a contest is it normal for all (or most) contacts to be made on these frequencies (at least in the VHF/UHF part of the spectrum), or do folks jump around? If there is a range of frequencies that are used, I’ll pre-program the radios to be able to quickly scan those sections of the bands.