Ham Radio QSO Parties

If your participation in a QSO Party is very brief, using a hand log is really the easiest and simplest thing to do. Many QSO Party sponsors provide templates you can print and use. The Virginia QSO Party sponsor (Sterling Park ARC) has a good example in their 2006 info page at…

http://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2006_VQP_Main.html

After the contest don’t forget to fill out your party’s Summary Sheet.

For those of us planning to make more than a few dozen QSOs computerized logging software is an essential tool. Through the use of computer databases, QSO Party software provides:

• duplicate band-mode highlighting to ensure you don’t contact the same station on the same band and mode
• automatic QSO serial number increment
• tracking of which counties and cities (if your state party recognizes cities) you have worked and which ones you need
• tracking of multiplier status
• QSO by QSO score tabulation (it is fun to watch your score increase exponentially when you get another multiplier)
• optional CW control over your radio so you can automate your CW CQ calling
• optional data interface between the computer and the radio so switching bands is kept in sync

In the coming weeks we will review several of the more popular titles available for the Virginia QSO Party including Writelog, N1MM, N3FJP.

Many state QSO parties have volunteer programmers who put together simple logging programs that are freqeuntly the first and only program available till the big programs catch up. There are some QSO Parties with rules so bizarre or change so frequently the big programs simply cry foul and ignore that particular event. This is unfortunate for the participants. I guess my point in saying this is if your QSO Party is supported by Writelog, N1MM or N3FJP don’t even bother with any other program unless you are already familiar with it.

Stay tuned for reviews of several logging programs where we will determine various items including:

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The above chart will change as we find more programs to compare to the N3FJP. If we think of additional features to examine they will also appear in this classic system engineering Pugh chart.