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Georgia QSO Party (GQP) RULES

Rule changes for 2008 are below

OBJECTIVE:  For amateurs outside of the state of Georgia to make contact with as many Phone and/or CW Georgia stations in as many of the 159 Georgia counties, as possible.

Georgia stations work everyone on Phone, CW, or both modes.
Remember as rovers change counties they are "new" contacts to all, even Georgia stations.
So GA stations always send their county to, and and receive county from, GA stations.

The GQP shall be conducted on 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m, and 6m only.

Awards for Club competition, Out of state clubs, and Georgia clubs, are offered in each mode category along with the individual station awards.

Rule changes this year:

160M and 6M are added bands

Multipliers Changed-- DC added separate from MD, for 51 US multipliers

VE mults changed to 13, matching RAC listing.

          Prov/Terr  [Multiplier to use in QSO]   (Prefix examples)

  1. Alberta [AB]   (VE6, VA6)

  2. British Columbia [BC]   (VE7, VA7)

  3. Manitoba [MB]   (VE4, VA4)

  4. New Brunswick [NB]   (VE9) 

  5. Newfoundland and Labrador [NL]   (VO1, VO2)

  6. Northwest Territories [NT]   (VE8)

  7. Nova Scotia [NS]   (VE1, VA1, CY9, CYØ)

  8. Nunavut [NU]   (VY0)

  9. Ontario [ON]   (VE3, VA3)

  10. Prince Edward Island [PE]   (VY2)

  11. Quebec [QC]   (VE2, VA2)

  12. Saskatchewan [SK]   (VE5, VA5)

  13. Yukon [YT]   (VY1)

A Mixed operation may be split out as PH and/or CW entries...   The mixed entry is not allowed in this case.  Separate log files are required to be submitted.  Rovers may not split logs.  Home station who also submit a Rover run may not split logs.

Summary forms are not required for Cabrillo or electronic log entries.  (summary details are generated automatically on scoring)    Please take care to get all your details in the Cabrillo/email file though... Name, Address, Operators, Club, Claimed Score... etc.  Paper log submissions still should submit a summary, and supply details as above.

All paper logs will be accepted for awards, 100 contact rule removed.  But please use a log program if you can.

A GA rover may also submit a fixed home station entry, if the rover has not made Rover contacts from the home county.  (Separate log submissions are required.)

Other items restated for clarity or minor changes.

Prior Changes... a reminder of other year changes...

Email address for entry is changed: gqp@iham.us

Rovers… minimum counties 2

Rovers ... scores can go to any club, including out of state clubs.  (Except SECC and SEDXC, event sponsors)

Rovers... can have a driver for safety and still be single op.

To sponsor a plaque contact gqpplaques@iham.us

 

RULES for Georgia QSO Party

1. CONTEST PERIOD

  1. Annually, the second full weekend of April

  2. There are two operating periods:  1800Z Saturday until 0359Z Sunday and 1400Z to 2359Z on Sunday

2. CONTEST EXCHANGE

  1. Georgia stations. Send signal report and county abbreviation.  Georgia stations should call “CQ GQP”.  Non Georgia stations should call “CQ Georgia. 

  2. USA (Non-Georgia) stations. Send signal report and state

  3. Canadian stations. Send signal report and Canadian province.

  4. DX stations. Send signal report and DX (not country).

3. CATEGORIES

  1. Single Operator.  (SO) One person performs all operating and logging functions.

  2. Multi-Operator.  (MS) or Multi Station (MM) Those obtaining assistance from another operator(s) or logger.  Multi-operator stations may be Multi Operator-Single station (MS), or Multi Operator-Multiple stations (MM). 

  3. Rover Single Operator  (RS) or  Rover Multi  (RM)  A single Georgia mobile or portable station that operates from at least two (2) different Georgia counties and making at least one (1) contact from each county.   Rovers with multiple operators and/or multiple simultaneously operated stations in the vehicle use the (RM) category.

NOTE: A rover station may have a non-contest operating driver, for safety, and remain in the Single Operator category. If the driver operates at any time in the contest, that Rover is in the Multi-Operator category and enters as (RM). Rovers must move the entire operating site at least 200 yards into the new county.  (“Line Sitting” is not allowed.)

NOTE:  Nets/Clusters are allowed for all categories without changing category.

4. POWER

  1.  QRP: Five (5) watts output, maximum.  Use (QRP).

  2. Low Power: 150 watts, maximum.   Use (LP).

  3. High Power: Greater than 150 watts.  Use (HP).

NOTE:  Current Rover award lists do NOT call out power categories.  Rovers of all power levels compete for these awards the same.  Please enter your appropriate power lever though.

5. MODES

  1.  MIXED:  PH, CW contacts are all submitted as a single entry.   Use  "MIXED" as Mode in log header, log each contact by actual mode used. (PH/CW/PSK/RTTY/etc.)
  2. CW:  Traditional Morse Code contacts, (and digital modes)   Use "CW" as Mode in log header, enter actual mode used on each contact.
  3. PH:  Voice contacts.  Use "PH" as as Mode in log header, and on each contact.
Note:  A Mixed operation may be split out as PH and/or CW entries.  The mixed entry is not allowed in this case.  Separate log files are required to be submitted.  Rovers may not split logs.  Home station who also submit a Rover run may not split logs.

CW, RTTY, and Digital contacts will all be scored as CW.  Multipliers will be scanned from the total group and counted for CW.

6. ENTRY CATEGORY

   For the log file item of "Category:"

  1. Use one of: SO, MS, MM, RS or RM as first part
  2. Use one of:  QRP, LP, or HP as second part
  3. Use  one of: MIXED, PH, or CW as last part

   NOTE: The Cabrillo file line for category might then be as below

   CATEGORY:  SO LP MIXED

   CATEGORY:  RS LP CW

   Or any other valid combination as described generally above.

7. SCORING

  1. Stations may be worked once per band per mode  for QSO Points.  For QSOs with GA Rovers, also per county.
  2. Multiplier counting is per mode.  See details  below.
  3. QSO Points.  
  4. Each complete Phone contact counts one point.
  5. Each complete CW contact counts two points.
  6. No cross-mode contacts allowed.
  7. No partial contact credit.
  8. DX counts for QSO points only, there are no country multipliers.  Use "DX" in the exchange.
 

   7.1 Multipliers.

  1.    A multiplier may be counted once per mode.  (Not per band)

   7.2 Georgia stations:

  1. Each USA state and DC, including Georgia (51).
  2. (For GA to GA QSOs, enter counties in the exchange, you will get credit for GA state.)
  3. Each Canadian Province (13).
  4. DX contacts count for QSO points, but do not count for multipliers.  (Please enter DX in the exchange.)
  5. 64 state/Provinces X 2 Modes = 128 Multipliers possible

   7.3 Non-Georgia stations:  

  1. 159 (county) multipliers  X 2 Modes  = 318 Multipliers possible
  2. Georgia Rover stations, when they change county, may be worked as a new contact.
  3. A Rover contact counts for points if the QSO is not duplicated on same band and same mode.
  4. A Rover contact counts for multiplier credit if the QSO is new on that mode.
 

   7.4 Final Score.   Multiply total QSO points by total multipliers.

   7.5 Invalid Contacts.    Stations outside GA may not count contacts with "non GA" or with DX stations. 

8. SCORE SUBMISSION

Entries must be time stamp marked or postmarked not later than 0000Z, the 15th of May.

All participants are encouraged to submit an entry in any form.

All contestants are highly encouraged to submit their logs in Cabrillo format from a software logging program. 

Electronic:  All contestants should submit their scores by email attachment to gqp@iham.us.

Summary sheets are not required for any Cabrillo logs.

Notice: Omission of class or power category will automatically default to the highest class, multiop, multi transmitter, and high power.  MM, RM, and HP will be the defaults.

If your club is indicated in your Cabrillo submission, your score will be automatically credited to that club.

Rovers may submit scores for any club, including out of state clubs.

Rovers may submit a single consolidated Cabrillo file with a claimed score of the entire operation  

A single Cabrillo file is the preferred entry for a rover, and individual county files are not needed in this case.  (Less files to handle)

Rovers may also submit individual county Cabrillo files. Individual county files will be combined when received to make an overall file.  Individual summaries or claimed scores are not required for separate Rover files.

Several popular logging programs allow changing the exchange in the same log.  (Some do not allow change.)

Log submission should follow  Suggested Cabrillo File Format. See "Helpful Downloads" for an example

Paper and Disc:

Logs on paper are retyped and reentered into software, each contact, by a volunteer.  Help us reduce this work!

Please do NOT print out a file and send paper, just save the file as a plain text format, and send the file by email.  We can handle many forms of files.  If you do not have email, send a floppy/CD, or as a last resort, send the paper print out.  All paper logs should include a summary and claimed score.

Logs submitted on disc must be IBM PC compatible.

Paper logs must indicate band, mode, date, UTC contact time, call sent and received, exchanges, multipliers, and QSO points. Multipliers should be marked clearly the first time worked. A summary sheet "should" be included.  Indicate your club for club scores.

Entry forms and a list of Georgia County abbreviations are available at this web site. Entry forms and a list of Georgia County abbreviations may be requested by mail by sending a business size SASE.

Paper log, Floppy Disc/CD submission and request for Entry forms and a list of Georgia county abbreviations are to be mailed to:

   John Laney, K4BAI

   P.O. Box 421

   Columbus, GA. 31902-0421

Received logs will be listed on this web site as soon as possible after receipt.

9. MISCELLANEOUS

Spotting:  Nets/Clusters are allowed for all categories.

Self spotting is not allowed for any entrant.  This includes using any other call sign the entrant  may have access to as a trustee, club, or family call. 

Club competition is encouraged.  Please indicate your club on your entry. The SECC and SEDXC are not eligible to enter this competition. 

Awards, either sponsored plaques or certificates will be earned by the top scores from competing clubs in the Mixed category only.  There are  "Out of state" and "Georgia" "Top Club Score" awards in the Mixed category..

A transmitter used to contact one or more stations may not subsequently be used under any other call during the contest period. The only exception will be for family stations where more than one call is assigned and the operator is changed when the call is changed.

Out of state stations working from multiple states must submit separate logs for each state.  Each state score stands alone, and is not consolidated with other state operations.

A remotely operated station exchange should be entered as the location of the actual station transmitter/antenna, not the operator location.

A rover/mobile station is one that can be operated while in motion.  (County Hunters definition)

Suggested Frequencies:

Phone: 1.865, 3.810, 7.225, 14.250, 21.300, 28.450, 50.135

CW:     1.815, 3.545, 7.045, 14.045, 21.045, 28.045, 50.095

10.AWARDS

   Certificates. Certificates will be awarded to the top score for each of the following:

  1. Each DXCC country.
  2. Each Canadian province.
  3. Each USA state (except Georgia)
  4. Each Georgia County

   To contact our certificate manager, click gqpcertificates@iham.us

   Plaques. Sponsored plaques will be awarded to the top score in each listed category:

 Please consider sponsoring a plaque.  To contact our plaque manager, gqpplaques@iham.us

End of Rules

Sponsored AWARDS are listed on the home  page, and the list may change from year to year.

Certificates will be sent when a category/mode is not sponsored for a plaque.

Special thanks to all award sponsors from the SECC and SEDXC!