[WIQPmail] Wisconsin QSO Party this coming Sunday--has a VHF portion!

[Bruce Richardson]

The upcoming Wisconsin QSO Party is on Sunday (9th March) from 1pm to
8pm Central (after the time change).
All the details are at:
http://www.warac.org/wqp/wqp.htm

While some states have removed VHF from their state QSO parties,
Wisconsin's has continued and is even enhanced now with a new plaque
going to the highest scoring Single-op on VHF.  All operators are
encouraged to make VHF contacts.  The website has some recommended
frequencies (for FM).  You're supposed to stay off the Simplex calling
frequencies on FM.  So I could see 146.55 and 146.58 being very popular.
The way it's been explained to me is that the scoring software will
score all entries first using all bands. Then it will rescore the logs
omitting all QSO's below 6-meters. This scoring just looking at VHF Q's
and VHF mults will yield a VHF winner.  Additionally, the main category
is "all" band so VHF Q's
shouldn't hurt a primarily HF entry as the VHF points will be additive.

On VHF, FM and SSB are equivalent. So if you make a FM QSO on a given
VHF band, an SSB QSO would not count for any additional points.  The
great thing about weak-signal VHF is that down in the weak-signal
portion of the band, you can sit on the same freq and make an SSB QSO
and follow it with a CW QSO.  Sounds like 3 quick points (per band) if
you are SSB/CW capable on 6m, 2m, and above.

The point is to include VHF QSO's in your WIQP activity!  

One idea is to check the VHF bands at the top and bottom of every
hour--just an idea.  I know I'll be on from Vernon checking 6m SSB and
2m FM (from down in a valley).

So even if you are not set-up for HF at the moment, get on the VHF bands
for WIQP and let's have some VHF activity across the state!  See how
many counties and states you can work on VHF--the mults will be
important for your VHF score. The entry forms don't have VHF specific
lines because the software will break those out automatically.

Feel free to copy this text and share it with your local club to prompt
a bit more activity on the VHF bands.

Send in your log! Pledge your points to your local club for the club
entry.


73
Bruce Richardson W9FZ