HamSCI Contesting League

In early 2022, there’s an opportunity for on-the-air camaraderie and friendly competition among HamSCI amateur radio operators:  HamSCI team entries in the January 2022 running of the North American QSO Party, SSB, better known by its acronym, NAQP.

The NAQP is a 12-hour ham radio competition, what most call a ‘contest’.  Operators follow specific rules on when to operate, whom they may contact and on which HF bands, and what QSO information has to be exchanged for a valid contact.  The rules set up two basic groups for scoring purposes:  Single operators (one ham, one station) and multi-two (a group of hams, often a club, operating one or two stations).  All contacts occur during the 12-hour contest period, 1800z to 0600z, January 22, 2022.  The NAQP is one of the few contests with a 100 watt power limit - so ‘little pistol’ stations can be competitive.  The contest information exchange is straightforward:  Name and state (or province).  Contest ops typically make between 1 and 1600 QSOs during the contest period, logging them on freely available software, such as N1MM Logger, WinTest and many others.

The NAQP sponsors encourage team participation - so there are plans afoot to enter one or more HamSCI teams.  Teams consists of 2 to 5 members registering their team name and station callsigns with the sponsors, prior to the contest.  There are no membership or geographic limitations on who can join a team.   Many organizations field multiple teams, and these team names are being considered for January:

• HamSCI Grapes
• HamSCI Tangerines
• HamSCI Eclipse Watchers
• HamSCI SuperDARNs 

As the name of the contest implies, the focus is on North America, though DX stations are welcome to call in and make contacts.  Logging of all contacts is not only encouraged, it is mandatory to aggregate team scores and if you want to be considered for prizes (certificates and plaques for top scorers). The results (listing all teams and stations who send in their logs) will appear in the National Contest Journal, in print and online (http://ncjweb.com/current-naqp-ssb-results/)

Complete contest rules can be found at  https://ncjweb.com/naqp/

We have some well known contesting operators in HamSCI - and some rookies, too - all are welcome.  School stations are ripe for multi-two entries.  For the college stations:  The NAQP-SSB is one of the two events which make up the North American Collegiate Challenge (https://www.w9smc.com/nacc/)

We can begin now, gathering callsigns of interested team members, in preparation for the team registration process.  Gary Mikitin, AF8A, has volunteered to organize and register the teams.  If you would like to participate, please contact him via <gmikitinaf8a> <at> gmail <dot> com.  Gary can answer any questions you might have about operating in the NAQP.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, January 22, 2022, 1800z - 0600z, for some SSB, on-the-air, work-your-fellow-HamSCI-members kind of fun!