Massachusetts QSO Party

Rules

OBJECTIVE: Facilitate communication for radio amateurs outside the state of Massachusetts to connect with as many Massachusetts stations across the 14 Massachusetts counties. Massachusetts operators are encouraged to engage with participants both within and outside the state.

CONTEST DURATION:

Saturday August 10th from 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Sunday August 11th from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM.

All operators can operate for the full 18 hours.  

OPERATING CATEGORIES:

Fixed Station Categories:

  1. Single-Operator: One individual handles all operating and logging tasks, without spotting nets. Only one transmitted signal is allowed at a time.
  2. Single-Operator-Assisted: Similar to Single-Operator but permits the use of spotting nets.
  3. Multi-Single: Involves more than one person contributing to the score, with only one transmitted signal at a time.
  4. Multi-Multi: Similar to Multi-Single but allows more than one transmitted signal per band simultaneously.

Mobile Categories:

  1. Mobile – Single-Op
  2. Mobile – Multi-Op

Portable Categories:

  1. Portable – Single-Op
  2. Portable – Multi-Op

Special Categories:

  1. School (University, College, High School, etc.)

OPERATING MODES: Phone, CW, Mixed (Phone and CW). No digital QSOs.

EXCHANGE: Exchange consists of signal report (RS or RST) and State. Massachusetts operators send signal report and county, US operators send State abbreviations, Canadian operators send province abbreviations, and DX operators send DXCC prefixes.

SCORING:

  1. QSO POINTS: Each non-duplicate Phone contact is 1 point per band, while each non-duplicate CW contact is 2 points per band.
  2. MULTIPLIERS: Counted once per mode, regardless of the number of bands.

FINAL SCORE: Calculated as QSO Points times Multipliers.

MISCELLANEOUS: No cross-mode contacts, and CW contacts must be made in the CW portion of the band. No separate receiving sites allowed. Stations may be worked once per mode per band, with no limits on band changes.

REPORTING: Electronic log submission in Cabrillo format is encouraged, including band, mode, date, UTC time, callsigns, and location(s).

AWARDS: Plaques and certificates are awarded for various achievements.

If you have any questions regarding the contest rules, please email help@maqp.org for assistance.