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It may be Easter weekend and you may have a lot of family events on the schedule, but that doesn't mean you can't jump on the radio and join in the 2009 Georgia QSO Party.
Making Georgia very attractive for county hunters is that there are 159 counties in the state, almost all of which were activated in 2008.
"We missed Terrell County only," said GQP Chairman Mike Condon NE4S of the county that calls itself the "Peanut Capital of the World. "158 were in the logs."
Last year there were seventeen different rovers plying the roads, with the top score coming from Paul Newberry N4PN, whose high power entry totaled 262,548 points.
NJust 511 points behind that was the team of Jeff Clarke KU8E and John Laney K4BAI, who made a net of almost 2,000 contacts as W4AN/M.
"This year will be only a Saturday trip because of Easter," Clarke told radio-sport.net, adding that GQP organizers are trying their best to match last year's totals.
"Jeff and I will be QRV in a number of counties," said Laney K4BAI, one of those who is also trying to drum up extra interest again this year.
"NE4S and I are working hard to get some activity from most of the counties," Clarke said.
"We are going to have our full compliment of very nice plaques again this year. We are also again offering a bonus prize for the station who works the most Georgia counties."
In 2008, those bragging rights went to Don Coulter W9IU, who found 154 of the 159 counties and the top high power score from outside of Georgia.
Number two in the county race was Keith Pederson WA3HAE, who nailed 143 counties en route to the top lower power score outside of Georgia.
Inside Georgia, Team K4HYB won the Multi-Multi class, Gregg Marco W6IZT (W4IZT) had the top GA Mixed High Power score, while William Barr N4NX won the low power mixed category.
Organizers admit this year's numbers might be down a bit because of the Easter weekend, but that was something they accepted a few years ago when they chose the second full weekend of April for the GQP.
"This year the holiday will probably have an impact," said Condon NE4S. "We do need rovers out there, that is the best way to get those rare counties covered."
"The GQP team is very proud of what we have accomplished in the last few years," Clarke added, "and I think it is safe to say that the GQP is in the top 5 among the state QSO parties in activity."
For those who have competed before in the Georgia QSO Party, there are some rule changes to be aware of.
Two bands have been added, as now QSO's are okay on 160 and 6 meters.
Also a new multiplier has been added for Georgia stations, as now Washington, D.C. is a mult, separate from the state of Maryland.
The Georgia QSO Party is run in two segments, from 1800z Saturday 11 April to 0359z Sunday, and from 1400 Sunday 12 April to 2359z.
Here is K4BAI in the back seat of the the mobile setup.
"We use Hustler mobile whips with the DX Engineering Top hats," said Clarke. "We usually use a decent contesting radio such as a TS850S or Icom 756Pro. I have found these work better than the little radios like the IC706MKII, etc."
