Locust QSO Party Back for 2008

By Jamie Dupree NS3T, radio-sport.net 

If you're looking for something a bit different on the bands, then look no further than the second running of the LQP - the Locust QSO Party - sponsored by the "Locust" himself, Eric Hilding K6VVA.

"I just wanted to do something "different" for my 50th license year anniversary," Hilding told radio-sport.net, "and so the Locust QSO Party was launched."

"It turned out that so many participants said they had a blast and wanted to do it again, that I made it an annual event," Hilding said.

Of course, the first thing most people want to know before they even get a look at the rules and the prizes, is what's with the name of the contest?

"Many people ask me where I got the "Locust" name," said Hilding.

"Back in the 1960s when my DX Elmer Joe W1JR (then W2HQL/6) was working here in Silicon Valley, he gave me that name because I would clean out his refrigerator like a swarm of locusts whenever I came over to visit."

Never one to mince words, Hilding says on his web site that "If you think the LQP is for Contest Sissies, think again."

You can get a complete breakdown of the rules and the prizes, which include subscriptions to the National Contest Journal at Hilding's web site, http://www.k6vva.com/lqp51.

"Subscriptions to the National Contest Journal struck me as being very "practical" awards. As an advocate of "Green Power" I decided to make that one of the three new LQP Awards Categories this year," added Hilding.

Remember, Hilding's contest is not on a usual contest weekend, instead it is Thursday night EST January 24 in the US, which is January 25 GMT.

The first edition was held in January of 2007. Hilding had planned a second last year as well, but the calendar moved too quickly.

"Some Alaska Contest-peditions got in the way."