Moving Multipliers Will Test Contester Mettle as North American QSO Party Returns

By Jamie Dupree NS3T radio-sport.net
Posted January 5, 2008

Facing some all-too-familiar contest decisions sparked by a lack of sunspots, competitors in the January 2009 North American QSO Party will again have to make sure they fill out their multiplier charts on all bands to have a chance at the Top Ten box.
"If I am searching and pouncing, I get quite a few QSY requests, as you might guess," says Alan Brubaker KO7X, who will again crank out some QSO's from his location in southeastern Wyoming.
"In the NAQP some ops will ask me to move to another band while I am in the middle of a run. If I am not that busy, I will do it but if my rate is up over 100, I will tell them 'later'," Brubaker told radio-sport.net.
"My "goal" in the NAQP is to have a little fun and help out my friends with a multiplier or two or more," he added.
Back a signal hop or two to the East, the Tennessee Contest Group will be out to maximize their team scores, as their #1 team of N4ZZ, K4RO, WO4O, W4NZ and K4LTA won the top team spot in August of 2008.
"I try to move every mult that I think has a chance in the NAQP. We don't know what will work until we try," says Kirk Pickering K4RO, who fifth overall in low power last August.
"Moving mults is a LOT OF FUN," Pickering told radio-sport.net last week. "I have had some very surprising moves succeed in the NAQP contests."
"As N0AX put it years ago, "it's the North American QSY Party."
While 10 and 15 meters have been pretty punk in recent months, last August they got a bit of a boost, as most of the top ten LP ops worked 35-39 mults on 10 meters, and as many as 52 on 15 meters.
But if conditions are like January of 2008, then don't expect much on 10 meters, making it a true test of who can squeeze out some extra mults.
Several California stations made it to 20 mults on 10 meters a year ago, with only Dan Craig N6MJ finding his way over the 50 mult mark on 15 meters as he operated W6YI.
On the QRP side, Julius Fazekas N2WN will again be in there trying to scratch out another NAQP CW win like the one he chalked up in August of 2008.
He told radio-sport.net that he definitely has seen an increase in the competition level in the QRP category the past five or so years.
"If I had to guess, 80 may be the "meat and potatoes" band," Fazekas said.
"I watch the propagation numbers leading up to the contest to get a feel for where to best spend my time. Generally, I start high and work down, so will check 10 out (although it's not looking great right now)."
Fazekas says one thing to remember is that 40 meters goes long early, so it might be a band to pay attention to well before sunset as you search for extra mults.

NAQP Strategy Reminders

There are several key points in the rules for the NAQP that you need to remember if you're going to jump in for a few QSO's over the next two weekends.
First off, there is no High Power category - 100 watts is the maximum power, as there is only Low Power and QRP.
So if you run High Power, you're going down as a checklog.
Multipliers count on all bands, so if you snag someone from the Carribean or Alaska on one band, maybe try to move them to another band that might be open.
While Multi-ops can work the entire 12 hour contest period, single operators can only operate a maximum of 10 hours.
Your off times must be a minimum of 30 minutes, which you may as well make a minimum of "31" minutes so you don't foul up your log.
"Off time management is one of the more interesting challenges in the NAQP," says Kirk Pickering K4RO.
"I have a general plan based on past experience, but like most things in contesting, it's more of a dynamic decision."