Washington State Salmon Run Helps Kickoff 10 State QSO Parties In Five Weeks Before CQ WW SSB

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted September 12, 2010

If you are looking to get your station in order for the upcoming contest season, or just knock off a few more counties in the United States, then the next five weeks are for you, with ten different state QSO parties on the schedule.

This weekend features the Washington State Salmon Run, which includes the unique prize of some real smoked salmon for a host of category winners.

Also on the air this weekend, the Connecticut QSO Party and the South Carolina QSO Party, guaranteeing county action from three different corners of the U.S.A.

The defending out of state champion in the Salmon Run is a familiar call to those who battle it out in state QSO parties, as Bob Harder W0BH has chalked up the top score from outside Washington the last two years.

A former resident of Seattle, Harder has used his location in Kansas to run up good QSO numbers on both 20 and 40 meters in the Salmon Run and other contests.

Not only did Harder win the low power category, but he also had the top overall single operator score outside of Washington State.

Last year's Salmon Run set a record for entries with 269 logs submitted, as 36 of the 39 counties were put on the air.

The counties that never got in anyone's log last year were Pend Orielle (the far northeast corner of the state), Skamania (in the southwest) and Mason (in the west).

So far, operations are planned from both Pend Oreille County and Skamania County - but Mason County remains unclaimed in the days before the start of the 2010 Salmon Run.

This year we're working to have more portable and mobile stations out to the rarer counties - San Juan and Pend Oreille, two of the toughest counties, already have committed operations," said Salmon Run organizer Jim Hadlock K7WA.

The top 2009 score from inside of Washington State was logged by the N7PP crew, which operated portable from Columbia County, using six operators and two stations.

It wasn't a wires in the trees operation, as each station had a 2-element SteppIR on a 50 foot tower, with dipoles for the low bands.

The top mobile in 2009 was Eugene Bye W7WMO, who operated mainly in the central part of the state. Mobiles will obviously be the key again in coming weeks in many state QSO parties, as tracking them effectively will provide you with needed extra multipliers.

The most extensive mobile plans have been laid out by James Ming N7GCO, who will says he will be operating in 10 of Washington State's 39 counties. Back in 2008, Ming made over 200 contacts on SSB in his mobile effort that year.

For those who participated last year, there are no rules changes for the 2010 edition.

All operators are allowed to operate all 23 hours of the contest, which runs in two parts - starting at 1600Z on Saturday September 18 through 0700 on Sunday the 19th.

The second part of the contest goes from 1600-2400z on Sunday 19 September.

Two reminders for those interested in operating this year - one is that this contest uses 160 through 6 meters, and second, there are a host of different categories to enter.

You can check out the full set of rules for the 2010 Salmon Run on the WWDXC web site.