The Fun Contest
Maryland-DC QSO Party Rules for 2009
(20th Year of the Modern MDC QSO Party)
Let the Fun Begin
 

Sponsored by the Antietam Radio Association of Hagerstown, MD
 

Contest Weekend:
August 8 from 1600 UTC through Aug 9 till 0400 UTC then return August 9 from 1600 through 2359 UTC 2009
 

Prizes:
Certificate Prizes may be won 3 ways. You can win your category (or get a placement award for almost winning.) You can get a participant level certificate by submitting an entry with at least 50 qso points.
And new this year, if you make our FUN Contest your first ever amateur radio contest entry, you can earn a certificate for having at least 5 qsos with participating party stations. This is in support of ARRL naming 2009, the Year of The State QSO Party. Make a declaration its your first time operating in any state qso party.
Categories you can win include, MDC Single Operator, Best Score per State and DX Country, Best MDC YL Entry, Best QRP Entry from Each State.
Top MDC Club Entry and Best VHF-UHF only entry from MDC.
Plaques may be awarded in some categories but only if we have a sponsor for a specific plaque.
Persons interested in sponsoring a plaque may contact wa3eop@verizon.net for details.

The Contest Rules:
- Non-MDC Stations must work MDC stations for score
- MDC stations may work the world including other MDC entrants
- Club (and multi-operator stations) must operate from a Single QTH
- Non-MDC club entries are included in the Non-MDC Category
- Phone and CW (includes digital modes in CW) are allowed
- No repeater or digipeater contacts are allowed. Simplex only.
- Split frequency QSOs are allowed in the same band only.
- Stations may be worked only once per band using each mode (either Phone or CW)
- Mobiles that change MD Counties or State lines may be worked again as a different station

Exchange:
QTH and Category
For MDC Entries your QTH is your County or Baltimore City or Washington, DC
For all others your QTH is your U S State, Canadian Province or DX Country if outside US or Canada
Alaska and Hawaii count as U S States and not DX

Categories:
CLUB, MOBILE, QRP, STANDARD, ARE SCORING CATEGORIES
ALSO INDICATE ON YOUR SUBMITTED ENTRY IF YOU ARE A YL OR VHF-UHF ONLY
Stations will send the category that reflects their highest point value to the station worked.


Suggested Frequencies:

CW 3.557, 7.045, 14.045, 21.045, 28.045, 50.045, 144.045

SSB 1.895, 3.821, 7.230, 14.271, 21.371, 28.371, 50.131, 144.141, 432.141

FM 52.525, 146.55, 146.58, 223.40, 446.000,   Digital- According to the Bandplan


Suggested Times:
Phone anytime! CW 30 minutes past the hour VHF-UHF 45 Minutes past the hour


Special notes:
Entries must specify a category or they will be assumed to be a STANDARD entry. All submissions must include a complete summary sheet in addition to the actual log. Some of the qso party software available (nfjp's for example) will generate the summary sheet and include it with your entry.

The decisions about the acceptance of any log an summary sheet are at the discretion of the judges and the committee.
Your committee for 2009 includes WA3EOP, W3SPY, KB3GFV, NI2W, KB3JNJ, and W3NHR.

Total your QSO Points and multiply by the sum of the multipliers for your final score.
Multipliers may be claimed once and they do not repeat from band to band.


MDC County Abbreviations:

Allegany = ALY  Anne Arundel = ANA  Baltimore City = BAL  Baltimore County = BCO  Calvert = CLV
Caroline = CLN  Carroll = CRL  Cecil = CEC  Charles = CHS  Dorchester = DRC
Frederick = FRD  Garrett = GAR  Harford = HFD  Howard = HWD  Kent = KEN
Montgomery= MON  Prince George's= PGE  Queen Anne's= QAN  St Mary's= STM  Somerset = SMR
Talbot = TAL  Washington = WAS  Wicomico = WIC  Worcester = WRC  Washington DC = WDC

QSO Points:
10 points per Club station 5 point per Mobile station 4 points per QRP Station
3 points for CW (and Digital) Stations 1 point for Standard (Home) Station

Multipliers:
MDC Stations: One multiplier for each MD County, BAL and WDC plus one for each of the other 49 states + each Canadian Province + each DX Country
Non-MDC Stations: One multiplier for each MD County, BAL and WDC. (maximum of 25 possible)

Deadline:
Logs, Scoring Summary and your comments on our fun contest must be received on or before Monday September 14, 2009 at

either:

Antietam Radio Association, P.O. Box 52, Hagerstown, MD 21741-0052 or email to

(New Address this year) WA3EOP@arrl.net  Again, this is a different address than last year
By entering you agree to the decisions of the contest committee as final.

Final notes: MDC QSO Party friendly logging software is available at:
www.n3fjp.con/stateqso.htm www.qsl.net/W3KM/gen_log.htm wImods.N9OH.com
Listing the above does not infer an endorsement by ARA or the Party Committee. Choose at your own risk.


Good Luck to All
Page WA3EOP 2009 Chairman wa3eop@verizon.net  John W3SPY 2009 Co-Chairman