Ohio QSO Party
==============
<Rules 1998/12.99>


Eligibility: 
Any and all radio amateurs in US and Canada 


Operator Categories: 
Single or multiple


Transmitter categories: 
Single or multiple 


When:
Second full weekend of September
Start: Saturday 0000 UTC
End: Sunday 2400 UTC) 
{02SAT09:0000:2880}


Exchange :
Ohio Stations: Serial Number/Name/County 
Non-Ohio Participants: RST/Name/State or Province 
Each serial number must be consecutive and start at 001. 
In other words, count your contacts. 
Multiple operators may use up to 5 letters in the name field of 
exchange acronym composed of the operators first initials, if nonclub 
group. Single operators should use given name. 


How to Participate: 
Phone: Call "CQ Ohio Contest" 
CW" Call "CQ OH TEST" or "CQ OH" 


Hunting and pouncing: 
Look for stations calling CQ as described above.


Lake Erie Islands 
Ohio radio amateurs are encouraged to visit and operate from the 
Ohio Lake Erie Islands during the contest period. Since the Ohio 
island are somewhat rare on the amateur bands, particularly HF, 
special point can be earned by working them or working from them 
(see below). In addition, they will be counted as separate multipliers 
in the scoring process. 

If your station is located on the an island, use OTEI if located on an 
island in Ottawa County (N. Bass, S. Bass, Marblehead, Put-in-Bay) or 
ERKI (Kelleys Island) island as country in CW. Use "Ottowa Island " or 
"Kelleys Island" on phone. Islands in other counties use OTEI or Ottawa 
Island. On shore Ottowa and Erie county station count as garden variety 
counties. 


YL Bonus 
YL Bonus. Because this event is deliberately concurrent with the 
Buckeye Belles annual mini YL DXpedition, a bonus will be applied for 
working OH YL stations identifying themselves as YLs anywhere within 
the state of Ohio. YLs are encouraged to mention this after their state 
for the purpose of this event. The first 10- YLs worked are multipliers, 
all other YLs worked count as a regular contact. 


Roving Bonus
Roving Bonus: In order to ensure that there will be participating 
stations in all Ohio counties, operators are encouraged to operate 
mobile and/or portable. However, for safetys sake, please park while 
operating or take along another person to do the logging. In addition, 
roving stations operating from more than four Ohio counties and/or 
operating more than one band (including VHF/UHF), may add 10%, for 
each HF band activated while roving. 


Scoring. 
Digital (CW, RTTY, Packet, etc.) = 2 pts per QSO 
Phone = 1 pt per QSO 
Ohio counties and first 10 YLs anywhere and on any frequency are 
multipliers with maximum = 100 (88 counties + OTEI + ERKI + 10 YLs) 
Each multiplier may be used only once. 


Out of state contacts: QSO points x 2 
(Phone contacts with other states = 2pts, CW/digital modes = 4) 
See also VHF rules. 

Special Island Scoring: 
Ohio Lake Erie Islands are worth 5 points on phone, 10 on digital, 
and OTEI and ERKI count as separate multipliers. Stations operating on 
Ohio Islands during the party may add 10% scoring bonus after the 
multiplier is applied. 


Special VHF RULES apply to all bands above 30Mhz. 
6m all modes follow HF rules (Remember, its the "magic" band) 
2m CW and SSB follow HF rules 
FM phone (except 6m) 
2m and above : Contacts in same county, 1 pt per QSO; 
next county, 2 pts per QSO, etc. 
Multipliers are the number of counties (shortest straight line) 
removed from your station location. E.g. Working from Franklin County 
to Franklin County = 1 pt, Franklin to Delaware = 2pts,. Franklin to 
Marion = 3 pts. 
Contacts with counties in adjoining states, PA, WV, KY, IN, MI, follow 
same formula. ALL QSO Party contacts must be SIMPLEX (and on frequencies 
consistent with ARRL band plans) and must be point to point; no relays. 
Soliciting of contacts over repeaters is okay if repeater sponsors 
approve but actual QSO must be made on recognized simplex frequency. 


DO NOT USE 52.02, 52.04, 146.46, 146.52, 147.555 or 446.00 MHz for 
contest QSOs. 


Packet: 2 points per 2 way contact. Digipeaters are okay. 
All contacts must be in real time, keyboard to keyboard. 
Serial numbers must be used on all contacts, VHF, UHF and HF must use 
same series, eg if you make 56 contacts on HF then switch to 70cm, 
then first QSO on 70 cm will be number 57. 

Operating Guidelines: 
--Stations may be worked once per band per mode. 
--Separate logs may be submitted for digital/cw and phone contacts. 
  The digital mode includes CW, RTTY, Packet and all other non-speech 
  modes. The phone mode includes AM, SSB and FM. 
--Dupe sheets should be submitted for all stations submitting more 
  than 200 contacts. 
--Each participant (group or single) may have up to 2 transmitters 
  operating on each band at the same time (one voice, one non-voice). 
  Once contact is made on a band, the transmitter is committed to 
  remain on that band for the next 5 minutes. In all cases, respect 
  FCC rules (part 97) and ARRL band plans. 


LOGS MUST CLEARLY INDICATE TIME, FREQUENCY AND MODE
Rovers and portable MUST also indicate county from which QSO was made. 
After the contest ends, send logs and claimed scores to:

Buckeye Belles 
1998 OH QSO Party 
4441 Andreas Ave 
Cincinnatti, OH 45211 

Entries must be postmarked by Oct. 17. 
Also, include any comments about how much fun you had or suggestions 
for the next QSO party. 

