The SKCC QSO Party aims to bring together operators with different skill levels in a scheduled, informal operating event lasting 36 hours. The event starts at 1200 UTC on the third Saturday of June and ends at 2359 UTC on Sunday. (That's SAT 8:00 AM EDT through SUN 7:59:59 EDT.) Participants can operate for the full 36 hours.
SKCC members who participate in the QSO Party must use straight keys, sideswipers (cooties), or bugs. For details, see the club's policy on approved keying devices here. Because this event aims to include newcomers to CW as well as experienced brasspounders, operating speed should be adjusted accordingly.
Please address any questions or ideas for improvement to the QSO Party Manager, qso-party@skccgroup.com.
The SKCC Board has approved a “Multi Operator” category for submission entries to the SKCC QSO Party scoring submission web form. All “Multi Operator” stations please use that category for posting your QSO Party results. The “Multi Operator” category can be found as a selection in the result box called “Power Level” which has QRPp - 1W or Less, QRP - 5W or Less, QRO - 100W or Less, QRO+ - Over 100W and now Multi - Operator.
The SKCC's QSO Party is open to all licensed amateurs, as well as shortwave listeners. All participants must use a straight key, sideswiper, or bug unless you qualify for an exemption, as stated in the SKCC Key Policy.
Participants may sprint on 160-6 meters, excluding the WARC bands (60, 30, 17, and 12 meters). Suggested frequencies are on or around the SKCC calling frequencies: 1.813.5, 3.550, 7.038, 7.055 and 7.120, 14.050, 21.050 and 21.114, 28.050 and 28.114, and 50.090 Mhz. The club's sked page or other spotting tools are permitted for this event. Where two frequencies are listed for the same band, score as one band. That is, if you contact W8BALL on 7.050 and on 7.120, you can count only one of those contacts.
The minimum exchange must include RST, QTH, operator name, four-letter grid square and SKCC number. If you are not a club member, please send "none" for SKCC number.
Please give a realistic RST, not a perfunctory 599 or 559. If you don't get a signal report, please ask for it. For QTH, US and Canadian stations should use their two-letter state or province abbreviation. US and Canadian stations, send your two-character state or province code. All other countries send your 3-alpha SPC code found here.
This is an informal event, so if you are not an SKCC member, take a moment to visit our home page and apply for a number. It's free! And if you are a member and have completed the required exchange, hang around and chat for a bit with non-members. It's good PR!
-- Each unique QSO counts as one point. You may count contacts with the same station on multiple bands, but only once per band. You earn one multiplier point for each state, province, or country worked, but you can count a state, province, or country only once per SKCC QSO Party.
-- You earn bonus points for working Centurions, Tribunes, and Senators. You can work the same C, T, or S on multiple bands for QSO points, but his or her C, T or S counts once for bonus points. Each C is worth 5 points, each T is worth 10 points, and each S is worth 15 points.
-- You receive an additional 25 bonus points for each band on which you contact the Club station, KS1KCC, when it is active. Extra bonus are offered for this event. Each unique four-letter grid square (Example: EN82) is worth 5 points. A grid square may only count once no matter what band it is worked on.
You must copy at least one side of a SKCC QSO Party QSO for a QSO point. If you copy both sides of the exchanges, that counts as 2 QSO points. You can count the same station more than once only if you copy that station's QSO on a different band -- one QSO per band. Theme bonus points are allowed for SWL entrants to claim the same as regular SKCC stations
Please use the submissions page, reached by clicking on the "Submit Your Score" link at the top of this page. The link will appear when the submissions page is activated for each event. Between events, the link will not appear on the page.
As you enter your contact information on the submissions page, the page calculates your score automatically by multiplying the total number of QSOs by the total number of multipliers, then adds the total C, T, and S bonus points. You will need to calculate the theme-related bonus yourself and enter the total in the appropriate field on the submissions page.
If you submit a photo and add a soapbox comment, 100 bonus points will be added to your score automatically!
The deadline for submitting or correcting your entry is 2359 UTC on the Sunday following the event. If you are correcting your entry, you must resubmit all your information, not just the item that needed the correction. If you are not a member of the SKCC, use "none" in place of SKCC number on the submissions page. If you are an SWL and have a unique SWL club ID, use that in place of a call sign. If you don't have a club ID, make up a unique, one-word ID to use.