Have more fun in state QSO parties with the State QSO Party Challenge

I have always been a fan of QSO parties. There are several reasons for this:

1. They are a lot more laid back than most contests. Operators will often take an extra ten seconds or so to wish you good luck or joke with you a bit, especially on phone.
2. You can be a “big fish in a small pond.” Since there are fewer contestants in a state QSO party than say in the CQ World Wide DX contest, you have a better chance of being up towards the top than down towards the bottom.
3. You get to learn a lot of cool county names such as Snohomish (WA) and Rio Arriba (NM).

In 2020, operating state QSO parties got even more fun with the advent of the State QSO Party Challenge. According to the website,

The annual State QSO Party Challenge recognizes all radio amateurs’ participation in the U.S. State and Canadian Province QSO parties. It is open to any radio amateur who participates in any of the approved State QSO Parties (SQPs). Participants must simply submit their scores to 3830Scores.com to be included in the Challenge.

There are 45 QSO parties included in the Challege:

• 7th Call Area QSO Party
• Alabama QSO Party
• Arizona QSO Party
• Arkansas QSO Party
• British Columbia QSO Party
• California QSO Party
• Colorado QSO Party
• Delaware QSO Party
• Florida QSO Party
• Georgia QSO Party
• Hawaii QSO Party
• Idaho QSO Party
• Illinois QSO Party
• Indiana QSO Party
• Iowa QSO Party
• Kansas QSO Party
• Kentucky QSO Party
• Louisiana QSO Party
• Maryland/DC QSO Party
• Michigan QSO Party
• Minnesota QSO Party
• Mississippi QSO Party
• Missouri QSO Party
• Nebraska QSO Party
• Nevada QSO Party
• New England QSO Party
• New Hampshire QSO Party
• New Jersey QSO Party
• New Mexico QSO Party
• New York QSO Party
• North Carolina QSO Party
• North Dakota QSO Party
• Ohio QSO Party
• Oklahoma QSO Party
• Ontario QSO Party
• Pennsylvania QSO Party
• South Carolina QSO Party
• South Dakota QSO Party
• Tennessee QSO Party
• Texas QSO Party
• Vermont QSO Party
• Virginia QSO Party
• Washington State Salmon Run
• West Virginia QSO Party
• Wisconsin QSO Party

Participants are recognized for reaching five levels of achievement–Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond—and this year, you must participate in at least 50% of the SQP Challenge approved contests and submit a log with at least two valid contacts to the contest manager in addition to the 3830scores.com scores submission. Visit their website for the complete rules. There’s also a video explaining the Challenge:

According to ContestCalendar.Com, it looks like the first state QSO party of 2021 is the Minnesota QSO Party on February 6, 2021. The Vermont QSO Party follows right behind on February 7, 2021. February, March, and April are big months for state QSO parties. I count 14 total during these three months.

This year, I’m going to make a more concerted effort to participate in these contests. So, if you’re going to be operating the state QSO party in your state, be listening for me.