To be more specific, stations outside of CA, including worldwide stations, contact only CA stations, operating from 58 counties within the state. These 58 counties are called multipliers. Similarly, CA stations contact stations in and out of CA, with the 50 US states and the 8 Canadian provinces as multipliers. Now, I am not going to explain how the math goes. There is, however, a software that contesters use to log all these contacts, and calculates the scores they have received. This makes life much simpler.
In our little group of SBARA, there are a few dedicated contesters, who operate both phone (SSB) and morse code (CW). I am primarily a phone operator, and could operator for long periods of time. As for CW, there are at least 3-4 operators who love operating this mode at all times. Although I do read CW, I am not at the level (or speed) these guys are at, so I don't even bother to sit as a CW contester.
The CQP is an annual contest. A few months back, Al (WT6K) and I had discussed participating in this contest this year. Al threw the idea at Wayne (WU6A) and suggested if we could use his station for this contest. In at least one past occasion, we've used Wayne's station for CQP, operating under N6EEB. His station is an ideal station because he has a 7-element triband yagi on a 60 foot crank up tower, and a 600W linear amplifier -- enough power to be heard all over the US, at least. He also has an array of long wires and dipoles in case we wanted to operate on the low bands.
Wayne was open to this idea. However, he did forewarn us that his health was deteriorating, and that our use of his station will depend on his state of health at contest time. A few weeks before contest day, he informed us on the impending visit (and stay) of some family members, and that his station may no longer be available.
Without any back up plan, Al and I decided to abandon the plan of operating in the contest. Coincidentally, other personal commitments have come up as well, which would have made operating in the contest a little difficult, if not impossible. On the same weekend of the contest, Jake had a volleyball tournament scheduled for Sunday in Martinez, which I could not miss. Meanwhile, Al's wife had also planned on a dinner this evening, which he could not get out off as well.
This morning, I turned on my radio and tried to listen for contest activity. It was either I had a bad antenna or the band conditions were so bad I couldn't hear anything. I did hear a few CA stations on 40m, but not as many as I thought there would be for a popular contest like the CQP. Probably it was poor propagation because even 20m was quiet.
This year's CQP didn't seem to work out as we had wanted. We had no station, and no operators. Was it divine intervention? Maybe next year???
Note: Author wishes to acknowledge the Northern California Contest Club for the use of their logo in this post.
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