In the log this week
* Contest Spotlight: Virginia QSO Party This Weekend
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What's happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
Contest Spotlight: Virginia QSO Party This Weekend
The Virginia QSO Party, run by the Sterling Park Amateur Radio Club, will be held this weekend, March 15-16, 2025. The fun starts at 1400 UTC (10 AM EDT) on Saturday going until 0400 UTC Sunday (or Saturday at midnight EDT) and then starts back up Sunday at 1200 UTC (8 AM EDT) going until 2400 UTC (8PM EDT). This contest is a whole lot of fun with lots of opportunities to work all over since everyone will be trying to get Virginia stations in their logs. There are a lot of awards and 30 plaques waiting for you to win them. As we heard in Gordon Miller NQ4K's talk at our last meeting there are a lot of niches available for competition and all Virginia stations get a certificate when they participate. The VAQP has been growing a lot since it was started and has some of the highest participation of all the state QSO Parties in terms of logs submitted (3rd behind California and Florida, if I remember correctly) and it is quite possibly the most popular QSO contest when normalized for state population. There are some new additions for 2025 including allowing remote operation and bonus stations for extra points (AJ4LN, KK4AIA, KM4SK, NQ4K, W4KSN, and W8ANT).
As always, there are a lot of different categories in which you can participate. From a station perspective this includes Mobile (a station that can operate while in motion and doesn't require disconnections to move), a Rover station (which can also operate mobile, but can also operate outside the vehicle and change equipment), Expedition (which can move to non-permanent stations but is not utilizing a mobile station -- you have to set up once you get there), and of course, Fixed (your home station). From a power perspective there is High (Over 150 W), Low (under 150W), and QRP (5W or less). Modes include Phone, CW, Digital, and Mixed (if you do more than one mode). Stations can be Single or Multi-operator, Single or Multi-transmitter, and Single or Multi-band). All these options means you can really focus your operating to chase after a plaque that interests you!
For the rules, VA stations can work everyone and out-of-state stations can only work VA. Fixed stations can work once per band and mode, mobiles can be worked again in different counties or independent cities, Mobile stations should use a suffix in the call sign to denote their mobile status. Some things that are specifically allowed in the contest: working via satellites, remote stations, and the use of spotting networks (including self-spots) are all permitted. On the flip side of things, cross mode and repeater QSOs are NOT allowed. One other thing of note: logs with a significant number of QSOs with the same stations will be considered check logs.
In terms of the exchange, it will be QSO number and QTH. So if you worked me, the exchange would be "123 FFX" where 123 is my current QSO count and FFX is the abbreviation for Fairfax County. Non-VA stations would be QSO Number and State/Province/Country so "001 PA" for a station in Pennsylvania just starting out. One thing of note, Digital is allowed, but rarely worked because you need the full exchange. FT8 does not have an easy way to do this (you can change your own details, but the answering station is unlikely to have serial number and S/P/C, the required exchange). As a result, the digital plaque hasn't been awarded in the last couple years. That said ... if you made a RTTY, Olivia, or other digital mode run, you'd be very likely to win that plaque!
Points are 1 for Phone, 2 for CW and Digital, and 3 for Mobile/Rover/Expedition stations. Multipliers are for each VA county and independent city (all 133 of them!), US States (not including VA, of course), Canadian Provinces, and DXCC entities (excluding the US, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii). For Mobile/Rover/Expedition stations, if they work 10 stations in a county or city they can also claim it as a multiplier for themselves. For DX stations the multipliers they get to claim are the VA Counties and Cities. There are also Bonus points for working the bonus stations. Final score is QSO Points x Multipliers + Bonus Points. Logs need to be submitted by April 15th either electronically (the preferred method) or via mail. Full rules and a whole lot of information can be found at https://www.qsl.net/sterling/VA_QSO_Party/2025_VQP/2025_VQP_Main.html. If you want to hunt some of the mobile, rover, and expedition stations, K1RA has put together an APRS mobile tracker for the VAQP at https://k1ra.us/vaqp-aprs/ and general spots can be found at http://www.qsoparty.com/.
This year promises to be one of the best VA QSO Parties yet with ever increasing participation and with us being at the height of Solar Cycle 25. As Gordon NQ4K told us "if you're not having fun you're doing it wrong!" -- so get on the air and have fun. And if you do submit a log, make sure to mention you're part of the Mount Vernon Amateur Radio club if you're a member. It would be fun to see the club in the standings for the club competition! Have fun and Good Luck!
MVARC Nets on the Air
* 2 Meter FM Net: Tuesdays at 7 PM [146.655/- MHz (141.3 Hz PL Tone) ]
* 2 Meter Digital Net: Immediately Follows 2 Meter FM Net [146.655/- MHz C4FM]
* MVARC Slow Speed CW Roundtable: Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM [3.565 MHz CW]
* MVARC Cherry Tree Net: Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 AM [3.920 MHz LSB]
What's Happening with DX
There will be a lot of DX on the air in the next week. Stations on the air will include Andaman Islands (VU2AX), Jamaica (6Y7EI), Sint Maarten Island (PJ7AA), Eleuthera Island - Bahamas (C6AJB), Grenada (J38XB), Tanzania (5H3MB), Mali (TZ4AM), Comoro Islands (D68Z), Solomon Islands (H44MS), Sri Lanka (4S7KKG), Benin (TY5C), and Senegal (6W7/ON4AVT).
A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/
Solar Activity Update
As we go to press the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 160 and the estimated sunspot number was 160. Over the last week the SFI has slightly increased. In the last few days the solar conditions have been degraded due to solar storms with elevated Kp index values. Yesterday brought a G1 level geomagnetic storm and Kp values of Kp5. The Kp index is forecast to come down today and tomorrow with values around 3 today and in the low to mid 2s tomorrow, so we expect conditions to improve for the weekend. Solar activity has been at low levels with only low level C-class flares being observed. Geomagnetic conditions are expected to be unsettled to active today and tomorrow. There is only a 1% chance for S1 or greater solar radiation storms for the next few days according NOAA forecasts. In terms of radio blackouts the chance of an R1-R2 blackout is at 40% and the chance for R3 or greater radio blackouts is at 5%. Periods of G1 geomagnetic storms are possible through the 15th and solar wind features are enhanced due to Coronal Hole High Speed Streams. Even with the challenges of the last couple days, conditions have been favorable overall. Things look to be calming down in time for this weekend's Virginia QSO Party. It remains a fantastic time for amateurs of all license classes to get on the air and work the world.
Good sources of real-time solar information include
https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/ and https://solarham.com/. A good overview of conditions can be found at https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/. To see D-layer absorption data and associated radio blackouts, visit https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/d-region-absorption-predictions-d-rap. To see real-time Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) and Critical Frequency (foF2) information from radiosonde data, visit https://prop.kc2g.com/.
Upcoming Contests
The contesting highlight for this weekend as mentioned earlier is the Virginia QSO Party. Also on the contest calendar are the PODXS 070 Club St. Patrick's Day Contest, the BARTG HF RTTY Contest, the Popov Memorial Contest, the F9AA Cup on SSB, the Russian DX Contest, the AGCW VHF/UHF Contest, the Feld Hell Sprint, the AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest, the UPA Spring Contest on SSB, and the Run for the Bacon QRP Contest. As always the K1USN SSTs, MSTs, and CWTs will also be on the air.
The full contest calendar with events and exchanges can be found at https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php
Interesting Online Radio Content
Matt M0DQW takes a look at the Baofeng BF-UF32 tri-bander and finds spectral purity issues -
Bob WV7W gives some tips on adjusting your bug -
Lewis M3HHY uses a TinySA Ultra to explore RF signals at a transmitter site -
Mike K8MRD takes a look at the VGC VR-N76 (AKA BTech UV-Pro) and likes what he sees -
Steve KM9G does the MARS mod for his FT5D -
Michael KB9VBR shows how he set up a mobile multi-op, multi-transmitter station for the Wisconsin QSO Party -
Josh Ki6NAZ deploys the Spooltenna with the Lil' Dude 6 mast -
Sean W9FFF builds a Meshtastic node with a Spec 5 Trekker Case -
Mike K8MRD talks POTA logs and foreign operations -
Tim G5TM sees how long he can run portable with a LiFePO4 battery -
Rob N1NUG takes a look at a TinySA Ultra -
Walt K4OGO talks about how to get (and how not to get) the benefits of salt water for HF -
Kevin KB9RLW shows the final design of his clever 29:1 harmonic drive for a magloop antenna -
Jim WT1W talks about using oscilloscopes for doing some power measurements -
Hayden VK7HH unearths ham radio treasure on AliExpress -
Matt M0DQW builds a cheap 350 Watt Remote ATU -
Sean W9FFF shows that some claims on 18650 batteries listed at Amazon are inaccurate -
Dan WD4DAN and Sebastian KI2D go over new features in Ham2K PoLo (Portable Logger) -
Kurt ON7OFF/HS0ZPX live streams working DX from Thailand -
Nanofix DIYs a powerful soldering fume extractor -
Kevin W1DED talks to DX Marathon Youth Award Winner Pia DL7PIA about her activities in Amateur Radio -
Thomas K4SWL activates POTA with an Index Labs QRP Plus -
Duff WA7BFN brings the latest LICW Podcast with discussions about working satellites and more -
Steve KM9G talks about getting kids interested in Amateur Radio -
Kurt ON7OFF takes a look at the soon to be released Micro PA100 Amp -
Vince VE6LK takes a look at the Wiretap 3D Printed Paddles from VE6SFX -
Andy DL6FA has a QSO using 3 different CW Keys -
Lidiette KQ3Q and Junie N1DUC activate Biscayne National Park with Mochi the duck -
Dugbo KD7DUG has a Summit to Summit contact with KG6YJ -
That's it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
