California QSO Party

N6A
California QSO Party (CQP)
Alpine County Expeditions

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QSL N6A via:

Charles ("Larry") Word, W4UAT
2184 Bluebell Dr.
Livermore, CA 94550

There are a total of 58 US states and Canadian Provinces (well ... depending on how you count them). Coincidentally (or maybe not?), there are exactly 58 counties in California. In the CQP, if you are a California station, your goal is to work as many stations in as many states/provinces/countries as possible. If you are not in California, your goal is to work as many California stations in as many of the counties as possible.

Obviously, for this to work fairly for all, there needs to be at least one contest-dedicated station on the air from every California county. Not a problem for the more populated counties such as Los Angeles, Santa Clara, and Orange. It is a another matter, however, for counties like Alpine (2000 population = ~1,830; Active Ham population = 0).

2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007

The Contest

The contest normally takes place on the first full weekend in October, from 1600Z (0900 PDT) on Saturday to 2200Z (1500 PDT) on Sunday. For California stations, the object is to make as many QSOs as possibly with anyone in the world. Multipliers are the US states and Canadian provinces (58 total). California stations send a QSO serial number and their county abbreviation. California stations may work other California stations for QSO credit, but only the first such contact counts as the California multipler ... and CA stations must log the county abbreviation of each CA station worked. CW QSO's count 3 points and phone QSO's count 2 (yet another example of why CW will never die on the ham bands).

Everyone else on the planet calls the California stations, (a bit of a thrill for those of us on the North American frontier, no?) and, if in the US or Canada, sends a QSO serial number and their state or province abbreviation. DX stations send a QSO serial number and their country's primary call sign prefix. Multipliers for non-California stations are the 58 California counties. For the County Hunters, this contest is an opportunity to snag some of the rarer California counties (like Alpine -- remember the population?).

A somewhat unique and attractive feature of this contest is its format -- each band/mode combination counts separately for QSO points. Thus, if you operate 160 through 10 (less WARC bands, of course), you can work N6A on six bands, both CW and SSB, for 30 points (3 for CW, 2 for phone), plus Alpine County (once) as a multiplier. There's always someone to work for credit in the CQP! (Well, OK, it does get a tad slow around 3AM, but it quickly picks up again as the East Coast gets up on Sunday morning) Contrast this with the venerable ARRL Sweepstakes where a single QSO with a station on any band is all that is allowed.

Obviously, for the contest to work well, there has to be at least one station dedicated to the contest on the air from every California county. Easy to say for counties like Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, and other major population areas. However, some rural counties may not have anyone who wants to dedicate a major part of the weekend to a contest, and a small number of counties have exactly no active amateurs. Hence, the NCCC organizes "County Expeditions." I participate with a small group (Don, W6OA; Larry, NF6S; Arnold, KQ6DI; John, WB6ETY; Doug, KO6PW, and often others) who activate Alpine County. The rest of this page is a general description of our expeditions. The links at the top of the page will give you a look at each year's specifics.

(Clicking on most of the small pictures will provide you with a full-size version.)

Location

Alpine County is located in eastern California, adjacent to the Nevada state line, and south of Lake Tahoe. Our campsite is at 38+40+54.7N, 119+37+48.6W, in grid DM08, right at the base of Leviathan Peak at an elevation of 8,334 ft. Alpine is a very sparsely populated county (~1,830 in 2000), and the county seat is Markleeville. Most of the county is above 3,000 ft elevation. Alpine County has no contest-active amateurs, hence our "County Expedition" to put it on the air.

We camp about two miles NW of SR 89 at the summit of Monitor Pass. The site, accessible by a dirt USFS road in marginal condition, is above the timberline, and the vegetation is primarily sagebrush, a few low scrubby bushes, and stands of aspen. In early October, the days are generally sunny, at about 75 deg in the sun, however the nights usually drop to freezing or below. From the camp, we have a striking view to the NNW of the Carson Valley in Nevada, including Minden and Gardnerville about 4,000 ft below us (our site is actually a little east of Reno and Carson City). This is the summit and eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, and it is very dry, almost desert-like. Thanks to the WW7E 2m repeater atop Leviathan Peak, we have HT-class communications throughout the entire region.

The Camp

We generally set up two large tents, one for the operating position, and the other for cooking. Don, Larry, and Doug sleep in their camper shells or vans, Arnold usually pitches a dome tent, as does John, and I drag our tent trailer in. We have a plywood "convenience" which seems to survive the snows from year to year, and Don, Larry, and I bring electric blankets for sleeping. Being hams, we have plenty of electricity, of course. Although the contest runs from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, several will arrive on Wednesday to begin setup. For me, this annual trip has become the signal that summer is just about over.

Arnold is an avid mountain biker and will take several rides during the stay. I used to hike to the summit of Leviathan Peak just to prove I still can make it, however old orthopedic injuries began to suggest that I give that activity up a couple of years ago. Arnold is also a GPS expert so I learn something about mine each year. There is a fire lookout at the summit (unmanned by CQP time), with a few radios (including the WW7E repeater) in the vaults. There is also an automated weather station close by whose data is available on the Internet in near-real time. The entire site is powered by a massive solar array.

The Antennas

One antenna has been a constant ... for 20, 15, and 10, Larry, W4UAT (formerly NF6S), brings an A3 on a crank-up mast. For 40, we usually use an elevated, full-size vertical with four above-ground radials. The 80 and 160 antennas have varied over the years. The location is extraordinally quiet as one might suspect this far from power lines. There is a gentle slope downward to the east, which helps achieve a fairly low radiation angle from the tribander. Any form of real RF ground is problematical however, since the earth and soil are basically solid granite mixed with sharp volcanic things, and a thin coating of dust.

We've become quite adept at tearing the site down on Sunday afternoon. Everything but the rig, its tent, the generator, and the triband beam are down and packed by early afternoon. At 15:00 sharp, the remainder was struck and packed, and everyone is out by about 16:30 or so.

Operations

Our rigs have also varied. The photo is of the 2001 expedition. Having left most of my hearing in SE Asia years ago, I do not do well in SSB pileups, so I stick to CW although there have been a couple of years when we were a little short on operators that I toughed out SSB. Our operations are generally weighted a bit in favor of CW because of the 3 to 2 point advantage.

This is probably the closest I'll ever get to a "DXpedition," which may be a good thing since it's fairly easy to load my truck and pull the tent trailer over Donner Summit, through Reno, and south through Carson City to Hwy 89 ... a lot easier than getting to Kingman Reef! Operating and competing in the contest is great, and I love it, and the entire trip has become an annual milestone for me. It's a great crew, and I'm glad I am a part of it.

More pictures and info from 2001-2007 can be found at the links below

2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007

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