The Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party and
W2ICE Special Event Station
2016 Event Details
The Bruce Kelly 1929 QSO Party is a yearly AWA sponsored event where participants build their own transmitters using the designs, techniques, and tubes that were available in 1929 and earlier, and then put those classic transmitters on the air and try to contact as many other 1929 stations as possible. Since they use early designs, it is a cacophony of whooping, chirping, buzzing, clicking, drifting, swishing, swaying, warbling, and other interesting signals. This is what ham radio sounded like in 1929 and for those two weekends in December its 1929 again on the ham bands.
For a third year in a row we will be activating Bruce Kelley’s W2ICE call sign as a 1929 SPECIAL EVENT STATION! W2ICE is operating as a 1929 station and contacts count just like any other station. The winner of the 2015 BK was Bill Stewart K4JYS and he graciously agreed to operate as W2ICE/4 from North Carolina. The 1929 QSO Party was started in 1991 and championed for a several years by Bruce Kelly W2ICE, an AWA co-founder. Prior to Bruce’s passing in 1997 he asked his close friend John Rollins W1FPZ to keep the 29 QSO Party going. John Rollins managed the QSO party for several years and renamed it the Bruce Kelly 1929 QSO Party in honor of Bruce. Twelve years ago John Rollins asked me to manage the 29 QSO Party for him and Bruce, and to keep the event alive because it meant so much to both of them. It has been an honor to do so for Bruce and John and you.
For a third year in a row we will be activating Bruce Kelley’s W2ICE call sign as a 1929 SPECIAL EVENT STATION! W2ICE is operating as a 1929 station and contacts count just like any other station. The winner of the 2015 BK was Bill Stewart K4JYS and he graciously agreed to operate as W2ICE/4 from North Carolina. The 1929 QSO Party was started in 1991 and championed for a several years by Bruce Kelly W2ICE, an AWA co-founder. Prior to Bruce’s passing in 1997 he asked his close friend John Rollins W1FPZ to keep the 29 QSO Party going. John Rollins managed the QSO party for several years and renamed it the Bruce Kelly 1929 QSO Party in honor of Bruce. Twelve years ago John Rollins asked me to manage the 29 QSO Party for him and Bruce, and to keep the event alive because it meant so much to both of them. It has been an honor to do so for Bruce and John and you.
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Dates: Sat. Dec. 10 @ 2300 GMT to Sun. Dec. 11 @ 2300 GMT
and Sat. Dec. 17 @ 2300 GMT to Sun. Dec. 18 @ 2300 GMT Bands: 160, 80 and 40 Meters |
Objective: Contact as many 1929 stations as possible. Contact exchange consists of RST, Name, QTH (State such as ME or MN or NY), last two digits of the year of the transmitters design or publication (such as 29 or 27 or 23, or pick a year if you’re not sure), type of transmitter (such as TNT or TGTP or MOPA or COLPITTS), and power input (such as 6W or 9W).
Rules: To be Scored, transmitters must be 1929 or earlier types of self oscillators such as the Hartley, TNT, PP tuned grid tuned plate, MOPA, Colpitts, etc. No crystal oscillators. Tubes must have been available during or before 1929. Typical tubes often used are type 10, 45, 27, 211, 71A, 01A. Individual stations can be worked only once on each band over the course of two weekends. You can use any vintage or modern receiver that you wish. The event is open to all 1929 stations including non-AWA members and AWA members. You are encouraged to join the AWA and support 1929 radio!
Input Power: Transmitters are limited to a power INPUT of 10 watts or less. However, to help make East-West contacts, power may be increased to 20 watts INPUT between the hours of 0500Z (12 Midnight EST) and 1300Z (8 AM EST). Note this is INPUT power. Power input is calculated by multiplying PA plate voltage x total PA plate current. Example: my plate voltage is 300 volts dc, and plate current is 30 ma, so total input power is 300 x 0.030 = 9 watts input. Stations running more power than this are considered “modern” for this event and do not count for points.
Frequencies: The QSO Party typically operates between 1800 to 1810 Kcs, 3550 to 3580 Kcs , 7100 to 7125 Kcs, plus or minus depending on QRM. 40 meter activity is up significantly because it offers both night time AND daytime propagation! So when 80 shuts down Sunday morning, I hope to see you on 40m.
Logs: Please submit your log so we can see who you worked and acknowledge your effort! Either electronically email your log to Scott at wa9wfa@comcast.net or mail via post office to: Scott Freeberg WA9WFA, 327 Wildwood Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55110. Logs must be in the 1929 QSO Party log format otherwise it will be difficult to score you. An official 1929 log sheet will be available for download from the AWA website. Please do not email logs to any other email address except to the WA9WFA account. Because of email problems in the past, I will acknowledge receipt of all email logs. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within a couple weeks, better check with me to make sure I received it.
Scoring: Remember that contacts with modern or high power stations do not count. Only count legitimate 1929 contacts. If you are contacted by a modern or high power station, be polite, mention the AWA QSO Party and point them to the webpage for more information, then move on, or QSO them if you wish. We will count contacts with W2AN, the AWA club station. Scoring is simple. Add up the number of legitimate 1929 QSO’s. Example: if you make 15 QSO’s on 80 meters,10 QSO’s on 40 meters, and 5 QSO’s on 160 meters, your final score is 30. All submitted logs will be scored and the results published in the AWA Journal. Please submit logs by January 15, 2016. 73, Scott WA9WFA
