The Bill Windle QSO Party (BWQP), formerly known as the FOC QSO Party (FOCQP), is held twice a year and is open to all radio amateurs world-wide.

It’s not a contest but, rather, an activity day in memory of Bill Windle, G8VG (SK), a past Chairman of FOC who was very keen that we should all be as active as possible on the bands. Stations participating in the BWQP should call “CQ BW” in memory of Bill.

Participants have often reported this is one of their favourite operating events!

The idea behind the BWQP is to offer some stress-free opportunity for FOC Members to meet and greet both other members and non-members.

Each one of us can make this event what you want it to be – some get on for a few casual QSOs, others spend several hours on different bands and still others treat it like a “mini-marathon”.

The basic concept is just to work as many stations as you can over a 24-hour period, from:

Just call “CQ BW” from 015 to 040kHz on all bands, excluding the WARC bands. The exchange is: RST, name, and FOC number (non-members send RST and name).

Many people also take the opportunity to engage in longer QSOs; this is definitely encouraged but it is entirely up to you! However, please note, we still call “CQ BW” to initiate a QSO, a tribute to Bill Windle who did so much to foster activity in our Club.

2026 BWQPs

– 28 March 2026.

– 26 September 2026.

0000z to 2359z

* Note: Starts Friday in the U.S.

How to Report Your Results

If you are interested in reporting your results during a BWQP, simply log onto this website page and fill out the form: https://focqp.g4foc.org . It’s as simple as that. No logs are required because we work on the honour system. There is also an Excel spreadsheet available on the Downloads page to track QSOs manually, but it cannot be used to submit your results.

When reporting scores we separate according to: Europe, North America, North America “West Coast”, Asia, Africa and South America, and this is done automatically for you when you enter your information on the web form.

Reports are due 7 days after the event. A complete list of the stations who report, and their totals, will be included here on our public website. Handsome certificates are awarded to members and non-members on each continent reporting the highest number of QSOs.

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The September 2025 Bill Windle QSO Party

 By Patrick, N9RV

Read the report here

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BWQP Results by Year