First Class CW Operators' Club

SEARCH OUR WEBSITE HERE

The FOC QSO Party


(Click here  to go directly to the most recent FOCQP report)


The FOC QSO Party (FOCQP), formerly known as the Bill Windle QSO Party (BWQP), 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 FOCQP should call "CQ BW" in memory of Bill.



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

The idea behind the FOCQP 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.


2023 FOCQP

- Saturday March 25

- Saturday Sept. 9

0000z to 2359z

* Note: Starts Friday in the U.S.


How to Report Your Results

NOTE: This procedure changed effective with the 12 Sept. 2020 QSO Party.

If you are interested in reporting your results during a FOCQP, 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.

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.


All Bands Were In Play For The September, 2022 FOCQP

 By Art, KZ5D


(Click here to download all the scores)

(Click here to read all Soapbox comments)


As the sunspots increase, our FOC QP just gets better and better. The September edition brought out lots of members and non-members to share contacts. Of those, 190 FOC members and 115 non-members sent in reports. Many of you have noted that the number of non-members participating has grown considerably over the years. Quite a few of them have actually become interested in joining our club and we are seeing their calls on our nomination list. Another benefit of these twice a year day long events is that it provides members with a chance to work other members who may not have found their way into their logs.

Chas, K3WW, came up one QSO short of 800 to take top honors world-wide. He reported 799/586. Much like Laci, OM2VL, who had the highest number of Qs in March, Chas operates with a lot of aluminum in the air. Just take a look at his web site to see for yourself: http://k3ww.net. The West Coast leader was Riki, K7NJ with 551/410. He, too, has a number of antenna options at his well-equipped station. Get the details on QRZ.com 

The leading report from Europe was filed by Axel, DL6KVA, with 567/480. He has been active at a number of different DX locations. Check his QRZ.com listing for more. With improving conditions the reports from the other continents were quite good. Allan, VK2GR, made 220/124 contacts to lead Oceania. Allan particularly enjoys low band work. If you look him up on QRZ.com, you will see that he has been active from some other nice DX locations.

The better conditions helped Willy, UA9BA, to put in some time and amass 221 QSOs during our party, of which 153 were with members. That was enough to earn top honors from Asia.  Brian, 9J2BO, also had a very good report with 186/139 to earn top place from Africa. Brian’s QRZ.com page provides some very interesting reading about how he got his ham radio start and his career in Zambia.  Manuel, LU5OM, was able to carve out some time over the day to make 55 QSOs from South America (47 of those with members) to win the South American award. A look at Manuel’s QRZ.com page reveals his activity at quite a few DX entities.

Turning our attention to the non-member reports, it’s KR2Q at the top of the list. Doug was actually on the FOC starred list at the time and reported 431 FOC QSOs. West coast non-member leader was N7NR with 185 contacts. The other non-member continental leaders are as follows: Europe-EA6EJ with 221; Oceania-VK5GG with 17; South America-LU1AW/X with 34; Asia-JS1YGI with 19. No non-member entries were received from Africa.

As we all know from our years of experience, there’s never a perfectly level worldwide playing field. Propagation variations greatly affect the outcome of our efforts. I personally enjoy reading through all of the soapbox comments to get a feel of how things went for the other ops.



FOC QP – 10 Sept.

Members

Report

 

Non-Members

Report

Europe

DL6KVA

567/480

 

G3SJJ

231

 

G3WPH

506/426

 

EA6EJ

221

 

 

 

 

 

 

North America

K3WW

799/586

 

KR2Q

431

 

W8FJ

764/590

 

W1SOC

365

 

 

 

 

 

 

NA West Coast

K7NJ

551/410

 

N7NR

185

 

K4XU

326/256

 

NA2U

100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asia

UA9BA

221/153

 

JS1YGI

19

 

JA1GZV

25/21

 

BA3AX

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Africa

9J2BO

186/139

 

No Entry

 

 

3B8/G4BUO

71/54

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oceania

VK2GR

220/124

 

VK5GG

17

 

KH6LC

204/141

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



South America

LU5OM

55/47

 

LU1AW/X

34

 

 

 

 

PY3TD

19

 


FOCQP Results by year


2022    March 26th
   September 10th  
           
2021    March 27th
   September 11th
 
           

2020

  March 28th
  September 12th
 
           
2019   March 23th   September 14th  
           
2018   March 24th   September 22nd  
           
2017   March 25th   September 9th  
           
2016   March 26th   September 10th  
           
2015   March 28th   September 12th  
           
2014   March 22nd   September 13th  
           
2013   March 23rd   September 14th  
           
2012   May 31st   September 22nd  
           
2011   May 14th   October 22nd  
           


Copyright © First Class CW Operators' Club (FOC). No reproduction without the express consent of FOC. All Rights Reserved. Privacy policy