Today the State QSO Party Challenge for 2023 kicks off with the Vermont QSO Party! The annual State QSO Party Challenge recognizes all radio amateurs’ participation in the U.S. State and Canadian Province QSO parties. It is open to any radio amateur who participates in any of the approved State QSO Parties (SQPs). Participants must simply submit their scores to 3830Scores.com to be included in the Challenge.
Participants are recognized for reaching five levels of achievement – Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Using the submissions to 3830Scores.com , each callsign’s cumulative score is calculated by totaling up his/her number of reported contacts and multiplying by the number of SQPs entered year-to-date. The use of the number of SQPs entered as a multiplier is to encourage radio amateurs to enter more state/province QSO parties. The use of the number of contacts as a metric is to encourage participants to operate longer in each SQP, increase the effectiveness of their station and improve their contesting skills. To qualify for an award level, the participant must have participated in at least two State QSO Parties. Each State QSO Party entry must have at least two QSOs. The first SQPs of most years are the Vermont, Minnesota and British Columbia QSO Parties on the first weekend of February.