[LCC] 2020 LAQP

[w5wz at w5wz.com]

Marsh, Keith, George, Don, Bobby, Charlie, et al,

No apology needed.  I'm all good here.  My feelings aren't hurt, nor am 
I angry at anyone.  I appreciate the fact that you all are concerned 
about the future of the LAQP and are contributing to the dialogue.  I'm 
also concerned about the LAQP.  I may disagree on some points, you may 
disagree on others; that's OK.  We can be intelligent about this, and 
find some real solutions.  It may take some time, and be an evolving 
process.


There are some facts that have been brought up as well as some inferred 
items, and now I think it's time to start consolidating thoughts around 
them, so that we can work toward solving at least some of them.  And I'm 
willing to discuss them.  I may disagree on some points, you may 
disagree on others; that's OK.  We can be intelligent about this, and 
find some real solutions.  It may take some time, and evolve.

If we can agree to not point out a problem without providing at least 
one possible solution, then I believe we can move ahead.



FACT #1 - DATE of the LAQP
==========================
For the past several years LAQP has shared a Saturday with BARTG RTTY 
and RUSSIAN DX.  Prior to that, LAQP had a date in SEPTEMBER.  The LAQP 
has also been held on a different date in either FEBRUARY or APRIL (I 
don't remember off the top of my head which).  The point being, in its 
recent history the date of the LAQP has been moved more than one time 
(mostly in efforts to foster increased participation) and yet 
participation has not increased.

In my view, there are only two possible solutions:
1) Don't change the date
2) Change the date (the challenge is picking 1 of the other 51 
Saturdays)

I've tendered an email to the AR, MS & TN QSO PARTY sponsors to query 
about interest in a "Delta Division" QSO Party, and will advise when I 
receive replies.






FACT #2 - LOW PARTICIPATION
===========================
To my knowledge, since the ~2000 resurrection of the LAQP by the Twin 
City Ham Club, there have never been more than 100 total logs received 
for all entries.  Participation as a percentage of total hams in 
Louisiana is very, very low.  To my recollection, there are ~7,500 hams 
in the state.

Calling CQ in a contest and getting no reply is not much fun.  Nor is 
hunting contacts during a state's QSO party and not finding any stations 
in that state calling CQ.  Many times I've set up a N1MM log for this or 
that state's QSO party, and after 30 minutes to an hour with very low 
rate, I've moved on to find something else to do.

Rover stations / portable stations are needed to activate all 64 
parishes.  More Parishes on the air = Activity = Multipliers = Higher 
Scores = More Fun.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?



FACT #4 - PROMOTING THE EVENT
=============================
Promoting the LAQP could be improved, no doubt about it.  But it takes 
interested persons to help bear the workload of promoting to clubs, ham 
fests, electronic/social media outlets, emails, etc, to ensure a 
successful event.  And, when the event comes, those interested parties 
should be on the air making QSOs, thus helping by increasing band 
activity.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?



FACT #5 - LA HAMS INTEREST IN CONTESTING
========================================
Back in 2008 when we formed the LCC, there were 137 Louisiana hams whose 
call sign was found in the SuperCheckPartial database.  SCP is compiled 
from the contest logs voluntarily submitted to its database.  This 
doesn't mean that all 137 hams submitted their log to SCP; rather it 
means that in the totality of submitted logs from all hams for a 24 
month period, only 137 unique Louisiana ham calls were found.  I ran the 
same query a year or so back, and the number had declined to ~120.  That 
shows that LA hams are not participating on contests at the same level 
as 10 years ago.

How to increase contest participation?  I don't have the magic answer.  
We struggle in our local club to get folks out to Field Day.  I struggle 
to fill chairs at W5WZ for multi-op contests.  I've extended blanket 
invitations as well as personal invitations to dozens of hams to come to 
W5WZ, and in general see very little interest.  Of the new hams in our 
local club in the past 5 years, maybe 4 or 5 have accepted the invite, 
and then have only come for a short period of time.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?


FACT #6 - LEADERSHIP FOR THE LAQP
=================================
Leadership for the LAQP is bigger than a 1 or 2 person committee.  It is 
mostly behind the scenes, mostly thankless efforts spent pushing the 
LAQP forward.  I'm very thankful and appreciative of the work that K5ER 
and WM5H have done on the LAQP for the past several years; they have 
updated the rules, received the logs, compiled the entries, posted 
results, and printed/mailed the certificates.  They get both sides of 
the coin, but don't always have every answer to every challenge.

 From today's dialogue alone there are sufficient challenges at hand.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?
1) People willing to work on the committee are needed.  Please step 
forward and help!