Hello. Rebecca VA7BEC here, contest coordinator for the British Columbia QSO Party presented by Orca DX and Contest Club.
I hope 2025 has started off on a good note. May it be a happy, healthy and memorable-for-all-the-right-reasons year for you and yours.
This email is an early reminder about the 2025 running of the British Columbia QSO Party. I realize the email has TLDR (too long, didn’t read) potential, but it contains useful info — updates for regular participants in BCQP and hints and links for beginners.
BC operators are truly the life of the party. BC stations can have QSOs with anyone anywhere. We are in the spotlight.
The more BC stations on the air, calling “CQ BCQP”, the more opportunities there will be for QSOs with operators within BC and beyond.
Please forward this email to members of your club. A one-page invitation attached as well, if you wish to post it on your website.
BCQP 2025
February 1, local time, 8am to 8pm AND February 2, local time, 8am to 4pm
(That’s UTC 1600z Feb 1 to 0359z Feb 2, and 1600z to 2359z Feb 2)
The most important thing to know is the date and time of the 2025 event: Two blocks over the Feb 1-2 weekend. That’s the first weekend in February.
Rules, tools, FAQ, in-depth event analysis/reports and scores from past years, examples of the lovely photo-based certificates and plaques... all available or viewing from links on the BCQP page of the Orca DXCC website. Go to http://www.orcadxcc.org/bcqp.html and click on the appropriate link in the menu on the left side of the page.
Updates for 2025
- Expanded certificate program for BC stations (Note 1)
- Announced operations (Note 2)
- Rally on 80m, 160m (Note 3)
- No change to BC multipliers (federal electoral districts) (Note 4)
- New log submission format (Note 5)
1. Expanded certificate program for BC stations
The chance to capture a lovely photo-based certificate is higher than ever! Certificates recognize top scores in all classes of entry in each federal lectoral district in BC.
2. Announced operations
I’m putting together a list of announced operations again this year. This should raise awareness of activity in BC and help operators near and far find you, as they will be better able to align antenna direction with your district and know to listen for you.
If you plan to be on the air and want to be on this list, send me the callsign you will be using, the mode(s) you plan to work, and the federal electoral district that you will be activating.
The list will be posted somewhere on the BCQP site. I will send out an email with a link at the end of January, so if you want to be on the list, let me know by Jan 27.
3. Rally
The rally idea worked really well in 2024, and we’ll do it again in 2025. Last hour of Saturday segment. This creates a concentration of CQers and stations looking for BC
Rally Schedule
80m CW at 0315z
160m CW and SSB at 0330z
75m SSB at 0345z
4. BC multipliers: Federal electoral districts — NO CHANGE from last year
The electoral map was recently redrawn to reflect changing population numbers across Canada and, with predictions of an early federal election, I expected new district names to be in place and the respective abbreviations for BCQP purposes to be used in BCQP 2025. I even prepared a new multiplier list. However, no election has been called and, according to Elections Canada, the new electoral map won’t actually go into effect until an election is called. So for BCQP 2025, we will use the existing electoral map.
*PDF maps: https://orcadxcc.org/content/pdf/electoral_areas.pdf
Confirm your federal electoral district here: https://www.elections.ca/home.aspx
In the center of the page, you’ll see Voter Information Service.Type in your postal code or the postal code of the place closest to where you plan to operate if not at home.
5. Log uploader — IMPORTANT!!
Given the increasing popularity of BCQP and a sustained high number of submitted logs above 300 over the past few years, we will be asking participants to upload logs electronically to a special portal in 2025. Check the rules for the log uploader address and associated details.
Read on for some helpful hints
Bands and time of day
BCQP is one of very few regular events — maybe THE ONLY ONE — that puts BC in a spotlight. In this party, BC stations can contact anyone anywhere, including other BC stations, while stations outside BC are on the hunt for you. Calling "CQ BCQP" will definitely attract attention even when band conditions are terrible. Just keep in mind time of day — daytime is better for the high bands (particularly 20m, 15m) and evening is better for the low bands (80m, 40m) — and antenna direction.
Concurrent events
In recent years, a factor that has spurred greater interest in BCQP from outside the province is the State QSO Party Challenge.
Details at http://stateqsoparty.com/
This competition is separate from BCQP but the organizer has included BCQP in the list of official events.
The SQP Challenge continues to be extremely popular with QSO party enthusiasts, fuelling wider attention for all QSO parties. But a fantastic advantage for us in BC is that the challenge kicks off on BCQP weekend, with BCQP as well as the Minnesota QSO Party and the Vermont QSO Party. This means a lot of stateside operators will be looking to maximize QSO opportunities across all three parties.
BC operators should absolutely take advantage of SQP Challenge interest to call “CQ BCQP” and maximize QSO potential. Remember to identify “BCQP” or “British Columbia QSO Party” so other operators know which party you are in. This will make exchanging information smoother. Also remember the stations in Minnesota and Vermont may want to trade a QSO. If you are calling CQ and someone in a different event calls and gives you an exchange that is incompatible with BCQP, work the stations for BCQP points first, enter the required information so it’s in your BCQP log, and then give the other operator what is needed for the other event. Usually your name or “BC”.
It can be confusing with different QSO parties happening at the same time. Use the handy same-weekend schedule (http://orcadxcc.org/content/pdf/2025_sked.pdf) to help you prepare the necessary exchange info.
If you have a question, I’m just an email away.
73,
Rebecca VA7BEC
Contest Coordinator for BCQP, Orca DXCC
