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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Table of ContentsWhere can I find County Hunters? I am a fixed station, how do I check in? Is there a QSL bureau for County Hunting? Where do I get these Mobile Reply Cards (MRC's) you talk about? Where can I find out more information about County Hunting? What is County Hunting?There are many aspects within Amateur Radio and County Hunting is just one of them. The goal of County Hunting is to make a two way contact with a station in each of the 3077 counties in the United States. CQ Publishing offers a large certificate and plaque for confirmation of each of these contacts. The award is also available to Short Wave Listeners on a heard basis which must also be confirmed. Back to TopI am a fixed Station, how do I check in?The Mobile Emergency and County Hunters Net when operating under normal conditions only runs mobiles and therefore you do not need to check in. Only mobiles are required to check in. If you would like to run your county fixed you may contact the NCS and announce that you would like to be moved to run your fixed county or you may secure a frequency and announce your county and frequency on the net.
Where can I find County Hunters ?County Hunting can occur anywhere on any of the Amateur Radio frequencies. The majority of County Hunting takes place on organized nets mainly on the 20 and 40 meter bands. The 20 meter Mobile Emergency and County Hunters Net meets on 14.0565 CW and 14.336 SSB 365 days a year conditions permitting. You will find many of the mobiles willl QSY (move) to 40 meters, 7.056.5 for CW and 7188 for SSB. Back to TopHow do I make a contact?The County Hunter Net is a controlled net and unless you are a mobile who wishes to run counties on the net you do not need to check in to the net. The NCS (Net Control Station) will take check-ins and run each mobile in turn. Normally each mobile will have 10 minutes to work as many stations as he can. He will begin by announcing his call and county such as; "This is KK7X mobile in Kootenai, Idaho - QRZ" and will begin to listen for calls. If you listen for a few minutes you will get an idea of how the mobile is working stations and what kind of reports he is giving. If you are hearing the mobile a 55 and he is exchanging 59 reports with the stations he is working, wait a few minutes before giving your callsign. When you give your callsign, give it one time per QRZ and avoid the use of phonetics. When the mobile recognizes your callsign he will normally give you a report first and you will respond by acknowledging the report that he gave to you (this is a net requirement) and you will give him a report in return. Unless you are mobile do not announce your location. Back to TopHow do I confirm my contacts?After you have been successful in working a county you will want to confirm the contact if you are working towards the USA-CA award. Of course you can exchange QSL cards with the station for each county but with 3077 counties to confirm it can become quite expensive. Fortunately there is an easier way. County Hunters have devised a confirmation called the Mobile Reply Card, MRC for short. Each card will hold up to 10 contacts for each station. If you make the majority of your contacts on the County Hunters Net you will find that the same mobile run many counties over a period of time. Using this method you would only send a QSL card for the first contact that you make with the station and the MRC for all the rest of the contacts. One important thing to remember is that the mobile is running the county for your benefit. It can be quite expensive for gas, food and lodging on one of these County Hunting expeditions. Therefore an SASE with your MRC or QSL is expected. Back to TopIs there a QSL bureau for County Hunting?You are in luck! There is an active QSL service for County Hunters. For more information send a #10 SASE with your Callsign and E-Mail address to:
Back to TopWhere do I get these MRC's you talk about?Back to TopWhere can I find out more information about County Hunting?The major organization for County Hunters is the Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club (MARAC). Membership in MARAC has several advantages. First you are supporting the County Hunting Effort in a direct way. Second you receive a great monthly publication called the County Line Road Runner which has up to date information on the awards that have been issued and many of the County Hunting activities that take place around the world. Third you receive a discount off of the awards that you send to the mobile such as last county awards as well as the awards that you apply for yourself. For more information on MARAC visit the MARAC Web Site and you will find more information and a MARAC Membership Application on line! MARAC has a computer program for tracking the USA-CA Award as well as the many awards offered by MARAC. More information on Logger can be found here - MARAC Logger
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