California QSO Party chairman Dean Wood N6DE is passionate about his state’s QSO party for good reason. With over 1200 submitted logs, the CQP easily tops the list of state QSO parties for participation. What’s their secret? Start with the fact that the CQP is sponsored by contesters - the Northern California Contest Club - making this one of the few QP’s run by a contest club. Their other unique characteristic is an Expedition class of operator (think “POTA meets Contester”) who fan out across California to activate even the hardest to get to counties. Non-California contesters have plenty of stations to log and many will work hard for a clean sweep of the 58 counties. Participants are split nearly equally between CW, Phone and Mixed Mode but, with no awards for single modes, those playing to win will operate mixed mode. Watch this interview with Dean N6DE to learn more about the October 7-8 2023 CQP and to see Dean's photo highlights from 2022.