Saturday, September 12, 2026 • 10:00 AM–10:00 PM EDT
Here’s your chance to be the DX everyone’s chasing. The Burlington County Radio Club is putting on the 2026 New Jersey QSO Party, and for one Saturday, every station in the Garden State becomes a hot commodity.
One important change this year — the NJQP moved up a week. Mark it down: Saturday, September 12, 2026, 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM New Jersey time (1400–0200 UTC).
I’ll say this plainly: you don’t need a big station for this one. No amplifier required, no 12-hour commitment. Turn the radio on, make a few contacts, and you’re in the game.
If you’re operating from inside New Jersey, your job is simple — work as many stations in the US, Canada and DX as you can. If you’re outside the state, you’re hunting. New Jersey’s got 21 counties, and everybody’s trying to bag as many as possible.
How Easy Is a Contact?
Let’s say I’m operating from Burlington County as AK2S, and W3FRC over in Pennsylvania answers my CQ. It goes something like this:
AK2S: “CQ New Jersey QSO Party, AK2S.”
W3FRC: “W3FRC.”
AK2S: “W3FRC, you’re 59 Burlington.”
W3FRC: “Thanks, 59 Pennsylvania.”
AK2S: “Thank you. AK2S, QRZ?”
That’s the whole exchange. Log it, move on, find the next one.
You’ve got 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters to work with. CW, Phone, and Digital modes that can complete the exchange are all fair game. There’s Single-Op, Multi-Op, high power, low power, QRP, and you can operate Fixed, Portable, Mobile or Rover. Assisted operation and self-spotting? Allowed and encouraged — no need to go it alone.
So there’s really no excuse. Work an hour from the shack. Grab a radio and head to the field. Put a quiet county on the air. Round up a few club members for a multi-op. Or go big and rove through several counties in a day.
Logging and Useful Resources
Don’t overthink your logging software. N1MM Logger+, N3FJP, DXLog, World Radio League — all of them handle state QSO parties just fine, and all of them showed up in the NJQP presentation as solid options.
- N1MM Logger+ — Create a new log, set the contest type to
QSOPARTY, and you’re ready to go. - N3FJP State QSO Party Logging Software
- DXLog and State QSO Party Logging Resources
- World Radio League
- WA7BNM Contest Calendar
- Reverse Beacon Network — if you’re running CW, this is how you find out where your signal’s actually landing.
- Official New Jersey QSO Party Information & Rules
When it’s over, submit your log in Cabrillo format. Deadline’s October 1, and it goes to NewJerseyQSOParty@gmail.com. Do yourself a favor and read the official rules before you get on the air — scoring, multipliers, categories, awards, and submission requirements can shift year to year.
Make It a Club Challenge!
Here’s the thing about the NJQP — it doesn’t have to be a solo mission. Our individual scores can roll up into an official NJ Club Aggregate Score, and that turns this into something we do together.
New Jersey’s got 21 counties. Stations outside the state are going to hunt for every single one. So let’s ask the obvious question: how many of those counties can we put on the air ourselves, and how big a club score can we stack up doing it?
Doesn’t matter how you operate. Home station, portable, mobile, rover, multi-op with a buddy — it all counts. If you’re sitting in one of the less-active counties, your signal is worth more than you think. Mobile and rover folks, you’ve got the chance to light up several counties in a single day.
You don’t need to be a hardcore contester to help, either. Get on for an hour. Call “CQ New Jersey QSO Party.” Make a few contacts. Put your county in somebody’s log — that’s the whole ask.
Make Sure Your Score Counts for Our Club
When you submit your log, list the correct club designation so your score gets credited to us. Under the NJQP Club Aggregate Score rules, you’ve got to specify which NJ-based club you want your score attributed to, be a bona-fide member in good standing, and be operating from within New Jersey. Miss that step and your contacts don’t count toward the club total — so don’t skip it.
A handful of contacts might not seem like much on its own. Stack them up with everyone else’s, and it adds up fast.
Once it’s all over, we’ll compare notes. How many of us got on the air? How many QSOs did we rack up together? How many counties did we activate? And where did our combined score land?
How many of New Jersey’s 21 counties can our club put on the air?
Five contacts or five hundred, it all adds up. Every QSO is activity, every QSO is fun, and every QSO could be the one that pushes our aggregate score higher.
Mark your calendar: Saturday, September 12, 2026. Let’s put New Jersey on the air.
73 and see you in the NJQP!