The stated objective of the Nebraska QSO Party is for stations outside of Nebraska to work as many Nebraska stations and Nebraska counties as possible and for stations in Nebraska to work everyone. This year, it also helps celebrate the Nebraska Sesquecintennial.
The 2017 edition of the Nebraska QSO Party will be held on April 22 and April 23. Official Rules can be found at the QCWA Chapter 25 web site. Keeping score is made easy with specialized logging programs like N3FJP's customized QSO Party logs, and are a software bargain. You can get their NE QSO Party log for a mere $8.99 or purchase the entire package of his software for less than $49.99 (and includes life time updates). N3FJP software is used by the Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club for their Field Day operations.
In 2016, the Ak-Sar-Ben Amateur Radio Club took first place in the "Club Category". The NPOTA group combined their activities with the NEQSO Party. They activated two Nebraska Counties and 4 National Park NPOTA entities. Rock Creek Station State Park in Jefferson County included the Pony Express Trail, Oregon Trail and the California Trails. And their favorite site to go to Homestead National Monument in Gage County. The efforts also earned them second place in the "Rover Category".
For 2017, the K0USA team is working with the volunteers at Freedom Park and hopes to activate the radio room on board USS Hazard WWII - Mine Sweeper for Saturday Operations. Stay tuned here and on FACEBOOK for updates. The radio room is small on board the Hazard, but the QSO Party team promise to make room for guest operators. Nebraska is a fairly rare state, so contacts are usually pretty steady. Throw in the USS Hazard and it could be pretty busy.