Contester's Rate Sheet for August 13, 2003
*********************** Contester's Rate Sheet 13 August 2003 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver, N0AX SUMMARY o NAQP CW, New Jersey, Ohio, and Hawaii QSO Parties o Don't Miss the Perseids and the Perseids QSO Party! o AR User program by VE7CC o New Goodies from Nan-Tenna and Array Solutions o Book of the Week - "Wirebook IV" o It Keeps you Going BULLETINS o No bulletins in this issue. BUSTED QSOS o I goofed up the ending time for the 10-10 Summer QSO Party, which should have been 2400Z and not 0400Z. Hope nobody went home early! (Thanks, Steve N0WY) ANNOUNCEMENT & NOTICES FOR 13 AUGUST TO 26 AUGUST 2003 Logs are due for the following contests: August 16 - Pacific 160m Contest, e-mail to: vk3js@vkham.com, paper logs to: Ian Godsil, VK3VP, 363 Nepean Highway, Chelsea 3196, Australia August 17 - SARL HF SSB Contest, e-mail to: admin@sarl.org.za, paper logs to: SARL HF SSB Contest Committee, PO Box 1721, Strubensvallei 1735, South Africa August 18 - 10-10 Int. Summer Contest, SSB, e-mail to: (none), paper logs to: Steve Rasmussen, N0WY, 312 N. 6th Street, Plattsmouth, NE 68048, USA August 19 - North American QSO Party, RTTY, e-mail to: rttynaqp@ncjweb.com, paper logs to: Wayne Matlock, K7WM, Rt 2 Box 102, Cibola, AZ 85328, USA August 21 - DIE Contest, e-mail to: ea5aen@ea5ol.net, paper logs to: EA5AEN, PO Box 11055, Valencia, Spain The following contests are scheduled: Note that the following abbreviations are used to condense the contest rules summaries: SO - Single-Op; M2 - Multiop - 2 Transmitters; MO - Multi-Op; MS - Multi-Op, Single Transmitter; MM - Multi-Op, Multiple Transmitters; AB - All Band; SB - Single Band; S/P/C - State/Province/DXCC Entity; HP - High Power; LP - Low Power; Entity - DXCC Entity HF CONTESTS North American QSO Party--SSB--sponsored by the National Contest Journal, 1800Z Aug 16-0600Z Aug 17. Frequencies: 160 - 10-meters. Categories: SOAB and M2, 100 W power limit, operate a maximum of 10 hours (off times must be at least 30 min and M2 entries may operate the entire contest). Exchange: Name and SPC. Score: QSOs X States + Province + NA DXCC countries (count each once per band). For information - http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php. Logs due 30 days after the contest to ssbnaqp@ncjweb.com or Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, 4225 Farmdale Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604. The same mailing address will be used for both modes of this contest. SARTG WW RTTY Contest, sponsored by the Scandinavian Amateur Radio Teleprinter Society, 0000Z-0800Z and 1600Z-2400Z Aug 16 and 0800Z-1600Z Aug 17. Frequencies: 80-10 meters. Categories: SOSB, SOAB, MS, SWL. Exchange: RST and serial number. QSO Points: own country--5 pts, different country on same continent--10 pts, diff. cont.--15 pts. Score: QSO points x DXCC entities + W/VE/VK/JA call districts. For more information--http://www.sartg.com/. Logs due Oct 10 to sm7bhm@svessa.se or to SARTG Contest Manager, Ewe Håkansson, SM7BHM, Pilspetsvägen 4, SE-291 66 Kristianstad, Sweden. Keymen's Club of Japan Contest--CW--sponsored by the Keymen's Club of Japan, 1200Z Aug 16-1200Z Aug 17. Frequencies: 160-6 meters (JA allocations on 160 are 1.810- 1.825, 1.908-1.912 MHz). Categories: SOAB, SOSB (JA only), SWL. Exchange: RST and JA prefecture/district or continent. QSO Points: 1 pt/QSO (JA count JA/JA--1 pt and JA/DX--5 pts). Score: QSO points x JA pref/dist from each band (JA also count continents). For more information--http://www.jarl.com/kcj. Logs due 30 Sep to ja1dd@jarl.com or Yasuo Taneda JA1DD, 279-233 Mori, Sambu-town, Sambu-gun, Chiba 289-1214, Japan. New Jersey QSO Party--CW/Phone--sponsored by Englewood ARA, 2000Z Aug 16-0700Z Aug 17 and 1300Z Aug 17-0200Z Aug 18. Frequencies (MHz): 1.810, 3.535, 7.035, 14.035, 21.100, 28.100, SSB -- 3.950, 7.235, 14.285, 21.355, 28.400, VHF/UHF 50-50.5 and 144-146 MHz. Exchange: QSO number and SPC or NJ county. QSO points: 3 pts/QSO. Score: QSO points x NJ counties. NJ stations use NJ counties + states (except NJ) + provinces, max. 83. For more information--http://www.qsl.net/w2rj. Logs due Sep 13 to Englewood Amateur Radio Association, Inc., PO Box 528, Englewood, New Jersey 07631-0528. SEANET Contest--CW/SSB/Digital--sponsored by the SEANET Convention, 1200Z Aug 16-1200Z Aug 17. Frequencies (MHz): CW -- 3.525, 7.025, 14.025, 21.025, 28.025, SSB -- 7.090, 14.320, 21.320, 28.320. Categories: SO, MS, AB, SB, Mixed and Single Mode combinations. Exchange: RS(T) and serial number. QSO Points: SEANET-SEANET--10 pts (5 pts if same country), SEANET--World -- 10pts. Score: QSO points x DXCC entities for SEANET entrants, QSO points x SEANET entities for non-SEANET entrants, counted once per band and mode. For more information and list of SEANET countries--http://www.seanet2003.com/contest.htm. Logs due Oct 31 to g3nom@rast.or.th or Ray Gerrard HS0ZDZ, PO Box 69, Bangkok Airport PO, Bangkok 10212, Thailand. Ohio QSO Party--CW/SSB--sponsored by the Mad River Radio Club, 1600Z Aug 23-0400Z Aug 24. Frequencies (MHz): CW -- 3.545, 7.045, 14.045, 21.045, 28.045; SSB -- 3.850, 7.225, 14.250, 21.300, and 28.450. Categories: SO, MM, and Mobile. Exchange: Serial Number and Ohio county, state or province, DX stations send "DX". QSO Points: CW--2 pts, SSB--1 pt. Score: QSO points x OH counties (OH station count states, provinces, and OH counties) counted once per mode. For more information--http://www.mrrc.net/oqp. Logs due 30 days after the contest to oqplogs@mrrc.net or to Ohio QSO Party c/o Jim Stahl K8MR, 30499 Jackson Road, Chagrin Falls, OH 44022-1730. NRRL 75th Anniversary Contest--CW/SSB--sponsored by the Norwegian Radio Relay League (NRRL) from 1200Z Aug 23 -- 1200Z Aug 24. Frequencies: 80 -- 10 meters, work stations in LA/JW/JX once per band and mode. Categories: SOAB (spotting networks allowed), MS. Exchange: serial number (LA stations also send county abbr.). QSO Points: 3 pts/QSO. Total score: QSO Points x LA counties + JW/JX counted once per band and mode. Logs due 15 Sep to la9hw@arrl.net (ASCII text) or Jan Almedal, LA9HW, Odinsgt 7, NO-4631 Kristiansand, Norway. TOEC WW Grid Contest--CW--sponsored by the Top of Europe Contesters (TOEC), 1200Z Aug 23-1200Z Aug 24. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Categories: SO (no packet) -AB, -SB, Low Power (<100W, AB only), MS (10 min band change rule), MM, Mobile (SOAB) -- work mobiles from each grid field (i.e. -- JP, KO, EM). Exchange: RST + grid square, i.e.--JP73 (log must show all grid fields activated). QSO Points: own continent -- 1 pt, other cont--3 pts, QSOs with mobiles--3 pts. Score: QSO points × two-letter grid fields. For more info--http://www.qsl.net/toec/contest.htm. Logs due 30 days after the contest to TOEC.contest@pobox.com or to TOEC, Box 178, SE-83122 Ostersund, Sweden. SCC RTTY Championship, sponsored by the Slovenian Contest Club, 1200Z Aug 24-1159Z Aug 25. Frequencies: 80-10 meters. Categories: SOAB-HP, SOAB-LP, MS-HP, MS-LP. Exchange: RST and 4-digit year first licensed. QSO Points: own country--1 pt, different country same continent and between W, VE, VK, ZL, ZS, JA, PY call areas, LU provinces, and UA9/0 oblasts--2 pts, different continent--3 pts. Score: QSO points x different years from all bands. For more information--http://lea.hamradio.si/~scc/rtty/htmlrules.htm. Logs due Sep 15 to rtty@hamradio.si (Cabrillo format preferred) or on diskette to Slovenia Contest Club, Saveljska 50, 1113 Ljubljana, Slovenia. CQC Summer QSO Party--CW/SSB--sponsored by the Colorado QRP Club, 1800Z-2359Z Aug 24. Frequencies (MHz): CW -- 1.825, 3.560, 3.710, 7.040, 7.110, 14.060, 21.060, 21.110, 28.060, 28.110, SSB -- 1.910, 3.985, 7.285, 14.285, 21.385, 28.385. Categories: SOSB, SOAB, Portable. Exchange: RS(T), SPC, first name, and CQC number or power (5 watts max.). QSO Points: CW- CQC member 6 pts, non-member 4 pts, SSB--CQC member 3 pts, non-member 2 pts. Score: QSO points x SPC counted once per band x total different names. Add 1000 points to score for working W0CQC. For more information--http://www.cqc.org/contests/summer03.htm. Logs due 30 days after contest to contest@cqc.org (ASCII only) or to Colorado QRP Club, Box 371883, Denver, CO 80237-1883. Hawaii QSO Party--CW/Phone/RTTY/PSK31--sponsored by the Koolau ARC, 0700Z Aug 23-2200Z Aug 24. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Categories: SOAB and MS (single or mixed-mode), MM (mixed-mode only). Spotting nets and packet allowed in all classes. Exchange: RS(T) and SPC, maritime region (1-3), or HI county. QSO Points: 20-15-10 meters, Phone--1 pt, CW/Digital--2 pts; 40 meters, Phone--2 pts, CW/Digital 4 pts; 80 meters, Phone--4 pts, CW/Digital--8 pts; 160 meters, Phone 8 pts, CW/Digital 16 pts. Score is total points plus 150 pts for QSO with KH6J. For more information--http://www.karc.us/HiQSOP. Logs due 30 days after contest to ah6oz@hawaii.rr.com or Hawaii QSO Party, PO Box 8960788, Wahiawa, HI 96786-0788. VHF CONTESTS ARRL 10 GHz Cumulative Contest, 0600 local-2000 local Aug 16 - 2000 local Aug 17 Categories: 10 GHz only and 10 GHz and up. Exchange: Six-digit Maidenhead Locator. Distance Points equals distance in km between stations. QSO Points: 100 pts for each unique call worked. Score: Distance points + QSO points. For more information - http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2003/10-ghz.html. Logs due Oct 21 to 10GHz@arrl.org or ARRL Contest Branch, 225 Main St., Newington, CT, 06111, USA. Perseids Meteor Shower Contest-CW/SSB/WSJT-sponsored by the Six Meter World Wide Club from 2300Z Aug 12 - 2300Z Aug 14. Frequencies: 6-meters. Categories: CW/SSB or WSJT-only. Exchange: callsign and grid. QSO Points: own country--1 pt, otherwise 2 pts (KH6 and KL7 are considered separate countries). Total score: QSO points x total grids (counted once only). For more information--http://6mt.com/. Logs due Sep 14 to w4wrl@aol.com or Wayne Lewis W4WRL, Contest Director, 3338 S Cashua Dr, Florence, SC 29501-6306. NEWS & PRESS RELEASES Certificates for the 2002 10-Meter contest, 10-GHz contest and special order plaques have been mailed. To date, 140 logs for the 2003 IARU HF World Championships have been received at HQ that required conversion, corrections or manual processing by HQ staff. (Thanks, Dan N1ND) At the Pacific NW DX Convention in mid-July (nicely hosted by the British Columbia DX Club in beautiful Vancouver, Canada - thanks, guys!) Lee VE7CC was running his new packet manager program, AR User. Lee is a well-known packet system administrator and has pulled out all the stops to put every conceivable feature in the program, all nicely managed by a system of "folder tabs". It's pretty amazing software and available for download with lots of demo info at http://www.bcdxc.org/ve7cc/default.htm. Nan-Tenna (http://www.nantenna.com/) has announced a couple of Top-Tenna add-ons for Hustler 4BTV, 5BTV, and 6BTV verticals to add 160-meter coverage or improve the bandwidth of the 80-meter antenna. The Top-Tenna model 160MA installs on the whip above an RM-80-S resonator. To restore 80-meter coverage, a Hustler VP-1 adapter and a second Hustler RM-80-S resonator are required. The model 80MA is used to increase the bandwidth on 80-meters. The 4-spoke capacitance hats consist of machined aluminum hubs with four 6061-T6 aluminum rods, and feature stainless steel hardware. (Thanks, Joe AA1GW) ZS4TX has just completed an upgrade to his "Super Contest Keyer" (available from Array Solutions, http://www.arraysolutions.com/, in September). The SCK is a powerful package, combining a voice and CW keyer, audio processing, dual-rig control, PC interface, and more. The upgrade adds PC control via a COM port, "Early PTT" to prevent amp hot-switching, beacon functions, and RTTY using a PC soundcard. All this at a considerable savings over standalone devices to accomplish the same set of functions. For that first hour of Sweepstakes, you can even crank up the keyer to 990 wpm! The complete manual is available at http://www.zs4tx.co.za/sck. Tim K3LR sent me this Web link for a nice story about fellow contester Ted N9NB in this week's Wireless Week - http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA314151&spacedesc=Departments&stt=000. The Worldwide Young Contester's Club has been busy, releasing a new newsletter. This group is very active in trying to spread the word and make things happen on the radio! Definitely worth a visit. The newsletter can be downloaded from the left-hand toolbar on http://www.wwyc.net/. There are high and low-resolution versions. (Thanks, Greg KE9R) RESULTS AND RECORDS The 2003 ARRL DX CW results for the Web are now available at http://www.arrl.org/contests/results. The 2003 DX Phone results by your faithful editor should be available shortly. The results for the Spring EU SSB Sprint are available at http://www.qsl.net/eusprint There was a good turnout, with high scores and plenty of log entries. The very strong record of wins from Lithuania continues, this time Roli LY2FY leads by a comfortable margin over Rob RK3AWL and Ton ES5TV. (Thanks, Paolo I2UIY) TECHNICAL & TECHNIQUE Mark Connelly WA1ION has published a new on-line technical article "Broadband Receiving Antenna Matching". The PDF version of the article can be accessed at http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/bev/bb_antenna_matching.pdf or as a zipped Word document at http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/bev/bb_antenna_matching_doc.zip. Mark's RF circuits page is worth a look, too - http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/index.html. Good stuff! Book of the Week - "Wirebook IV" by Press Jones N8UG (a.k.a. The Wireman, https://www.cahaba.net/~thewirem/products.html). Those of you that have been around a good, long while may remember an orange pamphlet - the "73 Coax Handbook". I have had one of these seemingly forever because it combined in one volume information on coaxial cable types, connectors, and other miscellaneous items of interest. I'm pleased to report that I have been able to get a more recent reference in Press' 224-page book. With a Wireman product listing at the back, the front chapters cover coaxial cable, connectors, cable usage, grounding, antenna wire and antennas. It's a mighty handy shack reference and highly recommended. Dennis K7BV forwarded an interesting summary from the Yankee Clipper Contest Club reflector on the use of a pair of coaxial lines in place of open-wire line. While losses will be higher than for open-wire, several correspondents reported that the shielded lines resulted in lower received noise. The cable shields are connected together at both ends of the line, with the connection at the shack end grounded and the connection at the antenna floating. This results in a transmission line with characteristic impedance twice that of the coax used and losses of about one-half that of a single run of coax. The chief benefit appears to be the reduction in noise pickup by the line - interesting. CONVERSATION It Keeps you Going Since we can't all win those FABULOUS prizes that everyone knows the Big Guns get year after year, I guess there must be something else that pulls us into the shack on those gorgeous fall weekends. Yes, I know, we covered "crazy" in the last issue. I don't suppose every contester is nuts, so there must be something else. I think Jim Neiger N6TJ, generator of audio profundo from ZD8Z, contributed some wisdom on the subject in a recent post on "The Secrets of Contesting, Chapter 10". "Above all other things, a contester is ENTHUSIASTIC. From year to year, from contest to contest, he strives to enter contests, as many as his life (or wife?) may allow, with ENTHUSIASM. He (or she, of course) may not always know the why of it, but maybe participates merely because he always has, or maybe because his club has set a goal, or maybe he had so much fun last year that he enters this year with a renewed spirit. Or maybe he had fun on a contest DXpedition ten years ago, and wouldn't it be nice to combine a nice family vacation to the Caribbean with a modest contest operation around CQ WW time of the year?" Ah...that's it. No matter if the A index is headed for triple digits and the solar flux in the opposite direction. Once the nice man (or lady, of course) on WWV says, "Go!" my enthusiasm glands just naturally kick in and I'm off and running. We're all in it together and you can't be regaling the audience with your fishing stories at the next club meeting if you sit around and pout all weekend. Not only do we have our own enthusiasm to maintain, we are duty-bound to spread it and shovel it over the widest possible audience. Why did you get into contesting? Think back to what caught your interest. Either a picture in a magazine or the sound of blazing QSOs on the air was attractive enough to make you give it a try. Maybe a friend invited you to join a multi-op. Whatever - somebody passed you the contesting bug, which feeds on enthusiasm. I don't care what your hobby is, if you don't have enough Vitamin E(nthusiasm), it will shrivel up and die. A sure tonic for flagging levels of enthusiasm is Vitamin D(ifference). If you're just not getting the same kicks as before, then try something different. Something completely different! If you're a phone guy, dust off the keyer, or vice versa. Won everything in your district for the past two solar cycles? Move up to VHF or down to HF. Invite in three freshly minted Techs and Generals and have a Contest College during Phone Sweepstakes. I guarantee that you will have your vitamin levels back to normal in a big hurry. At the risk of inciting more witticisms of the rhythmic persuasion, here are a pair of CW-related limericks from Dave W9LYA, whose day job status is unknown. A dentist who practiced in Billings Inserted electronic fillings His patients' recourse Was copying Morse Or submitting to extensive drillings A telegrapher from Klamath Almost became psychopath His problem, of course, Dyslexical Morse (He always sent "What wrought doG hath") What can I say - it's the doggerel days of August I guess! 73, Ward N0AX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Contester's Rate Sheet wishes to acknowledge information from the following sources: WA7BNM's Contest Calendar Web page - http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/ ARRL Contest page - http://www.arrl.org/contests/ SM3CER's Web site - http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/
