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The ARRL Contest Update
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
January 2, 2013
Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX
==> IN THIS ISSUE
- Rockin' With RTTY - ARRL RTTY Roundup
- 6BWAS Anyone? North American QSO Party CW
- Motor Mounted Radios
- Getting Dishy with Dingeloo
- Scope Out these Test Videos
- Sweepstakes by Hand and 10 GHz Results
- Wooden It Be Nice?
- Wall Warts on Parade
- Making FM Contesting Succeed
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
If you've never operated on Kid's Day, you are missing something
delightful. Open up your shack to a family member or invite the
neighbor kids over - watch for the looks of surprise and delight as
they make a contact or two. If you don't have a kid of your own, get on
and be the station that creates those happy moments. You won't regret
it!
BULLETINS
There are no bulletins in this issue which is a bit attenuated due to
the editor's vacation.
BUSTED QSOS
The RAC Winter Contest and the Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge
contest listings were accidentally omitted from the previous issue -
apologies to the sponsors.
CONTEST SUMMARY
Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section
Jan 5-6
- ARRL RTTY Roundup
- Kid's Day--Phone
- SNS and NS Weekly Sprints--CW (Jan 4)
- 070 PSKFest
- QRP Pet Rock Sprint--CW
Jan 12-13
- North American QSO Party--CW
- OK1WC Memorial Contest (Jan 7)
- ARS Spartan Sprint--CW (Jan 8)
- CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test (Jan 9)
- MI QRP Club Jan QRP Contest--CW
- WW Peace Messenger Cities
- UK DX RTTY Contest
- EUCW 160 Meter Contest--CW
- DARC 10 Meter Contest
==> NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
Just how old is the car radio, anyway? The story
involves one of the
largest mobile radio companies and a famous name in invention lore.
(Thanks, Wayne AB0GR)
Much has been made of the everybody-on-the-same-frequency problem
after a spot is posted. Win-Test and N1MM have frequency offset or
randomizing functions so that when you click on a spot, your frequency
is offset by + or - 100 Hz. QNZ!
Ten-Tec has announced the latest model of an old
friend - the Argonaut. The 539 Argonaut VI
continues the QRP tradition at Ten-Tec, where the original "Argo" was
one of its early successes. The rig features the same high dynamic
range receiver architecture as the recently-introduced Eagle
transceiver, 1-10 watts of output power on the HF bands, and a simple
user interface.
Martti OH2BH contributes this handy world-wide temperature conversion
table:
+15 °C, Spanish wear caps, gloves and winter coats, Finns are
sunbathing
+10 °C, French desperately try to get their central heating on. Finns
plant flowers.
+5 °C, Italian cars won't start. Finns drive with convertibles.
0 °C, Pure water...freezes. Water in river Vantaa thickens a bit.
- 5 °C, First people are found frozen in California. Finnish midsummer
festival ends.
-10 °C, Scottish turn the heat on in their houses. Finns start to use
long-sleeve shirts.
-20 °C, Swedes stay indoors. Finns are having last barbeque before
winter.
-30 °C, Half of the Greek people have frozen to death. Finns start to
dry their laundry indoors.
-50 °C, Polar bears evacuate North Pole. Finnish army starts its
winter training.
-70 °C, Siberian people are moving to Moscow. Finns are furious since
the Koskenkorva liquor can't be stored outdoors anymore.
-273 °C, Absolute zero. Finns admit that it is quite cold outside.
-300 °C, Hell freezes over. Finland wins the football World Cup.
Just how big were those legendary stations of yore? Well, pretty
big! Tim K3LR credits this article
in the September 1982
edition of Scuttlebutt, the Yankee Clipper Contest Club's
newsletter, as an inspiration to creating the
world-class station he's built today.
You might not think hum and background noise could ever be an asset but
this BBC article
reports that
they are being used as a means of determining the source of recordings
and whether they have been tampered with.
The latest issue (2/2012) of PileUP!
is now
out. PileUP! is the PDF newsletter of Contest Club Finland
. This issue fills 47 pages in
Finnish (Google Translate can handle the
translation) and English. (Thanks, Timo OH1NOA)
Web Site of the Week - Tales from the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory
- not in Australia but the Netherlands - claims the dish-style radio
telescope to be one of the biggest ham radio projects but they may not
be as large as the OH8X rotatable 160
meter Yagi. Nevertheless, this restoration project is a great story and
if you are capable of EME communications, a QSO with the station may be
possible as they have just reinstalled the dish on its pedestal.
WORD TO THE WISE
Whinge - a terrific word from our British Commonwealth friends, roughly
equivalent to "whine" here in America. Your New Year's resolution? No
whinging, mate!
==> SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Alan, W2AEW has assembled a nice collection of "how to" videos
on YouTube on using oscilloscopes.
(Thanks, Paul W9AC)
If you're musically inclined, watching this video
of Vadrum
hammering out the alphabet might be an excellent way to learn the code!
(Thanks, Tim K3LR)
==> RESULTS AND RECORDS
The results of the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest are now live and all RTTY
Roundup certificates and plaques have been mailed. (Thanks, ARRL
Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X)
The volunteers who hand-enter all of the paper Sweepstakes logs into
electronic Cabrillo format files report that 67 paper logs were typed
in. That includes 27 CW and 40 phone logs with 3999 CW QSOs (average
just over 148 QSOs per log) and 6105 phone QSOs (average 152.625 QSOs
per log). Thanks to one and all! Now - let's all do our part and help
anyone hand-logging submit their logs electronically, such as by using
WA7BNM's Cabrillo Web Forms page.
The CWJF Group is proud to publish CQMM DX Contest 2012 Results
online. (Thanks, Luc PT7AG)
OPERATING TIP
A reader asks, "I thought leaving duplicate QSOs ("dupes") in a log was
a problem - no?"
In paper logs, dupes used to be a problem because they were hard for
the log checkers to detect and remove. Thus, there was a penalty to the
station submitting the log for leaving them in. (The station worked was
not penalized...)
In electronic logs, it's easy for the log checking software to identify
and discard dupes. Not only that, leaving the dupes in an electronic
log makes it possible to insure everybody gets credit for a QSO since
an initial contact may not have been completed or mis-logged in some
way. The duplicate QSO may, in fact, be the valid QSO, especially if
the duping station called you!
If you think about it the way Trey N5KO recommended in the latest
National Contest Journal , it will make more sense.
"In the days of paper logs there was a claimed score, and then there
would be deductions made for miscopied call signs and so forth. With
100 percent log checking by machine, the old approach gave way to a new
methodology, where your log starts at zero points, and your score
builds with each contact and multiplier as your log is evaluated." So
there is no reason to penalize dupes - the worst thing that can happen
is that your score isn't increased. So definitely leave the dupes in
your electronic log - you won't be penalized.
While we're on the subject, send in your log - many a certificate is
hanging on the wall of those who persevered all the way through log
submission while their competition got lazy or just plain forgot!
==> TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION
Dave W8NF recalls that "professional" TV shops used home-made
workbenches, made of wood. "The bench height was 42 inches. This
allowed the techs to stand at the bench, a more healthy position than
sitting all day. But it also afforded an added layer of shock
protection. When first placing a piece of equipment on the bench for
testing, we sat down - on 32" tall wooden bar stools. Rest your feet on
the cross-member about a foot off the floor, and there's no risk at all
of a shock traveling through the body."
If you find it hard to keep edges straight when trimming PC board,
this jig design from
Instructables uses inexpensive materials and also protects fingertips!
Tony G3OVH reports, "The differences between the RF and computing
worlds get even smaller with this article
showing how you can transmit 100 MHz FM from a Raspberry Pi
single-board computer." And even smaller as this primer on software
defined radio
explains. (Thanks, Brian N9ADG and George K5TR)
Charles, KG2V relayed this mnemonic for remembering the color order of
CAT5 network cable: blue, orange, green, brown - remember "sky to
ground" - blue sky, orange sun, green grass, brown earth.
Brian N9ADG has discovered, "If you type "4.7k ohm" into the search bar
of duckduckgo.com , you get the color code
representation of a resistor."
If you are looking for conductive lubricants, Jerry KF6VB
contributes the CAIG Laboratories web site.
"Every conductive grease and oil that a child could want." And with the
post-holiday sale season upon us, who could resist?
Technical Web Site of the Week - Here's a great application note
from Jameco on
those "wall wart" power supplies - the different types and their
characteristics. This will help you choose the right supply for your
application. (Thanks, Dan KI4YZE)
==> CONVERSATION
Making FM Contesting Succeed
The ARRL January VHF Contest offers an FM-Only category for the first
time. The goal is, of course, to encourage new hams that have never
used the "weak signal" modes to do a bit of DXing and find out what
their stations are capable of. Contests are a terrific way to do just
that but communicating with the target audience requires understanding
their needs and expectations. Les Rayburn N1LF posted a thoughtful
discussion on this topic to the VHFcontesting reflector
- it is
food for thought for all of us who participate in both emcomm and
radiosport. Thanks, Les.
73, Ward N0AX
As the previous Section Emergency Coordinator for Alabama, I understood
that FM simplex capability translated to a greater level of capability
during an emergency. Amateurs who improved their stations on simplex,
also benefited by being able to reach more distant repeaters which is a
huge advantage during severe weather.
Some "lessons learned" from cross-promoting FM activity during VHF+
contests were:
1) Tailor your message to your audience. I didn't try to pitch it as a
"contest" as much as an exercise when talking to ARES, SKYWARN, and
CERT groups. We encouraged them to test their ability to communicate
without the aid of a repeater, as they might have to do in an
emergency. We also encouraged Field Day-type operations from high
locations.
2) Concentrating activity in a three- to five-hour period is going to
be more successful than just putting out the dates and times for a
two-day long contest. Nothing is less interesting than "dead air" to a
non-contester. (It's not all that interesting to a contester, either -
Ed.)
3) It's vital that weak-signal operators monitor the FM simplex
channels
and participate during those concentrated activity periods. I tried to
utilize the afternoon hours on Saturday, when conditions are
poorest---so that operators didn't miss out on a lot of contacts on SSB
and CW but that doesn't work well in June when six meters is liable to
be open.
The point is that weak-signal operators often turn their nose up at
FM - and this hurts the effort. If you give a new operator a taste of
DX, they may become hooked for life. The best way to accomplish this is
to get those "monster signals" active on FM. If your local big gun
doesn't
support FM contesting, then try to change their mind on the topic.
You should hear some of the reactions you get from newcomers when they
discover they can communicate 75-100 miles or more on their FM rig
without a repeater. This is easily possible with a high-performance
weak-signal station on one end of the contact.
4) Talk up the event on your local FM nets, club meetings, etc. Tailor
the message to the crowd. A DX club isn't going to respond to the same
"pitch" as your local ARES team.
5) Poll your club and see who has 222 MHz FM capability. I always make
it a point to schedule contacts with those operators on 223.5 MHz
simplex.
6) In the last few days before the contest, make a lot of calls on
146.52 and talk to operators there about the contest. They understand
the concept of simplex and use it often. They're your best candidates
for participation in the contest. Nothing in the rules forbids
promoting the contest on 146.52 prior to the event!
7) Don't get discouraged by the naysayers. The FM-Only category is a
great idea, but it needs the active support of the weak signal
community
to work!
73, Les Rayburn, N1LF
==> CONTESTS
2 Jan through 15 Jan 2013
An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format
is available. Check the
sponsor's Web site for information on operating time restrictions and
other instructions.
HF CONTESTS
ARRL RTTY Roundup--Digital, from Jan 5, 1800Z to Jan 6, 2400Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST, state/province/serial. Logs due: Feb 7.
Rules
Kid's Day--Phone, from Jan 6, 1800Z to Jan 6, 2400Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-28. Exchange: Name, age, location, favorite color. Rules
North American QSO Party--CW, from Jan 12, 1800Z to Jan 13, 0600Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: Name and S/P/C. Logs due: 14 days. Rules
SNS and NS Weekly Sprints--CW, from Jan 4, 0200Z to Jan 4, 0300Z.
Weekly on Thursday evenings local time. Bands (MHz): 1.8-14. Exchange:
Serial, name, and S/P/C. Logs due: 2 days. Rules
070 PSKFest--Digital, from Jan 5, 0000Z to Jan 5, 2400Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-28. Exchange: Call sign, RST, S/P/C . Logs due: Jan 19. Rules
QRP Pet Rock Sprint--CW, from Jan 5, 1500Z to Jan 5, 1800Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Frequencies (MHz): QRP calling frequencies. Exchange:
RST, S/P/C, QRP ARCI number or power. Logs due: 14 days. Rules
OK1WC Memorial Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 7, 1600Z to Jan 7, 1659Z.
First through fourth Monday of each month; see website for bands. Bands
(MHz): 3.5, 50, 144. Exchange: RS(T) and serial. Logs due: 7 days.
Rules
ARS Spartan Sprint--CW, from Jan 8, 0200Z to Jan 8, 0400Z. Monthly on
the first Monday evening local time. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange:
RST, S/P/C, and power. Logs due: 2 days. Rules
CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test--CW, from Jan 9, 1300Z to Jan 9, 1400Z.
Multiple operating periods, twice monthly on 2nd and 4th Wed. Bands
(MHz): 1.8-28. Frequencies (MHz): 18 to 28 kHz above band edge.
Exchange: Name and member number or S/P/C. Logs due: 2 days. Rules
MI QRP Club Jan QRP Contest--CW, from Jan 12, 1200Z to Jan 13, 2359Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, MI QRP number or power.
Logs due: Feb 13. Rules
WW Peace Messenger Cities--Phone,CW, from Jan 12, 1200Z to Jan 13,
1200Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RS(T) and PMC ref number or CQ
zone. Logs due: 30 days. Rules
UK DX RTTY Contest--Digital, from Jan 12, 1200Z to Jan 13, 1200Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and serial. Logs due: 30 days. Rules
EUCW 160 Meter Contest--CW, from Jan 12, 2000Z to Jan 12, 2300Z.
Multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8. Frequencies (MHz):
Exchange: RST, serial, club name, member nr or "NR". Logs due: Feb 13.
Rules
DARC 10 Meter Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 13, 0900Z to Jan 13, 1059Z.
Bands (MHz): 28. Exchange: RS(T), serial, DOK code. Logs due: 2 weeks.
Rules
VHF+ CONTESTS
OK1WC Memorial Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 7, 1600Z to Jan 7, 1659Z.
First through fourth Monday of each month; see website for bands. Bands
(MHz): 3.5, 50, 144. Exchange: RS(T) and serial. Logs due: 7 days.
Rules
MI QRP Club Jan QRP Contest--CW, from Jan 12, 1200Z to Jan 13, 2359Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, MI QRP number or power.
Logs due: Feb 13. Rules
==> LOG DUE DATES
2 Jan through 15 Jan 2013
- January 6 - AWA Bruce Kelley Memorial CW Contest
- January 8 - ARRL 10 Meter Contest
- January 8 - CQC Great Colorado Snowshoe Run
- January 15 - Croatian CW Contest
- January 15 - OK DX RTTY Contest
==> ARRL INFORMATION
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==> ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's
Contest Calendar and SM3CER's
Contest Calendar .
The ARRL Contest Update is published every other Wednesday (26 times
each year). ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by
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Copyright (c) 2013 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All
Rights Reserved
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Address all comments and questions to the editor as described in this
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