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The ARRL Contest Update
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
November 9, 2011
Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX
==> IN THIS ISSUE
- Don't Forget to Breathe - ARRL Phone SS
- Bits Across the Pond - Worked All Europe RTTY
- CQ Worldwide Scores - Records and More Records
- Do-It-Yourself - The New Cool
- Crane Your Necks at K9CT
- Newbie From the North - VY1EI in SS
- Turning Point in Connector Technology
- Squealing on Annoying QRM
- Power Surge
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
After a weekend of CQ WW slam dancing followed by the CW Sweepstakes,
you could be forgiven for taking a weekend off! But then get those
vocal cords ready for Phone Sweepstakes and the CW version of CQ WW.
And do make sure you have plenty of envelopes at the QSL bureau!
BULLETINS
There are no bulletins in this issue.
BUSTED QSOS
The right name for NO3M is Eric, not Ty. (Thanks, Bill WY3A)
CONTEST SUMMARY
Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section
Nov 12-13
- CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test (Nov 9)
- Worked All Europe DX Contest--Digital
- 10-10 Fall Digital QSO Party
- Japan International DX Contest--Phone
- OK-OM DX Contest--CW
- Kentucky QSO Party
- CQ WE (Western Electric)
Nov 19-20
- ARRL EME Contest
- ARRL November Sweepstakes--Phone
- Collegiate ARC Championship--Phone
- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon--CW (Nov 17)
- NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW
- Mongolia DX Contest
- LZ DX Contest
- Feld-Hell Turkey Shoot Sprint
- All Austria 160 Meter Contest--CW
- RSGB Second 1.8MHz Contest--CW
- Homebrew and Oldtime Contest--CW
- Run For the Bacon--CW (Nov 21)
==> NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
Your editor thoroughly enjoyed making off to KP4 for an incognito
adventure in the CW Sweepstakes as NP4DX with ARRL Contest Branch
Manager, Sean KX9X. Thanks to local KP4 hams KP4WW, WP3R, and WP3MW for
their hospitality and assistance!
Claimed scores in the 2011 CQ Worldwide Phone contest shot through
the roof compared to last year. In their many reports on the 3830
score-posting website
, operators
report terrific openings on the higher bands and many more QSOs at
higher rates than in recent memory. The number of submitted logs
already exceeds 4000 just a few days after the contest - welcome back
sunspots!
ARRL Sweepstakes Manager, Larry K5OT observes after encountering a few
stations omitting their call signs from the Sweepstakes exchange,
according to Sweepstakes rule 4.3 you must include your full call sign
in the exchange. Leaving it out throws off the other station's copying
rhythm and may cause requests for fills that waste time, plus you lose
a "free" CQ for stations tuning by. Make sure your logging software
includes the call sign as part of the exchange to be sent and also that
the information is sent in the recommended order: number, precedence,
call, check, and section. Get your SS CW log submitted
and focus on the
Phone weekend - there are already more than 750 logs submitted. Send
yours in no matter what size...they are all important!
The ARRL 10 Meter Contest will be written up
starting with the 2011 edition by new author, Scott Tuthill K7ZO. Given
the wildly improved conditions, Scott will have plenty to write about
after the dust settles in December. Scott is one of the crew at the
Oregon super-station of NK7U that is featured in the latest National
Contest Journal. Breaking new ground already, Scott is in the final
stages of completing a novel "pre-writeup" that will be posted on the
contest's ARRL web page in a few days!
Icom - the prime plaque sponsor for ARRL
Sweepstakes - is also sponsoring a different sort of contest this
coming weekend. The first D-STAR QSO Party
will run from Nov 11
through the 13th and emphasizes the worldwide connections afforded to
handheld users anywhere within range of a D-STAR repeater.
Dave K5GN sent a link to a great story
about a 99-year-old ham in Alaska, Arlene "Buddy" Clay KL7OT. She
originally moved to Alaska in 1944 with her husband Earl, KL7EM (SK) to
be part of the Civil Aviation Authority's communications system. The
CAA (predecessor to the FAA) set up teams - usually a husband and wife
- to operate radio stations so that pilots could stay in contact with
the ground as they flew over uninhabited areas. (Thanks, Dave K5GN)
The Contesting Wiki continues to grow and
contains a wide source of hints, tips, kinks, and narrative. This is a
great resource for those learning about radiosport. For those more
experienced in the ways and means of contesting, consider lending some
of your expertise to the site, as well! (Thanks, Hans K0HB)
Assisted by amateur radio, the British APEX team
managed to set several ballooning records although the record for
altitude remains a bit out of reach. Not quite a ham radio record, but
I think we can all enjoy the achievements of other amateur endeavors
and hams were right there along the way, helping track the balloon
almost all the way to its eastern landing in Poland or Russia.
In the realm of sunspots and stocks, no prediction is too flaky not to
get some attention so it seems inevitable that a correlation between
the two would eventually be proposed. A close look at the data
by Robert Ferri finds little of actual merit to the claim but the
process of analysis makes for a good read. (Thanks, Mark K6UFO)
The latest EDN Ham Radio Today
column by Doug K1DG is a good survey of the amateur service for
technical folks. You might want to bookmark this page for future
reference when someone asks, "Do you still do that?"
Web Site of the Week - Could it be cool again to be a hands-on
tinkerer? A recent Christian Scientist Monitor article
about the "Maker" movement - also known as Do-It-Yourself (DIY) - is
attracting a lot of kids to the workbench. Corporate America is
noticing, with tools and parts selling well. Ham radio, being intensely
hands-on, would seem to be a natural part of the DIY world - if only we
can bring ourselves to participate in it! Look for a "Hackerspace" near
you - or is that "Shackerspace"?
WORD TO THE WISE
Here are some various bits of homespun ham wisdom -
"QRP - when you care enough to send the very least (W4QO)"
"Aren't you glad you use QSK? Don't you wish everybody did?" (K8MP)
And not wanting to pass up the opportunity to chime in, "Not
zero-beating stations means beating zero stations," by your editor.
==> SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Craig K9CT is building what looks to be a spectacular contest station
in the fields near Peoria, IL and you can take a tour in this YouTube
video shot from a lofty perspective,
indeed! You may remember a story about an accidental encounter between
a concrete truck and the guy wires for the VHF+ tower but all has been
repaired as you can see here. (Thanks, Ken WB9REQ)
A recent story about amateur rocketry garnered lots of attention and
the project leader, Derek Deville, has been interviewed
about his activities on the Slashdot website. If you think this sounds
like high-performance radio, you're not alone!
You may have heard HB9STEVE on the air over the weekend, honoring the
memory of tech pioneer Steve Jobs. As this Computerworld video
shows, Steve has something in common with many hams in his appreciation
of Heathkit, discussed about five minutes into the interview. (Thanks,
Peter AC7SB)
==> RESULTS AND RECORDS
VY1EI put a lot of smiles on Sweepstake operator faces last weekend -
you can read all about Eric's experience in his post-contest writeup
from the 3830 reflector. It's not all peaches and cream being sought
after by a horde of stations! Way to go, Eric! The 3830 archives make
great reading, by the way. (Thanks, Steve N2IC)
The question of how speeds are measured in the High-Speed Telegraphy
(HST) competitions was recently answered by Barry W2UP. "HST CW speeds
are in characters per minute. This differs from both PARIS (which is
still used in RUFZ) and WPM...250 CPM is equivalent to 60 WPM letters,
89 WPM figures, and 72 WPM Mixed characters. They differ because all
figures are 5 dits/dahs long, while other characters vary in length and
an average is used...it's a linear scale and you can extrapolate any
other values using the ratios of CPM to WPM above."
Dink N7WA has fired up the online Soapbox comment collector
for CQ WW and CW Sweepstakes.
Valery R5GA has also launched his CQ WW Claimed Scores website
with lots of sorting and
searching functions - enjoy!
OPERATING TIP
Keep an eye on that VFO - too many US call signs are heard out-of-band
during CQ WW Phone, particularly when working stations operating split
on 40 meters!
==> TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION
How to get that deeply-buried PL-259 loosened? With so many cables and
connectors packed into a station, it can be almost impossible to turn
the shell of a PL-259 in the midst of a packed panel. Several readers
have contributed ideas but the best I found involve a tool for the
purpose. Mike W3MC and Mark N1UK recommend the Knipex "Micro Cobra
" style pliers,
nylon-jawed if you can find them. Your editor has found that heavy-duty
spark plug boot pullers
also
work and are available at a local auto-parts store. These can turn not
only the UHF shells but N, BNC, and even F!
Tree N6TR has been fixing his Tailtwister with a new-style brake wedge.
He developed this handy how-to guide
for other rotator repair-ers.
This isn't a guaranteed engineering solution but if you are
considering screw-in guy anchors for a tower and aren't sure which type
is the correct type, Mike NF4L suggests asking what the local telephone
and electric companies are using to hold up power poles. They will have
already done considerable work to assess local soil conditions and
selected the right model.
If you're tired of chasing the footswitch around under the operating
desk, try a switch guard such as this Linemaster model
.
It holds the switch under your foot and the whole assembly can be moved
around for comfort. (Thanks, Steve K6AW)
If you live in a location where ice can build up on your guy wires,
watch out for melting ice sliding down into the Preform Big Grips -
they can be knocked loose by a big enough impact! Dave W6NL suggests
placing a small hose clamp around the end of the grip - this prevents
the grip from loosening due to an impact.
A recent Analog Dialogue
article has possibilities in the SDR and test equipment world - the
circuitry for a sampling front-end
that uses a PC sound card to create a high-speed signal digitizer.
By studying how jump ropes bend in the wind, Princeton mechanical
engineers Jeffrey Aristoff and Howard Stone also came up with a
mathematical model
for how antennas and other flexible things are affected by air flow.
Now for a double-dutch dipole!
Technical Web Site of the Week - Now we know why high-pitched QRM
(phone or CW) is more annoying than low-pitch rumbling. A recent story
in Science about fingernails on chalkboards (just the words make me
cringe) explains that it is the high-pitched tones do the dirty work.
If filtered out, the sounds are not nearly as aggravating. Time to
reach for that passband shift control!
==> CONVERSATION
Power Surge
It has been a LONG time since we have experienced HF contest conditions
like those during the past two weekends of CQ Worldwide Phone and ARRL
November CW Sweepstakes. Little Pistols and those of you new to HF -
wasn't that fun? Techs, you've doubtless grown weary of the "no meters
like 10 meters" nostalgia, surely thinking the pie-eyed old-timers must
have been making it up. Well, we may have gotten a little soggy with it
at times but now you know why! The long-suffering 10 meter operators at
the multi-multi stations must have felt like having been released from
the years of silent suffering immersed in receiver hiss and little
else.
Looking back through my old logs, 2005 and 2006 were the last years
for which there were extended, worldwide openings on 10 meters and the
band was clearly in decline by that point in the cycle. 15 held in
there for another year but soon HF contesting became a question of who
could hold a frequency on 20 meters or stay up all night doing low-band
battle. Roaring back to life earlier this year, though, sunspot cycle
24 has pumped adrenaline into contesters and RF into antennas around
the globe. If I were an alien outpost monitoring the Earth on HF, I
would think the planet is undergoing some kind of euphoric
electromagnetic eruption every week or so...well, aren't we?
During Worldwide, stations packed the 10 meter band well above 29 MHz
with good rate to be had. QSOs were even reported on 10 meter FM - it
IS a phone contest, after all! 15 meters and 20 meters were full and
busy at the same time. The decision wasn't which band was open but
which band offered the highest point value, adding a whole new aspect
of strategic challenges. During the CW Sweepstakes, conditions may have
been TOO good - with so much activity on 17 and 12 meters, casual
stations may have found the smorgasbord of DXing too attractive to stay
with just one contest!
Combined with the near global ubiquity of spotting networks, the
contest environment has suddenly switched from famine to feast as the
networks dispense data at dazzling densities that a single-op just
can't hope to keep up with. Watching the spots gush down the screen, I
felt like I was watching the radiosport equivalent of the Matrix. With
so many stations spotted so widely, the difficulty is not going to be
pouncing on each spot but deciding which of the spots to ignore. All of
the technology that has been deployed in order to acquire and broadcast
information on a scarcity of stations now finds itself saturated at its
input. How do we manage too much information instead of not enough?
Combine that with an SDR-type display and you will be able to hear the
neurons frying!
As an aside, I noticed a great deal of contest-related chatter on
Facebook during the CQ Worldwide weekend. I'm sure there was plenty as
well on Twitter and other social sites, including chat rooms and
similar ham-focused groups. Remember that contest activity - meaning
the communication of call signs and exchange information - is
restricted to those six bands from 160 through 10 meters. Your posts
shouldn't give the game away by providing information about where
you're operating, when you're operating or going to operate, or what
information you're handing out on the air. It's unreasonable in today's
always-connected world to expect contesters to "go dark" during the
competition - post if you must - just make sure the competing goes on
"between the lines".
Another thing I've noted is that good conditions have a multiplier
effect on activity - along with providing more multipliers, of course.
The relationship between sunspot activity and the radiosport BIC
Coefficient (Butt In Chair) is quite non-linear. The new ARRL 10 Meter
Contest writeup author, Scott Tuthill K7ZO, shows this pretty clearly
in his upcoming "pre-writeup" article mentioned earlier. With contacts
abundant and attainable by the modest station, more operators find it
easy to put in more hours in front of more radios. As the reported
record scores attest, good conditions are making it possible to contact
many new call signs around the world previously hidden by propagation.
For example, the K3LR team logged 30% more contacts than the old
multi-multi record by KC1XX from 1999. The blooming of ham radio around
the world over the past decade is going to bear significant fruit.
So we have more hams on more bands making more contacts from more
places - what's not to like? With the possible exception of the
low-band specialists, we should all be pumped up about the next few
years of great radio action. With all this great equipment and antennas
and so many more hams today, we are surely writing the story of the
Good New Old Days with each contest. Say, what's that hot smell coming
from the ionosphere? Power surge, anyone?
73, Ward N0AX
==> CONTESTS
9 November through 22 November
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
Worked All Europe DX Contest--Digital, from Nov 12, 0000Z to Nov 13,
2400Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and serial (see web for QTC
rules). Logs due: Nov 28. Rules
10-10 Fall Digital QSO Party--Digital, from Nov 12, 0001Z to Nov 13,
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 28. Exchange: Call, name, 10-10 number, S/P/C. Logs
due: Nov 28. Rules
Japan International DX Contest--Phone, from Nov 12, 0700Z to Nov 13,
1300Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and JA prefecture or CQ Zone.
Logs due: 30 days. Rules
OK-OM DX Contest--CW, from Nov 12, 1200Z to Nov 13, 1200Z. Bands (MHz):
1.8-28. Exchange: RST and serial or OK/OM district. Logs due: Dec 1.
Rules
Kentucky QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Nov 12, 1400Z to Nov 13,
0200Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50, Frequencies: CW--1.815, 3.550, 7.050,
14.050, 21.050, 28.050, 50.090; SSB--1.855, 3.820, 7.240, 14.280,
21.390, 28.390, 50.190. Exchange: RST and KY county or S/P/C. Logs due:
Dec 31. Rules
CQ WE (Western Electric)--Phone,CW,Digital, from Nov 12, 1900Z to Nov
14, 0500Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50-440. Exchange: Call, name, Bell QTH,
yrs of svc (see web). Logs due: Dec 1. Rules
SKCC Weekend Sprintathon--CW, from Nov 13, 0000Z to Nov 13, 2359Z.
Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Frequencies: Monthly on the second Sunday.
Exchange: RST, S/P/C, name, SKCC nr or "none". Logs due: 5 days. Rules
NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW, from Nov 17, 0130Z to Nov 17, 0330Z.
Bands (MHz): 3.5-14. Frequencies: Monthly on 2nd Tuesday or 3rd
Wednesday local time (alternating). Exchange: RST, S/P/C, and NAQCC mbr
nr or power. Logs due: 4 days. Rules
Mongolia DX Contest--Phone,CW, from Nov 19, 0000Z to Nov 20, 2359Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RS(T) and CQ Zone. Logs due: Dec 31.
Rules
LZ DX Contest--Phone,CW, from Nov 19, 1200Z to Nov 20, 1200Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and ITU Zone or LZ district. Logs due: 30
days. Rules
Feld-Hell Turkey Shoot Sprint--Digital, from Nov 19, 1600Z to Nov 19,
1800Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Frequencies: Monthly on 3rd Saturday.
Exchange: RST, S/P/C, Feld-Hell member nr. Logs due: 5 days. Rules
http://www.feldhellclub.org
All Austria 160 Meter Contest--CW, from Nov 19, 1600Z to Nov 20, 0700Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8. Exchange: RST, serial, OE district. Logs due: Dec 31.
Rules
ARRL November Sweepstakes--Phone, from Nov 19, 2100Z to Nov 21, 0300Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: Serial, category, call, check, ARRL sec.
Logs due: Dec 6. Rules
Collegiate ARC Championship--Phone, from Nov 19, 2100Z to Nov 21,
0300Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: See ARRL Sweepstakes. Logs due:
Dec 6. Rules
RSGB Second 1.8MHz Contest--CW, from Nov 19, 2100Z to Nov 20, 0100Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8. Exchange: RST, serial, UK district. Logs due: Dec 5.
Rules
Homebrew and Oldtime Contest--CW, from Nov 20, 1300Z to Nov 20, 1700Z.
Bands (MHz): 3.5-7. Exchange: RST, serial, and category. Logs due: Dec
20. Rules
Run For the Bacon--CW, from Nov 21, 0200Z to Nov 21, 0400Z. Bands
(MHz): 1.8-28. Frequencies: Monthly on 3rd Sunday night (local).
Exchange: RST, S/P/C, Flying Pig nr or power. Rules
VHF+ CONTESTS
ARRL EME Contest--Phone,CW,Digital, from Nov 19, 0000Z to Nov 20,
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 50-1296. Exchange: Call signs, sig rpt,
acknowledgement. Logs due: Dec 20. Rules
Kentucky QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Nov 12, 1400Z to Nov 13,
0200Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50, Frequencies: CW--1.815, 3.550, 7.050,
14.050, 21.050, 28.050, 50.090; SSB--1.855, 3.820, 7.240, 14.280,
21.390, 28.390, 50.190. Exchange: RST and KY county or S/P/C. Logs due:
Dec 31. Rules
CQ WE (Western Electric)--Phone,CW,Digital, from Nov 12, 1900Z to Nov
14, 0500Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50-440. Exchange: Call, name, Bell QTH,
yrs of svc (see web). Logs due: Dec 1. Rules
==> LOG DUE DATES
9 November through 22 November
- November 10, 2011 ARS Spartan Sprint
- November 15, 2011 Pennsylvania QSO Party
- November 15, 2011 PODXS 070 Club 160m Great Pumpkin Sprint
- November 15, 2011 Makrothen RTTY Contest
- November 15, 2011 Iowa QSO Party
- November 15, 2011 MCG Autumn Sprint
- November 16, 2011 CQ SA SSB Contest
- November 17, 2011 Illinois QSO Party
- November 21, 2011 ARRL School Club Roundup
- November 21, 2011 DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest
- November 21, 2011 CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
- November 22, 2011 Microwave Fall Sprint
- November 22, 2011 Stew Perry Topband Challenge - Warmup
- November 22, 2011 ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW
- November 22, 2011 NA Collegiate ARC Championship, CW
==> 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
editing their Member Data Page as described at
http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/.
Copyright (c) 2011 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All
Rights Reserved
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