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The ARRL Contest Update
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
December 21, 2011
Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX
==> IN THIS ISSUE
- RAEM and New Year's Winter Contests
- Straight Key Night for Friends Old and New
- New European Russian Prefix Listings
- Az-El Map-lication
- HS0AC Underwater
- All-time 10 Meter Log Record
- Pack a Topband Punch with K2AV
- A Toy Turns Pro
- Received and Understood
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
Take a break! If you got into radiosport this year, you've discovered
that right around the end of October, the weekends come in quick
succession and test everything from your ability to withstand 160 meter
static to finding just the right skew path to get that close-in state
off of 10 meter backscatter. Oh, and to give the complete Sweepstakes
exchange in one breath! So kick back and enjoy the bands, the holidays,
and time with family and friends. See you next year!
BULLETINS
From Dan K7SS following the ARRL 10 Meter Contest, "Welcome aboard to
the many, many KC KD KE KF KG KJ etc new folks who are experiencing
their first 10 meter peak.. fun, huh??" If you participated in the Dec
18th CW edition of the Rookie Roundup ,
be sure to submit your score online by 2359Z today!
BUSTED QSOS
No significant erors were reported in the previous issue.
CONTEST SUMMARY
Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section
December 24-25, 2011
- DARC Christmas Contest
- SKCC Straight Key Sprint (Dec 28)
- NAQCC Milliwatt Sprint--CW (Dec 29)
December 31, 2011 - January 1, 2012
- ARRL Straight-Key Night
- New Years Snowball Contest
- SARTG New Year RTTY Contest
- AGCW Happy New Year Contest--CW
==> NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
Here is an excellent reason to keep your logging software's CTY files
up-to-date for DX contesting - a new
list of prefixes for European Russia published by ARRL DXCC Manager,
Bill NC1L. It's on the ARRL Awards blog
- look that the item titled "DXCC and
Russian Prefix Information (rev.)" Bill also notes that "since Russia
joined CEPT, there are stations active with call signs that do not
indicate DXCC entity, such as RA/N6TR who operated from Asiatic Russia,
and RA/SM6LRR who operates from European Russia. These types of
portable call signs will be managed individually in the DXCC system."
For those of you considering doing some contest operating from an
IOTA-qualifying island, be advised that for QSLs to be accepted for
IOTA credit, the island designator may not be handwritten. This is
spelled out in the IOTA program rules
contained in the 2011 IOTA Directory - see rule C.4.2.
Look - up in the air! Wayyyyy up in the air! First a balloon travels
all the way across the Atlantic Ocean
while
being tracked by ham radio technology. Then the US Air Force contracts
with SETI to check newly-discovered
planet Kepler-22b for intelligent life. Just how far did that balloon
go, anyway?
Knowing what we do about wireless technology, I'm sure that many hams
know why we are asked to turn off our electronic devices at takeoff and
landing. For the lay audience, this Marketwatch article
is not totally accurate in its technical descriptions but it does
reinforce the message that the reason for turning off your devices is
not just made up.
Who needs a dupe sheet when you can memorize 2660 random numbers per
hour? Not bad - perhaps the new memory champ
could be put to work at an IARU Headquarters station! (Thanks, Andy
N2NT)
The UBA International Prefix Hunt
committee has announced new rules to this interesting new contest.
(Thanks, Marc ON7SS/OO9O)
The Internet Archive project has just published nearly every issue of
defunct 73 magazine
, all the way back to
January 1961. While dominated by the editorial adventures of Wayne
Green W2NSD, the magazine also featured loads of simple (sometimes
too-simple) construction articles, expedition adventure writing by Gus
Browning W4BPD and other, and had a loyal following for many year.
You may read the material online or download PDF files. (Thanks Leigh
WA5ZNU via the QRZ.com website)
Why is radiosport such an attractive competitive activity to many of
us whose athletic years are behind them? Bill N5RKD/G4NDH relayed an
article from The Guardian
that summarizes research
addressing the risk-taking and competition of people between the ages
of 25 and 50. It doesn't address radio contests specifically but the
parallels are clear.
Web Site of the Week - Hams love maps, map software, and
map-plications! Here's an online applet
to create an simple azimuthal-equisdistant map centered on any location
you care to specify. The map can be captured to a graphic file by using
the PrntScrn key on Windows computers and made into a very nice control
or switch label. (Thanks, Wes W3WL)
WORD TO THE WISE
Here are some good words about Elmering posted by Mark WD4ELG: "I
promised my Elmer (W4ZM, SK) that I would always help those who asked
for it, and never denigrate or ridicule any question. I also promised
my Elmer that I would never be afraid to ask questions and look for
ways to learn more."
==> SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Some may be wondering what happened to the Radio Amateur Society of
Thailand club station HS0AC in the recent round of flooding in Bangkok.
Champ E21EIC sent some photos of the station
after it spent two months underwater - there will be a long rebuilding
process.
Wow - here's a serious radio location! Of course, it's on Saipan, so it
might be a bit far for the annual club outing on Field Day.
Nevertheless, this video
shows how
AH0BT set up their station for the 2011 CQ WW CW contest. (Thanks,
Steve N2IC)
Walter PP5WG sent links to some videos by PP1CZ of young contesters
operating from ZX5J during the recent ARRL 10 Meter contest. (Video 1
, Video 2 ,
Video 3 , Video 4
) We will contact these operators many
times in the coming years!
Here are two photos
of the original W1BB station on display in the New England Museum of
Wireless and Steam in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
The museum also includes a collection of radio history, including
the Massie "PJ" station, which was moved from the original Point
Judith, RI location to the museum site. Dave N7RK also presents a 1947
picture of W1BB's station at the bottom of his personal web page
. (Thanks, Gus KB0YH)
==> RESULTS AND RECORDS
ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X speaks for all when he says, "It
was certainly a treat for everybody to have good activity once again
for the 2011 ARRL 10 Meter Contest. I'm especially happy for those of
us who weren't licensed for the last solar peak around 2001 and are
experiencing the pure joy of good 10 meter conditions for the first
time." How good was activity? "As of 10:30 AM Monday, we have received
4,254 logs for the 2011 10 Meter Contest. This is an all-time record
for this contest and we still have three weeks left until the log
submission deadline!" This could be a 5000-log contest!
In other ARRL Contest news, certificates for the 2010 ARRL
International EME Competition have been shipped along with ARRL Club
Competition gavels.
Stew Perry log-checker, Tree N6TR writes, "One of the exciting "behind
the scenes" aspects of the Stew Perry contest is seeing how the scores
keep growing as more low power and QRP logs show up. Most scores have
already grown 10 percent (from the claimed score)." You can find a link
to the current scores on the Stew Perry web page
. This is why it is important for
all of the low power and QRP stations to send in their log - to make
sure those who worked them get full credit. More than 400 logs have
already been submitted - perhaps the 1000-log level will be reached!
Results for the October 2011 PreStew contest are also posted on the
same website.
Results of the 2010 ARI DX International Contest
(yes, 2010) are available with 2011 to follow shortly. (Thanks, ARI HF
Contest Manager, Bob I2WIJ)
Results for the 2011 Texas QSO Party have been
finalized and are now available on the contest website. (Thanks, TxQP
Coordinator, Chuck NO5W)
Official results for the 2011 EU HF Championship are now ready,
verified by the SCC Contest Committee and published on the SCC web page
. All UBN reports
are publicly available as
usual, too. (Thanks, SCC Contest Manager, Robert S57AW)
The brand-new 10 Meter RTTY contest had 675 logs submitted according to
the "logs received" web page
. That's
excellent for a brand-new contest! (Thanks, Don AA5AU)
N6TV has been studying the raw data from the Reverse Beacon Network and
has prepared a tabulation of the most spotted stations
from the recent CQWW CW Contest. (Thanks, Pete N4ZR)
Results of the 2011 Ukrainian DX Contest
are now available online. (Thanks,
Leo UT7CL)
OPERATING TIP
As you tune the bands next week, here are some ways to wish a Happy New
Year to your brothers and sisters around the world:
XÄ«n Nián Kuài Lè (Chinese)
Nouvelle année heureuse (French)
Glückliches neues Jahr (German)
Kalí hroñá (Greek)
Nuovo anno felice (Italian)
Akemashite omedetou (Japanese)
Ano novo feliz (Portuguese)
Novym Godom (Russian)
Feliz Año Nuevo (Spanish)
More translations can be found at Babel Fish
and About.com
.
==> TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION
There's still plenty of low-band DX to be worked, even with the recent
solar activity. Guy K2AV has designed an inverted-L antenna that uses a
folded counterpoise. You can learn all the details of this antenna on
W0UCE's website . Those readers
living on a small lot or otherwise without a lot of space may find this
design useful. Additional information can be found in the 2011 archives
for the Topband reflector
- search for the
thread title "Best small space antennas". You can read more about
propagation, particularly on 160 meters, on Carl K9LA's website
.
Instead of looking for plastic caps that cover the end of hollow boom
tubing, Don N8DE uses soft rubber balls that fit inside the end of the
boom. He says that they last quite a bit longer than caps on the
outside of the boom.
Rovers and portable operators may be interested in this Instructables
"how-to" article
about printing plastic maps that are waterproof and foldable. Not
laminating but a process that uses sandwich and garbage bags and an
ink-jet (not laser) printer. There are a number of steps involved but
the process looks do-able. Also on the Instructables website is this
neat collection of 24 different "radio hacks
" that transform ordinary
AM/FM receivers into completely different animals. You may find this
thought-provoking for ham radio applications, too!
If you want to know why powdered-iron cores are usually specified over
ferrite cores for RF transformers on the lower HF bands, Guy K2AV laid
out some interesting history
on the
Topband reflector.
Here's an interesting story on "Big Batteries
"
that might get you thinking about replacing that generator! We're not
talking about a pack of D-cells, here!
Paul W9AC mentioned an alternative to EZNEC - 4Nec2
- which is free from author Arie
Voors. 4Nec2 will also open EZNEC files and supports the pro NEC/4
modeling engine if a license for it is purchased through Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.
If you have a soldering iron or gun tip that is badly oxidized, the way
to clean it right up is to use a sal ammoniac block (available at
stained-glass window craft suppliers, for example) or a soldering iron
cleaning paste such as from soldering equipment manufacturer Hakko
. In both cases, avoid breathing the fumes
given off as the tip is chemically scoured. (Thanks, Rod W7ZRC)
EDN magazine recently published a short online article by Dan KB6NU
called "Build Something!
"
about kit-building for ham radio. He lists several websites that
provide kits and technical information. And they have also published
the ever-popular Christmas tree light tester
article, too!
A cover for your crank-up tower hoisting motor can never hurt, but
if you need a replacement, Dan K0DAN recommends motors rated for
"wash-down service". This is not a "submersible" motor but is rated for
wet environments such as being exposed to the weather or getting
spray-washed on a regular basis. Dan also notes that "even a wash-down
motor can have its problems....those little compartments which contain
the control relays, starter caps, etc., can leak, and should be
inspected periodically, gaskets replaced, also protected with a bead of
silicone caulk. If your motor is exposed to a lot of blowing rain, ice
melt, etc., take steps to identify the source and protect the motor.
Run the motor frequently...lack of use is a definite no-no. Change the
oil in the gearbox once a year and inspect/lube pulleys, bearings, etc.
A small amount of annual preventative maintenance will go a long way to
extending the life of your motor, but eventually they will all need
replacement."
Ken WA4MNT devised this terrific homebrew PCB holder
. The
dovetail groove prevents any slipping of the board from the fixture,
with minimal clamping pressure. All of the building details and even a
kit of machined parts for assembly are available online.
A comprehensive cross-reference for F connectors
has been published
on the Belden web site. Some of the graphics don't seem to display
properly but the text is OK and the connector table is fine. (Thanks,
Roger N1RJ)
Another "junkyard find" was described by Ron N4XD as part of his quest
to build a remote tune control for a vacuum variable. "I...was digging
around...(and)...found an old broken car power antenna. Opening it I
found it had a quite large motor, 12V of course. I used the large
"wheel" that...gave me a slower rotation which turned out to be the
perfect speed."
Many battery-powered accessories consume small amounts of power at all
times, whether or not they are being used; boom mike preamps, for
example. This wastes most of the battery energy but an on-off switch is
often left out of the design! Pulling the batteries means a battery
hunt every time you want to use the device. Here's an alternative - cut
a small piece of plastic from one of those indestructible clamshell
packages. Slip the plastic between one battery terminal and the
battery, opening the power circuit (in most cases) - voila! Power
switch! You can even close the access panel normally. If you lose the
plastic, so what? You can even use a piece of paper or cardboard in a
pinch.
The end of the pre-holiday season can be a boon for hams - take a look
in the lighting display bin! For example, as of 19 December, my local
Target was having a 30% off sale on all electrical stuff related to
decor - including a heavy-duty outdoor-rated extension cord with
outlets in the middle and at each end. I immediately thought, "Field
Day!"
Technical Web Site of the Week - The Design News story "Engineer's Toy
Becomes a Profession
"
will certainly bring forth a lot of old memories as it describes the
discontinued building sets one couple decided to manufacture. Growing
up with electricity and electronics kits were part of many ham
childhoods - a parallel universe! If you hurry, there's still time for
it to be delivered before Christmas morning!
==> CONVERSATION
Received and Understood
The top three US multi-op teams comprised about 36 operators and
reported about 36,000 QSOs during the 48 hours of the CQ Worldwide CW
contest. Add in the other multi-op teams around the world and you have
a very large, very happy family making an extraordinary number of
contacts. Imagine what you would see if you were watching from orbit
with some "radio spectacles"!
These are wonderful experiences - if you've never participated in a big
multi-op team, you should put it on your "gotta-do" list. It's a shared
experience like few others in ham radio. The "gab" files of
inter-station chit-chat are priceless records of the fast-paced
teamwork and teasing only hinted at in the post-contest writeups. The
post-contest pizza, the pre-contest repairs, stepping over the sleeping
operators between shifts...it's all part of the game.
Single-op is certainly challenging and fun, too, with participants
doing everything from part-time efforts to full-bore,
Sunday-afternoon-sleep-deprivation-never-left-the-chair marathons. When
you think about all of these different operators - thousands of them -
distributed around the planet and taking to the airwaves in one big
multi-band pileup...well, it is a wonderful feeling.
Although we are often solitary creatures, building and testing in
our basements and shacks, when contest weekends roll around we become
brothers and sisters in arms. If you think about it, probably some of
the most profound personal experiences in our lives are those which
take us "out of ourselves" and make us part of a much larger
experience, even if only temporarily. Contesting certainly has the
capability to be one of those experiences.
Writing and editing this newsletter, I'm very aware of the 25,000
readers, more-or-less, around the globe, any one or several of whom I
may put in my log "on any given weekend." Hearing your familiar calls
pop up out of the static is a great feeling, too, just as traveling to
a multi-op builds up the anticipation I feel at seeing my friends and
putting my shoulder to the wheel along with them. Perhaps this makes
the Contest Update a kind of very, very large multi-op?
And I am most grateful to be part of those teams and the ham radio
family in whatever capacities I can offer. There is so much we share -
I hope that generous ham spirit is sprinkled into every heart during
this holiday season and throughout the coming year. Ham radio is an
activity in which no one can truly engage alone. There always has to be
someone on the other end, doesn't there? Yes, there does have to be an
essential connection, so as we close out 2011 my message to you is, QSL
my friends, received and understood.
73, Ward N0AX
==> CONTESTS
December 21 , 2011 - January 3, 2012
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 Straight-Key Night--CW, from Jan 1, 0000Z to Jan 1, 2400Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28, 50+. Exchange: General QSO information. Logs due: Jan
31. Rules
RAEM Contest--CW, from Dec 25, 0000Z to Dec 25, 1200Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-28. Exchange: Serial and lat/long in degrees. Logs due: Jan 25.
Rules
DARC Christmas Contest--Phone,CW, from Dec 25, 0830Z to Dec 25, 1059Z.
Bands (MHz): 3.5-7. Exchange: RS(T) and DOK or special station code.
Logs due: 3 weeks. Rules
SKCC Straight Key Sprint--CW, from Dec 28, 0000Z to Dec 28, 0200Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50, Frequencies: Monthly on the 4th Wednesday UTC.
Exchange: RST, S/P/C, name, SKCC nr or power. Logs due: 5 days. Rules
NAQCC Milliwatt Sprint--CW, from Dec 29, 0130Z to Dec 29, 0330Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, and NAQCC mbr nr or power. Logs
due: 4 days. Rules
New Years Snowball Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 1, 0000Z to Jan 1,
0100Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5. Exchange: RST, serial, AGB number. Logs due: 3
weeks. Rules
SARTG New Year RTTY Contest--Digital, from Jan 1, 0800Z to Jan 1,
1100Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-7. Exchange: RST, serial, Happy New Year in
your language. Logs due: Jan 31. Rules
AGCW Happy New Year Contest--CW, from Jan 1, 0900Z to Jan 1, 1200Z.
Bands (MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: RST, serial, AGCW number. Logs due: Jan
31. Rules
VHF+ CONTESTS
ARRL Straight-Key Night--CW, from Jan 1, 0000Z to Jan 1, 2400Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28, 50+. Exchange: General QSO information. Logs due: Jan
31. Rules
SKCC Straight Key Sprint--CW, from Dec 28, 0000Z to Dec 28, 0200Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50, Frequencies: Monthly on the 4th Wednesday UTC.
Exchange: RST, S/P/C, name, SKCC nr or power. Logs due: 5 days. Rules
==> LOG DUE DATES
December 21 , 2011 - January 3, 2012
- December 21 - CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW
- December 21 - Homebrew and Oldtime Equipment Party
- December 21 - ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW
- December 26 - Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
- December 31 - Kentucky QSO Party
- December 31 - All Austrian 160-Meter Contest
- December 31 - TOPS Activity Contest
- January 1 - Feld Hell Sprint
- January 1 - TARA RTTY Melee
- January 3 - QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint
- January 3 - ARRL 160-Meter 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
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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Address all comments and questions to the editor as described in this
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