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The ARRL Contest Update
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
January 4, 2012
Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX
==> IN THIS ISSUE
- ARRL RTTY Roundup Radio Rattler
- Barefoot on the Bands - NAQP CW
- Contest University Enrollment Opens
- Pileup! Magazine - New Issue
- New Do-It-Yourself Ham Radio Video
- Record-breaking 10 Meter Contest
- Naval Noises
- Find that Transmitter!
- Measuring Up
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
Have you tried RTTY contesting yet? If not, the ARRL RTTY Roundup
is coming to town this weekend and will
be a great opportunity to see how your station plays on the digital
modes. Check out AA5AU's great website for tips on how to get started.
Should you have a little spare time on Sunday, dial up the Kid's Day
frequencies and put a smile on a young
operator's face!
BULLETINS
There are no bulletins in this issue.
BUSTED QSOS
A relatively untarnished issue completed 2011 although K1QX points out
that the French custom for wishing someone a happy New Year requires
only "Bonne annee" - right back atcha, Craig!
CONTEST SUMMARY
Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section
7-8 January
- ARRL RTTY Roundup
- Kid's Day--Phone
- 070 PSKFest
- CWops Weekend Mini-CWT Test
- Original QRP Contest--CW
- DARC 10 Meter Contest
- Midwinter QSO Party
- ARS Spartan Sprint--CW (Jan 10)
- CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test (Jan 11)
- SNS and NS Weekly Sprints--CW (Jan 13)
14-15 January
- North American QSO Party--CW
- Hunting Lions In the Air
- MI QRP Club Jan QRP Contest--CW
- WW Peace Messenger Cities
- EUCW 160 Meter Contest--CW
==> NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
There is lots of Dayton Hamvention contesting news to report - the 6th
annual Contest University (CTU) is now
taking early-bird registrations through Jan 31. Held on May 17 at the
Crowne Plaza in Dayton, Ohio, CTU offers the wit and wisdom of seasoned
contest "professors" in a collegial all-day setting. New to the podium
this year will be N6TR, K3NA, K7NV, XE1KK, W5WZ and K2RD along with
familiar faces from years past. An additional incentive - if you have
given (or will give by Dayton 2012) a talk about Amateur Radio
Contesting to any club, hamfest or group since May 20, 2011 - you
qualify for a $10.00 registration fee discount!
Along with Contest University, the 20th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner
is now taking ticket orders, as well. This
is the venue at which the year's inductees to the CQ Contest Hall of
Fame are announced. The Contest Dinner is held at the Dayton Crowne
Plaza on Saturday night - May 19th this year - and always features a
great keynote speakers and many prizes. While you're in Dayton, don't
miss the Contest Super Suite held on
FOUR straight nights (Thursday - Saturday) in the Miami Ballroom of the
Crowne Plaza. (Thanks, Tim K3LR)
David K2DSL has create a web application
that reads an ADIF file generated from your logging program and creates
a Google map of the contacts. You upload the ADIF file and the
application displays a map in return. Each contact must include a
latitude/longitude or grid square in order for it to show up. That
information is available from QRZ.com or Hamcall
. See the website and the FAQ for more
information on this creative service.
Working in parallel with David, Sebastian LW4HR has developed GeLog
, an online tool for
visualizing contacts on a Google map globe from an ADIF file. To use
the tool, you'll need a QRZ.com data subscription for
the lat/lon coordinates. Not only do the contacts appear on the globe,
but so do the daylight and nighttime areas and the Sun zooms around the
globe, too! Very nice work!
An updated and edited version of the upcoming ARRL International DX
Contest rules has been published and the ARRL is looking for volunteers
to translate the rules into other languages. If you can help, please
contact ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X .
Time for a new calendar - how about this 2012 Old Tyme Radio Calendar
from KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog ? It's available for
free downloading from WA1KPD's Boat Anchor Collection
website. (Thanks, Jeff
K1NSS)
All your dots are belong to us! Here's a story about the first wireless
hacker
from the "That Didn't Take Long Department". Maybe some things never
change! (Thanks, Doug K1DG)
In case you were wondering, KG4 stations with two letters in their
suffix are in Guantanamo Bay. KG4 stations with one or three letters in
their suffix are in the continental United States. (Thanks, Daily DX
)
Bob N6TV has been busy programming, too, and has analyzed spots from
the Reverse Beacon Network during the
2011 CQ Worldwide CW contest. Who were the most-spotted
single-operators
?
And the most-spotted stations
of any type?
They do everything big in...not Texas...Jupiter! Take a look at the
Jovian auroras
in this 2007 story from the NASA Science news. Consider the QRN
implications! (Thanks, Glenn K6NA)
Those of you who tried QRP in the recent Stew Perry Topband Distance
Challenge will identify with Peter K3ZM's amusing mélange of Dickens
and radiosport
.
(Thanks, Ralph N5RZ)
In the last issue, the availability of the 73 Magazine issues online in
the Internet Archive drew
a lot of interest. Marty K1OYB pointed out that this was a voluntary
contribution to the public domain by 73 magazine publisher, Wayne Green
W2NSD who deserves a tip of the collective cap in this regard.
Web Site of the Week - The latest issue of Contest Club Finland's
PileUP! magazine was
published online Dec 29, 2011, containing 68 pages of contest
reporting. It includes numerous extended writeups on SAC 2011 from
different viewpoints. Ever wonder what it is like to work SAC from JW5,
OH0, OH8, or K1, or what it is like to mobilize national troops for the
Polar Battle or to organize an international contest? The Last Blast
sheds light on SDR & RBN, and has the usual eccentric humor. (Thanks to
the Pileup! editorial team - OH1WZ, OH2BH, OH6KZP, OH7WV)
WORD TO THE WISE
Confirmation - make SURE you get the expected confirming response from
an email-handling robot after emailing your contest log. No response
probably means that your log email bounced or was delayed or was sent
to the rong address or...had something happen to it other than what you
intended! A bounced email might also wind up in your "spam" or "junk
mail" folder so don't assume that no news is good news. Oh, and read
the robot's response, too - be sure the robot got your call right, the
contest right, the category right, the number of contacts right, etc.
(Thanks, Rich KL7RA)
==> SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
A new promotional video
by
the ARRL touting the Do It Yourself (DIY)
nature of ham radio has been released to attract hackers, makers and
innovators to the service. The video features well known hacker and
maker Diana Eng KC2UHB along with Ham Nation's
Bob Heil K9EID and ISS Astronaut Doug Wheelock KF5BOC. It's fast-paced
and focuses on the innovative, imaginative and fun ways "hams" use
radio technology in new and creative ways and points out that amateur
radio clubs are similar to hacker groups. Materials to support the
movie are available on the ARRL's Do It Yourself
website. (Thanks, ARRL Media & Public
Relations Manager, Allen W1AGP)
Those of you who enjoy Tim Allen in various sitcoms will want to be
watching "Last Man Standing
" on ABC on Tuesday
nights. One aspect of Tim's character, Mike Baxter, is that of ham
radio operator - he's been "assigned" the call sign KA0XTT and even has
a Facebook page . The ham shack
and occasional snippets of ham radio action are being worked into the
story every week. This week's episode showed the station in the back of
Mike's office. Browse to Mike's Facebook page and give it a "Like" for
more radio action!
Geoff W0CG/PJ2DX has updated the PJ2T website
with a CQ Worldwide CW
contest summary and photos.
From the days before presentations featured "Here we are at the
airport..." come these amazing pictures
of the VQ3HGE
expedition in the late 1940's featuring Bob W7LR. No switching power
supplies here! (Thanks, Tim K3LR)
Here's a useful, but very bad, example of
literally interpreting grounding rules. (Thanks, Lynn N7CFO)
==> RESULTS AND RECORDS
Wow - keep those cards and letters coming in! Digging out from the log
deluge, ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X reports, "As of January
3, we've received 5,102 logs for the 2011 ARRL 10 Meter Contest,
including those on paper. This is unprecedented! We've shattered the 10
Meter Contest submission record by 2,200 logs and still have over a
week to go before the submission deadline passes!" In addition, results
for the December 2011 Rookie Roundup
are available and certificates
have been emailed to all Rookies thanks to the support of Bruce WA7BNM.
Don AA5AU writes in to announce the results
of the brand-new 2011 Ten-Meter RTTY Contest, less than a month after
the contest! It looks like that new contest got off to a fast start!
The DX results for the 2011 ARI DX International Contest are available
at the ARI website or you can download a PDF
version
,
if you prefer. UBN reports are being prepared and will be emailed to
participants. Contest Manager, Bob I2WIJ, notes that there will be rule
changes for the 2012 contest - a new start and end times and a shorter
log submission deadline.
OPERATING TIP
Jeff K8ND has assembled a Topband operating aid
for
providing guidance in selecting operating frequencies on 160 meters.
This is very handy, particularly to operators new to 160 meters. Jeff
is in the process of updating the guide and if you have comments or
corrections, please contact him as described in the publication.
==> TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION
John G3JVC/GM3JVC recommends a useful publication for your bookshelf on
fighting EMI developed by the US Naval Postgraduate School, "The
Mitigation of Radio Noise From External Sources at Receiving Sites
".
It's a tour-de-force on problems hams know well.
Speaking of locating noise sources, Phil W0XI has put an ultrasonic
detector kit on the
market that is quite useful for power-line noise. In addition, there
are a couple of good construction articles by W1TRC in QST by Jim
Hanson, W1TRC; "A Home-made Ultrasonic Arc Detector" in Apr 2006 and
"Adapting a Three Element Tape Measure Beam For Power LIne Noise
Hunting" in May 2007. (Thanks, Lee K0LW and Mike K4PI)
Todd KF7SIS likes basic Rustoleum paint for protecting antennas against
UV. To avoid overspray and waste, an inexpensive foam brush does a fine
job with a can of flat black to apply two or three coats of paint.
For those of you who like to build your own station accessories, check
out K5LXP's version
of
the 6 x 2 coax switch. There is plenty of technical detail and some
good reasons why these devices cost what they do! (Thanks, Brian N9ADG)
It's very hard to see a butane flame outside and up on the tower when
trying to solder. Mike K6BR takes along a small cardboard box with two
sides cut out. It keeps the wind out while making it possible to see
the flame. This avoids damage to the cable as well as to Mike!
Scott KB0FHP discovered a program called PolarPlot
that can help map out an
antenna radiation pattern fairly easily. "All you need is a constant RF
source at the frequency desired, you rotate your beam, and the pattern
is measured."
What's the velocity factor (VF) of your coax? Would that be on the
inside or the outside? VF is well-specified for RF inside the cable but
the outside of the shield is completely different, electrically. That
conducting surface acts like a fat, insulated wire with a VF around
95%! (Thanks, Steve G3TXQ)
Although the half-sloper is a well-known antenna, it seems that
everybody has a different way of installing them on the tower. Roger
K8RI has developed what looks like a very robust method of getting the
job done while keeping the coax-wire connections waterproof and secure.
It starts with an aluminum bracket and SO-239 connector
then waterproofs
the assembly for tower-mounting
.
The Instructables web site recently posted a series of guides on basic
electronics . These
cover the fundamentals and might be useful for someone learning about
ham radio or general electronics. Another neat Instructable shows how
to "hack" a broadcast band radio
for use in the great outdoors with a custom enclosure and offers some
good ideas for portable operating and QRP rigs! These make great
accompaniment to the new ARRL Do-It-Yourself video mentioned above.
Technical Web Site of the Week - A common source of interference,
particularly on 160 meters, is a mixing product from two or more AM
broadcast stations. While it may sound like harmonics, "intermod" is
not usually the fault of the broadcaster. If you suspect mixing you can
use the Radio-Locator transmitter locating
service by entering your location and looking for strong stations in
your area. You can tell whether the products are being generated in
your radio by switching in some attenuation. If you add 10 dB of
attenuation and the products drop in strength by more than 10 dB, your
receiver front end is likely being overloaded - try a broadcast-band
reject filter (such as in the ARRL Handbook). Otherwise, the hunt
outside is on! (Thanks, Doug K1DG)
==> CONVERSATION
Measuring Up
A couple of days ago my January-February issue of National Contest
Journal showed up in the mail - the first issue
under the editorship of Kirk K4RO. Kirk's first editorial struck a
chord with me as he talked about ham radio and contesters being a good
influence on him in his younger days. (No word on whether we're still a
good influence!) That got me thinking.
There are a lot of activities we encountered growing up but one aspect
of ham radio that I found compelling - and still do - is that everyone
has to play not only by man-made rules but by the natural rules of
electronics and radio. You can't just bluster your way into the log.
Either you make the contact or you don't.
Later in life during my days in product development I often
encountered wishful thinking (sometimes my own) that somehow the
circuits would just work or the code would just run without doing the
dirty work or acquiring the necessary understanding. I'd say it was a
safe assumption that was rarely a successful strategy and the same goes
for ham radio.
Contests are perhaps the sternest test ham radio has to offer. It is
not enough to just talk a good game. When the starting bell sounds, you
have to be on the air with enough skill and signal to get through and
you have to persevere from beginning to end. The log checking report is
an unblinking mirror to our operating in which excuses don't count. You
can say the same for emergency communications, too, in that when the
day is done either you got the message through or you didn't.
By taking part in radiosport competitions, we can measure ourselves
against any number of public standards - the Top Ten, the record
tables, the plaque winners - and success counts for a lot because you
do it yourself as a single-op or in a team. These are all very good
things to learn when you're still trying to sort out how the world
works and the earlier you learn those principles, the better.
Measuring up is why ethics are so important in radiosport. What happens
on the air is a matter of public record but it has to be backed up by
personal behavior in the shack where nobody is watching - it's easy to
be ethical in public. The meritocracy of radiosport is not often
mentioned but it is a fundamental element of what makes it popular and
stimulating - otherwise why would a Novice reading the contest results
want so badly to be part of that community?
If you're looking for a good New Year's resolution, helping to promote
and maintain ethics on the air and in the shack would be an excellent
use of one's time and energies. By maintaining high standards for
"playing well with others" we also keep radio's Good Arrow pointed in
the right direction. To the younger members of our communities, there
is no better message we can send.
73, Ward N0AX
==> CONTESTS
4 January to 17 January 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 RTTY Roundup--Digital, from Jan 7, 1800Z to Jan 8, 2400Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST, state/province/serial. Logs due: Feb 7.
Rules
Kid's Day--Phone, from Jan 8, 1800Z to Jan 8, 2400Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-28. Exchange: Name, age, location, favorite color. Rules
North American QSO Party--CW, from Jan 14, 1800Z to Jan 15, 0600Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: Name and S/P/C. Logs due: 14 days. Rules
070 PSKFest--Digital, from Jan 7, 0000Z to Jan 7, 2400Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-28. Exchange: Call sign, RST, S/P/C . Logs due: Jan 21. Rules
CWops Weekend Mini-CWT Test--CW, from Jan 7, 1300Z - multiple operating
periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Frequencies: 18 to 28 kHz above band
edge. Exchange: Name and member number or S/P/C. Logs due: 2 days.
Rules
Original QRP Contest--CW, from Jan 7, 1500Z to Jan 8, 1500Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: RST, serial, and category. Logs due: Jan 31.
Rules
DARC 10 Meter Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 8, 0900Z to Jan 8, 1059Z.
Bands (MHz): 28. Exchange: RS(T), serial, DOK code. Logs due: 3 weeks.
Rules
Midwinter QSO Party--Phone,CW, from Jan 8, 1000Z to Jan 8, 1400Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RS(T) and serial. Logs due: Feb 15. Rules
ARS Spartan Sprint--CW, from Jan 10, 0200Z to Jan 10, 0400Z. 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 11, 1300Z - multiple
operating periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Frequencies: 18 to 28 kHz above
band edge. Exchange: Name and member number or S/P/C. Logs due: 2 days.
Rules
SNS and NS Weekly Sprints--CW, from Jan 13, 0200Z to Jan 13, 0300Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-14. Exchange: Serial, name, and S/P/C. Logs due: 2
days. Rules
Hunting Lions In the Air--Phone,CW,Digital, from Jan 14, 0000Z to Jan
15, 2359Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RS(T), serial or name, club
name, district. Logs due: Feb 28. Rules
MI QRP Club Jan QRP Contest--CW, from Jan 14, 1200Z to Jan 15, 2359Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, MI QRP number or power.
Logs due: Feb 10. Rules
WW Peace Messenger Cities--Phone,CW, from Jan 14, 1200Z to Jan 15,
1200Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RS(T) and PMC ref number or CQ
zone. Logs due: 30 days. Rules
EUCW 160 Meter Contest--CW, from Jan 14, 2000Z - multiple operating
periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8. Exchange: RST, serial, club name, member nr
or "NR". Logs due: Feb 15. Rules
VHF+ CONTESTS
MI QRP Club Jan QRP Contest--CW, from Jan 14, 1200Z to Jan 15, 2359Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, MI QRP number or power.
Logs due: Feb 10. Rules
==> LOG DUE DATES
4 January to 17 January 2012
- January 5, 2012 ARS Spartan Sprint
- January 8, 2012 AWA Bruce Kelley Memorial CW Contest
- January 10, 2012 ARRL 10-Meter Contest
- January 10, 2012 CQC Great Colorado Snowshoe Run
- January 10, 2012 DARC Christmas Contest
- January 13, 2012 AGB-Party Contest
- January 15, 2012 OK DX RTTY Contest
- January 17, 2012 Stew Perry Topband Challenge
- January 17, 2012 Croatian CW Contest
- January 17, 2012 Russian 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) 2012 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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