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The ARRL Contest Update
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
January 18, 2012
Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX
==> IN THIS ISSUE
- Winter Wonderland - ARRL January VHF
- Planetary Top Band - CQ WW 160
- Dinnertime Entertainment
- It's Map Time
- Under African Skies
- Results from DC to Daylight
- Phased by Noise?
- N3OX's Fertile Imagination
- Spanning the Bands
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
If you've not yet tried 160 meters thinking that the antennas are too
big and the static crashes too loud - give the band another try during
the upcoming CQ Worldwide 160 Meter contest. You'll find lots and lots
of stations ready to pull your signal into their logs!
BULLETINS
There are no bulletins in this issue.
BUSTED QSOS
I'll blame these on the effects of holiday nog! The correct URL for
K5LXP's 6x2 antenna switch is here
- thanks
to Doug KR2Q and others who spotted the extra %20 at the end of the
URL. The photos of N6RO and K3EST & Junko should have been credited to
Bob N6TV instead of mutual friend Dean N6BV. And the Contest Super
Suite begins on Wednesday, not Thursday, of the Dayton Hamvention says
John K9JK.
CONTEST SUMMARY
Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section
January 21-22
- ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes
- Locust QSO Party--CW (Jan 18)
- Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest (Jan 18)
- NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW (Jan 19)
- LZ Open Contest--CW
- YLISSB QSO Party--Phone
- HA DX Contest
- UK DX RTTY Contest
- Feld-Hell Gridloc Sprint
- North American QSO Party--Phone
- International United Teenager Contest
January 28-29
- CQ WW 160 Meter Contest--CW (Jan 27-29)
- REF French Contest--CW
- BARTG RTTY Sprint
- UBA Contest--Phone
- Winter Field Day
- WAB Top Band Phone Contest
- Classic Exchange--CW
- QRP Winter Fireside SSB Sprint
==> NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
The Florida Contest Group will be sponsoring the 2012 Orlando Contest
Dinner at the Orlando Hamcation convention. The
dinner will take place on February 10, 2012 at 6pm at the American
Legion Hall at 2101 Lee Road in
Orlando. After dinner, hear an address by new NCJ Editor Kirk
Pickering, K4RO. There will also be a hospitality suite with CW and SSB
copying contests. For questions and to order tickets, contact Chris
WF3C .
If you're planning on attending the Contest Dinner
during Dayton Hamvention, the North Coast
Contesters are happy to announce that CQ Contest Hall of Fame member
Larry "Tree" Tyree, N6TR will be the featured speaker. It's possible
that Tree will share his secrets of winning contesting. When not
chasing new countries on 160 meters, Tree is also a log checker for the
ARRL, CQ, and WRTC. With a distinguished and interesting contest
resume, his talk is sure to be interesting! (Thanks, Tim K3LR)
Todd KC9BQA has made several new web posts to that
are helpful to newer VHF+ contesters, such as the articles titled VHF
Contesting School . The articles are broken
down into bite-sized pieces geared toward getting a novice VHF+
operator comfortable calling "CQ Contest".
Firefox users may be interested in the Propfire utility
that displays Solar Flux, A, and K
indices at the bottom of the browser window. (Thanks, Chuck AF4O)
Baby boomers will recall the WPE call signs for SWL (short-wave
listener) stations - and they are making a comeback! On January 1,
Popular Communications magazine launched the Pop'Comm Monitoring
Station (PCMS) program,
reminiscent of Popular Electronics magazine's popular Monitor Station
(WPE) program of more than 50 years ago. So far, more than 300 SWLs,
scanner buff, and digital communications enthusiasts have signed up.
This was a common path to ham radio - why not suggest it to an
unlicensed friend or relative? (Thanks, Popular Communications Editor,
Richard KI6SN)
Just in time, a new version of the VHF Super Check Partial and Prefill
databases for the ARRL January 2012 VHF
Contest are now available from W9ZRX.
WRTC 2014, Inc. , host of the 2014 World
Radiosport Team Championship competition, is pleased to announce that
L. Dennis Shapiro, W1UF, has joined the WRTC2014 Advisory Council. The
Advisory Council consists of individuals who have experience in the
execution of major events and are willing to provide significant
financial resources to the project. Dennis is a lifelong New Englander
and maintains two stations - one in the Boston area and one on
Nantucket Island. An active DXer and occasional contester, Dennis
explains his motivation for joining the Advisory Council, "I am
interested in building international friendships and see WRTC as
furthering that goal." (Thanks, WRTC-2014 Co-Chair, Randy K5ZD)
The first Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC)
webinar of the year will feature Tim Duffy, K3LR, Chancellor of Contest
University (CTU) discussing the 2012
course line up, list of professors, and the WWROF endorsed Contester's
Code of Ethics. CTU welcomes six new professors this year. Click the
"Upcoming Webinars" link for more information and to register for this
free talk to be conducted on 30 January. (Thanks, Ken K4ZW)
A great way to display your QSLs is by scanning them and putting the
images into a digital picture frame. Most digital picture frames depend
on something like a USB Flash Card for their input. A 4-Gbyte Flash
Card costing a few dollars will hold thousands of high-res images of
scanned QSL cards. (Brian N9ADG and Chuck K0TVD)
Web Site of the Week - Imus Geographics
is having a hard time keeping up with demand for their new and highly
rated new map of the United States as described in this Slate.com
story. I know that hams love maps and this one captured my interest
(and order) right away!
WORD TO THE WISE
QNZ - "Zero beat your signal with mine." A Q-signal sent by net control
stations but that could also be used in many contests. For example,
clear the RIT before calling a station. It's certainly easy to forget,
leaving you potentially well outside the passband of a station's
receiver on a crowded band. Some contesters even add the software
commands to clear the RIT in their operating macros so they don't
forget. (Thanks, Tom W8TK)
==> SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
The link to information on the 1948 Gatti-Hallicrafters DXpedition
created some interest - here is another good website
about it. W7LR was also
featured in this two-page (page 1
, page 2
) newspaper
story and in his own words
on his WWII
experiences as a radio operator - the images will load somewhat slowly.
(Thanks, Tree N6TR)
The Semiconductor Museum
is a great way to
spend some time - we take these tiny marvels for granted today but they
changed the world in a big way. My favorite is the section on my old
friend, the 2N2222, of which I used many, ruined more than a few, and
still specify now and then today. (Thanks, George W2VJN)
If you enjoyed those photos by Bob N6TV in the last issue, there are
many more faces of the Northern California Contest Club members online
. (Tom K6AET's photo is my favorite!)
The montage was assembled by John K6MM - your club might want to
consider something similar.
==> RESULTS AND RECORDS
A whole batch of ARRL contest results
are hitting the 'net
including the IARU HF Championship, September VHF QSO Party, and 10 GHz
Cumulative contests. These all include extra content beyond the QST
article such as graphs, photos, tables, and all of the line scores. The
IARU results may take another day or two before posting but look for
them shortly. (Thanks, ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X)
The final tally of 5,438 logs received for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest is
an all-time record for ANY of the ARRL contests - single-band,
multi-band, domestic, DX, HF, or VHF. Wow! (Thanks, Sean KX9X)
2011 Nebraska QSO Party results have been
posted with final rules for the 2012 contest to follow shortly.
(Thanks, Heartland DX Association webmeister, Jeff NE0DX)
CQ Worldwide 160 Contest Manager, Andy N2NT, announces the posting of
the 2011 CQ 160 contest results . This
package includes corrections to the print article, such as missing
scores and adds a trophy list. Certificates have already been mailed
and plaques are in the process of being made up. The record list will
be updated soon. Log checking reports can be obtained by emailing Andy
with the call sign you used and the mode of the
contest you entered.
Don AA5AU has written up his experiences
during the
recent ARRL RTTY Roundup in which he finally cracked the 2000-QSO
barrier for low power entries. If you want to know more about how the
high-scoring stations make those big totals, here's one example.
WRTC-2014 standings have been updated to include the official results
from CQ WPX SSB, EUHFC, and NAQP CW and SSB. Problems with the NA
Sprint scores are being fixed. Updated Excel spreadsheets for each
Selection Area have been posted
, as
well. Thanks to Marek, SQ2GXO for his continuing efforts to track both
final and claimed scores on his website WRTC-Rank
. Updates will continue to appear
periodically as various contest results are made public. (Thanks,
WRTC-2014 Team Selection Director Dan K1TO
Bob K0RC's Log Analyzer for the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest, version
2.0.2, can be downloaded
and includes minor enhancements added since last year, including
one-click Import procedures for Cabrillo-formatted logs.
OPERATING TIP
While these tips on contest logging
were written for the NAQP
contests, NAQP Contest Manager, Bruce WA7BNM's suggestions make a whole
lot of sense for any contest - before, during, and after.
==> TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION
Single-band contesters will be the first to attest that effective
listening while transmitting on the same band is difficult to achieve
due to transmitter noise and sheer overload. PA0SIM has taken a run at
the problem with this two-transistor phaser
for 80-10
meters. (Thanks, Martin OK1RR)
A favorite foot-warming fixture in many ham shacks, this article
by VA7JW provides
a detailed accounting of the venerable Heathkit Cantenna dummy load.
(Thanks, Jim VE7FO)
Protecting dc-powered designs against reverse polarity power supplies
takes many forms. Terry WA0ITP captured some of the most common
techniques in his collection of circuit sketches
. One will surely be right for
you - or at least spark an idea, so to speak.
Just in case you need some help to grow your HyGain antennas, Tom K1KI
found this helpful website
.
With the CQ 160 contests coming up shortly, here's a simple receive
antenna recommended by Tim K3LR. The VE3DO loop
is also straightforward to build and install, making it a good
"temporary" antenna.
Diane VA3DB has started a Ham Radio Builder List
for anyone
interested in homebrew electronics. "Builders" is the term in vogue for
folks that like to build rather than buy and that certainly fits a lot
of hams - whether by choice or necessity. The website is intended to
collect and publish short and simple articles with lots of photos and
good instructions. (From AMSAT newsletter ANS-008)
If you are surprised to find your Windows PC assigning virtual COM
ports with very high numbers - it's a consequence of the way Windows
tracks and manages COM ports created by external accessories. Even if
you are not using that particular accessory any more, Windows remembers
and reserves a COM port for it. This occasionally wreaks havoc with
applications such as logging software. To regain control of your COM
port assignments, check out this Microsoft Support article
. It's also noted in the N1MM
contest logging software manual. A free tool called
USBDeview can
also be used to uninstall USB drivers for devices that you no longer
use. (Thanks, Rick N6XI, Bob N6TV and Steve N2IC)
To protect a receiver from dc voltages on feed lines for powering
external devices and prevent creating intermod in a receive-only
devices such as a signal splitter, Frank W3LPL makes the following
suggestions. "Use a well over-rated dc blocking capacitor, this is not
an application to save a few pennies by using a marginally rated
capacitor. You should also use a choke to ground with a high current
rating to protect your receiver if the capacitor shorts out. A choke
wound with #18 wire on a ferrite core will guarantee that your receiver
won't be trashed if the capacitor fails. It's a good idea to place
capacitors in series with all three ports of a "magic-T" 3 dB splitter.
The ferrite cores in commercially made splitters are very small, if
even a small amount of 60 Hz ac current flows through the core it will
saturate causing intermod problems. In a multi-operator station, a
band-pass filter should be installed to protect the splitter from
strong signal saturation, also resulting in intermod problems. You can
avoid splitter intermod problems by building your own splitter with
large ferrite cores, but you can usually avoid that by using band-pass
filters and capacitors to protect the splitter from saturation."
Steve W3AHL notes two common causes of excessive loss in PL-259
connectors - "a solder ball on the end of the center pin, spreading the
mating female contacts. After a few insertion cycles a cheap SO-239 may
read 2-5 ohms through the center pin. Then there are the connectors
where someone scraped all the [the center pin] with a knife, taking all
the plating with it." The moral of the story is to assemble the
connector correctly without excess solder.
Technical Web Site of the Week - Dan N3OX has an interesting webpage
full of projects and measurements, such as a tunable
short vertical antenna that uses a novel mechanism to vary its
geometry. The animations of energy being radiated from an antenna are
also captivating! (Thanks, Steve G3TXQ)
==> CONVERSATION
Spanning the Bands
Just this week, a whole batch of ARRL contest results
hit the web, covering
quite a range of spectrum. The 10 GHz Cumulative Contest and September
VHF QSO Party results capture activity on the short wavelengths and the
IARU HF Championship results chronicle operating feats all the way at
the other end of our allocations. (The IARU results should be up
shortly if they are not posted by the time this newsletter is
published.)
From 1.8 MHz to 78 GHz in one set of results is pretty impressive when
you think about it - four and a half orders of magnitude. Yet here were
hams pushing the limits of propagation and electronics, trying for
distance, distance, and more distance!
This certainly seems to indicate that we are fulfilling our charter
as stated in FCC Part 97.1 - to push the boundaries of the radio and
communications art. Whether the operators are trying to overcome short
antennas and static or pencil-thin beam angles and atmospheric
absorption, that they are able to accomplish what they do is nothing
short of amazing!
How cool is it that a 160 meter signal can be perfectly timed to hit a
sunrise opening lasting less than a minute to a location on the other
side of the planet? How cool is it that signals at 78 GHz - a
wavelength of 3.8 mm - can be beamed across a 2 km path...for fun? And
all those other bands in between - bouncing signals off of airplanes,
meteors, ionospheric ions and electrons!
I can envision a contest in which "all-band" really means "all of the
bands". Can you imagine how a rover station for such a contest would
appear, festooned with radiating appurtenances and fixtures and, dare I
say, doo-dads all fizzing with RF, both outbound and inbound?
Extraordinary! Running the bands would take on a whole new scope with
such a station on either end.
It's kind of ironic that the only event that supports such an
exchange is actually not a contest - it's the annual ARRL Field Day.
Perhaps the W3AO monster-multi crew will lead the way for others to
follow? To me, the scope of radiosport here at the beginning of ham
radio's second century is really exciting. More bands than ever,
digital modes by the bucket load, new hams flocking to phone and CW and
setting log submission records with each passing year.
Perhaps one day soon amateurs will be granted an allocation at even
longer wavelengths and I know for a fact that hams are already
experimenting with signals in the hundreds of GHz! Our call signs will
still be crackling over the air waves no matter what the frequency or
color as the laser operators tunnel busily down to meet the mm-wavers
tunneling busily up. Wherever there is an electromagnetic niche to be
explored, expect to find a ham there - trying for ever-longer,
ever-more-difficult QSOs in the quest for DX that is as old as radio.
QRZ?
73, Ward N0AX
==> CONTESTS
18 January through 31 January
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
North American QSO Party--Phone, from Jan 21, 1800Z to Jan 22, 0600Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: Name and S/P/C. Logs due: 14 days. Rules
Locust QSO Party--CW, from Jan 18, 0200Z to Jan 18, 0300Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-7. Frequencies: 3.553, 7.053. Exchange: Name, state or province or
'DX'. Logs due: Jan 31. Rules
Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest--CW, from Jan 18, 2300Z to Jan 19,
2300Z - Multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8-7. Exchange: See
Web site. Logs due: 30 days. Rules
NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW, from Jan 19, 0130Z to Jan 19, 0330Z.
Bands (MHz): 3.5-14. 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
LZ Open Contest--CW, from Jan 21, 0000Z to Jan 21, 0400Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5, 7. Exchange: 6-digit serial and serial from previous QSO. Logs
due: 30 days. Rules
YLISSB QSO Party--Phone, from Jan 21, 0000Z to Jan 22, 2359Z. Bands
(MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: Call sign, RS(T), ISSB number. Logs due: Mar
18. Rules
HA DX Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 21, 1200Z to Jan 22, 1200Z. Bands
(MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RS(T) and serial. Logs due: 30 days. Rules
UK DX RTTY Contest--Digital, from Jan 21, 1200Z to Jan 22, 1200Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and serial. Logs due: 30 days. Rules
Feld-Hell Gridloc Sprint--Digital, from Jan 21, 1600Z to Jan 21, 1800Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Monthly on 3rd Saturday. Exchange: RST, S/P/C,
Feld-Hell member nr. Logs due: 7 days. Rules
International United Teenager Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 22, 0900Z to
Jan 22, 1500Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28, 144/432/1.2G. Exchange: RS(T) and
age or "RT". Logs due: 30 days. Rules
CQ WW 160 Meter Contest--CW, from Jan 27, 2200Z to Jan 29, 2200Z. Bands
(MHz): 1.8. Exchange: RST and S/P/C. Logs due: Feb 28. Rules
REF French Contest--CW, from Jan 28, 0600Z to Jan 29, 1800Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and serial or department ID. Logs due: 30
days. Rules
BARTG RTTY Sprint--Digital, from Jan 28, 1200Z to Jan 29, 1200Z. Bands
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: Serial. Logs due: Mar 1. Rules
UBA Contest--Phone, from Jan 28, 1300Z to Jan 29, 1300Z. Bands (MHz):
3.5-28. Exchange: RS, serial, and ON province. Logs due: 2 weeks. Rules
Winter Field Day--Phone,CW,Digital, from Jan 28, 1700Z to Jan 29,
1700Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: Call sign, RS(T), category,
local temp. Logs due: Feb 28. Rules
WAB Top Band Phone Contest--Phone, from Jan 28, 1900Z to Jan 28, 2300Z.
Bands (MHz): 1.8. Exchange: See Web site. Logs due: 21 days. Rules
Classic Exchange--CW, from Jan 29, 1400Z to Jan 30, 0800Z. Bands (MHz):
1.8-28, 50, 144, Frequencies: CW 1.810, 3.545, 7.045, 14.045, 21.135,
28.050, 50.100, 144.100 . Exchange: RST, QTH, model of rcvr and xmtr.
Logs due: 30 days. Rules
QRP Winter Fireside SSB Sprint--Phone, from Jan 29, 2000Z to Jan 29,
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Frequencies: QRP calling frequencies.
Exchange: RS, S/P/C, QRP ARCI number or power. Logs due: 14 days. Rules
VHF+ CONTESTS
ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes--Phone,CW, from Jan 21, 1900Z to Jan 23,
0400Z. Bands (MHz): 50+. Exchange: Grid square. Logs due: Feb 22. Rules
International United Teenager Contest--Phone,CW, from Jan 22, 0900Z to
Jan 22, 1500Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28, 144/432/1.2G. Exchange: RS(T) and
age or "RT". Logs due: 30 days. Rules
Winter Field Day--Phone,CW,Digital, from Jan 28, 1700Z to Jan 29,
1700Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: Call sign, RS(T), category,
local temp. Logs due: Feb 28. Rules
Classic Exchange--CW, from Jan 29, 1400Z to Jan 30, 0800Z. Bands (MHz):
1.8-28, 50, 144, Frequencies: CW 1.810, 3.545, 7.045, 14.045, 21.135,
28.050, 50.100, 144.100 . Exchange: RST, QTH, model of rcvr and xmtr.
Logs due: 30 days. Rules
==> LOG DUE DATES
18 January through 31 January
- January 19 - NA High Speed Meteor Scatter Winter Rally
- January 19 - AGCW VHF/UHF Contest
- January 21 - PODXS 070 Club PSKFest
- January 22 - AGB New Year Snowball Contest
- January 22 - QRP ARCI Pet Rock Celebration
- January 22 - Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
- January 23 - DARC 10-Meter Contest
- January 24 - RAEM Contest
- January 28 - North American QSO Party, CW
- January 31 - Lighthouse Christmas Lights QSO Party
- January 31 - RAC Winter Contest
- January 31 - International Naval Contest
- January 31 - Original QRP Contest
- January 31 - AGCW Happy New Year Contest
- January 31 - SARTG New Year RTTY Contest
- January 31 - NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW
- January 31 - NRAU-Baltic Contest, SSB
==> 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
the ARRL COntest UPdate posted to the ls_arrl echo via
node 1:116/901.
Address all comments and questions to the editor as described in this
electronic newsletter.
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* Origin: (1:116/901)
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