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The ARRL Contest Update
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
October 27, 2010
Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX
==> IN THIS ISSUE
- 48 Hours of Fun - CQ World Wide SSB
- Clean Sweep Anyone? ARRL CW Sweepstakes
- Be Prepared - CTY File Update Reminder
- How To Get Permission
- Brobdingnagian Flinging Machine
- It's In the Mail - Certificates and Plaques
- Sherlock Ohms - It's Elementary
- Thumbed Down Radio
- Living On the Edge
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
Jump right into the CQ World Wide SSB Contest this weekend and have a
ball! If that wets your whistle, polish up your code capabilities for
the following weekend's ARRL CW Sweepstakes. Two of the biggest and the
best!
BULLETINS
From a 13 October press release by CQ editor W2VU: "New Multipliers in
the CQWW - The country multiplier list for the CQ World Wide DX Contest
(SSB weekend on October 30-31; CW on November 27-28) is based on a
combination of the ARRL's DXCC list and the DARC's WAE (Worked All
Europe) list. Since the ARRL has also made the same changes, deleting
the old Windward and Leeward Islands entities and adding PJ2 (Curacao),
PJ4 (Bonaire), PJ5/6 (St. Eustatius & Saba) and PJ7 (St. Maarten) as
four new entities effective October 10, these "new ones" will each
count as separate country multipliers in the CQWW. There is no need to
worry if your own contest logging software is not updated, according to
CQWW Contest Director Bob Cox, K3EST. "In the end, the log checking
software calculates final tallies anyway," he notes, adding that the
software "is very up-to-date and reflects any status changes.""
BUSTED QSOS
A golden issue (or at least a shiny one) last time.
CONTEST SUMMARY
Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section
Oct 30-31
- SKCC Straight Key Sprint (Oct 27)
- CQ World Wide SSB Contest
- ARRL EME Contest
- 10-10 Fall Digital QSO Party
- Fall VHF Sprints (50 MHz)
- ARS Spartan Sprint--CW (Nov 2)
Nov 6-7
- ARRL November Sweepstakes--CW
- Collegiate ARC Championship--CW
- High Speed Club CW Contest (Nov 4)
- Ukranian DX Contest
- Radio Club of America QSO Party--Phone
- DARC 10-Meter Digital "Corona"
==> NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
The big news this week is, of course, the CQ World Wide SSB Contest
this coming weekend. Propagation has picked up and not a moment too
soon. You'll want to be ready to go, so be sure you have the very
latest version of the Country (CTY) Files
, updated on 25 October 2010 by Jim
AD1C. Used by logging software to determine the location of a station
by call sign, this latest update includes all of the recent DXCC
changes and "interesting" calls that you'll hear on the bands this
weekend. To install the file, follow the link to your software and then
follow the instructions
for checking that
you have installed the file(s) correctly.
For our Spanish-speaking friends, the CQ WW rules have been
translated into Spanish
by the
URE (Union de Radioaficionados Españoles). (Thanks, Jesus EC1KR)
If you are planning to enter the CQ World Wide Contest's Xtreme
category, you must pre-register your entry before the contest with your
call sign and a brief description of your station. Send email to
Xtreme@cqww.com. Xtreme stations are permitted to use remote transmit
and receive locations, multiple operators at multiple remote locations,
etc., within the rules and regulations of the country and with all
transmitters within the same countryand zone. Last year's Xtreme trophy
winners were B1Z (Multi-operator) and OL5Q (Single Operator). (Thanks,
Doug K1DG)
The third (and final) installment of the 2010 WPX Survey results
are now available, discussing
combining the rules for the RTTY contest with SSB/CW and general
feedback and suggestions. (Thanks, CQ WPX Director, Randy K5ZD)
In the Where-Are-They-Now department, Esther Schindler tracked down
five of the 19 prominent programmers featured in 1986's "Programmers At
Work" by Susan Lammers and got their perspective on programming and
software today
.
For those of you that have used more than one of the original "killer
apps" on the PC, this will be both nostalgic and forward-looking. Bonus
- you can learn the origins of "Hungarian Notation", dig in!
Having just completed the December edition of Contest Corral for QST, I
thought you readers might be interested in some statistics. Of the 391
contests tracked this year, 278 (71%) are HF-only, 37 (10%) are VHF+
only, and 76 (19%) run on both HF and VHF+ bands. Mode usage shows
digital coming on strong, but CW remains the most popular: Phone 192
(49%), CW 275 (70%), and Digital 149 (38%). It still remains a bit of a
struggle to contact the managers of contests, though - only 69%
responded to requests for information about their contest!
Web Site of the Week - I regularly receive emails from editors
requesting permission to reprint one thing or another from the Contest
Update. Here's how to get permission to reprint copyrighted material
from any of the ARRL publications: send an email to permission@arrl.org
describing what you want to reprint and your organization. You'll
receive a response right away with instructions and the necessary
wording.
WORD TO THE WISE
Rotator - the thing
that turns your antenna. It's NOT a "rotor"! A rotor is an element of a
device or system that rotates - for example, the rotor
of an electric
motor, such as the one in your ROTATOR!
==> SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Is this Paul Bunyan's slingshot and does
Babe the Blue Ox pull it tight? Here are two versions, one made of
2x4's and the other a more portable unit made from EMT. Caution,
surgical tubing will deteriorate over time and snapping that rubber
band will definitely hurt!
Watch the next Mars Rover being built!
This
is just the thing to keep on in the shack while you're tuning the
bands.
Who could look at these pictures
and not think "antenna radiation patterns"? Of course, there is a "do
it yourself
"
article, too.
==> RESULTS AND RECORDS
Certificates for the 2009 ARRL September VHF QSO Party are being mailed
and certificates for the 2009 ARRL November Sweepstakes were mailed
last week. Winners should have been seeing them appear in their
mailboxes since the weekend. 2009 Sweepstakes plaques are being
processed and are the next to be shipped. You can track the development
of ARRL contest awards processing online
, too! Look for the
"Contest Awards Processing Status" link. (Thanks, ARRL Contest Branch
Manager, Sean KX9X)
Results for the NA RTTY Sprint
(2 weeks ago) are now
posted online. The final results article will be in the Jan-Feb 2011
issue of the National Contest Journal . LCRs
(Log CheckingReports) can be requested from rttysprintmgr@ncjweb.com.
(Thanks, NA RTTY Sprint Manager, Ed W0YK)
Doug K1DG writes to say, "Last week I shipped the last outstanding
plaques for the 2007 CQ 160 Meter contests. These 28 plaques had been
delayed due to health problems of the previous administrator, but are
now done. With the exception of two much older plaques that were
ordered as replacements, I believe that all plaques for all CQ 160M
contests have been shipped. If you earned a plaque for any earlier CQ
160 Meter contest and have not received it, please contact me with the
details. Plaques for the 2010 CQ 160 Meter contests will be ordered
around the end of the year, after the results appear in print."
OPERATING TIP
Everything you wanted to know about Sweepstakes operating is
available in this great Sweepstakes Handbook
from
the Mad River Radio Club. You'll have to temper the propagation
discussion to reflect the game in your region, but it will be great
reading from end-to-end. Thanks to MRRC for making their handbook
available to the contesting public.
==> TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION
Mobile and Rover operators will be able to identify with these items in
the Design News columns, "Sherlock Ohms - The Case of the Failed
Battery Connections
"
and "The Case of the Failed Microwave Shot
".
It's always good to learn from the experiences of others!
David K1TTT recommends an alternative to Coax Seal™. "For years I have
been using plain old hardware store duct seal. It comes in big 1-lb
blocks for about $2...(and)...comes off much easier even after years of
being on a connector. I usually just squish a big handful of it on the
joint then add a layer of electrical tape outside to protect it from
the sun and further push it in to the joint." If you're really
concerned about removing the seal cleanly, wrap the connector with a
single layer of electrical tape before applying the seal.
A rolling hitch is a
pretty handy knot for lifting masts or pulling on cables or ropes, but
might not be a good choice if the rope vibrates because it might shake
loose. Add a half hitch on the bitter end to minimize that problem. For
a permanent installation, get a Kellum grip sized for your bundle of
cables. They are available from 0.25" to several inches in diameter.
(Thanks, Grant KZ1W)
Here's a Web site for determining loading coil inductance
for
antennas. Placement of the coil is determined by the designer. The Web
site also has links to other pages on how to design the coil. (Thanks,
Jim KG0KP)
A simple kit for a 3 dB power splitter is available from Clifton Labs
as their product Z10050A. They
cover a frequency range of 300 kHz to 100 MHz and are a handy way to
split low-power signals, such as for adding a receiver. No PC board is
required, just supply your own enclosure and connectors. (Thanks, Craig
AC0DS)
Bruce K1FZ has updated his Beverage antenna notes
Web page with additional
BOG (Beverage On Ground) antenna information.
Here is an interesting discussion of how to balance battery loading
in banks of batteries,
contributed by Scott N7SS. With high loads, this could be an issue,
particularly insuring that all batteries supply approximately the same
current.
The November issue of Nuts and Volts has a
nice article on Oscilloscope Probes and Probing, active probe project
by Robert Reed. You'll also find an excellent oscilloscope tutorial
online there, too.
Transistors made of graphene
(a
single atomic layer form of carbon) will be - faster, configurable, and
be able to act as an N or P type. Prototypes are switching at 100 GHz
(about 10x faster than Si-based) - with possibly orders of magnitude of
improvement available. Red light's frequency is about 430 THz, only
4300 times higher than 100 GHz. Remember when our radios were faster
than the transistors in our computers?
Not really a contest-related technology, but of interest to
technically-minded radio geeks (that would be contester-related,
instead) is the Department of Homeland Security's report
comparing conventional and trunked mobile radio systems. In case you
wanted to know about that sort of thing, of course.
Technical Web Site of the Week - We have the thumb drive, why not the
thumb radio? From Tree N6TR and the 17 October AMSAT
bulletin comes word of the Funcube Dongle
. Progress of its development and photos
can be seen on the Funcube Dongle Blog .
It certainly has potential for VHF+ SDR applications in rovers and
portable stations. It will include (still in development) an integrated
front end filter, LNA, quadrature LO, zero-IF quadrature
down-converter, and a dual 16-bit ADC and USB soundcard. It's also
compatible with software that works for the Softrock
line of SDR components.
==> CONVERSATION
Living On the Edge
With the big CQ World Wide SSB Contest coming up and the 40 meter band
allocations having evolved rapidly over the past couple of years, it's
worth taking a few minutes to review some do's and don'ts, particularly
for US operators.
First, the lower edge of the US phone band is 7.125 MHz - not 7.100
MHz. The requirement is for you to keep your signal above 7.125 - all
of it. If you are using LSB, the frequency display of your radio shows
the carrier frequency and that has to be high enough that the sidebands
of your signal are all inside the phone band. What does that mean?
According to the FCC in Part 97.3a
, everything stronger than
26 dB below the mean power of the signal counts as the signal's
bandwidth.
Without getting into a huge derivation of carrier suppression and
the effects on bandwidth of audio and RF compression and distortion,
let's just say that you should tune no lower than 7.1275 or 7.128 MHz
to be sure of "coloring inside the lines." I'm sure some enterprising
contest station outside the US will set up shop with a carrier
frequency of 7.125 MHz, but just don't call them. If you have a
connection to the spotting network, you can always post a spot that
says, "XY0ZZ 7.125 Not Legal for US Phone Band" and perhaps they (and
those calling) will see it and move.
A similar problem over the past couple of years has been stations at
the top end of 20 meters with their USB carrier frequency above 14.3475
- you're out of the band, folks! Again, just don't call them - these
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