Contester's Rate Sheet for February 6, 2008
******************************************** CONTESTER'S RATE SHEET 6 February 2008 Edited by Ward Silver N0AX Published by the American Radio Relay League Free to ARRL members - tell your friends! (Subscription info at the end of newsletter) ******************************************** SUMMARY o On The Right Side of the Pileup - ARRL DX CW o CQ WPX RTTY and NH, LA, NNY, VE7 QSO Parties o Two Radio Event Signatures by VE5ZX and CT1BOH o Chat Rooms in Contests on Radiosport.net o Laci W1PL, Silent Key o 600 Meter Protocols and Cheap Ferrite Beads o Continuity Tester and Current Probe Designs o Tonight, Elmer Tried NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO o The School Club Roundup is coming up - why not tune around and let these up and coming operators how much you're enjoying HF operating? Then jump into the ARRL DX Contest and fill up that logbook! BULLETINS o No bulletins this issue. BUSTED QSOS o The http://www.getscores.org/ Web site and all its development is done by Gerry W1VE. He reports that he has made the necessary changes to support posting for, and viewing, multiple contests at the same time. With the contest calendar full of contests, not having to make that choice is a Good Thing. The Real-Time Scoreboard will be active for CQ WPX RTTY, ARRL DX CW, CQ 160 SSB, and ARRL DX SSB. CONTEST SUMMARY (Rules follow Commentary section) February 9-10 - Asia-Pacific Sprint, CW - FISTS CW Winter Sprint - CQ WW RTTY WPX - EU EME Contest, Digital - FM Simplex Contest - New Hampshire QSO Party - Louisiana QSO Party - Northern New York QSO Party - British Columbia QSO Challenge - RSGB 1.8 MHz Contest, CW - Dutch PACC Contest - OMISS QSO Party - YL-OM Contest - North American Sprint, Phone - Classic Exchange, Phone - School Club Roundup (Feb 11-15) - Valentine's Day Sprint, Digital (Feb 15) February 16-17 - ARRL DX Contest, CW - AM QSO Party --o- ooo - --o- ooo - --o- ooo - -oo o NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST - oooo o o-o o- - o ooo oooo o o - -o- The Southeastern Very High Frequency Society (SVHFS) <http://SVHFS.org/>, in conjunction with the Florida Weak Signal Society, [FLWSS], will hold their annual meeting at the Holiday Inn on the University of Central Florida on April 25 and 26, 2008. Please contact [email protected] with any questions. (Thanks, John K2STO) If the full-bore CW Sprint was a bit too much, why not try the Northern California Contest Club's SNS Low-Speed Sprint? Maximum speed is a bit over 20 wpm and the contest uses the actual NA Sprint rules. SNS runs for 15 minutes every Thursday evening at 0300Z. More information on this great weekly contest workout can be found at <http://www.ncccsprint.com/> (Thanks, Mike W9RE) Pete N4ZR was an alpha/beta tester for VE3NEA's CWSkimmer software <http://www.dxatlas.com/CwSkimmer> and he's written an article that explains how it works (from an operator's perspective), as well as some potential applications. The article is at <http://www.pvrc.org/~n4zr/Articles/Skimmer.pdf> The CWSkimmer uses a wideband receiver and a computer sound card to decode many CW signals simultaneously. Anthony VA7IRL has transferred his on-line contest calendar to Google Calendars where it can be maintained by more than one person for the benefit of all. The calendar is at <http://tinyurl.com/yud4rx> and an iCal version is at <http://tinyurl.com/26xktz> (Thanks, Mark K6UFO) Metars <http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mweather.html> is a downloadable applet that displays weather conditions at multiple locations throughout the world in spreadsheet format. (Thanks, Henry Freedenberg) Having just answered 1300+ E51MMM cards, George K5KG offers the following DOs and DONTs of QSLing: DO use envelopes with peel and stick flaps. They speed up sealing of envelopes. DO put your call sign in bold, large print on the same side as the QSO information. DO enclose enough postage or an IRC to cover the cost of return postage. If this isn't possible, send the card anyway with a self-addressed envelope. DO not enclose small address labels instead of envelopes. DO avoid extraneous enclosures. Personal notes, canceled stamps, etc. should be avoided unless critical. DO NOT use envelopes without glue. They have to be taped shut, and that is a real pain! DO NOT seal envelopes so tightly that they can't be quickly opened with a letter opener. DO NOT mix cards to or from different call signs. They really slow down the processing of cards. DO NOT fold or "hide" IRCs or Green Stamps so intricately that they are hard to unfold when opening. As a personal evaluation of your QSLing technique, the editor suggests that you make up a test QSL and envelope, seal it up, then open it and fill out a response. Then ask yourself if you would like to do that 5000 times! More guidelines are available on the CQ-Contest email reflector archives <http://www.contesting.com/> by reviewing the thread "DOs and DONTs of QSLing" K2LE reports that Laci W1PL has become a Silent Key. Laci was a well-known and active contester with one of Sweepstake's earliest active checks. His obituary is quite a story, having escaped from Hungary in the days of the Iron Curtain and emigrated to the West. (Thanks, John W2GD) After I submitted my reception report for the HAARP-LWA Moon Bounce experiments of 19 and 20 January 2008, I received a short reply. "We have received over 1500 reports from amateur radio hams throughout the USA and other countries, including Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, Australia, Marshall Islands, Hawaii, and Japan." From all indications, this was quite a successful experiment in more ways than one - good job! For a little "vertical DXing", try the ISS cross-band FM repeater. The system is back up and functioning as of a few days ago. The uplink is on 437.800 MHz and the downlink at 145.800 MHz. It is quite strong and can be heard well on a simple setup. (from the AMSAT Weekly Bulletin ANS-034, <http://www.amsat.org/> URL of the Week - VE5ZX and CT1BOH have written up their findings from a one year research project that examined two radio activities of World-Class CW entries in three classes (SOAB, SOAB/A and MS) of the 2006 CQWW contest. The project was possible because the CQWW Contest Committee decided to make logs from 2006 onwards publicly available. An article, "Two Radio Event Signatures" has been prepared after investigating the role that assistance from packet and a second operator has on the two radio signatures of the three classes. This makes for some very interesting reading and is available along with the supporting data at <http://www.radiosport.ca/rsrp/CQWW%20log%20analysis.php>. oooo o -o-- -o-- o- o-oo o-oo SIGHTS AND SOUNDS o-- o- - -o-o oooo - oooo oo ooo One whimsical musing was all it took - Solar Cycle 24 actually has its own Facebook site - just search for "Solar Cycle 24" (Thanks, Reid KC0IDI) oo-o oo -o -oo -o-- --- oo- o-o RESULTS AND RECORDS -o-o o- o-oo o-oo oooo o o-o o 2007 ARRL DX Certificates are going out the door, thanks to the volunteer envelope stuffers at HQ. The number of emailed logs for recent contests as of a few days ago is: RTTY Roundup: 1177 (Deadline is Feb 5) January VHF: 379 (Deadline is February 20) Glenn K6NA has joined our volunteer data entry team for Sweepstakes Phone. Glenn, along with Larry K5OT and Bob N6TV, have been manually converting Sweepstakes paper logs to electronic logs, which allows them to be sent through the contest robot, which makes things easier for our log-checkers. All CW paper logs have been processed and the SSB paper logs were mailed to our data-entry volunteers this week. (Thanks, ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X) Results of the 2007 WAG Contest are online at <http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/fedcg07.htm>. A full writeup will be available in a few weeks at <http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/fed.htm> (Thanks, Klaus DL1DTL) The results of the 2007 Ukrainian DX Contest are available at <http://www.ucc.zp.ua/urdx2007.htm> (Thanks, URDXC committee UR3QCW,UT1IA,UT5ECZ,UY5QQ,UY5ZZ) The UBA had serious problems with their server for a few days. If you had an emailed UBA contest log bounce, please try again as the problems have been fixed. (Thanks, Marc ON7SS) oooo o -o-- -o-- --- oo- OPERATING TIP o-- o- -o- o oo- o--o With all the Internet resources out there, it's easy to get yourself into hot water with respect to contest rules about soliciting QSO's via "non-amateur means". There are many "chat room" Web sites popular with specialized operating enthusiasts - low-band, VHF, EME, meteor scatter, and so forth. While it's best to just avoid public chat forums during contests, if you must chat remember that if you're giving out any information that would help someone make a QSO with you, that's considered out-of-bounds by most contest rules and contesters, too. Jamie NS3T has been covering the chat room debate at <http://www.radio-sport.net/160chat.htm> (Thanks, Ken K4ZW) oo oo-o oo - ooo -o --- - -ooo o-o --- -o- o TECHNICAL TIPS AND INFORMATION -o-- --- oo- o-o o -o --- - - o-o -o-- oo -o --o This is kind of a "meta-tip" - if you have a specific question about a specific type of product or technology, take a look in the "searchable archives" of the appropriate mailing lists. Many such lists are managed via the http://www.contesting.com/ Web site - look at the left side of the home page, towards the bottom. By searching the archives for, say "plastic owl" or "true north", you will often turn up loads of information and as a bonus avoid restarting a tired, old thread that occupies the readership's time unnecessarily. And while you're at it, if the volume of messages is sometimes excessive, consider changing your subscription status to "daily digest" in which you receive just one email as a package of the day's traffic, frequently indexed and sorted. (Thanks, email list administrators and moderators, whoever you are) A group experimenting on the 600 meters group has been testing various digital modes on this low frequency band. Read up on what they've found at <http://www.w1tag.com/600M_Modes.htm> (Thanks, Rick KV9U) Power-line noise that appears only on one band may be due to a spark gap exciting a length of wire that just happens to be resonant on that frequency. If the spark gap is in a switch or thermostat, there may be a serious fire hazard. (Thanks, David K1TTT) Tom N0SS points out that the ferrite beads (which are frequently large enough to accommodate RG-8 cable) on the video cable of CRT monitors appear to offer good reactance at HF, esp. the lower bands (160-20). If you have access to junked monitors, get yourself a pair of diagonal cutters and save some ferrite from the junk heap. If you have a good disk drive, but the operating system is corrupted, it may be able to retrieve the data using a second computer, assuming the file structure is still intact. Get an IDE to USB adapter, plug the disk drive into the IDE interface and the USB interface into the second computer. The disk drive should appear as a USB mass storage device, like a thumb drive. (Thanks, Marlon Schafer) Chet N8RA recommends a four stack of 3-element 2 meter Yagis for VHF+ contesting. The model of the stack shows 14.6 dBi of gain with a 60-degree horizontal beamwidth to the -3 dB points. "It's really not that hard to construct if you already have an HF Yagi with a decent boom on top of your tower - just attach the middle of the stacking mast out on the HF boom a foot or so and end mount the Yagis." This narrows the vertical beamwidth of the pattern without making the azimuthal beamwidth so narrow that stations are missed. The circuit for a "Simple Continuity Tester" can be found in the "Design Ideas" column from EDN Magazine's 10 Jan 2008 issue. Download the column at <http://www.edn.com/contents/images/6515352.pdf> Here's an inexpensive source for a 10 MHz frequency standard - bring WWV into your shack! Take an OLD FM receiver with adjustable tuned transformers (not fixed-frequency filters), strip the front end and save the 10.7 MHz IF strip. Pad the transformers with capacitors and tune them to 10 MHz. You now have a TRF receiver that outputs WWV's 10 MHz signal directly. (The FM limiter will remove all of the AM components from the signal.) Connect your counter to the IF strip output and adjust it to display 10 MHz. It is now as accurate as WWV itself within the resolution of your counter. If your counter has an 8-digit display, it will have been calibrated to one hertz resolution. (Thanks, Al W6WQC and Steve KD1JV) Amplifier builders often include a "soft start" or "step start" function in the HV power supply. Patrick TK5EP contributes this step-start circuit <http://tk5ep.free.fr/tech/PA2m/img/HV_supply.gif> that uses a 12V DC relay. The delay circuit is transistor-based and adjustable. Ron WZ1V discovered something useful -- mount UHF+ loop Yagi antennas upside down to avoid bird damage! A recent inbound flight of turkey vultures at his QTH did in a 903 MHz loop Yagi. If they're on the bottom of the boom, the only thing the birds can accomplish is to apply coating material. TECHNICAL URL OF THE WEEK -- Ian GM3SEK contributes a good way to track down common-mode current on cable shields that may be causing RFI trouble. "Beg, borrow, build or buy a clamp-on RF current meter. It will become the first thing you reach for when RFI rears its head. You can buy a commercial unit such as the MFJ-854 make your own as shown at <http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek/clip-on/clip-on.htm> or <http://www.k4ro.net/k4ro/current_meter/MVC-004F.JPG> (Thanks also, Kirk K4RO) o- -o-o -o-o oo- o-o o- -o-o -o-- oo ooo o--- --- -ooo CONVERSATION --- -o o oo -o -o-o --- -o - o ooo - oo -o --o Tonight, Elmer Tried In a week of serious topics, a little levity is the prescription from Doctor Beldar. Merle Haggard's classics "Tonight, The Bottle Let Me Down" and "Mama Tried" feel the sting of the Doctor's heavy editing. Tune up the old six-string, strap on that wide belt and work shirt, and tell it like it was! Tonight, The Bottles Let Me Down Each night I tune on Top Band when it's open No limits to my range till closing time But tonight no DX came back to my over I couldn't run enough to make those contacts mine Tonight the bottles let me down And left my signals near the ground The one real amp I thought I'd found Tonight the bottles let me down I've always had those bottles I could turn to And lately they've been turned on every day But tonight my log won't fill up like it used to Now I'm waitin' in that Little Pistol way Tonight the bottles let me down And left my signals near the ground The one real amp I thought I'd found Tonight the bottles let me down Tonight the bottle let me down Elmer Tried The first thing I remember knowin' Was an amplifier glowin' And a youngun's dream of signals strong and wide Soon a guest op leaving town In the contests I was found No one could change my mind but Elmer tried One and only Novice child From the slow nets, meek and mild My Elmer seemed to know what lay in store 'Spite all my Handbook learnin' Towards the rate I kept on turnin' 'Til Elmer couldn't hold me anymore And I turned twenty-one on twenty fillin' logs with QRO No one could steer me right but Elmer tried, Elmer tried Elmer tried to raise me better, but his keying I denied That leaves only me to blame 'cos Elmer tried Dear old Elmer, rest his soul Sent a lot of handkey code He tried so hard but never QRQ Trained me hours without rest So my fist would be the best He tried to raise me right but I refused And I turned twenty-one on twenty fillin' logs with QRO No one could steer me right but Elmer tried, Elmer tried Elmer tried to raise me better, but his keying I denied That leaves only me to blame 'cos Elmer tried -o-o --o- - o ooo - -o-o --o- - o ooo - CONTESTS -- 6 FEBRUARY THROUGH 19 FEBRUARY 2008 -o-o --o- - o ooo - -o-o --o- - o ooo - Note that the following abbreviations are used to condense the contest rules summaries: SO - Single-Op; M2 - Multi-Op - 2 Transmitters; MO - Multi-Op; MS - Multi-Op, Single Transmitter; MM - Multi-Op, Multiple Transmitters; AB - All Band; SB - Single Band; S/P/C - State/Province/DXCC Entity; HP - High Power (>100 W); LP - Low Power; QRP (5W or less), serial - serial number HF CONTESTS Asia-Pacific Sprint--CW, from 1100Z Feb 9 - 1300Z Feb 9. Frequencies: 40-20 meters. Exchange: RST, serial. Logs due: 7 days. Web site: http://jsfc.org/apsprint/aprule.txt FISTS CW Winter Sprint--CW, from 1700Z Feb 9 - 2100Z Feb 9. Frequencies: 80-10. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, first name, FISTS nr or power. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.FISTS.org/ CQ WW RTTY WPX--Digital, from 0000Z Feb 9 - 2400Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 80-10 meters. Exchange: RST and serial. Logs due: 7-Mar. Web site: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/ New Hampshire QSO Party--Phone/CW/Digital, from 0001Z Feb 9 - 0001Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 160-10 meters, 50-1296 MHz, CW 1.810,3.535,7.035,14.035,21.035,28.035; Phone 1.875,3.935,3.95,7.235,14.28,21.38,28.39; 50.115,144.205,52.540,146.55,223.50,446,902.1,1296.1 MHz. Exchange: RST and NH county or S/P/C. Logs due: 15-Mar. Web site: http://www.w1fz.org/ Louisiana QSO Party--Phone/CW, from 1500Z Feb 9 - 0300Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 160-10 meters, 50,144 MHz, CW 1.840,3.540,7.040,14.040,21.040,28.040; Phone 1.865,3.865,7.255,14.255,21.365,28.465; VHF 50.095,50.135,144.050,144.210 MHz. Exchange: Call sign, RST, LA parish or S/P/C. Logs due: 15-Mar. Web site: http://laqso.w5yl.org/ Northern New York QSO Party--Phone/CW/Digital, from 0000Z Feb 9 - 2359Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 80-10 meters, 50-432 MHz, CW band edge+40 kHz; SSB - lower 25 kHz Gen segment; VHF - 50.200,144.200,146.49 MHz. Exchange: RST and NNY county or S/P/C. Logs due: 10-Mar. Web site: http://www.nnyara.org/ British Columbia QSO Challenge--Phone/CW/Digital, from 1600Z Feb 9 - 0359Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 160-10 meters, 50 MHz, CW 1.85,3.55,7.045,14.05,21.05,28.05,50.095; SSB 1.85,3.825,7.26,14.225,21.38,28.38,50.13 MHz. Exchange: RST and BC district or S/P/C. Logs due: 31-Mar. Web site: http://www.deltaamateurradio.com/ RSGB 1.8 MHz Contest--CW, from 2100Z Feb 9 - 0100Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 160 meters. Exchange: RST, serial, UK district. Logs due: 16 days. Web site: http://www.rsgbhfcc.org/ Dutch PACC Contest--Phone/CW, from 1200Z Feb 9 - 1200Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Exchange: RS(T) and Dutch province or serial. Logs due: 31-Mar. Web site: http://www.dutchpacc.com/ OMISS QSO Party--Phone, from 1500Z Feb 9 - 1500Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 80-10 meters. Exchange: RS, S/P/C and OMISS nr or "DX". Logs due: 15-Mar. Web site: http://www.omiss.net/ YL-OM Contest--Phone, from 1400Z Feb 9 - 0200Z Feb 11. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Exchange: Call sign, RST, serial and S/P/C. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.ylrl.org/ylcontests.html North American Sprint--Phone, from 0000Z Feb 10 - 0400Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 80-20 meters. Exchange: Both call signs, serial, name, and S/P/C. Logs due: 7 days. Web site: http://www.ncjweb.com/ Classic Exchange--Phone, from 1400Z Feb 10 - 0800Z Feb 11. Frequencies: 160-10 meters, 50,144 MHz. Exchange: RST, QTH, RX, TX. Web site: http://www.qsl.asti.com/CX School Club Roundup--Phone/CW, from 1300Z Feb 11 - 2400Z Feb 15. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Exchange: RST, Class, S/P/C. Logs due: 17-Mar. Web site: http://www.arrl.org/SCR Valentine's Day Sprint--Digital, from 2000 local Feb 15 - 0200 local Feb 16. Frequencies: 160-40 meters, 1.807,3.580,7.070/7.035 EU/7.028 JA. Exchange: Name, OM or YL, S/P/C. Logs due: 7-Mar. Web site: http://home.insightbb.com/~ctrice/070_ValentineSprint.htm ARRL DX Contest--CW, from 0000Z Feb 16 - 2400Z Feb 17. Frequencies: 160-10 meters. Exchange: RST, State or Power. Logs due: 19-Mar. Web site: http://www.arrl.org/contest AM QSO Party--Phone, from 0000Z Feb 16 - 0000Z Feb 17. Frequencies: 80-20 meters. Exchange: RS, name, and S/P/C. Logs due: 15-Mar. Web site: http://www.antiquewireless.org/ VHF+ CONTESTS EU EME Contest--Digital, from 0000Z Feb 9 - 2400Z Feb 10. Frequencies: 144,432 MHz, 1.2 GHz, 3.9405,7.2635,14.290,21.360,28.665 MHz. Exchange: Call signs, TMO/RST and "R". Logs due: 12 days. Web site: http://www.dubus.org/ FM Simplex Contest--Phone, from 1 PM - 4 PM CST Feb 10. Frequencies: 50-440 MHz. Exchange: Call sign and grid square. Logs due: 8-Mar. Web site: http://www.w9rh.org/ -oo --- -o - -- oo ooo ooo -o-- --- oo- o-o LOG DUE DATES - 6 FEBRUARY THROUGH 19 FEBRUARY 2008 o-oo --- --o -oo o o- -oo o-oo oo -o o ooo February 6 - ARS Spartan Sprint, email logs to: [email protected], post log summary at: (see rules), paper logs and diskettes to: (none). Find rules at: http://arsqrp.pbwiki.com/Spartan+Sprints February 8 - EUCW 160m Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: Ghislain Barbason, 5 rue de l'Ecluse, F-02190 Piginicourt, France. Find rules at: http://www.agcw.de/eucw/eu160.html February 9 - North American Sprint, CW, email logs to: (see rules, web upload preferred), upload log at: http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintlogsubmit.php, paper logs and diskettes to: Boring Amateur Radio Club, 15125 Bartell Road, Boring, OR 97009, USA. Find rules at: http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintrules.php February 12 - MI QRP January CW Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: Tim Pepper, K8NWD, 4391 Clintonville Rd, Waterford, MI 48329, USA. Find rules at: http://www.qsl.net/miqrpclub/contest.html February 15 - 070 Club PSKFest, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: Jay Budzowski, 070 Club PSKFest, 109 S Northview Ave, New Castle, PA 16102-1633, USA. Find rules at: http://www.podxs.com/html/pskfest.html February 15 - Midwinter Contest, CW, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: PA3GQG, Contest Manager Midwinter Contest, Keulenheide 1, 6373 AP Landgraaf, The Netherlands. Find rules at: http://www.qsl.net/pi4ylc/Engels/midwinter%20contest.htm February 15 - Midwinter Contest, Phone, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: PA3GQG, Contest Manager Midwinter Contest, Keulenheide 1, 6373 AP Landgraaf, The Netherlands. Find rules at: http://www.qsl.net/pi4ylc/Engels/midwinter%20contest.htm February 18 - LZ Open Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: LZ Open Contest, PO Box 830, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria. Find rules at: http://www.linkove.com/lz-open-contest/rules/rules.htm February 18 - 10-10 Int. Winter Contest, SSB, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: Steve Rasmussen, N0WY, 312 N 6th Street, Plattsmouth, NE 68048, USA. Find rules at: http://www.ten-ten.org/rules.html February 19 - UK DX Contest, RTTY, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: UK DX RTTY Contest Committee, PO Box 7469, Glasgow, G42 0YD, Scotland UK. Find rules at: http://www.ukdx.srars.org/ukdxc.pdf February 19 - Hungarian DX Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: MRASZ, PO Box 11, 1400 Budapest, Hungary. Find rules at: http://www.ha-dx.com/HadxHomePage/contest_rules.html ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The Contester's Rate Sheet wishes to acknowledge information from the following sources: WA7BNM's Contest Calendar Web page - <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal> SM3CER's Web site - <http://www.sk3bg.se/contest> ARRL members may subscribe at no cost by editing their Member Data Page as described at <http://www.arrl.org/contests/rate-sheet>. Copyright 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc. 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