Contester's Rate Sheet for May 14, 2008
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CONTESTER'S RATE SHEET
14 May 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)
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SUMMARY
o Wrap Up the HF Contest Season with CQ WPX CW
o Try The W1AW Frequency Measuring Test -- May 21
o Get Ready to Log on the Rove
o Remote Operating Reflector
o D-STAR and Dayton Video
o ARRL June and September VHF QSO Party Records
o New Web Site about VY2ZM
o Antenna Work Tips and Tricks
o Close the Loop
NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO
There are lots of CW contests during the upcoming two weekends. You
can work on your CW skills in the smaller contests and jump into the
"Big One" (CQ WPX CW) over Memorial Day weekend. Either way, your CW
acumen is sure to improve!
BULLETINS
There are no bulletins in this issue.
BUSTED QSOS
A golden issue last time!
CONTEST SUMMARY (Rules follow Commentary section)
May 17-18
- Baltic Contest
- EU PSK DX Contest
- His Majesty King of Spain Contest, CW
- All America Contest, CW
May 24-25
- CQ CW WPX Contest
- QRP ARCI Hootowl Sprint, CW
- MI QRP Memorial Day CW Sprint
NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST
Capitalizing on the popular and effective automated online results
reporting system developed by Bruce WA7BNM for the Frequency
Measuring Test (FMT) in November 2007, W1AW will conduct a spring FMT
< http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/04/29/10071/?nc=1>. This FMT
will begin on Wednesday, May 21 at 9:45 PM (EDT) (that's the same as
0145 UTC on May 22), replacing W1AW's normally scheduled phone
bulletin. This FMT will involve measuring the frequency of an audio
tone between 1000 and 2500 Hz, given the exact frequency for the
carrier signals - 3990 kHz (LSB), 7290 kHz (LSB), 14290 kHz (USB) and
18160 kHz (USB).
The Southern California Contest Club announces that it is sponsoring
a WRTC style competition to take place concurrently with the IARU HF
Championship in July. SCCC invites all amateurs in the 6th and 7th
call areas to compete in this Rules are patterned after the official
WRTC rules. While this contest will not be used by the WRTC committee
to select WRTC contestants, it is the perfect opportunity for
contesters to enjoy the WRTC experience without having to qualify to
be on a team. Complete rules are online at
<http://sccc.contesting.com/westcoastrrtc.html> (Thanks, John K6AM)
VHF+ contests (and some HF contests) exchange grid squares and
emphasize mobile or portable operation. This style of operating can
lead to logging difficulties (on both ends of the QSO) because
contacts with the same station from a new location look like
duplicate contacts. There are some workarounds, such as adding
suffixes, but those are non-standard and can cause further problems.
Luckily, there are programs designed specifically for
operating-on-the-go. VQLOG <http://vqlog.com/> was designed by EA6VQ,
a VHF+ operator, and has nice grid maps, to boot. RoverLog garners
kudos from across the VHF+ community and seems particularly suited to
the cramped quarters of Rover category. N3FJP's ACLog
<http://n3fjp.com/> also helps keep track of grid-based awards.
DXKeeper, part of the DXLabSuite <http://www.dxlabsuite.com/> is
another program that supports awards programs well. (Thanks to the
VHF Contesting reflector readers)
Speaking of logging programs, with inexpensive or free software
available, there really aren't debilitating reasons not to be able to
generate a properly-formatted contest log for the sponsors. Who
cares, you ask? Here's a note from the JIDX committee, "Some sent us
logs in MS Word, MS Excel, logging software binary files, or RTF etc
etc etc so I have to convert them one by one for a few months..." In
the year before Cabrillo logs were required by the ARRL, I believe
that logs in more than 80 different formats (80!!!) were received,
requiring hand conversion of each. Please do yourself and the
woebegone sponsors a favor by taking a few minutes to acquire the
necessary software. It's not difficult! 5 minutes spent by each
competitor to submit a correctly formatted log can turn into 5 x
100's of minutes saved by contest sponsors.
Paul K2DB/K2NNY has set up a new email reflector for those that are
interested in remote stations, operating, contesting, etc. Paul is
able to do remote operating now and the mission of the reflector is
to share technical and troubleshooting expertise. The discussion will
be both for those getting started with a remote station and those
trying to keep one running. General information and subscription info
can be found at
<http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/remoteoperating>
While many of us were around to watch each step of the space race,
those born after the mid-sixties weren't in on the excitement of the
early days of "T-minus 10 minutes and counting" and gantries falling
away from the rocket. The Discovery Channel <dsc.discovery.com> is
running a six-part series called "When We Left Earth"
<http://tinyurl.com/64vyty>, beginning June 8th that will bring
together some of the many pieces of those exciting days when a rocket
launch was something for everyone to stop what you were doing and
watch.
Ken K0PP writes with news of a digital radio HF domestic service test
in Alaska during May Test in Alaska. Digital Aurora Radio
Technologies of Delta Junction, AK, has applied for FCC authorization
to transmit high power digital signals in the 5, 7 and 9 MHz HF bands
with power levels that could approach 100 kW, according to a Web
article recently published on <http://26MHz.us/>. The article claims
that the FCC has already assigned a call sign, WE2XRH, but had yet to
issue an authorization at the time of the article's publication. The
proposed transmission facility is sited at Delta Junction, located in
east central Alaska.
Reading another of Tad K7RA's juicy, informative ARRL Propagation
Bulletins, it occurred to me to remind my ARRL Member readership
about this great weekly email. Just as when subscribing to this
newsletter, go to your ARRL Member Web page and check the appropriate
box -- free and informative. It's another benefit of League
membership!
WAE DX Contest Manager, Joerg DL8WPX, reports that preparations for
the 54th Worked All Europe DX Contest <http://waedc.de/> are under
way. He also reports that several rules have been updated and that
there is a new and comprehensive 40+ page booklet available for
download, featuring the 2007 WAEDC and WAG contests and rules for
2008.
A new kind of Multi-Multi? Ten Cubesat <http://www.cubesat.org/>
satellites were launched and reached orbit on April 28 aboard an
Indian PSLV-C9 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Center. The
satellites were designed and built by students at universities around
the world for scientific research. Maybe one with a DSP transceiver
that responds to "CQ Contest" with "599 Cube" would be a good
project?
Dave NK0E has discover the USGS topographics maps can be downloaded
as PDF files from the USGS at their online store
<http://store.usgs.gov/locator>. Maps are available at various
scales and there is a link to an Adobe tool for more features.
The AMSAT Engineering teams <http://www.amsat.org/> will be in the
Dayton Hamvention AMSAT booths (444-445) to talk about the various
satellite projects in the works. If you've an interest in the
interesting gadgetry and "how they do it", stop by and chat! (from
the AMSAT News Service Bulletin, 132.01)
The Japanese amateur allocations are somewhat fragmented on a couple
of the bands, particularly 160 and 80 meters. Brett VR2BG points us
to an English-language version of the JA band-by-band allocations:
<http://www.jarl.or.jp/English/6_Band_Plan/JAbandplan.pdf> A
reminder -- JA amateurs still do not have a phone allocation on 160
meters.
URL of the Week -- Contesters that would like to announce their
planned operations from DX locations this fall can do so now at Bill
NG3K's Web site <http://www.ng3k.com/Contest/consub.html>. Read the
submission guidelines before filling out the form.
WORD TO THE WISE
Moving a Mult -- It sounds like "passing a kidney stone", but what's
meant here is the practice of coordinating a short QSO on a different
band where the station being asked to QSY would count as a
multiplier. "Moving mults" is just one of the techniques top
operators use to make those big scores.
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
Icom has released some new videos about D-STAR technology at
<http://www.icom.co.jp/world/products/video/d-starmovie/index.html>.
This is the global Icom site and not the Icom America site. (Thanks,
Mark WB9QZB)
Here are some photos < http://tinyurl.com/46axbh> from the recent
Visalia DX Convention taken by John K6MM. (Thanks, Bob N6TV)
Tom W5KUB and friends are streaming video of the Dayton hamfest again
this year at <http://w5kub.com/>. Broadcasting starts when they hit
the road two days before the Hamvention begins, so you should be able
to tune in soon after this issue is published. Tom says, "We also
have a "helmet cam" that we wear every where we go. That means you
see us when we go to eat, when we stop for gas or just about
everything." Note the words "just about."
Bob N6TV also found this neat video of self-assembling robots
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIn-sMq8-Ls> doing their thing. Be
sure not to miss the last 30 seconds! Bob asks if it wouldn't be nice
if our antennas could fix themselves too?
RESULTS AND RECORDS
The ARRL June VHF QSO Party section records have been updated to 2007
and a new set of tables showing the September VHF QSO Party section
records has been added. You can view them at
http://www.arrl.org/contests under the scores, forms and rules
listing on the main contest page. (Thanks, Curt K9AKS)
Randy K5ZD notes, "Scores from the CQ WPX RTTY contests from 1995
through 2007 are nowavailable on the WPX RTTY web site
<http://www.cqwpxrtty.com\results/> Thanks to Jay WS7I, for making
the files available that enabled the score listings to be posted."
Giuseppe IT9BLB reports that there has been a malfunction in the log
handling for the ARI HF contest. If you have already submitted your
log, but have not received the expected automatic acknowledgement of
receipt, please re-submit your log to [email protected]. In the
Subject line please enter the call sign used during the Contest and
the category (e.g. IT9BLB SOMIX, SOSSB, SOCW, SORTTY, MO, SWL).
Guiseppe will manually confirm the log has been received, but this
will not be done immediately. He appreciates your patience with this
matter.
Wally LZ2CJ of the LZ9W Contest team writes to let us know that final
results of 2007 LZ DX Contest are online.
<http://lzdx.bfra.org/lzdx2007.html>
2007 Croatian Contest results are available on the official Web site
<http://www.9acw.org/>. (Thanks, Hrle 9A6XX and the 9A CW Team)
OPERATING TIP
In line with this week's Word To The Wise, in contests on which
multipliers count on each band or mode worked be sure to keep the
"needed multiplier" window open and make it a habit to check the
window during each QSO. It never hurts to attempt to inveigle a
station with "Can you move to fifteen?" to pick up a quick
multiplier. Over the course of a contest, those extra multipliers
can make a big difference in the final score!
TECHNICAL TIPS AND INFORMATION
Responding to a question about dampening wind-induced guy rope
vibrations of a roof-mounted vertical, Dave K1TTT related some tricks
used by utilities to reduce that kind of noise:
Try a couple things like utilities do to dampen vibrations...
- Tie a fishing weight or a big nut, a couple ounces should do, on a
short rope, just a couple inches, a few feet up the guy from the
anchor point.
- Wrap another rope in a spiral around the guy rope.
- Tie multiple guys together with a rope or bungee cord them a few
feet above the anchor
- Slip a piece of pipe (plastic would be OK) a few feet long over the
bottom of each guy.
Jeff K1ZM/VY2ZM has a new toy for us -- it's a Web site
<http://www.k1zm.com/> about his bellwether station and activity from
Prince Edward Island. Take a look at this site to see why Jeff is a
regular at the top of the Top Tenners.
NASA-funded researchers released an online "4D" live model of Earth's
ionosphere <http://tinyurl.com/56zxay>. Coupled with some propagation
software, this could be a pretty amazing tool! Currently, it works
with the Google Earth software. (Thanks, Mark K6UFO)
Tom W7WHY solved the problem of a tree-mounted vertical wire pulling
out of a ground-mounted insulator due to maelstroms moving the tree
around. His problem was with the bottom of an 160 meter inverted-L
pulling loose from the insulator at the bottom of the antenna. By
hooking a flexible, black tie-down strap between the insulator to the
ground anchor, tie-down strap takes all the abuse, not the antenna.
This technique can be adapted to cushion many types of antenna-feed
line connections.
Two helpful hints on rotator repair works surfaced this week courtesy
of a discussion on Towertalk initiated by Scott W4PA. First, to
securely hold the heavy units without using a vise, a cinder block
with wood shims as needed works quite well for the
Ham-IV/Tailtwister-size rotators. Second, place a large pan, such as
an automotive oil-change pan, under the workpiece to catch any
bearings or pieces that fall out when the housing is opened.
Rick O'Keefe recently posted the URL for a Yahoo group focused on
lighting protection
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LightningProtection> questions
about grounding and surge protection.
Electronics calculators have been discussed in the Rate Sheet before,
but how about some "bamboo-ware" - an electronics slide rule? Bob
W9YA points out that by the time he can open a spreadsheet, he often
has the answer he needs by using such a slide rule. He uses a Pickett
N515 (the Cleveland Institute of Electronics mode) that can be found
new on various Internet auction and sales sites for less than $20.
The rule has several scales dedicated to common electronics formulas.
Steve K7LXC posted a reminder that wire rope -- such as that used in
crank-up towers -- needs periodic lubrication. He also notes that
using a heavy grease lubricant traps moisture, dirt, and contaminants
in the cable that will accelerate wear and deterioration. Light,
spray-on lubricants are preferred. David KC0LL contributed a link to
this authoritative document on cable maintenance
<http://tinyurl.com/5gnzdt>. Descriptions of which lubricants to use
are on page 7-38.
Another tip from the voluble tower-man Steve K7LXC explains what to
do when tramming a 2-element beam with no center element or mounting
plate. "In that case I use a yoke. Loop the tagline around one
element, down the boom and then down the other element - with both
sides tied together forming a sort of triangle. I'd suggest using
polypropylene rope since it's relatively stiff and won't tend to get
hung up somewhere as you're unrigging it up on the tower. Or use two
taglines that go up the elements and are then tied to the center of
the boom so you can reach it to unrig. One person can handle both
taglines without much problem which is better than having two persons
manning the taglines. One of them will invariably want to pull too
hard."
Fans of QST's Hands-On Radio column and builders in general will be
pleased to learn that Kanga US <http://www.kangaus.com/> is now
offering parts kits for all of the experiments along with the usual
and growing line of kits. Look for Bill at Dayton!
Making your own "staples" for laying and holding down radial wire is
fairly straightforward. If you are looking for pre-formed staples,
however, they may be available as "lawn staples" or "sod staples" at
your local lawn and garden emporium. (Thanks, Jim K8MK and Rick
W0RIC)
TECHNICAL URL OF THE WEEK -- Dennis N6KI sent along some links of
interest to owners of older test equipment and radios. EB5AGV has put
together a nice Vintage Ham Radio and Test Equipment site at
<http://www.jvgavila.com/> with lots of information on HP and
Tektronix gear. The Schematic Bank at
<http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/schematics> is a gold mine of
information on old broadcast receivers. The Boat Anchor Manual
Archive <http://bama.sbc.edu/free.htm> is another "must-bookmark"
site, as well.
CONVERSATION
Close the Loop
I don't know about you, but during the period before and between
contests, when I'm not trying to figure out news ways to spend my pin
money on radio gimcracks and doo-dads, I'm thinking about ways to
improve my scores. Maybe it's smoother technique, maybe it's a piece
of equipment, maybe it's better propagation information. (Usually,
the obvious place to look for improvement is between the headphones.)
Each contest sees a few tweaks in an attempt to do a little better
each time out.
How do I know if those changes actually work? Propagation changes
from year to year, participation may be up or down, and many other
things may be changing along with the intentional variations. If I
don't take steps to compare my results with my expectations, I really
won't know if what I did helped or even hurt!
The process of "closing the loop" to judge the effects of a change
begins by having a clear understanding of why you posit a specific
change and how you evaluate performance. For example, for
Sweepstakes the problem might be that I don't think I work enough
regional stations. How did I come to that conclusion and by using
what performance measurement?
In order to address such a problem, I might erect a low dipole for
NVIS-style propagation and I might spend more time on 80 meters this
year than last year. If I used the logs of friends as a basis of
comparison to decide that I had a problem, I should use those same
friend's logs after the contest this time to see if I improved my
performance. I can also look at percentages of regional stations in
my own logs, and so forth.
The important thing is to go back and compare. You understood the
problem, you conceived and executed a response. You must go then
evaluate the effects of the response. Without that crucial last
step, you really don't know whether the response had the desired
salubrious effect, no effect, or even the opposite effect! As we all
know, fixing one thing often breaks something else.
For example, if you decided to use an exchange database during a
contest in order to improve the accuracy of your log, how would you
know if it did or not? You must obtain your log checking report from
the sponsors and compare the error rates with and without the
database. Did the database actually improve your error rate or did
it make you careless? Was the information in the database accurate
or was there out-of-date information in the database that left you
susceptible to penalties? You might be surprised!
When we make a change, we really want that change to work and it's
very easy to be convinced that we really were louder or faster or
more accurate. But that conviction needs to be verified against the
same measures of performance that caused us to decide there was a
problem in the first place. You might even ask a friend to take a
look for you, remembering that the easiest person to deceive is one's
own self!
Getting better at contesting is an incremental, step-by-step process.
Some steps are forward and some backwards. That's why it's so
important to have a compass on that journey. Where does its Good
Arrow point? If you know where you want to go, carefully track your
course, and are honest with yourself, you'll eventually arrive!
73, Ward N0AX
CONTESTS -- 14 May through 27 May 2008
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)
An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF
format is available at <http://www.arrl.org/contest>. Check the
sponsor's Web site for information on operating time restrictions and
other instructions.
HF CONTESTS
Baltic Contest, Phone/CW, from 17 May 2100Z to 18 May 0200Z. Bands:
3.5 MHz. Exchange: RS(T) and serial. Logs due: 1 Jul. Web site:
http://www.lrsf.lt/bcontest
EU PSK DX Contest, Digital, from 17 May 1200Z to 18 May 1200Z. Bands:
3.5-28 MHz. Exchange: RST and EU area code or serial. Logs due: 28
days. Web site: http://www.eu.srars.org/
His Majesty King of Spain Contest, CW, from 17 May 1800Z to 18 May
1800Z. Bands: 1.8-28 MHz. Exchange: RST and serial or EA province.
Logs due: 19 May. Web site: http://www.ure.es/
All America Contest, CW, from 17 May 1500Z to 18 May 2359Z. Bands:
3.5-28 MHz. Exchange: RST and continent30-Jun. Web site:
http://www.powerline.com.br/cwjf/eng4.htm
CQ WW WPX Contest, CW, from 24 May 0000Z to 25 May 2400Z. Bands:
3.5-28 MHz. Exchange: RST and serial or EA province. Logs due: 1 Jul.
Web site: http://www.cqwpx.com/
QRP ARCI Hootowl Sprint, CW, from 25 May 2000 local to 25 May 2400
local. Bands: 3.5-28 MHz. Exchange: RST, S/P/C QRP number or power.
Logs due: 25 Jun. Web site: http://www.qrparci.org/
MI QRP Memorial Day CW Sprint, CW, from 26 May 2300Z to 27 May 0300Z.
Bands: 1.8-28 MHz. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, MI QRP number or power. Logs
due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.miqrp.org/
VHF+ CONTESTS
No VHF+ contests are scheduled.
LOG DUE DATES - 14 May through 27 May 2008
May 17 - TARA Skirmish Digital Prefix Contest, email logs to: (none),
post log summary at: http://n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_score.html,
paper logs and diskettes to: John C. Durbin, N8PSK, 175 Footville
Richmond Rd E, Jefferson OH 44047, USA. Find rules at:
http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_rules.html
May 18 - SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, post log summary at:
http://www.skccgroup.com/sprint/wes/sf.html, paper logs and diskettes
to: (none). Find rules at:
http://www.skccgroup.com/sprint/wes/wknd-sprint-rules.html
May 19 - 10-10 Int. Spring Contest, CW, email logs to: (none), paper
logs and diskettes to: Steve Rasmussen, N0WY, #68684, 312 N 6th
Street, Plattsmouth, NE 68048, USA. Find rules at:
http://www.ten-ten.org/QSOPartyRulesRevised.pdf
May 19 - Michigan QSO Party, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs
and diskettes to: Mad River Radio Club, c/o Dave Pruett, 2727 Harris
Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48198, USA. Find rules at:
http://www.miqp.org/Rules.htm
May 19 - Microwave Spring Sprint, email logs to:
[email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: Microwave
Spring Sprint, Steve Gilmore, W4SHG, 11 Ryan Way, Stafford, VA 22554,
USA. Find rules at: http://www.sysadnet.com/vhfsprintrules.htm
May 19 - 10-10 Int. Spring Contest, Digital, email logs to: (none),
paper logs and diskettes to: Steve Rasmussen, N0WY, #68684, 312 N 6th
Street, Plattsmouth, NE 68048, USA. Find rules at:
http://www.ten-ten.org/QSOPartyRulesRevised.pdf
May 20 - EA-QRP CW Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper
logs and diskettes to: Vocalia de concursos (Concurso CW), PO Box 17,
E-16080, Cuenca, Spain. Find rules at:
http://www.eaqrp.com/concurso/test_eaqrp_cw-en.htm
May 20 - ES Open HF Championship, email logs to: [email protected],
paper logs and diskettes to: Toomas Soomets, ES5RY, PO Box 177, Tartu
50002, Estonia. Find rules at:
http://www.erau.ee/modules.php?op=modload&name=Info&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=64
May 20 - YU DX Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper logs
and diskettes to: Savez Radio-amatera Srbije, YU DX Contest, PO Box
48, 11001 Beograd, Serbia. Find rules at:
http://www.yu1srs.org.yu/dl/yudx/yudxruleseng.html
May 27 - Florida QSO Party, email logs to: [email protected],
paper logs and diskettes to: Florida QSO Party, c/o Ron Wetjen,
WD4AHZ, 5362 Castleman Dr., Sarasota, FL 34232, USA. Find rules at:
http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/rules.html
May 27 - SP DX RTTY Contest, email logs to: [email protected], paper
logs and diskettes to: SPDX RTTY Contest Manager, Christopher
Ulatowski, Box 253, 81 - 963 Gdynia 1, Poland. Find rules at:
http://www.pkrvg.org/zbior.html
May 27 - 50 MHz Spring Sprint, email logs to:
[email protected], paper logs and diskettes to: 50 MHz
Spring Sprint, Steve Gilmore, W4SHG, 11 Ryan Way, Stafford, VA 22554,
USA. Find rules at: http://www.sysadnet.com/vhfsprintrules.htm
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. , All Rights
Reserved
