The highest of the HF bands will be the central operating focus of many amateurs in the ARRL 10 Meter Contest, December 11-12. During the event, many propagation modes will be available: Sporadic-E will help you work stateside stations, a touch of meteor scatter in the morning will give you split-second chances to work stations -- you’d better be quick, though! -- and DX stations could find their way into the log, thanks to some recent signs of life from the F-layer.

“Ten meters was open from the United States to Africa, Europe and South America during the CQ World Wide DX CW contest on the weekend of November 27,” said ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X. “Let’s see if those conditions remain for the second weekend in December.”

Single Operator entrants can use CW only, SSB only -- or a mixture of both. They can choose between High Power, Low Power (150 W or less) or QRP (5 W or less). Want to share the fun with your friends? Invite them over and enter in the Multioperator category.

US Novice and Technician class operators can get in on the fun, too. Both classes are permitted SSB operation between 28.3-28.5 MHz with 150 W. No antenna for 10 meters? A dipole for 28.4 MHz is about 16.5 feet long -- build it and get it up in the air as high as you possibly can. Kutzko said that it’s an easy construction project and you will work stations!

This year also introduces a new element to the contest: The addition of 32 Mexican states as multipliers. For a list of the Mexican states, download a free map provided by Grupo DXXE here. “This will no doubt add a new excitement to this long-standing ARRL contest,” Kutzko said.

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest runs from 0000 UTC Saturday, December 11 through 2359 UTC Sunday, December 12. Logs must be e-mailed or postmarked no later than 0000 UTC Wednesday, January 12, 2011. Paper logs should be sent to ARRL 10 Meter Contest, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111.