[GCARC] ARRL 10 Meter Contest Starts Tonight

[Tony Starr]

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest

If you have always wanted to try your hand at operating a contest, but did
not know where to start, the ARRL 10M Contest is a good choice,
particularly when propagation is good. You don't need high power, or a big
antenna, to do well on 10 meters, and the greater majority of your contacts
will be in North America, so you should have very little problems with
hearing weak signals.  The contest is dual mode or single mode, CW and/or
SSB, your choice. The exchange is simple, just a signal report and your
state, though DX stations will be sending a serial number, so be prepared
to copy it, and anyone can work anyone, unlike the ARRL DX contests. You
may contact a station once per mode, and multipliers also count once per
mode.  Phone contacts are 2 points each, and CW contacts are 4, and as
such, there is likely to be more activity on CW, so if you can copy even a
little bit (or have a coder reader), you should give CW a try. Activity is
likely to be much higher in the daytime than at night, due to the
propagation characteristics of the 10M band. I have been hearing Europe
coming through every morning this week, usually between the hours of 8 AM
and 11 AM, give or take, so if you can only do a couple of hours a day, and
want to work some DX, do it before lunch time. South America should be good
late in the afternoon until just after our sunset, and the possibility to
work JA and other Asian stations during this same time period certainly
should not be ruled out. You will also have a great opportunity to fill in
some blanks for your 10M WAS, if that award is what you seek.

The contest starts tonight at 0000z, that's 7 PM local time, and continues
for 48 hours until Sunday. Any station can work up to 36 hours of that
period, and off times must be 30 minutes or more.  A simple CB antenna like
the IMAX 2000 or A99 can be pretty effective, and 100 watts can go a long
way on 10m. If you don't have a home station, the W2MMD clubhouse station
may be available for use after the Tech Saturday event. At this point in
the sunspot cycle, the 10M band is doing pretty well, but in a few more
years, it is likely to peak and then go into a long decline, becoming more
like a VHF band, so if you have a desire to work new states or countries on
10, do not delay, or you may miss your window. It took me nearly 5 years to
work 10M DXCC during the period between 2015 and 2020, and now I can
routinely do it in one weekend of a major DX contest. Yes, the difference
is that extreme. As I said, don't put it off, get on there now and work
what you can. I hope to work many of you this weekend in your first 10M
contest. Until then, 73.

de K3TS