[GCARC] ARRL 10 Meter Contest Starts Tonight

[Ethan Yost]

Thank you for sharing, Tony.

KE2BEK and I enjoyed the 10 meter activity this afternoon with our QRP usdx
radio, EFHW, and Amazon lifepo battery (Bioenno, you will not take my
money.) It was our first time making contacts since we visited the GOTA
station at field day this year.

We made 3 QSOs from Colorado, 1 from Puerto Rico and finally, Brazil. These
were all surprising to us. The antenna was hanging vertically from a tree
branch on the peak of Mt. Holly. Hopefully I can figure out how to add a
couple points for W2MMD.

Good fun,

Ethan,

KE2AVA

On Fri, Dec 8, 2023 at 9:50 AM Tony Starr <tstarr1450 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
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