[LeArc] ARRL Contest Rate Sheet 27 March 2002
Joseph L. Rossmiller
[email protected]
Wed, 27 Mar 2002 13:02:13 -0600
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ARRL Contest Rate Sheet
27 March 2002
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Edited by Ward Silver, N0AX
SUMMARY
o The inevitable errata section makes its debut
o Yaesu introduces new transceiver with special price through
31 March
o W5MYA -- Silent Key
o "Dancing with the Robot" by N6TR
Thanks for the feedback and encouragement! This issue's Tip of the
Week and our Conversation feature were contributed by your fellow
readers. Keep 'em coming!
BULLETINS
The SP DX Test (April 6 & 7) rules arrived too late for publication
in QST's "Contest Calendar". See the text below for complete rules
or check the ARRL Contest Calendar at http://www.arrl.org/contests.
BUSTED QSOS
It was going to happen sooner or later! With warm crow tastier than
cold, let's put the errata right up front, shall we? In the first
issue I neglected to acknowledge a valuable information source that I
use regularly -- Bruce Horn WA7BNM's Contest Calendar Web page. If
you haven't put http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/ on your list of
favorite sites, you should. A tip of the cap to Bruce! Other great
contest calendar sites include the ARRL Contest page
(http://www.arrl.org/contests/) and Jan SM3CER's Web site
(http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/). What's your favorite contest
calendar URL?
ANNOUNCEMENT & NOTICES FOR 27 MARCH TO 9 APRIL
Logs are due for the following contests:
o March 19 - ARRL Inter. DX Contest (CW) - email to [email protected],
paper logs to: DX CW Contest ARRL, 225 Main St., Newington, CT
06111 USA
o March 24 - SARL Field Day Contest -- no email, paper logs to:
SARL HF Field Day Contest Committee, c/o Dennis Green, ZS4BS,
PO Box 12104, Brandhof 9330, Republic of South Africa
o March 26 - UBA DX Contest (CW) - email to [email protected],
paper logs to: Michel Le Bon, ON4GO, UBA HF Contest Manager,
Chee de Wavre 1349, 1160 Bruxelles, Belgium
o March 26 - CQC Winter QSO Party - email to [email protected],
paper logs to: CQC Contest, POB 371883, Denver, CO 80237-1883 USA
o March 31 - New Hampshire QSO Party - email to [email protected],
paper logs to: NH-ARRL QSO Party, PO Box 119, Goffstown, NH
03045-0119 USA
o March 31 - Dutch PACC Contest - email to [email protected],
paper logs to: Ad van Tilborg, PA0ADT, Schepenenveld 141, 7327 DB
Apeldoorn, Netherlands
o March 31 - CQ 160-Meter Contest (SSB) - email to [email protected],
no paper logs, CQ has asked that all logs be e-mailed
o March 31 - UBA Spring Contest (CW) - email to [email protected], paper
logs to: Lode Kenens, ON6KL, Oudestraat 8, B-3560 Lummen, Belgium
o April 1 - North Carolina QSO Party - email to
[email protected], paper logs to: NC QSO Party, c/o N4VHK,
934 Franklin St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA
o April 1 - AGCW VHF/UHF Contest - email to [email protected],
paper logs to: Manfred Busch, DK7ZH, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Weg 6,
D-63069 Offenbach/Main, Germany
o April 2 - ARRL Inter. DX Contest (SSB) - email to
[email protected], paper logs to DX Phone Contest at ARRL HQ
(see above address)
o April 3 - Open Ukraine RTTY Championship- email to
[email protected], paper logs to: George Ignatov, UT1HT, P.O.
Box 87, Kremenchug-21 39621, Ukraine
o April 7 - High Speed Club CW Contest- no email, paper logs to:
Contest Manager Lutz Schroer, Am Niederfeld 6, D-35066
Frankenberg, Germany
o April 8 - RSGB Commonwealth Contest (CW) - email to
[email protected], paper logs to: RSGB-G3UFY, 77 Bensham
Manor Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 7AF, England
o April 8 - North American Sprint (RTTY) - email to
[email protected], paper logs to: Wayne Matlock, K7WM,
Rt 2, Box 102, Cibola, AZ 85328, USA
The following contests are scheduled:
CQ WW SSB WPX Contest, SSB, sponsored by CQ Magazine, from 0000Z Mar
30 to 2400Z Mar 31 (CW is May 26-27). Frequencies: all HF bands, work
stations once/band. Categories: SOAB, SOSB, SO-Assisted, -HP, LP,
and --QRP, MS (10-min rule), MM, SO-Rookie,
SO-Tribander-and-Single-Wire, SO-Band-Restricted. SO operate 36 hours
max with off times at least 60 min. Exchange: RS(T) + serial number.
QSO Points: w/different continents 3pts (14-28 MHz) and 6 pts (1.8-7
MHz); w/North America 2 pts (14-28 MHz) and 4 pts (1.8-7 MHz); w/own
country 1 pt. Multipliers: prefixes worked (ie, N8, KA1, HG73, JD1)
counted only once. Score: QSO points x multiplier. For more
information and instructions on paper logs -
http://home.woh.rr.com/wpx/. Logs must be emailed by May 10 (CW, Jul
10) to [email protected] ([email protected]).
Spring Lites QSO Party -- all modes -- sponsored by the Amateur Radio
Lighthouse Society from 0001Z Mar 29 through 2359Z Apr 7.
Frequencies: CW - 1830, 3530, 7030, 14.030, 18.070, 21.030, 28.030
MHz; SSB - 1970, 3970, 7270, 14.270, 18.145, 21.370, 28.370 MHz.
Exchange: ARLHS member/lighthouse number or year first licensed,
name, and SPC. Score: 1 pt/QSO except - 2 pts for ARLHS member, 3
pts for ARLHS lighthouse. For more information -
http://www.waterw.com/~weidner/arlhs/index.html. Logs must be mailed
by Apr 30 to Lee Graves, WA7OBH, 4341 SE Satinleaf Place, Stuart, FL
34997
144 MHz VHF Spring Sprint -- CW/SSB -- sponsored by the Eastern
Tennessee DX Association from 7-11 PM local time, 1 Apr; 222 MHz --
7-11 PM Apr 9. Fixed and Rover categories. Exchange is Grid Square
only, count 1 pt per QSO. Score is QSO Points x Grid Squares, score
each sprint separately. Rovers and Microwave sprints total all
points and all grids worked from each grid. For more information -
http://www.etdxa.org/vhf.htm. Logs must be emailed or postmarked
within 4 weeks of the contest to [email protected] or Jeff J
Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849 USA.
Missouri QSO Party -- CW/SSB -- sponsored by the Boeing Employees
Amateur Radio Society of St. Louis (BEARS) from 1800Z Apr 6 to 0500Z
Apr 7, and 1800Z Apr 7 to 2400Z Apr 7. Frequencies: CW - 40 kHz
from band edge and 1810 kHz; Phone - 1850, 3980, 7280, 14280, 21380,
28310 kHz, work MO stations once per band and mode. Categories:
Fixed and MO mobile/portable. Exchange: RST, serial number, and MO
county or ARRL/RAC Section. QSO Points: CW -- 2 pts, Phone 1 pt.
Score: MO stations -- QSO Points x Sections + MO counties + MO zones;
non-MO stations -- QSO Points x MO counties + MO zones. Multipliers
count once only, see web site for MO zone info. QSOs with W0MA count
add'l 100 points. For more information -- http://www.qsl.net/w0ma.
Logs must be emailed or postmarked by May 4 to [email protected]
or James L Kinser N0AJ, 2147 Encino Drive, Florissant, MO 63031-7627.
MARAC County Hunters Contest -- SSB - sponsored by The Mobile Amateur
Radio Awards Club from 0000Z Apr 6 to 2400Z April 7. Frequencies:
3880, 7240, 14275, 21340, 28340 kHz, work fixed stations once/band
and mobiles once for each county and band. Exchange: RST and county
or SPC. County line QSOs count as one QSO but separate multipliers.
QSO Points: Fixed stations in NA -- 1 point, Mobile/Portable -- 15
points, DX -- 5 pts, one station must be in a U.S. county. Score is
QSO Points x U.S. counties (count only once). Mobile/Portables sum
score from each state. For more information -
http://www.countyhunter.com. Logs must be postmarked by 10 May to
(U.S. Logs) Duane Traver, WV2B, 99 Oregon Hill Rd, Lisle, NY
13797-1002 or (Non U.S. Logs) Scott Nichols, VE1OP, 387 Rudderham
Rd., Point Edward, NS B2A 4V6, Canada.
EA RTTY Contest -- sponsored by the Union de Radioaficianados
Espanoles (U.R.E.) from 1600Z Apr 6 to 1600Z Apr 7. Frequencies: 10,
15, 20, 40 and 80 meters, according to IARU band plan; SOAB, SOSB,
MOAB, SWL categories. Exchange: RST and serial number or EA
Province. QSO Points: 10-20 meters: own continent -- 1 pt, diff.
cont. -- 2 pts.; 40-80 meters: own cont. -- 3 pts, diff cont. -- 6
pts. Score is QSO points x (DXCC entities + EA provinces +
W/VE/JA/VK call areas) counted once per band. If operating portable,
sign /call area. Logs must be emailed as ASCII text or Cabrillo
format or postmarked by May 10 to [email protected] or Antonio
Alcolado EA1MV, P.O.Box 240, E-09400 Aranda de Duero, (Burgos) Spain
46th Annual QCWA QSO Party -- CW/Digital/SSB -- sponsored by the
Quarter Century Wireless Association from 1900Z Apr 6 through 1900Z
April 7. Frequencies: CW - 1.910, 3.540, 7.035, 14.040, 21.050,
28.050 MHz; Phone - 1.910, 3.890, 7.244, 14.262, 21.365, 28.325 MHz
plus all VHF/UHF bands, no crossband or repeater QSOs. 15 QSOs with
each station maximum and only one QSO with stations in home QCWA
chapter. Exchange: Last two digits of year licensed and QCWA chapter
or SPC. QSO Points: Phone -- 1 pt., CW/Digital -- 2 pts. Score: QSO
Points x QCWA chapters + SPC counted once per band. W2MM counts as a
3-point multiplier on each band. For information and log sheets,
send SASE to QCWA HQ, 159 East 16th Ave., Eugene OR 97401-4017.
Send logs to W0HXL, Dick Newsome, 2924 North 48th Street, OMAHA NE
68104-3726, U.S.A.
SP DX Contest - CW/SSB - sponsored by the PZK Polish Amateur Radio
Union and the SP DX Club from 1500Z, April 6 to 1500Z April 7.
Frequencies: 1.8 to 28 MHz, according to the IARU Region I band plan,
no crossmode QSOs. Categories: SOAB and SOSB (CW, SSB, or Mixed), MS
Mixed (incl. nets, packet, Internet), SWL Mixed. Exchange: RS(T) and
serial number or Polish province letter abbreviation. QSO Points: 3
pts for each Polish contact, Polish stations count 3 pts outside EU,
1 pt for EU (no pts for SP-SP QSOs). Score is QSO points x provinces
(counted once per band and mode) or DXCC entities (for Polish
stations). For more information -
http://www.sp5zcc.waw.pl/spdxc/index.html or [email protected]. Logs
must be emailed (Cabrillo format preferred) or postmarked by 30 April
to [email protected] or to Polski Zwiazek Krotkofalowcow, SPDX
Contest Committee, PO Box 320, 00-950 Warszawa, POLAND.
NEWS & PRESS RELEASES
Possibly taking the record for the longest name ever of a ham radio,
Yaesu has introduced the (take a deep breath) Mark-V FT-1000MP Field
and is offering a special price through the end of the month. Check
with your favorite dealer for the details. This is a 100-watt
version of the popular Mark-V version. There is no truth to the
rumour that a waterproof version called the "Field & Stream" will be
introduced later.
KA8OKH has written up a set of .CRT and .MLT files for using NA
contest logging software in this summer's Kentucky QSO Party.
Download KYQSO.ZIP from - http://home1.gte.net/web22jfw/kyqso.htm.
(Thanks - Rich Dailey, KA8OKH)
For TR-LOG users, Jim N9JF has put together a set of .CFG and .DOM
for the upcoming Missouri QSO Party (April 6 - 7). Jim can be
reached via email at [email protected]. (Thanks, Jim N9JF)
Well-known contester and North Texas Contest Club member Mike
Badolato, W5MYA, passed away on Sunday, March 17, 2002, at age 62
from pneumonia following an operation and radiation treatments for
cancer. Mike was certainly a fixture in your editor's log and will be
missed. (Thanks, Conrad N5CR)
TECHNICAL & TECHNIQUE
Tip of the Week -- (Contributed by Tom, W4BQF) If you are running QRP
in a major contest, do your best to zero beat the station that you're
calling. Most 'running' stations are using a 500 Hz bandwidth or
less. If your signal is outside that narrow receiver bandwidth, most
likely the CQing station is not going to tune to copy a very weak
signal. Most 'run' operators can hear everything within their
bandwidth and will answer you, but seldom will they tune 400-800 Hz
outside their bandwidth to do so. (It is also a good idea to adjust a
kit or homebrew rig's transmit offset to be sure that it places your
signal at the right frequency for the receiving station. -- Ed.)
CONVERSATION
"Dancing with the Robot" by Tree N6TR, [email protected]
Today is an exciting time for those of us involved with log checking
and the generation of contest results. The Cabrillo log submission
standard has finally reached critical mass and has enabled the
development of automated processes to handle electronic contest logs.
These new processes promise to improve the quality and timeliness of
the results by greatly reducing human error. They enable instant
feedback on any problems with your entry instead of months of
waiting.
Trey Garlough, N5KO, developed one of the first log submission
"robots" and they are now being used for all of the ARRL contests,
the NCJ Sprint, some RTTY contests and a few others. This short
article will explain a little about how the robot works and what to
expect when you "dance with the robot".
When you e-mail your log, the robot will wake up and do a quick check
of your log's format and descriptive information. If your entry is
formatted correctly, the robot will send you a brief message
confirming your entry and assigning your log a tracking number. To
receive a response indicating no errors, your log must conform to the
Cabrillo format. Most logging programs will generate a
Cabrillo-formatted log. The only other thing you need to do is to put
your callsign in the subject of the message. ("N6TR CW Sweepstakes
Log")
The log is then stored and is only a mouse click away from being
transferred to the computer that will be used for log checking. If
you resubmit a log, it will overwrite the previous log.
The power of the robot becomes obvious if something is wrong with
your log. You will receive an instant e-mail response with a summary
of what the robot found wrong with your log. You can then make
whatever changes are necessary. You may resubmit the log as many
times as it takes to get the robot to find your log in order. Some
people have to dance with the robot 3 or 4 times before they have a
clean entry.
The robot will check the following items:
- Callsign must be present in the subject field
- CONTEST: statement in the Cabrillo header must match the contest
for that particular robot.
- CATEGORY: information must match legal entry categories for
the contest.
- QSO: the exchange information appears to have the correct formats
and values
- QSO: the times and dates are during the contest period.
Having these items verified to be correctly formatted greatly reduces
the amount of effort required to start the log checking process.
Also, standardizing on the Cabrillo format is making it much easier
to extract information such as guest operators and clubs from the
logs. By reducing the amount of "human glue" required to process the
logs, the opportunity for mistakes is greatly reduced. Note that
the robot does not perform any log checking or verify the correctness
of any logged information.
So - a BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have willingly danced with the
robot and kept with it until the robot was happy. As the kinks get
worked out with the logging program authors, this new process will
become something we do without even thinking about how it used to be
done in the old days. Even TR-Log had problems with some of the
recent contests, so your feedback and forbearance are very important.
While dancing with the robot, if you have a problem you can't
resolve, there is an e-mail address of a human you can contact to
work on the issue. Please feel free to use this if you get
frustrated. Not all of the robots have been perfected yet. Over the
next year or two, we will be working hard to perfect them - so your
feedback is important.
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THE ARRL CONTEST RATE SHEET is published every other Wednesday (26
times each year), by the American Radio Relay League--The National
Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel
860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Editor: Ward Silver, N0AX.
The ARRL Contest Rate Sheet offers a useful source of timely
information for both the active and casual contester. The Rate Sheet
includes information about events during the following two-week period,
time-sensitive news items, upcoming deadlines, and other news of
interest to contesters.
For permission to quote or reprint material from the ARRL Contest Rate
Sheet, send a request including the issue date, a description of the
material requested, and a description of where you intend to use the
reprinted material to the ARRL Editorial & Production Department:
[email protected].
Editorial questions or comments: Ward Silver, N0AX, [email protected]
Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!):
[email protected]
The ARRL Contest Rate Sheet is available to ARRL members via email free
of charge directly from ARRL HQ. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change
your address for e-mail delivery:
ARRL members first must register on the Members Only Web Site,
http://www.arrl.org/members/. You'll have an opportunity during
registration to sign up for e-mail delivery of the ARRL Contest Rate
Sheet, W1AW bulletins, and other material. ARRL members may subscribe
to the ARRL Contest Rate Sheet by going to the Member Data Page at:
http://www.arrl.org/members-only/memdata.html?modify=1 Note that you
must be logged in to the site to access this page. Scroll down to the
section "Which of the following would you like to receive automatically
via email from ARRL?" Check the box for "ARRL Contest Rate Sheet
(biweekly contest newsletter)" and you're all set. Past issues of the
ARRL Contest Rate Sheet are available at
http://www.arrl.org/rate-sheet/. Issues are posted to this page after
publication.
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