[nrv-hams] Big DX next weekend

[Kay Craigie]

Next weekend is one of the major DX phone contests of the year, the CQ World
Wide DX Contest.  It brings DX stations on the air from all over the world.
If you want to work some nice DX, here's your chance, and a lot of them will
QSL via the bureau.

The contest starts at 0000 UTC on October 27 - that's 8 PM Friday night,
October 26, in our time zone, and runs until 2400 UTC on October 28 - which
is 8 PM Sunday night in our time zone.

I do not especially recommend getting on the air on Friday night unless you
have some experience in contesting.  It's absolute bedlam as the big guns
start up their operations with a bang.  Try it if you want to, but don't
become frustrated and give up on the whole thing if you don't make many
contacts.  When I was a contest club member, I always had very low
expectations for Friday night because despite decent skills, I just wasn't
loud enough to make very many QSOs.  Saturday and Sunday are a different
story for those of us with modest stations. We can work the DX and have a
lot of fun.

The exchange (what we send and receive) is a signal report (always 59) and
the CQ zone.  CQ magazine has divided the world into 40 zones.  A map of the
zones is posted at http://www.cqww.com/resources.htm.

Virginia is in CQ zone 5.  If I work G4BUO in England, I will say my
exchange as "Five nine oh five" or "Five nine five."  G4BUO will say "Five
nine one four" because England is in CQ zone 14. 
 
If you aren't keeping score, you don't have to log the zones, but it's fun
to start learning what parts of the world are in which CQ zones.  There is
an award for confirming all 40 CQ zones, and it is harder to earn than DXCC
by a long shot.

Avoid working USA states other than Alaska and Hawaii.  Working Canadian
stations is fine, as is working Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and
the rest of the planet.  We can work each station once per band.  

The idea of the contest is to work both DX countries and CQ zones. The
scoring is complicated and you probably don't want to know all the ins and
outs.  Let's just say I'm glad I didn't do this contest seriously until
after logging software was invented to do the math for me.

Here are some phone contest operating tips.  First, keep it short.
Top-notch phone contesters use the minimum number of words required to make
the contact.  You won't hear them say things like "N3KN, you are five nine
one four" or "N3KN, thank you, please copy my five nine one four."  It's
just "N3KN five nine one four."
 
Another tip:  If the other operator gets your call sign wrong, don't send
your exchange until you get him to acknowledge your correct call sign. I am
N3KN, not K3KN or N3AN.  If he wants a valid QSO in his log, he will get my
call sign right so I'll send my exchange.  Or he'll give up on me and call
CQ again.  Oh well.

Finally, use standard phonetics or something along those lines, not cutesy
phonetics that might get a chuckle on the repeater.  The DX operators won't
get the joke and we may not get in the log.  Carter N3AO sometimes has to
use "Atlantic Ocean" or "America Ontario" if "Alpha Oscar" isn't getting
through, but he would not use, for example, "Appalachian Ostrich" or
"Alligator Operator."

Have fun on the air! 73 - Kay N3KN