[nrv-hams] Fun on 10 meters

[Kay Craigie]

Every amateur radio licensee in the USA can operate on 10 meters, including
phone from 28.300 to 28.500 MHz. The ARRL's annual 10 Meter Contest will be
later this month starting at 0000 UTC on December 13 (that's 7 pm Friday
evening our local time) and ending at 2359 UTC on December 14. That's 6:59
PM local time Sunday evening. There have been some pretty good conditions on
10 meters recently, leading us to hope that it will be possible to work
stations outside the USA in the contest this year.

In this contest, everybody works everybody, and we can do it on phone, CW,
or both.

The exchange (what we send and receive) is easy for us in the USA. We send a
signal report (always 59 or 599) and our state. Stations in Canada and
Mexico will send a signal report and their province or state. Stations from
countries other than the USA, Canada, and Mexico will send a signal report
and a sequential serial number.

Of course if you don't plan to submit an entry, you don't have to log the
serial number -- just the basic QSO data in case you want to request a
confirmation.

Ten meters is a daytime band, but it's worth tuning around after dark to see
what might be out there. Sometimes I've been surprised.

Ten meters is my favorite HF band. When it's open, you can do a lot with 100
watts and a simple wire antenna. When it is not open, you can't do much with
the biggest, baddest station on the planet.

A good tip is to listen to how the experienced contesters keep their
contacts snappy. No excess verbiage. Unfortunately, some operators
apparently think that giving their call signs when they're calling CQ is
excess verbiage and so they don't ID very often. I sit there waiting for the
ID, only to find out that I already worked the station and have wasted my
time. When I call CQ, I take my cue from some of the world's most successful
contesters, who ID with every QSO. If you ever tune across, say, AA3B, K3WW,
or P40W (a.k.a. W2GD), listen to how they do it. What works for them will
work for us.

Have fun! 73 - Kay N3KN