[SFDXA] The ARRL Contest Update for October 10, 2012

Wed Oct 10 08:44:19 EDT 2012

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The ARRL Contest Update

October 10, 2012
Editor: Ward Silver, NØAX <mailto:rate-sheet at arrl.org>
/Contest Update/ Archive <http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/>
Contest Calendar <http://www.arrl.org/contests/calendar.html>
ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/>
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IN THIS ISSUE

  * A Baker's Half-Dozen Sprints
    <#Contests>
  * Battleground States - AZ, PA, IA, NY, IL QSO Parties <#Contests>
  * K5ZD Named CQ WW Director <#News>
  * New CW Trainer by Alex VE3NEA <#Newsweek>
  * One H of a Frame <#Sights>
  * August NAQP SSB Prelims Are Out <#Results>
  * Differences for the Discerning <#Tech>
  * Amazing NASA Sensors <#Techweek>
  * Between You and Me <#Conversation>

NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO

Wow - LOTS of things to do on HF in October. This month is one of the 
busiest contest months - why? Because early fall conditions on HF are 
generally quite good compared to summer and winter. No matter what your 
tastes - phone, code, or digital - there are multiple contests going on 
for the next couple of weeks, followed the Big Fall Four: CQ WW SSB, 
ARRL Sweepstakes (CW then Phone), and CQ WW CW.

BULLETINS

The 5-day log submittal deadline for all CQ Contests was announced after 
the 2012 CQ WW RTTY Contest Rules were published in the July 2012 issue 
of CQ magazine. Those published rules gave 15 October 2012 as the log 
deadline. Accordingly, logs will not be considered late for this event 
until after 15 October. (Thanks, CQ WW RTTY Director, Ed WØYK)

Take some time out of your days for students and scouts getting a taste 
of radio. The ARRL School Club Roundup 
<http://www.arrl.org/school-club-roundup-scr>(Oct 15-19) and the annual 
Jamboree On the Air 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/scouts-and-scouters-take-to-the-airwaves-for-the-55th-jamboree-on-the-air> 
(Oct 20-21) are coming up - make a few QSOs and meet some future hams!

BUSTED QSOS

Egregious errors were avoided in the previous issue.

CONTEST SUMMARY

Complete information <#Contests> for all contests follows the 
Conversation <#Conversation> section

*October 13-14*

  * School Club Roundup (Oct 15-19)
  * North American RTTY Sprint
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * 10-10 Sprint (Oct 10)
  * NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW (Oct 10)
  * CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test (Oct 10)
  * Great Pumpkin Sprint--Digital
  * Makrothen RTTY Contest
  * Oceania DX CW Contest
  * Scandinavian Activity Contest--Phone
  * QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party--CW
  * Arizona Centennial QSO Party
  * EU Autumn Sprint--CW
  * Pennsylvania QSO Party
  * FISTS Fall Sprint--CW
  * SKCC Weekend Sprintathon--CW

*Oct 20-21*

  * Arucaria VHF Contest
  * JARTS WW RTTY Contest
  * 10-10 Fall CW QSO Party
  * Scandinavian YLRA Contest
  * Iowa QSO Party
  * New York QSO Party
  * Worked All Germany
  * Stew Perry Warmup Contest--CW
  * W/VE Islands QSO Party
  * Telephone Pioneer QSO Party
  * Spooky Feld-Hell Sprint
  * Asia-Pacific Sprint--CW
  * Illinois QSO Party
  * Run For the Bacon--CW (Oct 22)

NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST

With the CQ Worldwide SSB contest looming (Oct 27-28), /CQ Magazine/ 
<http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com> publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA wasted no 
time, naming Randy Thompson, K5ZD as the new Director of the CQ World 
Wide DX Contests <http://cqww.com> (RTTY, SSB, and CW), succeeding Bob 
Cox, K3EST who stepped down after 35 years. Your editor is greatly 
pleased to see such a wise choice - thank you, Randy! Since 2008, he has 
been Director of the CQ WPX Contest program, making many necessary 
updates to that contest program's log checking and administration. As 
other top contesters know, Randy is an excellent operator and member of 
the CQ Contest Hall of Fame, holding a number of records and 
representing the United States four times in the World Radiosport Team 
Championship. Randy is also a co-chair of WRTC-2014 
<http://www.wrtc2014.org> - a busy guy! In the CQ press release, Randy 
is quoted, "The CQ WW is the biggest event on the contest calendar (and) 
I am honored to be involved and follow in the giant footsteps of K3EST. 
With the great conditions we are seeing on the bands, this year should 
be the biggest CQ WW ever! The first order of business is to have the 
team ready for the new 5-day log deadline and faster results reporting." 
His appointment to the directorship of the CQ WW creates a vacancy for 
Director of the CQ WPX Contests. Anyone interested in taking on the 
challenge of leading a major contest should contact Randy at 
k5zd at cqwpx.com <mailto:k5zd at cqwpx.com>.

MFJ Enterprises recently celebrated its 40th birthday 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/mfj-s-martin-f-jue-k5flu-honored-at-arrl-day-in-the-park> 
- like me, did you once an MFJ audio CW filter, their first product? 
Founder Martin Jue, K5FLU is shown here being awarded a Special 
Appreciation plaque by ARRL COO, Harold Kramer, WJ1B as Mississippi SM, 
Mal Keown W5XX holds the plaque. (Photo by Tom W5KUB and Kathy Medlin)

The World Wide Radio Operators Foundation <http://wwrof.org> (WWROF) is 
sponsoring a free webinar 
<https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/415191514> on Oct 21 at 1900 Z; 
"CQ WW Update 2012", hosted by - who else? - but its new Director, K5ZD. 
The webinar will provide an update on the status of the contest 
including new rules for 2012, log entry tips, fair play, and various 
other topics of interest. Questions will be taken following the 
presentation. (Thanks, Ken K4ZW)

The Young Amateur Contest Ham Team 
<http://yachthams.webstarts.com/about.html> featured in the latest 
Youth at HamRadio.Fun 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/youth-hamradio-fun-the-young-amateurs-contest-ham-team> 
column by Sterling, NØSSC looks like fun for new hams. The group has 
nearly 80 members from around the world and more than 20 mentors 
assisting them. They have a weekly Echolink net so everyone can 
participate and membership is free, so encourage your young contester to 
get on-board!

Bob KØRC has posted an updated CQWW RTTY Log Analyzer 
<http://tinyurl.com/7xjxypc> for download. The new version will import 
up to 3,000 QSOs. If your log is larger, send Bob an email to request a 
High Capacity version.

More software tools! - Jim W7EJ/CN2R has added new features and updated 
his Log QSO <http://logqso.com/> contest log analyzer web application. 
All CQ WW contest results from 1991 through 2011 can be viewed - the 
logs are the public logs posted by the CQ WW committee. There are 
several videos that describe how to use the tool - for example, you can 
compare the scores of up to three different stations on an hour-by-hour 
basis (as well as other time scales). This is a web-based application 
and runs on the most common Internet browsers. (Thanks, Steve N2IC)

The EU Sprint committee reports problems getting the web site updated 
with recent results but wants to confirm that the Autumn EU Sprint 
<http://www.eu-sprint.com/> contests will take place as usual, starting 
with the phone contest this coming Saturday. The committee (G4BUO and 
RW3FO) are looking for another European contester to help manage and 
promote the contest - please contact G4BUO <mailto:dave at g4buo.com> directly.

CQ WW RTTY Contest <http://www.cqwpxrtty.com/> Director, Ed WØYK notes 
that, "It is apparent that many people do not read the robot email reply 
they receive. At the bottom of that email, the robot lists the format 
errors in the log. If you don't understand what the robot is telling 
you, then simply compare that specific QSO line with the format 
specified on the Logs webpage. The problem should be obvious." Be sure 
to configure your logging software to output your information in the 
right order as shown on the contest's "Logs" web page. (There is a known 
problem with MixW omitting the QTH field from the output Cabrillo file - 
see the Logs webpage for a workaround.) Ed reminds everyone that "you 
can easily edit your Cabrillo file with a text editor. Since is it 
common to add, change or move the same parameter field in every QSO 
line, a column editor is invaluable. I recommend the freeware Crimson 
Editor."

This 1928 QSL is from a much older Japanese station than FITSAT-1. JXIX 
- no number - is confirming a QSO with West Coast station NU-6CII. 
(Image courtesy K7SS)

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's FITSAT-1 
<http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/05/FITSAT-1-launched-from-ISS/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews> 
- what's it saying up there? One of the recently launched CubeSats from 
Japan is covered in high-power LEDs and will be blinking out the message 
"HI THIS IS NIWAKA JAPAN" in Morse code as it orbits the Earth. No word 
was available at press time on whether the message changes to "HERE I 
COME NIWAKA JAPAN" as it de-orbits. (Thanks, Ken K6LA and Paul WB2ABD)

The popular AO-27 <http://www.ao27.org/AO27/index.shtml> FM satellite is 
currently off-line. The end-of-transmit cycle AFSK packet telemetry 
beacon was reported to have become stuck on a single tone. The control 
team now has the satellite running in a maintenance mode and is trying 
to determine what happened. The latest AO-27 news is posted on its 
webpage. (Thanks, AMSAT <http://amsat.org/> Bulletin ANS-281)

Bernie W3UR asks that anyone who is doing a contest expedition and wants 
to announce it to please send the details to /The Daily DX 
<http://www.dailydx.com/>/. Please include dates, the contest name, 
operator(s), bands, modes, and QSL instructions along with any other 
details. It should also be noted that Bill NG3K also runs an online 
website for contest operation announcements <http://ng3k.com/Contest/> 
for some of the larger contests.

*Web Site of the Week* - The creator of CW Skimmer, Alex VE3NEA, has 
come out with a new and interesting freeware CW practice tool. Pileup 
Runner <http://www.dxatlas.com/PileupRunner> is a simulator of DX 
pileups. Currently at the beta-testing stage, it is intended for the 
DXpedition operators and those who are curious how the pileup looks and 
sounds at the DX side. Compared to his popular contest simulator, Morse 
Runner, Pileup Runner has an extra dimension: frequency. In this program 
just working the callers is not enough. To be successful, you also have 
to tune your receiver through the pileup in a smart way. (Thanks, Ed 
AI6O and Dennis N6KI)

WORD TO THE WISE

/*90 minutes*/ - this is the length of a typical human sleep cycle from 
the first loss of consciousness, through rapid-eye-movement (REM) deep 
sleep, and back to shallow sleep. Timing your contest naps to last for 
about 90 minutes avoids the grogginess of being awakened mid-cycle. This 
eham.net article <http://www.contesting.com/articles/37> by K5ZD goes in 
to some detail about how to manage those all-important mid-contest Zs - 
and we're not talking about South Africa!

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Here's something that is both a sight AND a sound - Tonno ES5TV has 
finally completed his 5-year project of building a double H-frame 15 
meter antenna array <http://pontu.eenet.ee/es5tv/>. The antenna system 
has 8 pairs of 5-element Optibeam OB5-15 monoband Yagis, separated by 12 
meters horizontally and 14 meters vertically, with the highest at 64 
meters above the ground. Are there any bigger 15 meter arrays out there? 
Tonno is now trying 15 meter EME (no kidding!) but will have to wait 
when the MUF is low enough for the ionosphere to pass 21 MHz signals.

"They call me the tumblin' dice..." These must have been tossed pretty 
hard - they are three of the CubeSats released on July 21st from the 
ISS. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

The photo at right is of five CubeSats launched on July 21^st from the 
ISS by the J-SSOD small satellite deployer on the Japanese Experiment 
Module, also known as Kibo. It looks like Kibo has rolled some lucky 
numbers! SpaceRef has posted an article 
<http://spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=42238> online including 
several more photographs. CubeSats often use Amateur Radio telemetry 
links - check with the satellite teams if your reception reports might 
be useful! (From AMSAT <http://amsat.org/> Bulletin ANS-281)

Here is just the thing for the living room wall - an FCC map of ground 
conductivity 
<http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/m3-map-effective-ground-conductivity-united-states-wall-sized-map-am-broadcast-stations> 
around the United States. A guaranteed conversation starter!

Although it is true that while in space, no one can hear you scream 
(from the movie /Alien/), you can translate the various fields and 
phenomena into tones as the Sounds of Earthsong 
<http://www.redorbit.com/news/video/space_2/1112704024/sciencecasts-the-sound-of-earthsong-2/> 
does for the radio emissions coming from Earth. I wonder what it sounds 
like after a big DX contest starts at 0000 UTC? (Thanks, Gary NØGL)

Those readers who have been around technical endeavors for "a while" 
will enjoy this online slide show presenting the slide rule collection 
<http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4396854/Slideshow--Slide-rules-and-charts---a-personal-collection?cid=EDNToday> 
of Mort Hans from EDN magazine. There are a few electronic-themed 
gadgets in there for you to find! Any problem that can be broken down or 
transformed into a series of additions and subtractions can be made into 
a slide rule as these widely varied "linear calculators" illustrate.

RESULTS AND RECORDS

The preliminary August NAQP SSB results 
<http://www.ncjweb.com/naqpssbprelim.php> are now posted on the NCJ 
website. Questions about the results or the North American QSO Party SSB 
contest can be directed to that contest's manager, Bill ACØW 
<mailto:ssbnaqpmgr at ncjweb.com>.

Certificates for the 2011 ARRL Phone Sweepstakes went out the door today 
and the 2011 Sweepstakes plaques are being processed later this week. 
(Thanks, ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X)

Outgoing CQ WPX Director <mailto:director at cqwpx.com> K5ZD announces that 
Log Check Reports for all entrants to the 2012 WPX CW Contest are now 
available. An email with a link to the Log Check Report has been sent to 
everyone who submitted a log. The emails include a private link to the 
report file. If you submitted a log and did not receive an email, you 
might want to check your junk mail folder. You may also request your 
report directly. A deeper level of log checking than ever before was 
performed this year. There were 22,107 QSOs with unique callsigns among 
the 2,835,110 QSOs. 83.8% of those unique QSOs were determined to be 
incorrect. The median score reduction was 9.4%. WPX is usually a little 
higher than other contests since many busted calls create prefix 
multipliers. The official results will appear in the March 2013 issue of 
/CQ Magazine <http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/>/ and on the CQ WPX 
Contest <http://www.cqwpx.com/> website.

Here's another Ontari-an looking forward to the upcoming Sweepstakes - 
Mike VE3GFN will be busy putting GTA in as many logs as he can! (Photo 
by VE3GFN)

The DX results of the 2012 ARI International DX Contest 
<http://www.ari.it/images/stories/ContestHF/ARIDX-2012-DX-RESULTS.pdf> 
are now available as a PDF file on the ARI <http://www.ari.it/> contest 
website. (Thanks, ARI HF Contest Manager, Bob I2WIJ)

Results for the 16th annual Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge 
<http://www.kkn.net/stew/> are now posted as well as those for the 
"Summer Stew". Look for a "fun story" in the results this year and don't 
forget about the upcoming opportunity to "warm up your stew" on October 
20-21. (Thanks, Tree N6TR)

New Jersey QRP Club Skeeter Hunt Results <http://www.qsl.net/w2lj/> for 
2012 are now online along with all of the soapbox comments. (Thanks, 
Larry W2LJ)

Dink N7WA is busily compiling the Soapbox comments 
<http://www.eskimo.com/%7Emwdink/3830/> from this season's contest 
scores submitted via the 3830 website. He's starting out with the CQ WW 
RTTY and Texas QSO Parties - don't miss 'em!

OPERATING TIP

When you configure your logging software, pay particular attention to 
your category - any connection to the Internet for spotting information 
requires you to enter as Assisted or Unlimited. Don't be embarrassed by 
mistakenly entering the wrong category! Recognizing that most casual 
participants do enter in the Assisted and Unlimited categories, the 
popular N1MM contest logging software 
<http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php> now uses Single-Op Assisted as 
its default category.

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TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

Here is a very interesting article 
<http://pvrc.org/Newsletters/oct12.pdf> by Dave AB7E about minimum 
discernable signal differences. He has also generated audio files with 
different levels, combinations of CW tones, and sending speeds that can 
be downloaded and played back for you to test your own listening ability.

How high is that tower? Here are two methods. K1TO's looks down and 
N2NL/KH2's looks up:

_Looking down on a sunny day_:

Measure the shadow of the tower, D1. Stick a straight rod or tube with a 
height H2 into the ground. Find the length of its shadow, D2. Tower 
height, H1 = (H2/D2) * D1. The longer H2 is, the more accurate the 
method will be.

_The/Boy Scout method/, looking up_:

Back away from the tower with your arm held straight out until you can 
stick up your thumb and place its tip at the top and base at the bottom. 
Turn your thumb sideways so that the base is still at the bottom and the 
tip is on the ground. From the spot on the ground just covered by the 
tip of your thumb, measure to the tower base to find the tower height.

For complete directions about transient protection with good 
explanations, Jim W6RMK recommends Ronald Standler's book /Transient 
Protection of Electronic Circuits/ from Dover Publishing. The book 
includes both theory and cookbook "what do you do in situation X" 
instructions. As Jim points out, doing the "right thing" is no more 
difficult than the "wrong thing" (and he has lots of examples of poor 
design from a transient damage standpoint). Dover Publishing has 
reprinted lots of old technical books that still contain much valuable 
information at a much lower cost than a brand-new text.

Here's one of the 6 meter propagation maps that W3CMF uses in his 
/Cheesebits/ article. These maps are created by the ON4KST DX Maps 
<http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php> website.

The October 2012 issue of "Cheesebits 
<http://www.packratvhf.com/news.htm>", the Packrat VHF Society's 
newsletter, has a nice article on 6 meter propagation by Chris W3CMF. It 
features several interesting maps of contacts from the popular DX Maps 
<http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php> website run by ON4KST. The article 
illustrates some surprising September auroral propagation as well as 
Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) that is quite rare here in North America.

The Koolau Amateur Radio Club's Field Day team needed an antenna tuner 
design aimed at high-impedance, end-fed half-wave vertical dipoles. 
After some study, they came up with this L network design 
<http://www.karc.net/OperatingEvents/FieldDay/TunerBOM.html> and a 
detailed set of building instructions including a detailed bill of 
materials and parts sources.

Brad AA1IP shows us where tube design lives on in QRP homebrewer 
Kazuhiro JA1OZL's inspired website collection of tube circuits 
<http://www.intio.or.jp/jf10zl/>. There is everything from audio 
amplifiers, to linear amplifiers, to complete radio receivers and 
transmitters. He also includes some solid-state designs along with the 
"hollow state". By the way, Brad just managed to span the Atlantic with 
a QRPP radio modeled on the 10 mW Vanguard satellite beacon from 1958, 
using an original PNP transistor from that era! (Thanks, Brad AA1IP)

Here's thought-provoking article with parallels to radiosport - "A Study 
of the Performance of Wireless Sensor Networks Operating with Smart 
Antennas" by Skiani, Mitillineos, and Thomopoulos in /IEEE Antennas and 
Propagtation Magazine <http://www.ieeeaps.org/magazine.html%20>, /June 
2012. If you replace "wireless sensor networks" with "radio contest 
stations" and "smart antennas" with "directional antennas" the 
discussion reminds me very much of how we use directional antennas to 
minimize interference and maximize rate. The cognitive radio folks might 
want to listen to the ham bands during the current contest season!

ES5TV isn't the only one putting up big stacks! The Grid Pirates K8GP 
have a 16-high stack of 5-element 2 meter Yagis for each of three 
directions. There is also a 4-high for one more direction and a pair of 
rotating beams at the very top - 200 feet! (Photo courtesy K8GP)

This Electronic Design article on A/D converters 
<http://electronicdesign.com/article/analog-and-mixed-signal/relate-adc-topologies-performance-applications-74420> 
is a very good overview of available types, how they work, and for what 
applications they are the most suited. With so much of radio depending 
on these ICs, it's important to understand their basic operation.

*Technical Web Site of the Week* - Nothing NASA measures is done "up 
close" as shown by this EDN collection that describes many of NASA's 
amazing sensors 
<http://www.edn.com/design/sensors/4397296/Slideshow--NASA-s-incredible-unsung-sensors?cid=EDNToday>. 
There is certainly more to NASA spinoffs than "Tang" and the ball-point 
pen! Remote sensing is important for the ham and non-ham alike.

CONVERSATION

Between You and Me

The definition of ethics is sometimes stated as "what you do when you 
think no one is watching." Given that most of what contesters do is done 
in our shacks with the door closed, ethics is mighty important to 
radiosport. I can think of no other sporting event in which all of the 
competitors do their work in private (or as private teams) then submit 
the results as a written log of activity for adjudication. This 
effectively doubles down on the ethical requirements for each and every 
contester.

That's also why it is so maddening when a few people - by all accounts a 
very small fraction of us - toss ethics aside in pursuit of a 
certificate or plaque or just their call sign printed in a magazine or 
web article. That's also why the selection of K5ZD is such a good choice 
for CQ WW Contest Director. Randy's contesting history, his CQ Hall of 
Fame selection, his world records, his tenure as CQ WPX Director, his 
continuous leadership in the area of contest ethics - all make it clear 
that ethics in radiosport will be at the top of his CQ WW agenda.

Not to say that ethics did not have a place at the table in prior years 
- not at all! Under K3EST, major advances in log checking and 
adjudication - completely invisible to most contesters - were 
implemented and applied. The game was changed forever as higher and 
higher fractions of the claimed QSOs were submitted to rigorous 
cross-checking. No more could someone sloppily run through a pileup or 
"work the callbook" and expect to get away with it. Order-of-finish has 
never been of higher quality and as I said in the previous issue, we owe 
K3EST a debt of gratitude for taking numerous arrows on our behalf.

Not to say, either, that the Contest Police will suddenly be dispatched 
to ride forth from their barracks, knocking on those closed shack doors 
in the middle of the night, armed with power meters and web cams, taking 
loads of color glossy 8x10 photographs with circles and arrows for the 
judges. No, contesting will probably take place much as it has for the 
past fifty years...except...

Except in the shacks of some of the more obnoxious cheaters who think 
they may be fooling the contest sponsors. They aren't. It won't take a 
great deal more enforcement to help the folks having a hard time staying 
on the right side of the ethics fence make good decisions and for the 
bad eggs to find another outlet for their competitive energies. Shorter 
log deadlines are just one of the ways to improve contest results 
quality. The continuous development of better and more intelligent 
software tools is another.

Contest committees and sponsors have more ways of inspecting logs, too. 
Given the ubiquity of cheap storage and bandwidth, why, anybody - not 
just a log-checker - can soon expect to be able to listen to any contact 
at any time during a past contest. What now has to be inferred with a 
certain degree of uncertainty will then be directly observable. Won't 
that be interesting? Yes, by golly, it will!

This is a perfect example of how contesting furthers the advancement of 
the radio and communications arts, isn't it? Contesting is also unique 
in sport that competitors are also partners in each other's success. To 
score, we have to give each other points. I have to hand off the baton 
to you so that you can hand it back off to me. I like that aspect of 
contesting and I like the renewed emphasis on contesting ethics, the 
story of what happens between you and me.

73, Ward NØAX

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CONTESTS

*10 Oct through 23 Oct 2012*

An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format 
<http://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar> is available. Check the sponsor's 
Web site for information on operating time restrictions and other 
instructions.

*HF CONTESTS*

School Club Roundup--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 15, 1300Z to Oct 19, 
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: RST, class and S/P/C. Logs 
due: 30 days. Rules <http://www.arrl.org/school-club-roundup-scr>

North American RTTY Sprint--Digital, from Oct 14, 0000Z to Oct 14, 
0400Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: Both call signs, serial, QTH, 
name. Logs due: 7 days. Rules <http://www.ncjweb.com/>

10-10 Sprint--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 10, 0001Z to Oct 10, 2359Z. 
Bands (MHz): 28. Exchange: Call, name, 10-10 number, S/P/C. Logs due: 
Oct 25. Rules <http://www.ten-ten.org/>

NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW, from Oct 10, 0030Z to Oct 10, 0230Z. Bands 
(MHz): 3.5-14. Monthly on 2nd Tuesday or 3rd Wednesday local time 
(alternating). Exchange: RST, S/P/C, and NAQCC mbr nr or power. Logs 
due: 4 days. Rules <http://naqcc.info/>

CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test--CW, from Oct 10, 1300Z - See website, 
multiple operating periods, twice monthly on 2nd and 4th Wed. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28. Frequencies (MHz): 18 to 28 kHz above band edge. 
Exchange: Name and member number or S/P/C. Logs due: 2 days. Rules 
<http://www.cwops.org/onair.html>

Great Pumpkin Sprint--Digital, from Oct 13, 8 PM to Oct 13, 2 AM. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8. Exchange: RST and S/P/C. Logs due: 2 weeks. Rules 
<http://www.podxs070.com/>

Makrothen RTTY Contest--Digital, from Oct 13, 0000Z to Oct 14, 1600Z. 
Multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: 4-character 
grid square. Logs due: Nov 15. Rules <http://home.arcor.de/waldemar.kebsch>

Oceania DX CW Contest--CW, from Oct 13, 0800Z to Oct 14, 0800Z. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RST and serial. Logs due: Nov 12. Rules 
<http://www.oceaniadxcontest.com/>

Scandinavian Activity Contest--Phone, from Oct 13, 1200Z to Oct 14, 
1200Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RS and serial. Logs due: 2 weeks. 
Rules <http://www.sactest.net/>

QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party--CW, from Oct 13, 1200Z to Oct 14, 2359Z. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RS(T), S/P/C, QRP ARCI number or pwr. Logs due: 
14 days. Rules <http://www.qrparci.org/contests>

Arizona Centennial QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 13, 1600Z - see 
website, multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28, 50, 144, 
Frequencies (MHz): CW-1.812, 3.548, 7.048, 14.048, 21.048, 28.048, 
50.048; SSB-1.848, 3.848, 7.189, 14.248, 21.348, 28.448, 50.148, 146.48. 
Exchange: Name and S/P/C or Year and AZ county. Logs due: Oct 31. Rules 
<http://www.azqsoparty.org/>

EU Autumn Sprint--CW, from Oct 13, 1600Z to Oct 13, 2000Z. Bands (MHz): 
3.5-14. Exchange: Both call signs, serial, name. Logs due: 15 days. 
Rules <http://www.eu-sprint.com/>

Pennsylvania QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 13, 1600Z - see 
website. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50,144, Frequencies (MHz): CW--40 kHz 
above band edge and 1.810; SSB--1.850, 3.825, 7.200, 14.280, 21.380, 
28.480. Exchange: Serial and ARRL/RAC section. Logs due: Nov 14. Rules 
<http://www.nittany-arc.net/>

FISTS Fall Sprint--CW, from Oct 13, 1700Z to Oct 13, 2100Z. Bands (MHz): 
3.5-28. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, name, FISTS number or pwr. Logs due: 30 
days. Rules <http://www.fists.org/>

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon--CW, from Oct 14, 0000Z to Oct 14, 2359Z. 
Monthly on the second Saturday local time. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. 
Exchange: RST, QTH, name, SKCC nr or "none". Logs due: 5 days. Rules 
<http://www.skccgroup.com/>

JARTS WW RTTY Contest--Digital, from Oct 20, 0000Z to Oct 21, 2400Z. 
Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RST and age (YL may send '00'). Logs due: 
Nov 22. Rules <http://www.jarts.jp/>

10-10 Fall CW QSO Party--CW, from Oct 20, 0001Z to Oct 21, 2359Z. Bands 
(MHz): 28. Exchange: Call, name, 10-10 number, S/P/C. Logs due: Nov 5. 
Rules <http://www.ten-ten.org/>

Scandinavian YLRA Contest--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1000Z to Oct 
21, 1000Z. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Frequencies (MHz): See website. 
Exchange: RS(T) and "88" (YLs) or "73" (OMs). Logs due: Nov 30. Rules 
<http://www.sylra.is/>

Iowa QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1400Z to Oct 20, 2300Z. 
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: RS(T) and IA county, state/prov, or 
"DX". Logs due: Nov 20. Rules <http://www.wa0dx.org/>

New York QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1400Z to Oct 21, 
0200Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+, Frequencies (MHz): CW--1.820, 3.550, 
7.050, 14.050, 21.050, 28.050; Phone--1.870, 3.825, 7.200, 14.290, 
21.350, 28.400. Exchange: RS(T), NY county, state/prov, or "DX". Logs 
due: 14 days. Rules <http://www.nyqp.org/>

Worked All Germany--Phone,CW, from Oct 20, 1500Z to Oct 21, 1459Z. Bands 
(MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: RS(T) and serial or DOK code. Logs due: 2 
weeks. Rules <http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/contest/wag>

Stew Perry Warmup Contest--CW, from Oct 20, 1500Z to Oct 21, 1500Z. 
Bands (MHz): 1.8. Exchange: 4-char grid square. Logs due: 30 days. Rules 
<http://www.kkn.net/stew>

W/VE Islands QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1600Z to Oct 21, 
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. Exchange: RS(T) and S/P/C or island 
designator. Logs due: Nov 30. Rules <http://www.usislands.org/>

Telephone Pioneer QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1900Z - see 
website, multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50-432. 
Exchange: Year of membership and chapter. Logs due: Dec 10. Rules 
<http://www.tpqso.com/>

Spooky Feld-Hell Sprint--Digital, from Oct 20, 2000Z to Oct 20, 2200Z. 
Bands (MHz): 3.5-7,21-28. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, Feld-Hell member nr. 
Logs due: 2 weeks. Rules <http://www.feldhellclub.org/>

Asia-Pacific Sprint--CW, from Oct 21, 0000Z to Oct 21, 0200Z. Bands 
(MHz): 14-21. Exchange: RST and serial. Logs due: 7 days. Rules 
<http://jsfc.org/apsprint/aprule.txt>

Illinois QSO Party--Phone,CW, from Oct 21, 1700Z to Oct 22, 0100Z. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28, 50,144. Exchange: RS(T) and IL county or S/P/C. Logs due: 
Nov 17. Rules <http://www.w9awe.org/ILQP.html>

Run For the Bacon--CW, from Oct 22, 0200Z to Oct 22, 0400Z. Monthly on 
3rd Sunday night (local). Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, 
Flying Pig nr or power. Rules <http://www.fpqrp.org/>

*VHF+ CONTESTS*

School Club Roundup--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 15, 1300Z to Oct 19, 
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: RST, class and S/P/C. Logs 
due: 30 days. Rules <http://www.arrl.org/school-club-roundup-scr>

Arizona Centennial QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 13, 1600Z - see 
website, multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28, 50, 144, 
Frequencies (MHz): CW-1.812, 3.548, 7.048, 14.048, 21.048, 28.048, 
50.048; SSB-1.848, 3.848, 7.189, 14.248, 21.348, 28.448, 50.148, 146.48. 
Exchange: Name and S/P/C or Year and AZ county. Logs due: Oct 31. Rules 
<http://www.azqsoparty.org/>

Pennsylvania QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 13, 1600Z - see 
website. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50,144, Frequencies (MHz): CW--40 kHz 
above band edge and 1.810; SSB--1.850, 3.825, 7.200, 14.280, 21.380, 
28.480. Exchange: Serial and ARRL/RAC section. Logs due: Nov 14. Rules 
<http://www.nittany-arc.net/>

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon--CW, from Oct 14, 0000Z to Oct 14, 2359Z. 
Monthly on the second Saturday local time. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. 
Exchange: RST, QTH, name, SKCC nr or "none". Logs due: 5 days. Rules 
<http://www.skccgroup.com/>

Arucaria VHF Contest--Phone,CW, from Oct 20, 0000Z to Oct 21, 1600Z. 
Bands (MHz): 50,144. Exchange: RS(T) and 4-char grid square. Logs due: 
10 days. Rules <http://www.avhfc.com/>

Iowa QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1400Z to Oct 20, 2300Z. 
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: RS(T) and IA county, state/prov, or 
"DX". Logs due: Nov 20. Rules <http://www.wa0dx.org/>

New York QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1400Z to Oct 21, 
0200Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+, Frequencies (MHz): CW--1.820, 3.550, 
7.050, 14.050, 21.050, 28.050; Phone--1.870, 3.825, 7.200, 14.290, 
21.350, 28.400. Exchange: RS(T), NY county, state/prov, or "DX". Logs 
due: 14 days. Rules <http://www.nyqp.org/>

W/VE Islands QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1600Z to Oct 21, 
2359Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50. Exchange: RS(T) and S/P/C or island 
designator. Logs due: Nov 30. Rules <http://www.usislands.org/>

Telephone Pioneer QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Oct 20, 1900Z - see 
website, multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50-432. 
Exchange: Year of membership and chapter. Logs due: Dec 10. Rules 
<http://www.tpqso.com/>

Illinois QSO Party--Phone,CW, from Oct 21, 1700Z to Oct 22, 0100Z. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28, 50,144. Exchange: RS(T) and IL county or S/P/C. Logs due: 
Nov 17. Rules <http://www.w9awe.org/ILQP.html>

LOG DUE DATES

*10 Oct through 23 Oct 2012*

  * October 10 - SARTG WW RTTY Contest
    <http://www.sartg.com/contest/wwrules.htm>
  * October 10 - ARRL September VHF QSO Party
    <http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf>
  * October 12 - Arkansas QSO Party
    <http://www.arkanhams.org/ARQSO/2012/AQP%202012%20Rules.pdf>
  * October 15 - South Carolina QSO Party <http://scqso.com/rules/>
  * October 15 - CQ Worldwide DX Contest, RTTY
    <http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_contests/cq_ww_rtty_dx_contest/cq_ww_rtty_dx_contest_rules/2012_cq_ww_rtty_dx_contest_rules.pdf>
  * October 16 - ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest <http://www.arrl.org/10-ghz-up>
  * October 16 - FISTS Get Your Feet Wet Weekend
    <http://www.fists.org/operating.html>
  * October 16 - 4 State 4x4 QRP Sprint
    <http://www.4sqrp.com/FourByFour/4%20State%204x4%20QRP%20Sprint.pdf>
  * October 17 - 144 MHz Fall Sprint
    <http://www.svhfs.org/2012fallsprintrules.pdf>
  * October 19 - SARL 80m QSO Party
    <http://www.sarl.org.za/public/contests/SARL_2012_Contest_Manual_issue_10.pdf>
  * October 20 - QRP Afield <http://newenglandqrp.org/afield>
  * October 21 - EU Autumn Sprint, SSB
    <http://www.eu-sprint.com/index.php?page=140&lang=g>
  * October 21 - AGB NEMIGA Contest
    <http://www.ev5agb.com/contest/agb_nemiga.htm>
  * October 21 - UBA ON Contest, 6m
    <http://www.uba.be/en/hf/contest-rules/on-contest>
  * October 21 - International HELL-Contest
    <http://www.darc.de/referate/ukw-funksport/bild-und-schrift-wettbewerbe/hf-hell-wettbewerb/teilnahmebedingungen/>
  * October 22 - EPC Russia DX Contest
    <http://www.epc-ru.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=351&Itemid=113>
  * October 22 - RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest
    <http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2012/r2128.shtml>

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