[SFDXA] The ARRL Contest Update for March 13, 2013

Wed Mar 13 09:06:25 EDT 2013

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The ARRL Contest Update

March 13, 2013
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

  * Can Your Work Russia from Your QTH? Russian DX Contest <#Contests>
  * Best Place for Working Russia? Alaska QSO Party <#Contests>
  * Hamfest Happenings Around the World <#News>
  * VHF+ Sprints - Gentlemen, Start Your Sequencers <#Newsweek>
  * What To Do and How To Win - by W3ZZ <#Sights>
  * WRTC-2014 Qualification - Almost Complete! <#Results>
  * HFTA Instructions Updated <#Tech>
  * Watts In a Name? <#Techweek>
  * The RBN...and You <#Conversation>

NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO

The Russian DX Contest is rapidly growing due to good participation and 
excellent log-checking and judging. Why not aim your ears to over the 
North Pole and see what you can work? Digital mode enthusiasts find the 
British Amateur Radio Teleprinter Group's series of contests to be great 
fun, as well.

BULLETINS

There are no bulletins in this issue.

BUSTED QSOS

No busted QSOs reduced my score in the past issue!

CONTEST SUMMARY

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

*March 16-17*

  * CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test (Mar 13)
  * Feld-Hell St Patrick's Day Sprint
  * Worldwide EME Contest
  * BARTG HF RTTY Contest
  * Russian DX Contest
  * Oklahoma QSO Party
  * Virginia QSO Party
  * QCWA Spring QSO Party

*March 23-24*

  * /*North American Sprint--Phone*/
  * Run For the Bacon--CW (Mar 18)
  * CLARA and Family HF Contest (Mar 19)
  * NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW (Mar 21)
  * FOC QSO Party--CW
  * Lighthouse Spring Lites QSO Party
  * Alaska QSO Party

NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST

_*Hamfest Happenings *_

The famed Friedrichshafen hamfest, properly known as the "Ham Radio 2013 
Convention <http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/>" will take 
place from Friday, June 28 through Sunday, June 30. Join 15,000 other 
visitors from around the world in this second largest of all ham radio 
gatherings!

Tickets for the Friday evening Contest Dinner at the International DX 
Convention <http://www.dxconvention.com/> in Visalia are now available 
for purchase <http://www.dxconvention.com/pages/dinners-contest.html>. 
Unlike previous years, no walk-up tickets will be available. None. Nada. 
Zip. As dinner organizer, Jeff WK6I suggests, "Please plan ahead!!!"

Dayton Dead Ahead! All of the details on the 2013 Hamvention Antenna 
Forum <http://www.hamvention.org/forums.php> and many more for 2013 are 
now posted online for your planning purposes. Contesting related events 
for all four days are posted <http://www.hamvention.org/events.php>, 
too. (Thanks, Tim K3LR)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Activity on the contesting.com Contest wiki seems to have expired. 
Nevertheless, the CQ World Wide Contest web site is actively maintained 
and includes a list of contest clubs 
<http://www.cqww.com/clubnames.htm>. Make sure your club's information 
is in the list - maybe there is a contester near you that needs a club! 
(Thanks, Randy K5ZD and Pete N4ZR)

On January 24^th , the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association 
announced that Scott Redd, KØDQ will be recognized with the 2013 
Distinguished Graduate Award <http://www.usna.com/page.aspx?pid=247> 
during a medal presentation ceremony on March 22 at the United States 
Naval Academy in Annapolis. You may also recognize Scott's U.S. Navy 
colleague, Ed N4OC in the video. Watch for more on KØDQ in an upcoming 
issue of the /National Contest Journal <http://www.ncjweb.com/>/. 
(Thanks, /NCJ/ Editor, Kirk K4RO and Doug K1DG)

How do they do it? Here is an interesting blog 
<http://cqww.com/blog/?p=67> on catching contest cheaters in the CQ 
Worldwide contest. (Thanks, /Daily DX <http://www.dailydx.com/>/)

For those of you suffering from post-pileup depression, you might 
benefit from the Onion-esque story Man Depressed Months After Contest 
Ends 
<http://www.noiseblankers.com/hijinks/2013/1/31/man-depressed-months-after-contest-ends.html> 
on the Ham Hijinks page <http://www.hamhijinks.com> of the Noise 
Blankers Radio Group website. Who shut down the Super Bowl? All 
explained here. (Thanks, Kevin K5KVN)

If you were wondering about why you couldn't find even a smidgen of a 
clear frequency during the ARRL DX Phone contest, this waterfall display 
of the band captured by Bryce KB1LQC tells the story. CQ contest!

Best pre-contest announcement ever - "four ops, maybe five if Dave's 
defendant pleads out at trial and he gets to the station in time."

After every contest, what could be more fun than hearing the sad tales 
of woe from friends and foes alike - especially foes. And sharing yours, 
too! The Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club <http://www.packratvhf.com/> - better 
known as the Packrats - has formalized this great tradition in their 
/Cheese Bits/ newsletter's "Crying Towel" feature. Great reading no 
matter which end of the towel you're on!

AMSAT <http://www.amsat.org/> is now preparing for two launch 
opportunities under the NASA Cubesat Launch Initiative. This is a great 
example of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) 
training ham radio can provide to students and faculty alike. Hams 
pioneered the Cubesat concept - now the most-launched type of satellite! 
The AMSAT engineering team expects to complete the satellites Fox-1 in 
2013 and have RadFxSat ready in the 2nd half of 2014. Both are designed 
with U/V-mode FM analog transponders, workable with dual-band handheld 
radios and hand-held "Arrow" antennas. Lots more technology will be 
aboard, of course, check out the AMSAT web site for more information. 
(From AMSAT bulletin ANS-069)

There's a new kid on the amplifier block as the Zhong Xing company is 
reported to be introducing the HF-2013DX-A amplifier at the Dayton 
Hamvention. Early reports on the specs say it can run 1500 watts output 
on 160 through 10 meters without a problem. Based on the 4CX1000 tube, 
there will be manual- and automatic-tuning versions. There's always lots 
of new gear at the Hamvention - don't miss it!

How can you tell if a contest is right for you? The Potomac Valley Radio 
Club conquers this conundrum with a clever calculation 
<http://pvrc.org/k3tn/find_contest.pdf>. (Thanks, John K3TN)

The movie "Lincoln" featured true-to-life telegraphy at various critical 
points throughout, leading many to wonder whether the depiction was 
really accurate or not. The article "NOW STARRING ...TELEGRAPHY!" by 
James Wades WB8SIW published in the March issue of the Potomac Valley 
Radio Club <http://www.pvrc.org/> newsletter goes into some detail about 
the movie's depiction of our Morse progenitors.

*Web Site of the Week* - With sprint contests gaining in popularity 
right and left, the schedule for the 2013 Spring VHF+ Sprints 
<https://sites.google.com/site/springvhfupsprints/2013-announcement-rules> 
has been released:

  *

    144 MHz Sprint: 7 PM to 11 PM local time, Monday, April 1

  *

    222 MHz Sprint: 7 PM to 11 PM local time, Tuesday, April 16

  *

    432 MHz Sprint: 7 PM to 11 PM local time, Wednesday, April 24

  *

    902+ MHz Sprint: 6 AM to 1 PM local time, Saturday, May 4

  *

    50 MHz Sprint: 2300Z Saturday, May 11, to 0300Z Sunday, May 12

Get on for these short events and have fun! (Thanks, Darryl WW7D)

WORD TO THE WISE

*/Read the rules FIRST!/* In a 24 March webinar 
<https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/499861946>, CQ Contest Director 
Randy K5ZD will provide an overview of the rule changes for the upcoming 
CQ WPX 2013 contests and will answer questions from the audience. 
(Thanks, Ken K4ZW)

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

In memory of Gene Zimmerman W3ZZ, the Delmarva VHF and Microwave Society 
(DVMS), K8GP and the Grid Pirates Contest Group (GPCG) are republishing 
a webinar given by Gene on VHF Contesting - "What To Do and How To Win 
<http://k8gp.net/>". The presentation, originally given in 2010, is 
about 90 minutes long and covers station siting, station design, station 
integration, winning strategies, digital modes and the ideal stations. 
(Thanks, Chuck W4XP)

Brad K7EUG operating as NP2N during the ARRL DX Phone - in his /very 
first contest/ did pretty well - his score is currently #11 in SOAB HP! 
(Photo by W2VJN)

The open house tours of W3LPL are legendary but if Maryland is just a 
bit too far away for you to attend, Frank has provided this video tour 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Y6td01okQ> of his station. Don't miss 
Frank's Mar 18^th webinar <http://www.wwrof.org/> on the 1921 
Transatlantic Tests!

And speaking of satellites as in the news section, just how DO you build 
one, anyway? This BBC video 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFCMnxG12C8&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL1DCA5E9CF8DD8A8A> 
"How To Build a Satellite" explains the basics - now get ready for 
launch! (Thanks, Bryce KB1LQC)

"My old man's a radio 'am" - no, it's not Herman's Hermits with a remake 
of "Henry the Eighth" but a brand-new original song 
<http://soundcloud.com/steveontherock/radio-ham-song> about GJ2A's ham 
radio adventures. (Thanks, Tim K3LR)

What did Bill Nye the Science Guy <http://www.billnye.com/> do before he 
was famous? He was a real-life engineer and local TV comic personality 
in Seattle, writing and performing in skits like this spoof horror 
episode of "Date With An Engineer 
<http://www.king5.com/entertainment/almost-live/Date-with-an-Engineer-120309589.html>" 
on the KING-TV "Almost Live" show.

RESULTS AND RECORDS

Official results have been recently posted for two more WRTC-2014 
<http://www.wrtc2014.com> qualifying events and the updated WRTC-2014 
Event Scores are now posted online 
<http://www.wrtc2014.org/qualifying/qualification-standings/>. Results 
from the 2012 All Asian DX CW and SSB contests have been applied and 
several scores were adjusted or reassigned. Eight qualifying events have 
taken place for which official results are not yet available. Many 
Selection Area races are coming down to the wire as ARRL DX Phone was 
the last qualifying event! Look for the focus to switch to determining 
the Team Leaders, their Team Mates, and the pool of Referees. Just over 
16 months are left until WRTC-2014! (Thanks, WRTC-2014 Team Selection 
Director, Dan K1TO)

Your ARRL DX Contest writeup authors would like to hear about your 
experiences in the recent contests. Do you have an exciting story, a 
tale of woe, or just good times? Large, medium, and small - it makes no 
difference 'cause we love them all! Send your material to Rick WW1ME 
<mailto:ww1me at roadrunner.com> (ARRL DX CW) or your editor 
<mailto:n0ax at arrl.net> (ARRL DX Phone) and be sure to post your photos 
on the ARRL Soapbox <http://www.arrl.org/soapbox> page, as well!

The results of the 2012 CQ VHF contest 
<http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_contests/cq_ww_vhf_contest/2012_cq_ww_vhf_contest/2012_cq_ww_vhf_contest_results.pdf> 
have been posted online and are also in the winter issue of CQ VHF 
Magazine (this year only). The 2013 contest results will be back in CQ 
next year. (Thanks, CQ VHF Contest Director, Steve N8BJQ)

This is Kurt W6PH operating as VP9I (at the QTH of VP9GE) in the recent 
ARRL DX Phone contest. He and Bob WA1Z operated as Multi-Single, Low 
Power.(Photo by WA1Z)

The LQP (Locust QSO Party <http://www.k6vva.com/lqp>) results are now 
available. The Locust (a.k.a. Rick K6VVA) extends his congratulations to 
all the Category Winner entrants who will each receive a one year 
/National Contest Journal <http://www.ncjweb.com/>/ subscription or renewal.

While the contests are never over until the log checkers say they're 
over, it sure looks like the K3LR teams have pulled off a sweep of the 
Big Four - CQ WW CW & SSB and ARRL DX CW & Phone. A sweep has been 
accomplished seven times, the last having been in the 2002/2003 contest 
season by the KC1XX team. Are there similar accomplishments from the DX 
side?

Here's an update on some serious DX - The long-distance low power record 
is held by KL7YU and W7BVV using one micro-watt on 28 MHz over a 
distance of 1,650 miles between Alaska and Oregon in 1970 - According to 
Rich Arland, K7YHA (now K7SZ), in /WorldRadio/ magazine (Feb. 1990, pp. 
46-47.) 1.6 billion miles per watt! (Thanks, Mark K6UFO)

OPERATING TIP

*/Be prepared/* - run through a station checklist well before the 
contest, including for the operator! Then be ready for problems during 
the contest because Murphy is never far away. Multi-operator station 
hosts know this well - sometimes there are repairs that have to be done 
during the race! K3LR had ring rotators freeze up with icing during ARRL 
DX Phone - the rotators were freed with torches on the tower at midnight 
- three times during the weekend, in fact! Every big station host 
deserves a tip of the contester's cap in recognition of and appreciation 
for what keeps those state-of-the-art signals sounding so superb.

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=cu&t=i&i=2013-03-13&p=1>
TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

HFTA author Dean Straw N6BV writes to let us know, "Sometime in the last 
few month USGS has greatly changed their NED "Seamless" data site, 
requiring the instructions for finding and downloading terrain data to 
be re-written in HFTA.pdf. The new data site is called the "National 
Map."" Dean has updated the instructions for HFTA in a new PDF file 
available for download at in the Supplemental Information and Tools area 
of the /ARRL Antenna Book 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrl-antenna-book-reference>/ website.

Tom KD8DEG, an experienced cable-puller, suggests that when pulling 
multiple cables through conduit, stagger the leading ends of the cables 
by five to seven inches. That avoids trying to get all of the cable ends 
through a sweep (use sweeps and not elbows) at once. For lubrication, he 
endorses the Polywater <http://www.polywater.com/lubricants.asp> line of 
products, leaving no residue and widely carried by electrical supply 
houses. And Gene AD3F reminds us to "Leave a pulling rope inside the 
conduit for (inevitable) future installs. You can install this rope 
along with the last coax pull."

Tough duty in evidence as Jim W8WTS operates as HI/W8WTS from the beach 
in Punta Cana. His KX3 is in the plastic bag on his lap and that wire 
over his right arm is the antenna (10 feet of wire stuck up in the frame 
of the beach hut). (Photo by K8MR)

Looking for cheap LEDs? You can "repurpose" the strings of solid and 
mixed color of LEDs available for a few dollars from department stores. 
Depending on the manufacturer, they may have from 50-100 LEDs. (Thanks, 
Kurt KD7JYK)

Speaking of LEDs, here's a great lighting ring design 
<http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-LED-ring-for-dremel/> to 
help you see clearly on the workbench when using a drill or grinding tool.

Whither Cycle 24? It's the cycle that just doesn't seem like it will 
ever get into high gear. NASA weighs in with the story "A Quiet 
Interlude in Solar Max 
<http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80572>" on the 
interesting Earth Observatory website.

Much is made of technical literacy - here's an example of a web site 
promoting software literacy <http://www.code.org/> for kids growing up 
in a largely software-driven world. I can think of other examples of 
critical technologies that are little understood but on which a great 
deal of modern life depends - such as electricity and wireless 
technologies. (Thanks, Jim K9JF)

If you've ever worked with a crane, it's critical to have an accurate 
distance measurement from where the crane will set up to where the load 
is going. In the past you'd have to climb roofs or sometimes estimate 
blind distances and hope your estimate is a good one. Due to the amazing 
abilities of smartphones, Steve K7LXC reports that the days of 
guesstimates are over. His crane operator used an Android app called 
/Map Ruler/ to quickly get an accurate distance between a tower base and 
the crane location. It works for all kinds of site planning or 
measurement. These are examples of what is known as a "theodolite app" - 
some use a camera shot and some require sighting along an edge of the 
phone. They're not a replacement for the more accurate surveying 
equipment but for most amateur uses, they offer plenty of precision. 
(Thanks also to Jim W6RMK)

More on satellites, Mike DK3WN has produced a summary 
<http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=29535> of all active amateur radio 
satellites with frequencies and links to more detailed information. 
(From AMSAT <http://www.amsat.org/> bulletin ANS-069)

*Technical Web Site of the Week* - Watt's In a Name? Some time ago, Roy 
W7EL published an insightful perspective on "RMS Power 
<http://www.eznec.com/Amateur/RMS_Power.pdf>" on his website. Hint, this 
term doesn't have much meaning although it is widely used. (Thanks, Paul 
W9AC)

CONVERSATION

The RBN...and You

Following the ARRL DX CW contest, there was a lot of online discussion 
about the perceived quality of spotting information generated by CW 
Skimmers <http://www.dxatlas.com/cwskimmer/> operating around the world 
and relayed to the world-wide spotting networks. While the information 
may not have been any worse than the usual human-generated false data, 
its volume made it more noticeable. Since many Skimmer-generated spots 
came through the Reverse Beacon Network <http://www.reversebeacon.net/>, 
I offered this space to RBN leader, Pete N4ZR, to discuss the issue.

73, Ward NØAX

I'm delighted to be a guest writer for this issue because of the large 
audience of exactly the folks I hope to reach.

Let me begin by clarifying a little of what the RBN is and how it works. 
The spots forwarded by the RBN are collected by over 200 volunteer 
"Skimmers" worldwide. Each "beacon" is set up and paid for by 
individuals, and their setups range from simple single-band Softrocks to 
the sophisticated 7-bands-at-once QS1R, used by some 60 of our most 
active contributors. Antennas are anything from simple dipoles to the 
massive antenna farms at W3LPL and K3LR.

Throughout its lifetime, the RBN has functioned basically as a "mother 
ship", collecting all of these spots and redistributing them through two 
Telnet nodes, which in turn provide them to hundreds of DX cluster nodes 
worldwide. We also provide raw data for research and tools for comparing 
signals, but spots are our main line of business.

Here are two of the Yasme Foundation's <http://www.yasme.org> Excellence 
Award winners - (L) Joe HS2JFW and Champ E21EIC. With all of the new 
Thai HF licensees, expect for more Zone 26 QSOs in your contest log! 
(Photo from E21EIC)

We're very concerned about the quality of the spots we provide. Each 
"Skimmer" is constantly being told how well the frequencies being 
reported compare with reference stations. When we notice (or are told 
about) stations with problems, we go to work with them to deal with the 
problem. After the ARRL DX CW contest, for example, we noticed that a 
couple of prolific Skimmers had image problems - the same station 
spotted simultaneously on two frequencies. We worked with the owners to 
resolve those problems quickly, and the RBN will be the better for it.

But what about busted spots? Well, under ideal conditions, I believe the 
Skimmer software's decoding is probably more than 99.9 percent accurate, 
far better than human spotters. But when you have 100+ Skimmers, 
operating under far from perfect circumstances, all contributing spots 
to a common stream which is forwarding around 2 million spots in a 
24-hour period, there will be a fair amount of junk. We confronted this 
early on, and decided to rely on users constructing their own filters - 
more to come on this. We're currently evaluating whether this policy can 
be successful and may decide to make two streams available - one 
filtered and the other raw.

Okay, on to the "you" part. As a user of RBN spots, a lot of the raw 
stream will be unusable - what do you care what someone on the other 
side of the planet is hearing? A few of the big multis will want to see 
everything and do their own filtering, but for the rest of us, limiting 
the spots you see to those you can probably hear makes sense. I use a 
node that has AR Cluster Version 6 software installed, and can easily 
limit spots to those from Skimmers in the states surrounding my QTH. AR 
also has a very handy filter ("Unique>x") that only reports spots that 
meet your other conditions and have been heard by more than "x" Skimmers 
world-wide. Use a combination of these filters and you will virtually 
eliminate busted spots, even late in the contest when you've worked the 
bands dry of run stations.

For a contester who wants to be spotted often and correctly, here are a 
few simple suggestions. The use of the keywords "CQ" and "Test" has 
already been discussed at length elsewhere, but remains critical. You 
can even use this knowledge to reduce the size of your pileups, by 
omitting the keywords sometimes, using them at others.

Whatever you do, send everything at the same speed, and be sure to use 
correct spacing - if you send N4ZRTEST instead of N4ZR TEST, or send the 
"TEST" 15 wpm faster, you'll deserve what you get, or don't. If your 
call sign is unusual, in length or makeup of the prefix, you may need to 
send your call sign two or more times during each CQ - this is because 
CW Skimmer uses a table of prefixes and suffix lengths to determine how 
"picky" to be about what it copies - an odd call takes more validation 
before it is accepted.

One thing that affects both users and Skimmers is the various sources of 
spurious signals. If you are operating and Skimming at the same time, 
you'll need to disable your Skimmer receiver during transmit, or it will 
spot all sorts of weird variations of your call sign because of 
overload. If you want to be spotted on your actual frequency, make sure 
that your signal is free of key clicks and harmonics.

That's pretty much the whole story. I hope it's helpful.

73, Pete N4ZR

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CONTESTS

*13 March through 26 March*

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*

North American Sprint--Phone, from Mar 17, 0000Z to Mar 17, 0400Z. Bands 
(MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: Both call signs, serial, name, and S/P/C. Logs 
due: 7 days. Rules <http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintrules.php>

CWops Monthly Mini-CWT Test--CW, from Mar 13, 1100Z to Mar 14, 0400Z. 
Multiple operating periods, twice monthly on 2nd and 4th Wed. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28. Frequencies: 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>

Feld-Hell St Patrick's Day Sprint--Digital, from Mar 16, 12 PM to Mar 
16, 2 PM. Monthly on 3rd Saturday. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RST, 
S/P/C, Feld-Hell member nr. Logs due: 7 days. Rules 
<http://www.feldhellclub.org/>

BARTG HF RTTY Contest--Digital, from Mar 16, 0200Z to Mar 18, 0200Z. 
Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Exchange: 3-digit serial and 4-digit time. Logs 
due: May 1. Rules <http://www.bartg.org.uk/>

Russian DX Contest--Phone,CW, from Mar 16, 1200Z to Mar 17, 1200Z. Bands 
(MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: RS(T), serial or oblast abbr. Logs due: See 
web. Rules <http://www.rdxc.org/>

Oklahoma QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 16, 1300Z to Mar 17, 
0200Z. Multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28, 50, Frequencies: 
CW 35 kHz above band edge; Phone 3.860, 7.195, 14.260, 21.335, 28.470, 
50.130 MHz. Exchange: RS(T) and OK county or S/P/"DX". Logs due: Apr 30. 
Rules <http://www.k5cm.com/okqp.htm>

Virginia QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 16, 1400Z to Mar 17, 
0200Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50-440, Frequencies (MHz): CW 1.805, 50 kHz+ 
band edge; Phone 1.845,3.86,7.26,14.27,21.37,28.37; 50.130, clg freq 
144/220/440. Exchange: Serial and VA county/city or S/P or "DX". Logs 
due: Apr 15. Rules <http://www.qsl.net/sterling>

QCWA Spring QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 16, 1800Z to Mar 16, 
1800Z . Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: Call,year lic'd,name,QCWA 
chap or S/P/C. Logs due: 30 days. Rules <http://www.qcwa.org/qso-party.htm>

Run For the Bacon--CW, from Mar 18, 0200Z to Mar 18, 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/>

CLARA and Family HF Contest--Phone,CW, from Mar 19, 1700Z to Mar 24, 
1700Z. Multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28. Frequencies 
(MHz): CW 3.688, 7.033, 14.033, 21.033; Phone 3.750, 3.900, 7.033, 
7.200, 14.120-130, 14.288, 21.288, 28.488 MHz . Exchange: RS(T), name, 
QTH, and if CLARA mbr. Logs due: Apr 15. Rules <http://www.clarayl.ca/>

NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint--CW, from Mar 21, 0030Z to Mar 21, 0230Z. 
Monthly on 2nd Tuesday or 3rd Wednesday local time (alternating). Bands 
(MHz): 3.5-14. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, and NAQCC mbr nr or power. Logs 
due: 4 days. Rules <http://naqcc.info/>

FOC QSO Party--CW, from Mar 23, 0000Z to Mar 23, 2359Z. Bands (MHz): 
1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: RST, name, FOC nr if member. Logs due: 7 days. 
Rules <http://www.g4foc.org/>

Lighthouse Spring Lites QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 23, 0001Z 
to Mar 30, 2359Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: ARLHS number or serial, 
name, S/P/C. Logs due: 12 days. Rules <http://arlhs.com/>

Alaska QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 23, 1800Z to Mar 24, 2359Z. 
Bands (MHz): 1.8-28. Exchange: Serial, call sign, first name, 4-char 
grid square. Logs due: 2 weeks. Rules <http://www.kl7yk.us/akqso.htm>

*VHF+ CONTESTS*

Worldwide EME Contest--Phone,CW, from Mar 16, 0000Z to Mar 17, 2400Z. 
Bands (MHz): 144, 432. Exchange: TMO/RS(T) and "R". Logs due: Jul 14. 
Rules <http://www.dubus.org/>

Oklahoma QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 16, 1300Z to Mar 17, 
0200Z. Multiple operating periods. Bands (MHz): 3.5-28, 50, Frequencies: 
CW 35 kHz above band edge; Phone 3.860, 7.195, 14.260, 21.335, 28.470, 
50.130 MHz. Exchange: RS(T) and OK county or S/P/"DX". Logs due: Apr 30. 
Rules <http://www.k5cm.com/okqp.htm>

Virginia QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 16, 1400Z to Mar 17, 
0200Z. Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50-440, Frequencies (MHz): CW 1.805, 50 kHz+ 
band edge; Phone 1.845,3.86,7.26,14.27,21.37,28.37; 50.130, clg freq 
144/220/440. Exchange: Serial and VA county/city or S/P or "DX". Logs 
due: Apr 15. Rules <http://www.qsl.net/sterling>

QCWA Spring QSO Party--Phone,CW,Digital, from Mar 16, 1800Z to Mar 16, 
1800Z . Bands (MHz): 1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: Call,year lic'd,name,QCWA 
chap or S/P/C. Logs due: 30 days. Rules <http://www.qcwa.org/qso-party.htm>

FOC QSO Party--CW, from Mar 23, 0000Z to Mar 23, 2359Z. Bands (MHz): 
1.8-28, 50+. Exchange: RST, name, FOC nr if member. Logs due: 7 days. 
Rules <http://www.g4foc.org/>

LOG DUE DATES

*13 March through 26 March*

  * March 14 - QRP Fox Hunt <http://www.qrpfoxhunt.org/winter_rules.htm>
  * March 15 - Minnesota QSO Party
    <http://www.w0aa.org/docs/mnqp/MNQP%20Contest%20Rules.pdf>
  * March 15 - Louisiana QSO Party <http://qsl.net/w5yl/html/rules.html>
  * March 15 - AGCW Semi-Automatic Key Evening
    <http://www.agcw.org/en/?Contests_and_CW-activities:Semi_Automatic_Key_evening>
  * March 16 - North American Sprint, RTTY
    <http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintrules.php>
  * March 16 - QRP Fox Hunt <http://www.qrpfoxhunt.org/winter_rules.htm>
  * March 16 - CWops Mini-CWT Test <http://www.cwops.org/onair.html>
  * March 16 - NAQCC-EU Monthly Sprint
    <http://naqcc-eu.org/sprints/rules/current.pdf>
  * March 17 - High Speed Club CW Contest <http://www.highspeedclub.org/>
  * March 17 - NCCC Sprint <http://www.ncccsprint.com/rules.html>
  * March 17 - SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
    <http://www.skccgroup.com/operating_activities/weekend_sprintathon/>
  * March 17 - UBA Spring Contest, CW
    <http://www.uba.be/hf/contest-rules/spring-contest>
  * March 18 - ARRL School Club Roundup
    <http://www.arrl.org/school-club-roundup>
  * March 18 - DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest
    <http://www.darc.de/referate/ukw-funksport/corona/teilnahmebedingungen/>
  * March 19 - ARRL International DX Contest, CW
    <http://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx>
  * March 20 - Open Ukraine RTTY Championship
    <http://uarl.com.ua/openrtty/2013/rtty2013e.txt>
  * March 20 - RSGB 80m Club Championship, CW
    <http://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2013/r80mcc.shtml>
  * March 22 - YL-ISSB QSO Party
    <http://www.ylsystem.org/qsoparty/qsodates.htm>
  * March 23 - North American Sprint, SSB
    <http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintrules.php>
  * March 23 - Feld Hell Sprint
    <https://sites.google.com/site/feldhellclub/Home/contests/sprint-rules>
  * March 23 - QRP ARCI HF Grid Square Sprint
    <http://www.qrparci.org/contests/hf-grid-square-sprint-2013>
  * March 24 - Run for the Bacon QRP Contest <http://fpqrp.org/pigrun/>
  * March 24 - UBA Spring Contest, 6m
    <http://www.uba.be/hf/contest-rules/spring-contest>

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