[SFDXA] The ARRL Contest Update for March 27, 2013

[Bill]

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The ARRL Contest Update

March 27, 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

  * CTY Files Overheat - CQ WPX SSB Contest <#Contests>
  * VHF Spring Sprints Kickoff On 144 MHz <#Contests>
  * Florida Spelling Bee Returns <#News>
  * Spark Some Interest in Engineering <#Newsweek>
  * Wow - Webinar Wonders! <#Sights>
  * ARRL CW Sweepstakes and EME Contest Results Online <#Results>
  * VOACAP Tutorial by K9LA <#Tech>
  * WWV History <#Techweek>
  * I Can Hear You Now! <#Conversation>

NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO

Even a little pistol can be a star attraction in the CQ WPX (Worked 
PrefiX) contests in which a 2-by-3 call sign is often a new multiplier. 
Plus, you can make strides towards your WPX award 
<http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_awards/cq_wpx_awards/042208_cq_wpx_new_rules.pdf>while 
you're contesting. National DX contests from Bulgaria, Hungary, and 
Poland are taking place, too, along with the Missouri QSO Party - spring 
has sprung!

BULLETINS

There are no bulletins in this issue.

BUSTED QSOS

The North American Phone Sprint date was grouped improperly in the 
contest summary last time - apologies for anyone misled or delayed.

CONTEST SUMMARY

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

*March 30-31*

  * CQ WPX SSB Contest
  * Poisson d'Avril (Apr 1)
  * VHF Spring Sprints--144 MHz (Apr 1)
  * Low Power Spring Sprint--CW (Apr 1)
  * ARS Spartan Sprint--CW (Apr 2)
  * OK1WC Memorial Contest (Apr 2)

*April 6-7*

  * NS Weekly Sprint--CW (Apr 5)
  * LZ Open 40 Meter Contest--CW
  * PODXS 31 Flavors Contest--Digital
  * Stark County (OH) VHF QSO Party--Phone
  * QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party--CW
  * SP DX Contest
  * EA RTTY Contest
  * Missouri QSO Party

NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST

Based on the strong positive response last year, the Florida Contest 
Group announces that they are bringing back the 1x1 spelling bee for the 
2013 Florida QSO Party <http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/>, April 27 - 28. 
Stations that work all seven of the 1x1 calls to spell "FLORIDA" will 
receive a special certificate. (Thanks, Chris WF3C)

Scott, N3FJP announces the release of VHF Contest Log 4.0 
<http://www.n3fjp.com/>, replacing both VHF Contest Log 3.0 and VHF 
Network Log 2.5. The new program supports both Fixed and Rover stations 
for the ARRL VHF+ contests and CQ World Wide VHF.

There's nothing like getting your plaque right from the contest manager! 
Here's Fred KK1KW (L) getting his winning Single-Op 40 Meter award from 
CQ WPX Manager, Randy K5ZD. (Photo from K5ZD)

It is a shock to report the sudden death of Luis Chartarifsky XE1L just 
after he returned to the mainland following the recent TX5K expedition 
to Clipperton Island. Luis was an active DXer and contester with 
numerous expeditions to his credit, a member of the A-1 Operators Club 
and received numerous other accolades throughout his ham career. (Thanks 
to DXXE)

While reading thejust-released <#Results> CW Sweepstakes extended 
results for 2012 you might wonder where that long exchange came from. 
Basing its exchange in part on the radiogram header, Sweepstakes owes a 
lot to long-time ARRL staffer, George Hart W1NJM 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/national-traffic-system-developer-george-hart-w1njm-sk>, 
the father of the National Traffic System. George died on Sunday, March 
24th at the age of 99. A memorial service is planned for late April. 
(Thanks, Pete W1RM)

With many QSO parties starting to align their dates, Chuck NO5W has 
added support for concurrent operation of the multi-QSO party consisting 
of MIQP, SDQP, NDQP, ONQP, and NebQP in the next update of his CQ/X 
software. Patch 180-03 is scheduled to be released by the end of this 
month. Download version 1.8.0 and the three patches from www.no5w.com 
<http://www.no5w.com>.

When you have a room full of Italian contesters and only one is talking 
- that is when you know Contest Universit 
<http://www.contestuniversity.com/>y - Italy 2013 is serious business! 
(Photo by IK2QEI)

Ash KF5EYY is better known as 3V8BB and 3V8SS in contests, such as the 
ARRL DX CW contest in February. He has made it possible to hear your 
ARRL CW 2013 QSO with 3V8BB during online <http://www.kf5eyy.info/>.

Daniel K7DGL found a cool new product - the SatSleeve 
<http://gizmodo.com/5991685/this-case-turns-your-iphone-into-a-satellite-phone> 
from Thuraya - a case that turns an iPhone into a satellite phone 
capable of voice and SMS messaging. The Thuraya service does not cover 
the Western hemisphere, but it's not unreasonable to expect Inmarsat or 
Hughes to be thinking about similar products.

If you have more than one manufacturer's handheld radio, you'll be glad 
to hear of an open source tool used to program different radios called 
CHIRP <http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home>. At the 
moment it covers the basic programming needs - frequency, tone, offset, 
etc - of a wide variety of handhelds. Since it is an open source 
project, there may be additional features added in the future. (Thanks, 
John KF5KI)

More Contest University <http://www.contestuniversity.com/> action took 
place around the world from Italy - here are the graduates of Contest 
University - Australia 2013! (Photo from K3LR)

ARRL Bulletin 007 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-grants-arrl-s-request-for-temporary-waiver-for-tdma-systems> 
tells us that the FCC has granted the ARRL's request for a temporary 
waiver to allow TDMA (time division, multiple access) emissions by 
amateurs above 30 MHz. This takes a lot of persistent effort that is 
rarely visible to hams and I don't know of another organization than the 
ARRL that has enough credibility and resources to cause it to happen - a 
good reason to support the ARRL. A tip of the/Contest Update/ cap to the 
team charged with getting this done.

*Web Site of the Week* - As many of us discovered through our early ham 
radio adventures, an FCC license can also lead to a professional career. 
The burgeoning population of makers is also finding this out as in the 
EDN article, "DIY movement Sparks Engineering Education 
<http://electronicdesign.com/blog/diy-movement-sparks-engineering-education?NL=ED-03&Issue=ED-03_20130313_ED-03_229&YM_RID=hwardsil@gmail.com&YM_MID=1379278&sfvc4enews=42>" 
by Louis Frenzel W5LEF. This article is one of several recent articles 
about education and engineering in Frenzel's blog 
<http://electronicdesign.com/blogger/lou-frenzel>.

WORD TO THE WISE

*/Iron bottom/* - a contester with a very high number of operating hours 
in a contest. Doug KR2Q has provided us with the iron bottom results 
from a recent CQWW SSB contest:

~50% operate for 8 hours or less
~75% operate for < 16 hours
~90% operate for < 24 hours
~95% operate for < 30 hours

Leaving ~5% iron-bottoms out there - and you know who you are!

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

The following upcoming programs have been scheduled (dates are North 
American local time):

  * March 24 - /CQ WPX Preview/ - Randy Thompson K5ZD
  * April 14 - /Contest University and Dayton Contester Activities/ -
    Tim Duffy K3LR
  * April 16 - /Solar Topics/ - Carl Luetzelschwab K9LA
  * April 26 - /What I've Learned in Two Decades of Terrain Assessment/
    - Dean Straw N6BV

Click on the WWROF website's <http://wwrof.org> link to Webinars, then 
Upcoming Webinars for details and registration. (Thanks, Ken K4ZW)

Rebar N6DB seems utterly thrilled with his California QSO Party tee-shirt!
(Photo by N6TV)

The Northern California Contest Club (NCCC) recently held their annual 
awards dinner and Bob N6TV posted a lot of excellent photographs of the 
plaque winners in his excellent online album 
<https://picasaweb.google.com/rawilson/2013NCCCAwardsDinner02#5854369372544796082>.

This video from AMSAT-UK 
<http://amsat-uk.org/2013/03/16/nasa-edge-cubesat-launch-initiative/> is 
an excellent interview describing NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative and 
how it enables students and professionals to launch their own 
satellites. (Thanks, Brent KB1LQD)

A winter's day can be a fine time for a short hike with a little QRP 
operation for seasoning as recounted by Jim W1PID in this recounting 
<http://www.w1pid.com/mud/mud.html> of his hike to the Pemigewasset River.

CQ Records <http://cqrecords.com/>? It's not what you think! (Thanks, 
George K5TR)

Another scherzando penseé to the magic of radio comes from guitarist 
extraordinaire, Leo Kottke, in this online video of his song, "Shortwave 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqH5lOGVbVE>". (Thanks, Sean KX9X)

RESULTS AND RECORDS

The extended results for the ARRL's CW Sweepstakes by VE4XT and the 
International EME Contest by K1DS are online 
<http://www.arrl.org/contest-results-articles>. All certificates for the 
2012 ARRL DX CW Contest have been processed, to be quickly followed by 
the ARRL DX Phone certificates. (Thanks, ARRL Contest Branch Manager, 
Sean KX9X)

Preliminary results for the January North American QSO Party CW 
<http://www.ncjweb.com/naqpcwprelim.php> and SSB 
<http://www.ncjweb.com/naqpssbprelim.php> contests are now on the 
/National Contest Journal /web site <http://www.ncjweb.com>. The contest 
managers and writeup authors are always looking for interesting stories 
and photos - see the NCJ website for contact information. (Thanks, NAQP 
SSB Manager, Bill ACØW)

The third time's the charm as Howie, N4AF learned when turning a 
triple-play win in recent CWops contests. (Photo by N4AF)

A CWops Test Hat Trick means winning all three sessions on a single 
Wednesday/Thursday. So far, the only one to do it is Howie N4AF (photo 
at right) who has done it /THREE/ times. That means Howie has 
accomplished a CWops Test Hat Trick Hat Trick. But can he chop wood? 
(Thanks, Hank W6SX)

The results of the 2012 Ohio QSO Party <http://www.ohqp.org/> have been 
posted on the OhQP web site. (Thanks, Jim K8MR)

OPERATING TIP

Many of us will recognize /*Contester's Crouch*/ - sitting in front of a 
radio or a computer screen, head forward, shoulders hunched, ready to 
pounce. It's instinctive, maybe, but not very healthy. There are a 
number of health conditions that make "the crouch" painful and put 
severe limits on operating time. Pete N4ZR got relief through placing a 
large lumbar-relief cushion on his chair to shift his posture. If you 
aren't comfortable when operating, take the necessary steps to make 
things better - you are never too young to start taking care of your back!

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TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

If you're interested in VOCAP, Carl Luetzelschwab K9LA has posted a 
VOCAP tutorial 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/propagation/Voacap.pdf> on 
the ARRL website. Carl is also hosting a WWROF webinar on solar topics 
as mentioned in the Sights and Sounds <#Sights> section above.

Here's another wireless pioneer - Dave N7LKL recently hiked to the top 
of Larch Mountain, Oregon with QRP gear to activate a Summits on the Air 
(SOTA) counter. (Photo by N7LKL)

 From Frank W3LPL on the1921 "Transatlantics 
<http://wwrof.org/webinars>" - "The 1BCG transmitter was redesigned and 
rebuilt many times before and during the Transatlantic Test. The 
transmitter as first built in early December was a "self rectified A.C. 
self oscillator" design, but Armstrong was very dissatisfied with the 
roughness of the transmitted signal. On 4 December it was decided that 
the transmitter should be rebuilt as a Master Oscillator - Power 
Amplifier" (MOPA) with a 2000 volt DC motor generator power supply. It 
wasn't until the third day of the Tests (December 9) that the 
transmitter was fully functional with an estimated 600 watts power 
output. Propagation was very poor and atmospheric QRN was very high 
after the night of 11/12 December, and Godley heard no further 
transatlantic signals. Out of frustration and with only a few days 
remaining before Godley was scheduled to depart from Scotland, another 
2500 volt motor generator was rushed to 1BCG and connected in series 
with the original motor generator, with 4500 volts now applied to the 
PA. That configuration was used for the last few days of the 
Transatlantic Test and during the next two weeks when 1BCG made two way 
QSOs with every state of the union." A kilowatt or more of CW in 1921? 
Awesome! As a point of interest, Frank noted, "It would be many years 
before two way transoceanic QSOs took place on 160 meters. For many 
years all of the effort was focused on opening transoceanic DX on the 
higher frequencies, all the way up to 5 meters!"

ARRL Propapagation Bulletin 011 
<http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive/ARLP011/2013> mentions a 
handy tool for converting a street address into latitude/longitude 
coordinates <http://stevemorse.org/jcal/latlon.php>. It is useful for 
determining locations for propagation prediction and other programs 
based on FCC database address records or for your own location.