[SMCARA] CQ WPX CW

[Ken McNeely via SMCARA]

Maybe a CW opportunity to get the Club station on the air & show people how contesting works?

 
"If you don't make changes, you will live your next five years the same as your last five have been"
On Sunday, May 18, 2014 10:09 AM, Tom Shelton <gl1800winger at verizon.net> wrote:
 


Next weekend brings us the CQ WPX CW contest: http://www.cqwpx.com/

May 24-25, 2014, Starts: 0000 UTC Saturday (2000 EDT Friday) - Ends: 2359
UTC Sunday (1959 EDT Sunday).



What you will need: An HF Radio, an antenna (HF), a method of keying CW
(key, computer), a method of decoding CW (ear, computer, CW reader), logging
program (http://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php, GENLOG -
http://www.qsl.net/w3km/, etc.)



Exchange: RST report plus a progressive contact serial number starting with
001 for the first contact.

Example Exchange (General form - every contact is different based on the
operators):



I hear: CQWPX EA4DX TEST

I send: ND3N ND3N

He sends: ND3N 5NN 322 ND3N

I Reply: EA4DX 5NN 123 ND3N

He Sends: ND3N TU QRZ EA4DX



Total time for exchange - about 15 seconds.



Multipliers: Callsign Prefixes - so Boz, KG3BOZ's prefix is KG3 and mine is
ND3.  

Points:

1.      Contacts between stations on different continents are worth three
(3) points on 28, 21, and 14 MHz and six (6) points on 7, 3.5, and 1.8 MHz.

2.      Contacts between stations on the same continent, but different
countries, are worth one (1) point on 28, 21, and 14 MHz and two (2) points
on 7, 3.5, and 1.8 MHz. Exception: For North American stations only-contacts
between stations within the North American boundaries (both stations must be
located in North America) are worth two (2) points on 28, 21, and 14 MHz and
four (4) points on 7, 3.5, and 1.8 MHz.

3.      Contacts between stations in the same country are worth 1 point
regardless of band.



Potential Strategies:

1.       The most important thing in contesting is Butt-in-Chair time - the
longer you're on the air during the contest period, the more contacts you'll
make.  Have a comfortable operating position.

2.       DX points are worth more, focus on them, but every point is a good
point.

3.       Points on 40M & 80M are worth double those on 10/15/20 - Move to
the longer wavelengths as early as possible.  Early morning (3:00AM-ish) is
fantastic on 80 with openings to Asia and Oceana.

4.       Look up the records on the CQWPX website (top of this e-mail) - See
if there is a category you could participate in and really make a splash -
For example, no one has ever put in a 3rd call area 80M QRP entry - So, I
could operate QRP 80M only, make a single contact, and hold the record.
(Note: There is also no entry for the 10M QRP in the 3rd call area).



Enjoy the contest - 



73, Tom Shelton, ND3N 



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