[TCARC-NTX] Upcoming Contests

Wed Oct 19 10:56:09 EDT 2005

***********************
Contester's Rate Sheet
19 October 2005
***********************

Edited by Ward Silver N0AX

SUMMARY
o NCJ News by K9LA
o The Three B's - Part III

BULLETINS
o No bulletins this issue

BUSTED QSOS
o Normal error-making and correcting will resume with
the next issue.
I hope we were able to put your calls in the K7C log!

ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 19 OCTOBER TO 1 NOVEMBER
2005

Please check
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/duedates.php or
http://www.sk3bg.se/contest for log due dates during
this period.

The following contests are scheduled:

Note that the following abbreviations are used to
condense the
contest rules summaries:
SO - Single-Op; M2 - Multi-Op - 2 Transmitters; MO -
Multi-Op; MS -
Multi-Op, Single Transmitter; MM - Multi-Op, Multiple
Transmitters;
AB - All Band; SB - Single Band; S/P/C -
State/Province/DXCC Entity;
HP - High Power; LP - Low Power; Entity - DXCC Entity

HF CONTESTS

USI W/VE Islands QSO Party-- CW/Digital/SSB, sponsored
by the US
Islands Awards Program from 1600Z Oct 22 to 2359Z Oct
23.
Frequencies: 160 -- 6 meters. Categories: W/VE-phone,
W/VE-CW/Digital, as Non-Island, Island, or Island
Rover, plus DX and
SWL. Exchange: RS(T), island name and USI or CISA
number (S/P/C for
non-island stations). Non-island stations work island
stations only.
Work stations once per island per mode. QSO Points:
island - 5 pts,
non-island -- 1 pt. Score: QSO Points x states +
provinces. For more
information:
http://www.eng.mu.edu/usislands/usvetest.html. Logs
due
Nov 30 to wa4ja at arrl.net or to WA4JA, John Almon, 105
Flintlock
Drive, Franklin, TN  37064-2351.

QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party--CW, sponsored by QRP ARC
International,
1200Z Oct 22 - 2400Z Oct 23, operate 24 hrs max.
Frequencies (MHz):
1.810, 3.560, 3.710, 7.040, 14.060, 21.060, 28.060.
Categories: SOAB,
SO-High Band (20-6), SO-Low Band (160-40). QSO Points:
member QSOs--5
pts, non-member on same cont--2 pts, non-members on
diff cont--4 pts.
Score: QSO points x S/P/C x Power Multiplier (< 55 mW
x 20, <250 mW
×15, <1 W ×10, <5 W output ×7, >5 W ×1). For more
information:
http://www.qrparci.org. Submit entry form via contest
Web site. Logs
due 23 Nov to contest at qrparci.org or ARCI Fall QSO
Party, c/o Jeff
Hetherington VA3JFF, 139 Elizabeth St W, Welland,
Ontario, Canada L3C
4M3.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest--SSB, sponsored by CQ
Magazine, 0000Z Oct 29
- 2400Z Oct 30. (CW is 0000Z Nov 26 - 2400Z Nov 27).
Frequencies:
160-10 meters. Categories: SOAB and SOSB (HP >100W,
LP, QRP <5W), MS,
M2 (new), MM. MS have 10 minute rule. Exchange RS(T)
and CQ zone. QSO
Points: same cont--1 pts (NA stations count 2 pts),
diff cont--3 pts.
Stations in the same country may be worked for zone
credit only.
Score: QSO points x CQ Zones + DXCC entities and WAE
countries
counted once per band. For more information:
http://www.cqww.com.
Logs due Dec 1 (Jan 15 for CW) to ssb at cqww.com (CW
logs to
cw at cqww.com) or to CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Rd,
Hicksville, NY
11801.

4th Annual Fists Coast to Coast Contest--CW--sponsored
by FISTS
Northwest Club, K7FFF, 0000Z - 2400Z Oct 30.
Frequencies: 80-10m.
Categories: SOAB, MS, (QRP/QRO). Exchange: RST, name,
state or DX
prefix, and FISTS number or power. QSO Points and
scoring depends on
number of times club is worked, for more information:
http://www.tomochka.com/k7fff. No logs are required,
just send total
score and list of clubs contacted to
FistsC2C at yahoo.com within 30
days of the contest.

10-10 Int. CW/Digital Contest, sponsored by Ten-Ten 
International
from 0001Z Oct 29 - 2400Z Oct 30. Exchange: call,
name, state and
10-10 number (if available). QSO Points: nonmembers -
1 pt, members -
2 pts. Total score: sum of QSO points. For more
information:
http://www.ten-ten.org. Logs due 15 Nov to
tentencontest at alltel.net
or Steve Rasmussen N0WY, 312 N 6th Street,
Plattsmouth, NE
68048-1302.

VHF+ CONTESTS

ARRL International EME Contest, 0000Z Oct 22 - 2400Z
Oct 23.
Frequencies: 50 - 1296 MHz. Categories: SOAB, SOSB,
MO, Commercial.
Exchange: signal report. QSO Points: 100 pts/QSO.
Score: QSO points x
W/VE states/provinces + DXCC entities (counted once
per band). For
more information: http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/.
Logs due Dec
13 to emecontest at arrl.org or EME Contest, ARRL, 225
Main St,
Newington, CT 06111.

VHF Fall Sprints--CW/Phone/Digital--sponsored by the
Southeastern VHF
Society as follows: 50 MHz--2300Z Oct 22 - 0300Z Oct
23. Fixed and
Rover categories. Exchange: Grid Square. QSO Points: 1
pt/QSO. Score
is QSO Points x Grid Squares, score each sprint
separately. Rovers
all grids worked from each grid. For more information:
svhfs.org/fall_sprint_rules.htm. Logs must be emailed
or postmarked
within four weeks of the contest. 50 MHz logs to
wa4njp at bellsouth.net
or Ray Rector WA4NJP, 3493 Holly Springs Rd,
Gillsville, GA 30534.

NEWS

NCJ News by Carl K9LA (NCJ Editor)- The
November/December NCJ is at
the printer, and it should be in the mail soon. In
addition to
regular columns by W9XT (tactical decisions), N0JK
(2005 September
VHF QSO Party), W6WRT (effective use of your mouse),
K5AF (the
prioritization matrix), K4ZA (protection from the
Sun), K9LA
(sporadic E in IARU 2004), NG3K (DX contest
activities), and WA7BNM
(contest calendar), a sample of the features that made
it in are:
PJ2T WPX SSB 2005 by DF7ZS, a history of the 10m
contest by WM5R,
Part 1 of building a new contest station by N3HBX, a
short feature
about SR2O (yes, SR2O) by N4GG, the Stew Perry TBDC by
N6TR, a review
of the Green Heron RT-20 rotor controller by K1IR,
Part 3 of
verticals by the sea (2-el phased vertical array vs a
2-el Yagi) by
K3LC, and detuning a tower to get the proper
performance from a
tower-supported 4-Square by WX0B. Again, that's just a
sample --
there's even more in the November/December issue.

CONVERSATION

The Three B's - Part II

Part III

When confronted with a seeming intractable problem,
the "trivial
solution" is often suggested. In this case, why have
any sub-bands at
all?  Let people operate where they want to and see
what happens? 
Other countries don't have sub-bands and they seem to
do just fine.
There is a famous quote by H. L. Mencken that applies
squarely in
this case, "There's a simple solution for every
complex problem;
that's wrong!"	First and foremost, to eliminate all
barriers flies
in the face of incorporating behavioral realities into
the solution. 
It doesn't take many operators that can't tell
"should" from "can"
before we would have a real problem.  Second, one must
realize that
the United States has the most active amateurs on HF
of any region in
the world and what hams in other countries do can
hardly be
considered independent of the US arrangements.	With a
few
significant exceptions (such as 40-meters) other
countries can avoid
specifying sub-bands because the US does have
sub-bands.  Conversely,
chaos on the US bands will generate chaos worldwide.

Do machine-copy signals need protection, too?  Of
course!  At this
stage of machine-copy technology's development, the
behavioral rules
or protocols simply can not deal well with the normal
hurly-burly of
non-channelized radio that human hams have learned how
to navigate
over the years.  Digital modulation and encoding
schemes have become
quite good at dealing with the vagaries of propagation
and noise, but
QRM is much more difficult to handle, particularly
since many of
these systems are not very frequency agile, i.e. -
they don't know
how to tune.  This will change.  The improved "busy
detector"
outlined in the Winlink-sponsored SCAMP protocol
(http://winlink.org/Presentations/SCAMPspec.pdf) is a
start towards
better coexistence with other types of signals, both
machine- and
human-copy.  

You may not be aware that CW automatons have been
around for years! 
For example, if you ever worked WU1F with a name of
"TACO", you
worked a robot station.  TACO stands for Totally
Automated Control
Operator.  N6TR developed a program called Z80 that
could make Field
Day CW contacts on its own.  They worked, within
strict limits and
with close human oversight. It's going to take a long
time, though,
before machine- and human-copy signals can mix it up
together to the
point of a human not realizing that they are
communicating with a
machine. When will an automated operator take the top
spot in a major
contest? That would be the Ham Radio Turing Test, I
suppose.

My conclusion from all this is that while we don't
want a completely
open system, we don't want to completely wall off
"robots" from
humans on the bands, either.  We can share the bands,
but with
refuges for both groups where only one genre of
behavior is expected,
machine or human.  Shared areas of the bands will be
"open ranges"
where "inter-species QRM" might occur, but is the
price we pay for
continuing development of technology and the radio
art, both
elemental justifications of our reason for existence.

Trying for a formal set of regulations to divide the
bands is
probably not fruitful. Regulations can take years to
development and
enact such that they are obsolete on introduction. 
The solution
might be found in band planning by a recognized
international
authority such as the IARU, still subordinate to the
ITU and all
treaty constraints.. Backed by ITU and FCC recognition
of the band
plans as "best practices," they could be developed and
implemented in
a timely manner, just as VHF repeater coordination is
adjusted today
to meet changing demand and technology.  As the
populations and
protocols change (and they will), band plans can be
adjusted far more
efficiently than formal regulations.

How would this work on the ham bands? Luckily we have
a prototype
arrangement already - human-copy is found at each end
of the band,
separated by a small region of machine-copy in the
middle.  For
example, such a band plan might look like this:
   14.000 - 14.050 Human-copy, narrow bandwidth (< 1
kHz)
   14.075 - 14.100 Mixed-copy, narrow bandwidth
   14.100 - 14.150 Machine-copy, any bandwidth (<
maximum bandwidth)
   14.150 - 14.225 Mixed-copy, wide bandwidth
   14.225 - 14.350 Human-copy, wide bandwidth
Do not panic!  Do not fixate on the exact frequencies!
Focus on the
idea of managing the areas so that operators will have
reasonable
expectations of what behavior to expect on the air. 
As machine-copy
protocols improve, the shared regions can be expanded
and the
machine-copy-only regions reduced.  I doubt very much
that any of the
regions would go away entirely.

Yes, this would have an effect on or have to take into
account many
other areas of amateur radio administration;
licensing, privileges,
non-aligned allocations, etc.  Yet it's a possible
response to
mode-based administration, an obsolete and rapidly
becoming
unworkable relic.

By opening the door to development of machine-copy
technology, hams
will be given a new opportunity to return to
developing
state-of-the-art communications technology.  The
engineering press is
full of articles about "cognitive radio" and spectrum
efficiency. 
Who knows more about getting the most out of a crowded
band than
hams?  We have been doing it since before there were
bands!  All of
the things that we have learned over a century of QRM
and
round-tables, lids and key clicks, fades and nulls,
"sliding up a
little" and "holding our frequencies" can be
incorporated into the
new behaviors we build into our radios and computers. 
The
accumulated knowledge of what hams know about the
Three B's can be
put to great use as radio enters its second century on
the air.  It
would be a boon for the hobby, for radio as a tool,
and most
importantly, for radio as an art.

73, Ward N0AX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Contester's Rate Sheet wishes to acknowledge
information from the
following sources:
WA7BNM's Contest Calendar Web page -
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal
ARRL Contest page - http://www.arrl.org/contests
SM3CER's Web site - http://www.sk3bg.se/contest

======================================================================
THE ARRL CONTEST RATE SHEET is published every other
Wednesday (26 
times each year), by the American Radio Relay
League--The National 
Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St, Newington,
CT 06111; tel 
860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Editor: Ward Silver,
N0AX.

The ARRL Contest Rate Sheet offers a useful source of
timely 
information for both the active and casual contester.
The Rate Sheet 
includes information about events during the following
two-week period, 
time-sensitive news items, upcoming deadlines, and
other news of 
interest to contesters.

For permission to quote or reprint material from the
ARRL Contest Rate 
Sheet, send a request including the issue date, a
description of the 
material requested, and a description of where you
intend to use the 
reprinted material to the ARRL Editorial & Production
Department: 
permission at arrl.org. 

Editorial questions or comments: Ward Silver, N0AX,
rate-sheet at arrl.org
Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!):

rate-sheet-dlvy at arrl.org

The ARRL Contest Rate Sheet is available to ARRL
members via email free 
of charge directly from ARRL HQ. To subscribe,
unsubscribe or change 
your address for e-mail delivery:

ARRL members first must register on the Members Only
Web Site, 
http://www.arrl.org/members/. You'll have an
opportunity during 
registration to sign up for e-mail delivery of the
ARRL Contest Rate 
Sheet, W1AW bulletins, and other material. ARRL
members may subscribe 
to the ARRL Contest Rate Sheet by going to the Member
Data Page at: 
http://www.arrl.org/members-only/memdata.html?modify=1
Note that you 
must be logged in to the site to access this page.
Scroll down to the 
section "Which of the following would you like to
receive automatically 
via email from ARRL?" Check the box for "ARRL Contest
Rate Sheet 
(biweekly contest newsletter)" and you're all set.
Past issues of the 
ARRL Contest Rate Sheet are available at 
http://www.arrl.org/rate-sheet/. Issues are posted to
this page after 
publication.
======================================================================

--- automatic signature follows...

David Johnson
MCP,MCSE,MCSD,MCDBA,CWS
david at justcalldavid.com
kb5ylg at yahoo.com

---

Emergency and public service communications,
a hobby of myriad facets, an enhancement to any
other hobby:  The Amateur Radio Service.

Find out more at http://www.arrl.org

__________________________________ 
Yahoo! Music Unlimited 
Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/