TVARCers,

The ARRL 10M Contest begins tonight at 7P local, and goes for 48 hours.  This can be a fantastic contest, or a fair amount of drudgery.  The key is to operate when openings occur, so keep checking.  At the height of the sunspot cycle, 10M is the best band on the planet.  But we ain’t there yet.

The solar flux right now is 77 – zero sunspots.  But it’s quiet, which is good.  Too quiet…  It can change, however, and predictions are that it will perk up a bit for the weekend.  We’re blessed being in Florida, which is often propagation-enhanced for 10M.  We’ll typically get great openings to various parts of the US, sometimes concurrently, while others may get only…Florida.  But it’s different every year, so who knows what 2021 will bring?

You can operate CW, SSB, or both (Mixed mode).  For Mixed, CW QSOs count double SSB.  So I try to emphasize CW, naturally.  Calling CQ is important, as always, but there are a lot of casual operators in this one, especially on SSB.  Note that 28.300 – 28.500 are accessible to Technician class stations, many of whom may not (yet) be contesters.  They won’t be calling CQ, and will be interested in working you.  Be gentle and understanding while you get them to tell you their state.

The exchange is 59(9) FL, and you’ll receive 59(9) <state/prov/Mex/Ser#>.  That is: US states, Canadian provinces, and Mexican states (3-character abbreviations), with DX stations sending a serial number.  HI and AK are states in this one, as is DC.  You can work stations on both modes, and multipliers count on both modes.  Note that the Low Power class allows up to 150 watts, so fire up the amp to get that 50% power increase.

I’ve been monitoring the band a bit on FT8 (not a contest mode) this past week, and there hasn’t been much activity.  But the best chance for European openings are ordinarily between about 8a-10a local time.  Look for stateside after that, and there should be a bunch of South American openings throughout the day.  Remember that this is generally a daytime band, so sleep is usually not a problem.  But Friday nights are often very busy, and propagation can come and go until say, 10 or 11p.  Saturday night is usually a bust.  Again, though, no guarantees.

I’ll be on in Mixed Mode, Low Power, probably just CW for the first couple of hours until it dries out, and hope to work you all twice!  Don’t forget to send in your logs, and credit your scores to TVARC.

Good luck!

73, Pete, K2PS