Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner

The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive

A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE

If ever there was a good time for contesting, it has to be now. If you don’t believe me, just look out the window. The ends of my beverage have disappeared in the snow. I don’t know exactly how deep the snowpack is out back, but the tunnel that the dog has dug tells me it must be 3 feet. One bright side to all the snow: I can get in some cross- country skiing and check out my beverage and other wire antennas in the process.

Speaking of the beverage, it now averages about 5 feet above the ground compared to its initial height of 10 feet when I put it up. Performance is still OK. I have noticed a more detrimental effect from all the snow and cold on the coax feedlines coming into the house. I had a problem with some of the antennas exhibiting a very high SWR, indicative of a broken connection. Al, WA1TYB, said that type N connectors are known for the center pin migrating away from the connector when the weather is very cold. When I went out to check the connections, I found that all the snow piled around the feedlines exerted a lot of stress on the connections. I was able to correct the problem by pulling the feedlines free of the snow and retightening them. Things worked fine after that, much to my relief; tower climbing this time of the year is no fun.

The past few weeks have not been without some hamming. I participated in the ARRL RTTY Roundup the 1st weekend of January and enjoyed a different kind of contest. I have to admit it’s nice to just read the screen instead of pounding my ears. I was amazed that I could make out my call in what looked like a lot of garbage. Thanks to Mike, NE1V, we worked 357 stations, collected 45 states, and managed 27 countries in what turned out to be slim pickings.

February has a full plate of contests for every weekend. Here are some samples that should cover your appetite:

ME/NH/VT QSO Parties, 3-4 February

Also known as the Northern New England QSO party, all 3 states share the bands for CW/SSB/RTTY contacts. The Maine and New Hampshire events start at the same time (1300Z Feb. 3) and end at the same time (0700Z Feb. 4). CW takes place around 35 KHz up from the band edge and SSB activity centers near the middle of the phone portion. The Vermont party starts at 0000Z on Feb. 3 and runs through 0500Z on Feb. 4. Operating frequencies are near the ME/NH locations so they should be easy to find. All 3 events feature a number of club stations for bonus points. (A few years ago, I hosted the NARC club station, WB1FFZ, to be one of the bonus stations. I’d be willing to try it again if the club gets a new vanity callsign.)

Contact points for all 3 contests break down to 1 point/SSB QSO, 2 points/CW QSO; for a bonus station, the scoring is 5 points/SSB QSO and 10 points/CW QSO. Total scoring is the number of QSO points x sum of your state’s counties and DXCC countries. The Portland AWA handles logs for the ME party; WB1GXM in Claremont takes care of NH; and the Central Vermont ARC in Montpelier does the chores for the VT party.

IDRA World Wide RTTY WPX Contest, 10-11 February.

The International Digital Radio Association (IDRA) is sponsoring a 48-hour prefix- hunting contest that starts at 0000Z on the 10th. The contest takes place on 80 through 10 meters and includes Amtor, Pactor, and G-tor and Clover. Like most of the major contests, there are several single and multi operator categories. Single operators can operate low power or high power, all band or single band. Multi operator classes are single transmitter or multi-transmitter (multi-multi) and are not divided by power class. Only the multi-multi class can operate the full 48 hours while all others are limited to 30 hours with breaks at least 60 minutes long. There is no separate class or restriction for the use of packet spotting which should help with some of the rarer DX stations.

The exchange is RST and a serial number starting with 001. Multipliers are the number of different prefixes worked. Scoring favors 40 and 80 meters with each contact worth twice as much as contacts on 10 through 20 meters. Different continent contacts count 3 points/6 points, same continent-different country contacts are worth 2 points/4 points, and contacts with other stateside stations count as 1 point/2 points. Scoring: QSO points x number of multipliers. Logs go to WS7I.

ARRL International CW DX Contest, 17-18 February.

The third leg of the DX megacontests for the contest season is the 48-hour ARRL CW DX contest. The objective is for the rest of the world to work the US. The contest features several categories to maximize participation, fun, and chances to score well. Categories include single operator, single operator assisted (using packet), and several classes of multioperator (one transmitter, two transmitter, and unlimited). Multioperator classes are restricted to a 10-minute band change rule. Single operator stations are not restricted to the 10-minute rule and may operate QRP (<5W), low power (<150W), or high power. The exchange is RST and state for us, RST and a 3-digit number representing output power for the DX stations. Contest results should be to the ARRL contest branch via paper, disk, or Internet at contest@arrl.org.

CQ Worldwide 160-meter SSB DX Contest, 23-25 February

Here is a REAL challenge. CQ Magazine’s SSB portion of a world wide contest for Top Band starts at 2200Z on Friday the 23rd and runs through 1600Z on Sunday the 25th. The odd hours are intended to take advantage of propagation for 160 meters. The exchange is for us is a signal report and state while DX stations send a report and prefix or country. QSO points range from 2 points for stateside to 5 points for other countries in North America to 10 points per contact with DX stations elsewhere. Scoring: Total number of QSO points x sum of states, provinces, and countries.

Hopefully with all this activity available, you can take your mind off where to put the next snowstorm.