Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner

The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive

A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE

It looks like sterotypical Spring weather is here at last. It is no longer sleeting when rains and the wind is blowing pollen instead of leaves. The thermometer has percolated all the way into the 70s, and - how could we forget? - along come the black flies. I suppose I shouldn’t whine about the black flies. After all, I did need something to offset the lousy, sunny antenna weather while I was getting ready for Field Day.

Regarding Field Day, I sure that you will be recalling the event as you read this. Whether you participated as a stationmaster (like me), handled logging, put up antennas, or flipped pancakes, I sure you have visible memories. I reflect on another Field Day come and gone - half-smiling, half- grimacing - as I scratch the bug bites/poison ivy, massage pulled muscles (or sore index fingers for CW ops), stare at the shack mess, or smell my muddy shoes. There is the usual sigh of relief that it is over for another year. With the satisfaction of another great effort behind me comes the thought of what to do next year to make it even better.

As some of you may have noticed, we did not have the 3-element inverted V 80 meter beam for the CW station that I had been writing about. I had to put the project on hold for this year largely because of time and logistics. I was hoping to get the antenna up at the home QTH to test it out before committing to Field Day, but time, weather, and other commitments just squeezed it out. I thought about putting together the antenna and raising it at Field Day, but the logistics of a first-time installation of an untried antenna dissuaded me. However, NEXT year...

With the short New England Summer now upon us and the dismembered shack before, do I really want to get on the air? Yeah, I find it difficult to tune around the bands during nice weekends. Summertime contesting post-Field Day requires a different strategy. I’m not as inclined to be glued to the rig for 24 hours or more trying to make Qs, especially with domestic tranquillity much more at stake than in January. So what is a contest junkie supposed to do?

Try something different. Look for obscure QSO parties or special operating events and jump into it. Don’t try to call repeatedly or whip up and down the bands looking for every possible participant; rather spend an hour or two of the contest period and see what you can work. It’s a good way to see where the bands are open and also do some quick checks on those antenna projects.

One operating event that I’m sure will see plenty of participation during July will be special event stations for the 1996 Summer Olympics. I’ve already worked several Georgian stations sporting modified callsigns commemorating the event. As I understand it, native Georgian stations with a 4-land call can substitute “96” for the “4” in their call. Other transplant stations add “00” to the number in their callsign (e.g., I would be K200TE if I lived there). I’m sure they will be quite active as the Olympics get underway. I imagine prefix and county hunters will be lined up to work them as well as all-band WAS hunters.

In between watching superb athletes “go for it”, some operating events you can go for - without all the blood, sweat, and tears:

IARU HF World/World Radiosport Team Championship. 13-14 July.

The IARU HF World Championship is similar to the major DX contests in that exchange is simply report and ITU Zone number. The contest is 24 hours long, starting at 1200Z on July 13. The ITU Zones differ from the more familiar CQ Zones by dividing the world up into 90 zones vice 40 zones for CQ contests. For our area, the ITU Zone is 8. Stations may be worked on the regular bands from 160 to 10 meters, on CW and SSB. Local and DX stations are eligible for contacts, although scoring favors working other-continent DX: 5 points/DX QSO (other continent); 3 points/same-continent QSO (different ITU Zone); and 1 point/QSO with IARU HQ stations. The IARU HQ stations are distinguished by use of their member-society abbreviation in place of the ITU Zone (e.g., W1AW would send 59(9) ARRL). There are 3 categories for single operators: (mixed mode, CW only, SSB only), and a multioperator single transmitter category (mixed mode only). To keep things honest, use of the packetcluster by single operators reclassifies them as multioperators. Contest entries go the Box 310905, Newington, CT 06131-0905 within 30 after the contest.

The World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) is a contest within a contest that features a “who’s who” in the amateur radio contesting world. The WRTC portion occupies 18 of the 24 hours of the IARU HF World Championship. A group of 52, 2- ham teams will be gathering in the San Francisco bay area during the week preceding the contest. Each team will sport a distinctive 1X1 callsign (e.g., K6A, K6B...W6Z) so they will be immediately recognizable on the air. Each team will operate comparable equipment limited to 100 watts and modest antenna configurations (i.e., no stacked monobanders or wire arrays) for the purpose of equalizing the playing field. There are 10 teams planned from the US plus the defending 1990 champions, John, K1AR, and Doug, K1DG who need no introduction to NARC operators. The teams will operate on 40 through 10 meters, CW and SSB. Each team may be worked once per band per mode.

Working as many of the WRTC teams as possible during the IARU HF contest should be akin to one of the major worldwide DX contests. With a maximum of 104 contacts and 52 unique callsigns, it is like working a new country that exists for only 18 hours. Many awards have been targeted for working the WRTC teams, ranging from a commemorative letter opener that is endorsed for making 10, 25, 50, 75, or 100 QSOs, to a WRTC T-shirt for the top 300 stations for making the most QSOs with WRTC stations. W6OAT is the WRTC-96 chairman and will handle all queries and log data with an SASE.

RSGB IOTA Contest. 27-28 July.

If you think working all ITU Zones on a band in one weekend is a challenge, think of working all the islands of the world on a weekend! The Radio Society of Great Britain is hosting the Islands-On-The-Air (IOTA) contest over a 24-hour period beginning 1200Z on 27 July. Operation on the usual amateurs bands and I believe is open to CW and SSB operation. The object is to work stations on islands ranging from Great Britain to named navigation rocks that are sometimes distinguished by unique prefixes or suffixes to their callsigns. Exchange for the IOTA stations is signal report and IOTA identifier composed of a two-letter continent abbreviation and number (for example, Britain would be EU- ###). I do not know what fixed stations send but listen and you will find out quickly. 73, de K2TE

Back to In this issue...