Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner

The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive

A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE

I guess Summer is officially over by New England standards. It is a gloomy, wet day here that is no warmer than 60 degrees. I understand that it could be much worse as the remains of hurricane Fran slowly die out over the Midwest, Ontario, and Quebec. I’m looking forward to cooler days that make tower work a lot more bearable (no bugs) and safer (no sweaty grip). Ideally, Fall wx for hams is cool, clear, and calm in the morning hours to get some tower/antenna work done. This is followed by a breezy afternoon with a wind that blows toward the neighbor’s yard so that you don’t have to give up the afternoon gray line path to rake leaves. But, life is not always so kind; sometimes it rains and the static makes it tough for DXing, or my XYL wants to go shopping at the critical time.

By the time this is distributed, I hope to have my rotor back and re-installed. I sent it to C.A.T.S. in Ohio in August to be overhauled to fix its erratic tracking as it turns. I had been living with the rotor’s idiosyncrasies for about a year. When the beam got jammed during the ARRL SSB DX contest last winter, however, it was time to pull it down and get it checked out. It is not much fun losing contest time to climb the tower and wrestle with the beam while another operator jockeys the control to free up a jammed rotor.

As some you may know, I had the opportunity to do some DX sans equipment. I went to Saudi Arabia on business back in August, spending a week at the capital of Riyadh. Over the years I have worked only two stations in HZ-land because there are only TWO stations licensed. I’ve worked HZ1HZ who lives in Jeddah and is retired from a ministry position, and the much more active HZ1AB station that belongs to the Saudi ARAMCO oil company. Since King Fahd and the royal family control everything and want to keep it that way, licensing applies to royal family members only. With this kind of background, I didn’t even think of trying for a license.

When I arrived at my company’s office in Riyadh that is part of an American compound, I was surprised to see a nice, shiny-new TS-940S transceiver sitting on the bench in the communications lab. Next to the rig was a rotor control box that steered a 3-element tribander up on the roof of the building. My heart started to pound as I spotted the ARRL World map on the wall. Next to the map was a copy of the FCC license of Jim, WG1Y, one of the previous residents of the office. I asked one of the folks in the lab if Jim had ever gotten permission to operate. I was told that Jim had tried for years to get permission but to no avail. The station was operational for MARS use ONLY; I didn’t dare ask what would happen if I tried to use it in the ham bands.

I may not have been able to transmit but there was no law against SWL’ing. As luck would have it, I was in the country over the weekend of August 10 and 11 when the Worked All Europe contest was going on. I was only a couple hours ahead of Europe so I knew propagation would be the same as Europe experienced. I turned the rig on and tuned it to 20 CW, swung the beam to the Northwest for Europe (boy, did that feel weird), and there they were. I heard the usual crowd of Germans, Italians, French, and East Europeans blasting in. I also heard strong stations from Kazakhstan during the middle of the day. I had to keep reminding myself that they were like working Newfoundland from here. I swung the beam further over to the Southeast (yes, Southeast) and heard a couple of VU2 stations pounding in.

Needless to say that what normally passes for long-haul DX from here was backyard stuff from Saudi Arabia. I was sorely tempted to hook up the key and jump in the contest. I’m sure that the rarity of HZ even for Europe would have generated quite a pileup. The prospect of losing my fist - literally - should I do so kind of squashed the idea.

It looks like I won’t have to wait too long to catch some good DX as we head past the Autumnal Equinox and propagation improves. Here is a look at some of the contests that I hope to shine in with the new 160 meter inverted-L and my rejuvenated rotor:

WVK/ZL/Oceania Contest. 5-6 Oct (SSB); 12-13 October (CW).

These 24-hour contests start at 1000Z on Saturday, October 5 and 12, respectively, and cover 80 through 10 meters. Although quite early in the morning, propagation to the South Pacific is generally good on 40 and 80 meters, so it is a good time to work long-haul DX. Scoring favors 80 and 40 meter contacts, counting as 10 points and 5 points, respectively, per QSO. Contacts on 20 meters are worth 1 point while 15 meter QSOs count as 2 points and the lucky few you get on 10 meters are worth 3 points. Operating classes are single operator; all bands, multiop, all bands, and SWL. (I wonder that, if you are on travel to a foreign country but don’t have a rig, can you use an SWL receiver and some wire outside the hotel room and still qualify as a SWL station?) Contest exchange is RST and a serial number. Multipliers are each VK/ZL/Oceania prefix worked per band, which are multiplied by the total number of QSO points for the final score. Logs go to ZL1AAS within 6 weeks after each contest.

The SSB contest occurs over a busy ham weekend here in New England. The Rochester Hosstraders Flea Market and the ARRL Boxboro convention are both held the same day. Given the early start for the contest, however, one can get in a couple of hours before heading to these events, then grab some time again in the evening on the higher bands, possibly trying out the new stuff that “followed” you home.

RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest, 6 Oct (SSB), 13 October (CW).

The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) sponsors a couple of events that provide a propagation test to Europe on the upper bands. Each contest starts at 0700Z (yawn!), ends at 1900Z, and includes all the British Isles. Operating categories are single operator and, for the CW portion only, a 10- watt (maximum) QRP category. Exchange from our side of the pond is RST and serial number while British stations add their county code which counts as a multiplier. QSOs on each band count 3 points; QSO points times county multipliers for each band are added for the final score. Logs go to contest manager G3UFY no later than 1 November 1996 (SSB contest) and 15 November 1996 (CW contest).

JARTS WW RTTY Contest, 20-21 Oct

Sponsored by the Japanese CQ Magazine, this contest is 48 hours long like its American counterpart. The contest covers 80 through 10 meters, with special windows on the low bands at 3520-3525 KHz and 7025-7040 KHz. Contest categories are single operator, multioperator/multi- transmitter, and SWL. The exchange is simply RST and operator’s age, with YLs and XYLs sending “00” for their age. Scoring is 2 points for QSOs in North America and 3 points for QSOs everywhere else. Multipliers count once per band and consist of each DXCC country outside JA/W/VE/VK land; for stations worked in these countries, multipliers are each call area. Final score is total number of points times multipliers. Logs go to JH1BIH by 31 December.

I hope to participate in this contest as further practice after the recent CQ Worldwide RTTY contest. Propagation should be even better and could serve as a gauge for the following weekend for the CQ Worldwide SSB contest. In addition to the new low band segments this year, the contest features a unique “15th from the bottom” award in each class. This has to be a strange goal; goofing off just enough to “win”.

WCQ Worldwide SSB DX Contest.26-27 October.

The end of October goes out with a blast in the annual CQ Worldwide SSB DX contest, a 48-hour megacontest that covers the whole world. Everyone works everyone else in the world (except his own country) on 160 through 10 meters. The exchange is a signal report and CQ Zone number (zone 5 for us up here). Several categories and power classes are available so that you can take your pick based on where you feel most competitive or comfortable. The operating categories range from single operator (all- band, single-band, or assisted using packet spotting); high power, low power (100 W or less) or even QRP (< 5 W) for a real challenge. The serious “big guns” can operate as multi-single or multi-multi. Multi-single stations must observe a 10- minute rule whereby only one transmitter is permitted on a band during any 10-minute period. However, a separate “multiplier hunter” transmitter can be used on any other band just to work new multipliers. Scoring: 2 points/QSO with countries on same continent, 3 points/QSO for countries on different continents. Final score: QSO points x (CQ Zones (40 total) + countries worked). Logs for the contest go to CQ Magazine by 1 December.

73 de K2TE