Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner
The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive
A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE
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Final Chapter
It is only a few days before the NARC
Christmas party yet it feels like it is early
January. We have had several inches of
snow on the ground now for several weeks.
The temperature has flirted with 50 degrees
a couple of times but it has been well below
freezing for the most part. This is the kind
of weather that makes antenna work difficult
at best and trips up the tower almost
dangerous. I dread the thought of having to
climb when it is so cold simply because it is
hard to work with gloves on, and the wind
makes it very hard to hold my hands steady.
If I have to work near the top, I find that the
exertion of climbing warms me up a bit but
it doesn't last long. I've often wondered
about people who like it cold, but then they
are always moving: skiing, mountain-
climbing, shoveling snow, etc. Maybe this
kind of weather makes hams think the
suffering ensures an antenna will work
better. Maybe we think Nature will show
gratitude for the sacrifice we have made. I
can hear Murphy laughing uncontrollably.
My titanic battle with Murphyus Obstructus
last month may have been the most
physically challenging task I faced in putting
up my 80-meter quad. However, once the
quad was in place, the task of tuning it was
almost as much fun. I had to put the
junction box about a third of the way up on
the tower and connect the leaders from each
quad element. Installing the junction box
was a straightforward job although things
were a bit cramped to work in. Tuning the
loop from the tower was also pretty easy,
thanks largely to the use of my antenna
analyzer. I was able to trim about a foot at a
time from each wire to resonate each loop in
the CW part of the band. When I switched
to SSB, however, I noticed that the resonant
point shifted up in frequency very little. It
didn't take much head-scratching for me to
realize that I put the taps in the wrong place.
Oh well, I really just wanted an excuse to go
up and down the tower some more.
The job of adjusting the taps, making other
improvements, and reinstalling the junction
box could normally be done in a day. Rain,
snow, and wind, however, combined to keep
the hearty antenna experimenter from his
appointed climbs. I finally managed to tune
each loop in the CW part of the band to
where I could plan on working the CQ
Worldwide CW contest.
I am happy to report that all that effort
seems to have paid off. (Maybe Nature does
appreciate sacrifice). I noticed that signals
are substantially louder on the quad than on
my inverted Vees, like the effect of
switching in a preamp. The front-to-back
seems to be about 20 dB based on tests with
some of the local stations. The exact value
will vary depending on distance and
direction of the station. The most
pronounced difference seems to be stations
in the Caribbean are much louder on the SW
setting than NE. One would expect stations
in California to change markedly for the SW
setting than stations to the Southeast. I have
not removed my inverted Vee yet, so there
may be some interaction going on.
The real test came during the contest. I was
relieved to find that I could snag DX stations
usually with one call. I didn't have much
luck with running a frequency because local
stations tend to be very strong and often
desense my receiver. I plan to add a 250 Hz
filter to the front end that should help cut
down the QRM. I haven't had a chance to
check my 80 meter totals against previous
years, but I'm confident that I've worked the
most on the band than ever before.
The Worldwide CW contest itself was more
fun than it has been in recent years. Pre-
contest indications said that the upper bands
would be better than normal with the
sunspot index consistently above 100 and
the "A" and "K" indices in low single-digit
range. The propagation gods did indeed
smile on us; I managed to work over 1400
stations for my best-ever performance,
bettering my old total of 5 years ago when I
hosted a multi-single effort. It was a joy to
hear 10 meters open to Europe for several
hours, the first time in years. It’s weekends
like this that have hams keeping their wires
crossed hoping that Cycle 23 is on the rise.
I find myself looking forward to some rest
from antenna work for a while as Winter
settles in. As the holiday season approaches
I'm sure I'll be as busy as everyone else
trying to find unique Christmas gifts.
Maybe I can drop some not-so-subtle hints
to the XYL for some station gadgets to make
contesting "chores" a little more bearable.
Maybe I'll get something neat to help me out
with these contests coming up:
This, That, and Whatever - 1 January
For those who prefer relaxed, informal, or
short contests during the Winter instead of
weekend-long, intense scrambles, there are a
number of off-beat contests taking place in
January. On New Year's Day, one can try
the annual ARRL Straight Key Night which
is a day-long event using a straight key, of
course. If you don't have one, re-wire the
keyer or reprogram the keyboard. Germany
sponsors a 3-hour Happy New Year contest
on CW from 0900-1200Z, which may catch
many of us still awake. If you miss this one,
there is the Old New Year Contest (honest!)
on the 10th from 0500-0900Z (ugh!) on CW
and SSB. If you welcome the New Year a
bit too boisterously, there is the Hangover
Hustle, a stateside CW and SSB get-together
from 1600-2200Z. A final New Year's
selection for the digitally infirm is the
SARTG New Year RTTY contest from
0800-1100Z.
ARRL RTTY Roundup, 03-04 January
Shifting gears to more serious contesting,
the ARRL RTTY Roundup starts at 1800Z
on the 3rd and runs to 2400Z on the 4th with
a maximum of 24 hours operating time. The
contest covers 80 through 10 meters with
categories of single operator or multi-
operator/single transmitter. Two power
classes are available: <150 watts and >150
watts. US stations send RST and state while
DX stations will substitute a serial number
for state. Each QSO counts as 1 point,
regardless of where the station is located.
Multipliers: each state (except KH6 and
KL7), Canadian province, and DXCC
country. This contest is similar to
Sweepstakes in that a multiplier counts only
once, so no 5-band EA, DL, or JA mults.
Logs go the ARRL by 4 February 1998.
Japan International Low-band DX,
09-11 January.
This CW contest is for 40 to 160 meters
only. The contest starts 2200Z on the 9th
and runs for 48 hours with a maximum of 30
hours operating time permitted except in
Japan. Contest exchange for us would be
RST and CQ Zone number while JA stations
substitute a Prefecture number for the zone.
Operating categories include single operator
and multi-operator. Single operators can
choose multi-band or single band and high
(>100W) or low (<100W) power operation
for a total of 4 distinct categories. The key
distinction between single operator and
multi-operator operation is a single operator
can change bands at any time while a multi-
operator station must observe a 10-minute
wait rule before changing bands if a contact
is made on a given band. Stations in the US
must work JA or DX stations for points (i.e.,
no stateside-only contacts allowed).
Scoring/QSO by band is 4 points/160; 2
points/80; and 1 point/40. Multipliers for us
are the total number of Prefectures worked
plus the islands of Ogasawara, Minami-
Torishima, and Okino-Torishima. Logs
must be submitted by 2/28/98 and can be
sent via email to jidx-log@dumpty.nal.go.jp.
North American QSO Party,10-11 January(CW), 17-18 January(SSB)
Each of these contests is 12 hours long,
beginning at 1800Z on the first day and
finishing at 0600Z on the second day. The
object is for stations in North America to
work all other stations while DX stations try
to work just North American stations, sort of
a modified ARRL DX contest. Categories
are single operator and multi-operator two-
transmitter. Power is limited to 150 watts
output for both groups. The exchange is
operator name and state (for us), name and
province/country elsewhere. Single operator
stations are limited to 10 hours operation.
Suggested operating frequencies are in the
middle of the respective band allocations for
160 through 10 meters. Multipliers are all
50 states and the Canadian provinces.
W9NQ wants CW logs by 11 February 1998
while N4TQO is looking for the SSB logs
by 18 February 1998.
CQ WW 160 CW Contest, 23-25 January
Rounding out the month is the CQ
Worldwide 160 CW contest starting at
2200Z on the 23rd and going until 1600Z on
the 25th with no time limit. The contest is
similar to the ARRL 160 contest last month
in that the idea is to work as many states,
provinces, and countries as possible. There
are two categories, single operator and
multi-operator, with single operators
permitted to operate high power (>150W),
low power (<150W), or QRP at 5 watts or
less (now THAT is a challenge!). Multi-
operator stations are considered high power.
In addition, any station that uses spotting
such as packet is automatically in the multi-
operator category. (Why anyone would use
packet for a single band contest is beyond
me). Scoring is graduated as 2 points/state;
5 points/country in North America; and 10
points for other-continent DX. Multipliers
are the 48 states, 13 Canadian provinces, and
CQ list of DX countries. Logs go to K4JRB
by 25 February 1998. I have not found an
email address for forwarding logs but
CT.bin or NA.bin files on a floppy are
acceptable.
It looks like there is plenty to choose from
with ample variety so you won't get bored.
(With ham radio? Never!)
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