Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner

The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive

A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE

DXer or Contester?

The past few months have found me pursuing DX and contesting with as much fervor as ever thanks to improved band conditions. I suppose many of you must think the two are synonymous since I usually write about both without any distinction. I recently had some time to think about what DXing means as opposed to contesting as I spent a couple of weeks chasing some DXpeditions. The thought became more engrossing when I recalled a comment by one of the best contesters in the country at one of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club meetings: “If you hang around just to work a new country on a band in a contest, you’re not a contester.” Thus, I thought I would share some of my observations about the two.

Antennas:
A DXer and a contester both have at least one tower with 2 or 3 beams on it. For a DXer, it is likely to be a single monobander on 10, through 40 meters, all stacked on one mast. The point is to have a good signal that will ensure working a DXpedition in a reasonable amount of time. A contester, on the other hand, prefers stacked monobanders on each of these bands fixed to Europe and the Orient. The point here is to be able to blast through a +20 dB shouting level as quickly as possible. On the low bands, a DXer is likely to use a 4-square arrangement that he can selectively switch to the 4 directions of the globe to maximize his signal as propagation dictates. A contester may use phased verticals or a very high crossed dipoles with the aim of a very strong signal into Europe to maximize his Q rate, giving up the few dozen Far East stations that come through during Gray line.

Operating:
A DXer is usually on the air +/- an hour around sunrise or sunset every day to take advantage of gray line propagation. He is also likely to check the long path on a regular basis if signals seem weak to the usual directions. A contester will be on the air continuously during a weekend and tries to run stations wherever they are strongest. During non-contest times, a contester is rarely on the air except for testing a new antenna stack.

Equipment:
Both types of operators are likely to have the same kind of equipment, especially with the great features and performance of today’s transceivers. Don’t be surprised, however, if a DXer says he still uses a separate transmitter and receiver, notably some classic Collins gear. He easily has split frequency operation and, with a long enough Beverage and a pre-amp, a very good receiver. A contester disdains this approach because of the room it takes up and the manually-intensive tuning to work stations. It’s kind of difficult to run a multi- multi operation on 5 bands with 5 transmitters, 5 receivers, 5 coax switches, and 5 amplifiers all in one room. The RF exposure would leave the contester’s mind more warped than usual.

Contest operation:
A DXer will participate in a contest usually out of self-defense. He is not likely to sit and run stations; remember, he is using “only” a monobander and an amplifier. His modus operandi is to search and pounce again following his gray line instincts. If Europeans start blasting in on 10 meters, for example, time to move to 15 and look for Africans. A contester, on the other hand, can be found hollering faster than K1NR for over an hour to work a hoard of Europeans on 10 meters. This trait carries over to CW contests where a DXer is probably using a keyer (or even a straight key!) at a sedate 25 WPM pace while the contester cruises along at 40 WPM or more, abetted by several cups of coffee.

Operators:
A DXer usually likes to be a lone wolf, doing a contest his way. A contester often rounds a group of rabid operators to plot strategy and divvy up band assignments. He looks around for a secret weapon such as a foreign exchange student from Germany or a YL to put on SSB.

While all this may seem tongue in cheek, there is some truth to it. Think about the next time you are on the air in a DX pile-up or in one of these contests:

QSO Parties (Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont), 6-7 February.

You may have noticed that the New Hampshire QSO Party is conspicuously absent this year. Due to the disarray of the NHARA organization, the contest received no publicity or advanced planning. At any rate, there are several stateside contests to help you with your WAS or county hunting. Each contest operates CW, RTTY, and SSB on 160-10 meters. The exchange for each one is a signal report and state for us (serial number in lieu of report for Minnesota) while we look for a report and county. The Delaware contest runs from 1700Z on the 6th to 0500Z on the 7th, and resumes at 1300Z that day until 0100Z on the 8th. The Maine contest runs straight through from 1300Z on Saturday until 0700Z on Sunday. The Minnesota group operates from 1800Z on Saturday until 0600Z on Sunday. Finally, the Green Mountain folks straddle the whole 48 hours of the weekend with operating limited to 24 hours.

Scoring for Delaware or Vermont is 1 point/SSB QSO, 2 points/CW or RTTY QSOs. For the Maine event, 1 & 2 points for SSB and CW/RTTY, respectively, plus 5 and 10 points for these modes if you work Maine club stations who will identify themselves as such. Minnesota is also set up as 1 point/SSB, 2 points on CW & RTTY. If you work the sponsoring club station at W0EF it is worth 10 points per mode.

Logs for the Delaware contest go to FSARC in Newark, DE, or deqsoparty@fsarc.org. Results for Maine can be sent to the Portland AWA in Portland, ME. Minnesota participants can forward logs to W0EF or to webmaster@rossiya.net. The Vermont entries go to the Central Vermont ARC (W1BD).

World-wide RTTY Prefix, 13-14 Feb.

This contest for RTTY lovers covers the 48 hours of the weekend but is limited to 30 hours of operation for Single Operator and Multi-single categories. Activity spans 80 through 10 meters. The exchange is an RST and 3-digit serial number. Like other prefix contests, scoring varies based on where you work stations. Anything stateside is worth 1 point on 10 to 20 meters and 2 points on 40 and 80; contacts with other North American countries are 2 points on the upper bands and 4 points on the lower bands; and all other DX is worth 3 points and 6 points on the respective bands. Multipliers are the individual prefixes worked regardless of band (i.e., a prefix counts only once). Logs must be submitted by March 16th to W6/G0AZT or may be emailed to edlyn@california.com. If emailed, make sure they’re in plain text format and include *.sum, *.wpx, and *.dup with the *.all files.

ARRL CW DX Contest, 20-21 February

Rounding out the major contests for the month is the annual ARRL CW DX megacontest. This one takes place the full 48 hours on 160 to 10 meters. Like other major DX contests, there are a number of categories to choose from for single operator operation or multi-operator class. Stateside stations just send a report and state while DX stations will send a report and a 3-digit number representing power level used. Each contact is worth 3 points and multipliers are the sum of DX countries worked per band. Paper logs go to the ARRL Contest Branch while the usual electronic versions can be emailed to contest@arrl.org.

So, what are you? A DXer or a contester? Why not find out!

73, de K2TE