Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner
The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive
A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE
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“CQ, New Hampshire QSO Party”
Have you ever wondered what it is that
makes a hobby so exciting and enduring
year after year? I still get a kick out ham
radio after 36 years. It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out that it has to be the
diversity I find in the hobby that makes it
appealing. I’ve always tried to stay active
and contesting has been the easiest way to
do that. My desire to contest has often
spurred me to look into antenna design,
antenna installation techniques, know the
band conditions at any time of the day, build
a voice keyer, and try other modes such as
RTTY and soon PSK31.
In my early days of contesting, I shook my
head in awe when I the results of stations
making thousands of QSOs in one weekend,
achieving DXCC on 4 or even 5 bands. I
have since graduated to 2 towers with
multiple beams on each of them and have
done respectably well in contests. The dream
of working from a serious multi-multi
contest station has been delightfully satisfied
the past couple of years thanks to KB1SO
and W1GQ. Another fantasy recently
became reality as I participated in the CQ
Worldwide CW contest as a member of the
J3A team from Grenada. (More on that at a
later date). So what do I do for an encore?
Manage the NH 2000 QSO Party.
Ok, so it may not have tens of thousands of
participants (yet). As a result of my
insightful analysis of last year’s event (read:
big mouth), I’ve been offered the
opportunity to make it happen. I’ve spent the
past few months going over the rules for the
contest and developing plans for the contest
software that hams will be able to download
for the contest.
The contest will be open for the whole 48
hours of the first weekend in February 2000
but stations will be limited to just 24 hours
operating time to ensure domestic
tranquility. You can use any recognized
amateur mode of communication (CW,
RTTY, PSK31, AM, SSB, FM, etc.).
Operating frequencies from 160 meters all
the way up to 1290 MHz are allowed so
folks with multiband HTs and mobile rigs
can try their hand at hill topping. (NOTE:
No repeater contacts allowed.)
As is the case in many state QSO parties, the
NH club stations and special stations that
participate are particularly valuable to work.
These bonus stations will be worth 5 points
per phone QSO and 10 points per non-phone
QSO, five times the normal scoring for other
NH stations. The rules are flexible to allow
members of a club to share operating QTH’s
for the call. Thus, if several NARC members
want to put N1FD on the air from their
QTH’s, simply coordinate a schedule of
when to operate and who will operate.
One of my goals for the contest is to activate
W1FGM, the Marconi Museum station in
Bedford. This station will be one of the
bonus stations and is open to all amateurs
and clubs to operate. I’m working on
refurbishing an R-5 to use at the museum.
I don’t usually write about a contest at
length but I feel its time to get NH active
again. The contest may be two months away
but now is the time to plan on what you
would like to do. Here are a few contests in
December that should give you some ideas
of what to do for the NH QSO Party:
ARRL 160-Meter Contest, 3-5 December
This CW-only contest starts at 2200Z on the
3rd and runs to 1600Z on the 5th with no
time restriction. Single operators may
operate as QRP (< 5W), low power
(<150W), or high power. A multioperator
class is confined to a single transmitter (kind
of obvious); any single operator using
loggers and packet spotting is considered a
multioperator. The exchange is RST and
ARRL section for us while DX stations just
send RST. Stateside contacts are worth 2
points and DX contacts count as 5 points.
Multipliers are all ARRL and RAC section
plus DXCC countries. Final score is QSO
points times multipliers. Logs may be
submitted electronically to contest@arrl.org
or to ARRL Contest Branch, 225 Main
Street, Newington, CT 06111 by 5 January
2000.
This is always a relaxing way to “work” off
dinner from the NARC Christmas party.
ARRL 10-Meter Contest, 11-12 December
At the other end of the amateur HF spectrum
is the ARRL 10-meter contest. The contest
allows CW and SSB operation either singly
or as a mixed mode entry. Stations may
operate no more than 36 hours out of the
available 48 hours. Operating categories are
the same as for the 160-meter contest with
the same restrictions. Each station worked
on SSB is worth 2 points, CW counts as 4
points, and Novice/Technician CW contacts
are a big 8 points. Multipliers are all ARRL
and RAC section plus DXCC countries.
Final score is QSO points times multipliers.
Logs may be submitted electronically to
contest@arrl.org or to ARRL Contest
Branch, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT
06111 by 12 January 2000.
RAC Canada Winter Contest, 19 Dec.
This contest is a Canadian version of the
ARRL DX contest that is 24 hours long and
combines CW and SSB. Sponsored by the
Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), activity
takes place on 160 through 2 meters.
Operating classes include multioperator and
4 categories of single operator: (1) all bands;
(2) low power (100 W, maximum); (3) QRP
(5 W, maximum): and (4) single band. QSOs
with Canadian stations are worth 10 points
and contacts with official RAC stations - i.e.,
those with RAC in the call suffix such as
VA2RAC, VE1RAC, etc. - are worth 20
points. Non-Canadian contacts count 2
points. Canadian stations send a signal
report and province while stations outside
Canada send a report and a serial number.
There are a total of 12 provinces/territories
in Canada that may be counted once on each
mode on each band as a multiplier. Final
score is the total number of QSO points
times the total number of multiplier points.
Logs are due by 31 January to RAC, 720
Belfast Road, Suite 217, Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1G 0Z5.
I hope these contests give you a break from
the holiday shopping. 73 and Merry
Christmas everyone!
73, de K2TE
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