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Here’s another page of interesting links, sent by a reader:
https://alertfind.com/amateur-radio-and-emergency-communications/W1AKI, I’d like a card, and my thanks also to you and all of the K2K and other special event operators.
N1MM seems to be working well.
IMHO it would be nice if the QSO parties would all decide together to put either the state first or the county first (or allow them in either order). But I have no idea though how much software would have to be changed!
It’ll be interesting to see how the software sorts out multiple contacts, once during another state’s QSO party and then later in the day in ours. I could have just worked the intersecting times but I think that it would limit me to 7 hours and leave out the daylight hours.
Soon after I got my license, I found that the call with the ‘classic’ W1 prefix, and my initials as the suffix, was available, so I filed an application for a “vanity callsign” and changed my call to W1AKI.
Soon afterwards the World-wide Prefix competition came around, and I discovered that W1 calls were the least valuable ones in the entire world! Everybody had already worked a W1 station and didn’t have a big need to work another one.
I like my call sign, and I’m not about to change it again (I already got a hat with W1AKI on it!) but I do encourage people to think twice before changing their call (or at least before changing their call to one with a W1 or N1 or similar common prefix).
p.s. Just one of the reasons to commemorate the splashdown of Apollo-8 is that it brought us the famous ‘Earthrise’ photo which gave people all over the world a new perspective on this planet, our home: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/apollo_8.html.
Good idea, Hamilton, thank you!
I got a few more states for WAS (and a new Canadian province for an RAC award) from the ARRL Sweepstakes (“SS”) this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn’t find these strategy guides until after the contest, when looking at a back issue of the ARRL “Contest Update” e-mail newsletter. They’ll be helpful next year, and maybe in some other contests between now and then!
The ARRL Sweepstakes by John Pescatore K3TN
PVRC Super Top-Secret Tips for High Scores in Phone Sweepstakes from Rob KA1ARB
Yes, the exchange is kind of long for this contest, but I heard a number of hams talking the other station through it, so remember that there is help out there.
p.s. Re: QSO Parties: Like I said, rules vary. I just worked a few stations in the Illinois QSO Party and they use 4-letter abbreviations for counties. Delaware only has 3 counties, so they can use a 1-letter abbreviation which they pre-pend to the state code.
One of the things I find really interesting is working Special Event stations. Some are one-shots, some repeat; some commemorate historical events, some celebrate current events. They sometimes have a short, or a long multi-digit, call sign. (The short call signs might get reused in the future for other events.) They often have a special QSL card and sometimes there is a certificate you can get
W0W was used by a Native American powwow in So. Miss. in 2016.
K2K is used by the NH stations that have arranged to be part of the 13 Colonies event held each year during the week of the 4th of July. This has become an unimaginably popular event for hams around the world. You can get a certificate for operating just one of them, but many people try to get all thirteen stations for a “clean sweep.”
My first DX contact was with GB1LBC, a UK lifeboat station during their annual SOS Radio Week event.
W9IMS operates each year during 3 races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
SC90SSA was celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Swedish amateur radio association.
OL700KAREL was celebrating the 700th Anniversary of the birthday of King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.
I have worked all of the above from my home QTH with just 100 watts and a wire dipole antenna up in the trees.
Ever hear someone on the air calling “CQ NEQP”?
A great thing to try if you need a QSL from another state, province, or region (like New England, or region 7 out west) is a “QSO Party” (“QP” for short) for that state (or province, etc.) or for your own state. There are lists here, here, and here. The idea is to make QSOs between the state and other states, and for operators in the state to also make contacts with other counties (parishes, whatever) in the state.
The exchange usually includes a signal report (59 — in many constests people always give out perfect 59 signal reports so they don’t have to worry about reading the S meter) along with the 2-letter postal code (e.g. NH or “November Hotel” for New Hampshire) from an out of state operator or a three-letter abbreviation for the county (e.g. HIL or “Hotel India Lima” for Hillsborough County) from an in-state operator, or both from the in-state operator if it is a regional QSO party (e.g. HIL NH, or AZ APH for Apache County, Arizona — there are different rules for different events). There is usually a web site with the rules, and it includes a list of the county abbreviations. Search the internet to find them (e.g. “new england qso party county abbreviations”) — the NEQP list is here.