The ARRL Contest Update Newsletter
News and Techniques for the Active Operator
(Formerly the Contester's Rate Sheet)
Contester's Rate Sheet for January 26, 2005
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Contester's Rate Sheet
26 January 2005
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Edited by Ward Silver N0AX
SUMMARY
o Ready, Set, Go! NA Sprint SSB!
o CQ WW 160 - The Big One for Top Banders
o Sprint Practice Aids
o Record-Setting Contest Activity in 2004
o Ethernet Cabling Tips
o Well-Grounded Observations
o All Together Now
BULLETINS
o No bulletins in this issue.
BUSTED QSOS
o Sorry about the untimely headline regarding the ARRL January VHF
Sweepstakes last time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 26 JANUARY TO 9 FEBRUARY 2005
Logs are due for the following contests:
January 29 - North American QSO Party, SSB, email logs to:
ssbnaqp@ncjweb.com, Web log submission at:
http://www.ncjweb.com/naqplogsubmit.php, diskettes and paper logs to:
Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, 4225 Farmdale Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604, USA
January 31 - RAC Winter Contest, email logs to: canadawinter@rac.ca,
diskettes and paper logs to: Radio Amateurs of Canada, 720 Belfast
Road, Suite 217, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 0Z5, Canada
January 31 - SARTG New Year RTTY Contest, email logs to:
contest@sartg.com, diskettes and paper logs to: SARTG Contest Manager,
Ewe Hakansson, SM7BHM, Pilspetsvagen 4, SE-291 66 Kristianstad,
Sweden
January 31 - AGCW Happy New Year Contest, email logs to: hnyc@agcw.de,
diskettes and paper logs to: Werner Hennig, DF5DD, Am Cappeler
Freistuhl 33, D-59556 Lippstadt, Germany
January 31 - Original QRP Contest, email logs to: oqrpc@qrpcc.de,
diskettes and paper logs to: Dr.Hartmut Weber, DJ7ST, Schlesierweg 13,
D-38228 Salzgitter, Germany
January 31 - NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW and SSB, email logs to:
nrau@edr.dk, diskettes and paper logs to: EDR HF Contest Manager,
Peter Vestergaard, OZ5WQ, Vestervej 74, DK-4960 Holeby, Denmark
January 31 - TOPS Activity Contest, email logs to:
helmut.klein@chello.at, diskettes and paper logs to: Helmut Klein,
OE1TKW, Nauseagasse 24/26, A-1160 Wien, Austria
February 1 - International Naval Contest, email logs to: (none),
diskettes and paper logs to: Romanian Marine Amateur Radio Club
(YO-MARC), Chairman Marin Paicu, YO4DCF, PO Box 49, R - 6100 Braila-1,
Romania
February 1 - Holiday Milliwatt CW Contest, email logs to:
n7ri@earthlink.net, diskettes and paper logs to: Ralph Irons, N7RI,
1119 Avon St, Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA
February 6 - WQF QRP Party, email logs to: ru2fm@mail.ru, diskettes
and paper logs to: RU-QRP Club, PO Box 229, Lipetsk, 398043, Russia
February 8 - ARRL RTTY Roundup, email logs to: RTTYRU@arrl.org,
diskettes and paper logs to: RTTY Roundup, ARRL, 225 Main St,
Newington, CT 06111, USA
February 8 - EUCW 160m Contest, email logs to: f6cel@wanadoo.fr,
diskettes and paper logs to: Ghislain Barbason, 5 rue de l'Ecluse,
F-02190 Pignicourt, France
The following contests are scheduled:
Note that the following abbreviations are used to condense the contest
rules summaries:
SO - Single-Op; M2 - Multi-Op - 2 Transmitters; MO - Multi-Op; MS -
Multi-Op, Single Transmitter; MM - Multi-Op, Multiple Transmitters; AB
- All Band; SB - Single Band; S/P/C - State/Province/DXCC Entity; HP -
High Power; LP - Low Power; Entity - DXCC Entity
HF CONTESTS
CQ WW 160-Meter Contest - CW, sponsored by CQ Magazine from 0000Z Jan
29 - 2359Z Jan 30 (Phone is Feb 26-27). Exchange: RST and S/P/C.
Categories: SO-QRP (<5 W) -LP(<150 W) -HP, MO categories. Enter as MO
if packet or spotting nets are used. QSO Points: own entity - 2 pts,
same continent - 5 pts, diff. cont. - 10 pts, /MM stations count 5
points, but no multiplier. Score: QSO points X states + VE call areas
+ DXCC entities (KH6 and KL7 count as DXCC only). For more
information: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/index.html. Logs due by
Feb 28 to 160cw@kkn.net (Cabrillo format only) or CQ 160 Contest, 25
Newbridge Rd, Hicksville, NY 11801.
REF French Contest - CW, sponsored by the Reseau des Emetteurs
Francais, 0600Z Jan 29 - 1800Z Jan 30 (Phone is Feb 27 - 28). Contact
French stations including Corsica, Overseas Territories, and EU
Council station TP2CE. Frequencies: 80 - 10-meters. Categories: SOAB,
MS, and SWL. Exchange: non-French stations send RST and serial number,
French send RST and department number or prefix. QSO Points: different
continent - 3 pts, 1 pt otherwise. Score: QSO points X departments and
prefixes counted once per band. For more information:
http://www.ref-union.org/concours/. Logs are due Mar 15 (CW) or April
15 (SSB) to cdfcw@ref-union.org (SSB - cdfssb@ref-union.org) or Reseau
des Emetteurs Francais, REF Contest, BP 7429, 37074 Tours Cedex,
France.
UBA Contest - Phone, sponsored by the Royal Union of Belgian Amateur
Radio from 1300Z Jan 29 - 1300Z Jan 30 (CW is Feb 27 - 28).
Frequencies: 80 - 10-meters, according to the IARU band plan.
Categories: SOAB, SOAB-QRP, SOSB, MS, packet is allowed for all
classes. Exchange: RST and serial number, ON stations add their
province abbr. QSO Points: QSOs with ON stations - 10 pts, with other
EU - 3 pts, outside EU - 1 pt. Score: QSO points X ON provinces + ON
prefixes + European DXCC entities counted once per band. For more
information: http://www.uba.be/. Logs due 30 days after the contest to
berger@cyc.ucl.ac.be or Michel Le Bon, ON4GO, UBA HF Contest Manager,
Chée de Wavre 1349, B-1160 Bruxelles, Belgium.
UK DX RTTY Contest - sponsored by the GM Contest Club from 1200Z Jan
29 - 1200Z Jan 30. Frequencies: 80 - 10-meters. Categories: SOAB (HP,
LP <100 watts), MS. Exchange: RST and serial number, UK stations send
UK region code. QSO Points: Own DXCC entity - 1pt, same continent - 2
pts, different cont - 3 pts, UK stations - 5 pts. Score: QSO points x
UK regions + DXCC entities on each band. For more information:
www.ukdx.scotham.net. Logs in Cabrillo format due 30 days after the
contest to ukdxc@scotham.net or UK DX RTTY Contest Committee, PO Box
7469, Glasgow, G42 0YD, Scotland, UK.
North American Sprint - SSB, sponsored by the National Contest Journal
from 0000Z - 0400Z, Feb 6. (CW is Feb 13) Frequencies (MHz): 3.850,
7.225, 14.275, work stations once per band. North American stations
work everyone, others work NA stations only. Exchange: other station's
call, your call, serial number, name, S/P/C. QSY rule: Stations
calling CQ, QRZ, etc, may only work one station in response to that
call, they must then move at least 1 kHz before working another
station or 5 kHz before soliciting another call. Once you are required
to QSY, you may not make a new QSO on the previous frequency until you
have made a contact at least 1 or 5 kHz (as required) away. Score:
QSOs X S/P/C (count each only once). For more information:
http://www.ncjweb.com/. Logs due 7 days after the contest to
ssbsprint@ncjweb.com or Jim Stevens, K4MA, 6609 Vardon Ct.,
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526.
Spartan Sprint--CW--sponsored by the Adventure Radio Society, 0200Z --
0400Z Feb 8 (Monday local time). The contest is held on the first
Monday of every month. Frequencies (MHz): 3.560, 7.040, 14.060,
21.060, 28.060. Categories: SOAB. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, and power
output. For more information: http://www.arsqrp.com/. Logs due
following Wednesday afternoon to hjohnc@core.com or via automated
scoring system on ARS Web site.
VHF+ CONTESTS
No VHF+ contests are scheduled.
NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES
The 4th Edition of the World-Wide Antarctic Program (WAP) Directory is
now available to download from: http://www.ddxc.net/wap/dnw.php. The
2005 edition contains more than 400 WAP references, such as bases,
camps and refuges, special prefixes used to celebrate the Antarctica,
with references for the WAP Antarctic Directory Award (WADA). The
callsign data base directory contains a huge collection of over 3000
Antarctic, Sub and Peri-Antarctic callsigns. Just the thing for
determining the correct zone on those southern calls. (Thanks, OPDX
Bulletin)
Radio astronomers can still hear Voyager I's 2-watt transmitter, which
is now 94.953 AU from earth. 1 AU is an Astronomical Unit, or the
distance between the sun and the Earth. It is 1.6 billion kilometers
(that would be 1600 Gigameters), or about 93 million miles. That's
about 8835 million miles away, or 4420 million miles per watt.
(Thanks, Harry KC9GRV and Paul NA5N)
Several different playback files and formats for the sound heard by
the Huygens Titan probe are available at
http://planetary.org/sounds/huygens_sounds.html. I hear this all the
time on 6 meters, could it be that we're being visited by alien
probes? (Thanks, Diane NH6HE)
Sprint's a-comin'! "The most fun you can have in 4 hours with your
clothes on." - N6TR. Yet this is not an easy contest to learn without
some helpful hints. Here's a few:
CW Sprinting - Beginners Guide - by W4AN
http://www.contesting.com/articles/198
The Sprint Survival Web Page
http://n6tr.jzap.com/sprint.html
If you would like to have some sprint QSOs to use for CW practice:
http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/audio/sprint_practice/
The rules are here:
http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintrules.php
Past scores are here:
http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintresults.php
(Thanks, George K5TR)
Not only are these references helpful, but the Northern California
Contest Club is sponsoring some practice sessions:
Thursday, January 27: 7:30pm-8:00pm PST - Sprint CW practice
Thursday, February 3: 7:30pm-8:00pm PST - Sprint SSB practice
Friday, February 4: 6:30pm-7:00pm PST - Sprint SSB practice
Thursday, February 10: 7:30pm-8:00pm PST - Sprint CW practice
Friday, February 11: 6:30pm-7:00pm PST - Sprint CW practice
These are followed by the NCCC Net at 8pm PST on 3853 kHz +/-.
Suggested frequencies for practice sessions are 3545, 7045, 14045 kHz,
which encourage keeping clear of the 7040 kHz RTTY & QRP calling
frequency. Avoid ongoing QSOs, as always. If you're not on the West
Coast, feel free to start your own sessions! No reason not to have
practice sessions for any major contest in an effort to help new
operators up the learning curve. (Thanks, Rick K6VVA)
For something fun to do between the ham bands, try Arnie CO2KK's
"DX-ers Unlimited" program on Radio Habana every week. Check out the
program and upcoming schedule at
http://www.radiohc.org/Distributions/arnie.html. (Thanks, Pat W7GTO)
If you thought Eva Gabor, Elizabeth Taylor, and Demi Moore were the
leaders in marrying old and new, you haven't seen anything until you
log on to:
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/Port-O-Rotary/portable-rotary.htm
(Thanks, George K5TR)
This issue's Portuguese lesson from the Lonely Planet "Western
European Phrasebook" covers some of the niceties of dining with your
hosts, a valuable social skill for guest operators!
Breakfast - pequeno almoco (p'KE-nu ahl-MO-su)
Lunch - almoco (ahl-MO-su)
Afternoon tea - lanche (Lay-sh)
Dinner - jantar (jay-TAHR)
Not too spicy, please - Pouco picante, se faz favor (Po-ku pee-KAY-t,
s'FAHSH fa-VOR)
By the way, the movie "Aquatic Life" features some interesting
Brazilian interpretations of David Bowie hit songs.
RESULTS AND RECORDS
Is contest participation declining? I think not. With a few more
logs trickling in, the ARRL set an all-time record for number of
submissions in 2005, 19103. That is a modest 0.6% increase from 2002
and the previous record, and a 3.9% increase from 2003. A record
number of submissions were received for five events: RTTY Roundup,
International DX, Field Day, IARU HF, 160 Meters, and Straight Key
Night. Though not record numbers, there were increases in submissions
over 2003 in the January VHF, August UHF, and September VHF contests.
Submissions were down for June VHF, 10 GHz, EME and 10 Meter contests.
Of the 19103 submissions, approximately 16000 were electronic
submissions, about 84.2%, which is up about 10% from 2003. VHF
submissions account for 2604 submissions across the six VHF events,
which is a 0.7% increase from 2003 and the most since 1999. Also
there were 286 submissions from Rovers, which is a record number of
rovers (previous high was 280 in 1993) and accounts for a 12.24% of
the total submissions in contests where there are rovers. This is the
highest percentage of entries of rovers in the ARRL's records.
(Thanks, Dan N1ND)
The ARRL UHF Contest results are available on-line at
http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/. (Thanks, Dan N1ND)
TECHNICAL
Anyone that has tried to obtain terrain data from USGS to use with
HFTA, may have discovered that several aspects of the downloading
process have changed. The article at
http://www.arrl.org/notes/9043/HFTA-Changes.pdf describes the new
procedure with screen shots and active links. Both N6BV and Peter
Guth, the author of MicroDEM, were a huge help in pulling this
together and making things work again. (Thanks, Pete N4ZR)
Ken WM5R updated the TR Log web site to include a new page of links to
information about DOS issues: http://www.trlog.com/dos.shtml. There
is also a PDF file from Mark KD4D about dual-booting Windows systems
so that DOS-based programs can run in their native environment. Look
for it at http://www.trlog.com/DOS_dual_boot_20041207.pdf.
Battery Tender Plus (http://batterytender.com/) is a three step 1.25
amp charger that will not only charge a lead-acid battery but also
maintain it at the correct float level when not in use or in use. A
good tutorial about batteries is also provided at
http://batterytender.com/battery_basics.php, including a downloadable
file on battery charging principles. (Thanks, Dick W7AND)
If you're looking for a source of Fair-Rite products, here are all of
Fair-Rite's distributors: http://www.fair-rite.com/support.htm.
(Thanks, Jim W6RMK)
To fight problems caused by insects getting into outdoor equipment
enclosures, an old trick is to use moth balls to keep the insects out.
This seems to work well for ants, too. (Thanks, Stefan DL1IAO and
Stew K3ND)
Power or telephone poles are often available for use as antenna
supports, but how deep do you need to plant them? From the Handbook
for Lineman, "A rule for determining the setting depth in soil is to
take 10% of the height of the pole and add 2 ft, with a minimum of 5
ft. This is for poles in a straight line. If the pole is an angle
point or a corner point [meaning subject to significant sideways
forces - Ed.] it should be set at least 1/2 ft deeper." The depth is a
function of load and of soil conditions so if the soil is unusual then
you need to set the pole deeper and at some point you will need a
soils engineer to sort out the details. (Thanks, John W0UN and
others)
Hardware for Rohn towers often needs to be replaced when reinstalling
a used tower. Time was that the bolts were a special grade, but that
has changed. From Gerald K5GW at Texas Towers, "For many years Rohn
has supplied Grade 5 electroplated bolts with 25G sections. These
bolts are in no way special or different from what you can purchase at
a good hardware supplier. In fact, last year I needed some for a
project and Rohn/Radian was not yet shipping, I found exact
replacements at Home Depot for about 50 cents each. The joint bolts
for 45G, 55G and larger towers are hot dip galvanized. In this respect
they are different from those found at the usual hardware sources. The
galvanizing requires special oversized nuts for everything to fit
properly. The galvanizing also makes for a tighter fit in the leg
joint which is a good thing." For Rohn 25, the leg bolts are 1/4-28 x
1-1/2" and 5/16-24 x 1-1/2". Nuts are 1/4-28 and 5/16-24.
CAT-5 Ethernet cabling can cause EMI problems (both received and
transmitted) if the connectors aren't installed properly. The 8
conductors in that cable are actually 4 pairs of twisted cables. Each
pair is a "hot" and a ground return. Crimp the connectors keeping the
colors all the same on each pin at each end. This will keep the
twisted pairs connected properly. To address common mode radiation
from the cable (generated by the equipment to which the cable is
attached), you can add ferrite core chokes without affecting data
flowing within the twisted pairs. These Web sites address wiring CAT5
connectors properly:
http://www.netspec.com/helpdesk/wiredoc.html
http://www.netadmintools.com/art146.html
http://yoda.uvi.edu/InfoTech/rj45.htm
(Thanks, Ford N0FP, Jim K9YC, and John W0UN)
With winter storms dumping lots of water on our antenna farms, sleeve
and thrust bearings are at risk of freezing up. Many good ideas were
offered for keeping the water out of those spaces (no, not mothballs)
and here is a good one from Jerry K3BZ. "I use a rubber boot called a
"FERNCO" which is available in many sizes wherever plumbing products
are sold. They're used to adapt from one size pipe to another. Get one
that is the size of your mast on one end and large enough on the other
end to clear the OD of your bearing. Mount it with an SS hose clamp to
the mast, just above the bearing. To install on a mast already in
place, slit it down one side before mounting, then clean the rubber
with alcohol and seal the slit with RTV silicone rubber." Jerry also
adds a bearing between the sleeve and mast. "I use a thin piece of
polyethylene sheet cut from one of the new "disposable" cutting
boards. I wrap it around the mast and cut it so it doesn't overlap,
then slide it in between the mast and the sleeve. I checked it after a
year and there was no noticeable wear."
There was an EXTENSIVE discussion about RF vs. Lightning vs. Safety
grounding on the Towertalk email reflector over the past couple of
weeks. It is too far-ranging and detailed to summarize here. All I
can say is that if you're interested in the topic of grounding, browse
through the Towertalk archives at
http://dayton.akorn.net/pipermail/towertalk/. Here are some
additional resources contributed by Jim K9YC and Jim W7YR:
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/SurgeXPowerGround.pdf
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/Pin_1_Revisited.pdf
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/Pin_1_Revisited_Part_2.pdf
Motorola's installation standard - "R56 Site Standards and Guidelines
for Communications Sites" and TIA J-STD-607-A are encyclopedic
references. Try a local university library or inter-library loan to
find a copy.
Jay WX0B at Array Solutions also mentioned that they have a number of
good station-specific grounding articles by ICE on their Web site at:
http://www.arraysolutions.com/Products/ice/10.html. There are other
articles about doing a station noise audit - something to do BEFORE a
BPL installation comes to town.
CONVERSATION
All Together Now
It just blows me away how much depth of expertise exists within this
hobby. I am always hearing the whining about how "dumbed down" it is,
but it seems to me that on a weekly basis, one or more Serious Experts
will contribute answers and guidance to almost any technical question
you can imagine. This type of expertise was simply not available when
I was getting started, unless you happened to be in tight with the
right group on the right frequency.
The Towertalk Reflector
(http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk) was the star
over the past couple of weeks. Grounding at frequencies from dc to
daylight, data cabling analysis, all sorts of useful hardware help,
and more was offered and shared freely. Just cruise the archives for
an idea of the scope of the discussion. Other reflectors and forums
(fora?) such as RFI, CQ Contest, QRP, etc. will provide similar riches
on any given day. Try any of the reflectors on the
http://contesting.com/ Web site.
I know of no other hobby that even remotely comes close to providing
the kind of mutual support and assistance that ham radio does. Yeah,
I know there are old grouches out there that run off newcomers, but
they are obviously the exception to the rule. If more people were as
generous with their assistance as hams, we would all be better off.
Elmering is alive and well!
Newcomers will greatly benefit from monitoring the traffic on the
reflectors and other Web forums. They only need to learn about them,
so don't hesitate to pass on the addresses and URLs for subscriptions.
These are really where Elmering takes place these days, not so much
on the air. They might not aware of it, either, feeling a little lost
when it comes to those technical questions we all had starting out.
Don't assume that everybody knows, because they don't!
Anyway - the message for this week is simple, if not short. Give
yourself a hand for providing, contributing to, and reading these
great resources! Ham radio is the stronger for using Internet
technology as a source of technical and operating strength.
73, Ward N0AX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Contester's Rate Sheet wishes to acknowledge information from the
following sources:
WA7BNM's Contest Calendar Web page -
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal
ARRL Contest page - http://www.arrl.org/contests
SM3CER's Web site - http://www.sk3bg.se/contest
Page last modified: 04:29 AM, 06 Dec 2008 ET
Page author: rate-sheet@arrl.org
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