Contester's Rate Sheet for May 8, 2002
*********************** Contest Rate Sheet 8 May 2002 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver, N0AX SUMMARY o Armed Forces Day this weekend! o Anatolian WW RTTY contest ownership in dispute -- rules confusion o MRRC changes Ohio QSO Party dates o New Awards Reflector o Unbypassed rectifiers generate interference while you're transmitting BULLETINS o This information was submitted too late for Contest Corral. It's not really a contest, but I know a lot of contesters like to participate. The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are co-sponsoring the annual Military/Amateur Radio communications tests in celebration of the 52nd Anniversary of Armed Forces Day. Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on Saturday, May 18, 2002, the Armed Forces Day Military/Amateur Crossband Communications Test will be conducted on May 11, 2002 (local) so as not to conflict with the Dayton Hamvention which is on the same weekend (17-19 May, 2002) as the actual Armed Forces Day. For more information, including an extensive list of station schedules and frequencies, see http://www.asc.army.mil/mars/afd/mars_afd.htm. (Thanks, John N1KB) BUSTED QSOS o Anatolian WW RTTY Contest - there is a dispute as to who is sponsoring this contest; ANARAD or TA9J. Ismail Cakmak TA9J has been the contest manager in past years, but is no longer a member of ANARAD. Depending on whose rules you choose to follow, the contest runs from 1800 UTC Friday 17 May to 2100 UTC Saturday 18 May, 2002 (TA9J's rules) or from 0000 UTC Saturday 18 May to 2359 UTC Sunday 19 May 2002 (ANARAD). Otherwise, the rules are the same with logs due on 1 July (TA9J) and 1 December (ANARAD). The ANARAD web site rules are at http://www.qsl.net/ta4kg/rtty/kurallar.html. TA9J's rules are available via the SM3CER web site at http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/anwwryc.htm. Note that the ownership of the Anatolian WW PSK31 Contest scheduled for November is also affected. I apologize for any confusion -- note that the rules printed in May QST "Contest Corral" list ANARAD as the sponsor. ANNOUNCEMENT & NOTICES FOR 8 MAY TO 21 MAY Logs are due for the following contests: o May 1, 2002 BARTG Spring RTTY Contest - email to: ska@bartg.demon.co.uk, paper logs to: John Barber, GW4SKA, PO Box 611, Cardiff CF2 4UN, Wales o May 1, 2002 Russian DX Contest - email to: RusDXC@contesting.com, paper logs to: Russian DX Contest, P.O. Box 88, 123459 Moscow, Russia o May 1, 2002 CQWW WPX Contest, SSB - email to: (Cabrillo only) WPXSSB@kkn.net (non-Cabrillo) n8bjq@erinet.com, paper logs to: (see http://home.woh.rr.com/wpx/ for info) o May 5, 2002 UBA Spring Contest, SSB - email to: on6kl@qsl.net , paper logs to: Lode Kenens, ON6KL, Oudestraat 8, B-3560 Lummen, Belgium o May 5, 2002 EU Spring Sprint, CW - email to: eusprint@kkn.net , paper logs to: Paolo Cortese, I2UIY, PO Box 14, 27043 Broni (PV), Italy o May 7, 2002 Missouri QSO Party - email to: n0aj@earthlink.net, paper logs to: James I. Kinser, N0AJ, 2147 Encino Drive, Florissant, MO 63031-7627 USA o May 7, 2002 QCWA QSO Party - paper logs only to: Dick Newsome, W0HXL, 2924 North 48th Street, Omaha, NE 68104-3726 USA o May 7, 2002 222 MHz Spring Sprint - email to: springsprints@etdxa.org, paper logs to: 222 MHz Spring Sprint, ETDXA/KG4ENR, Jeff J. Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849, USA o May 10, 2002 MARAC County Hunter Contest, SSB - E-mail (US):wv2b@arrl.net, (non-US) snichols@mvosprey.com, paper logs to: (US) Duane Traver, WV2B, 99 Oregon Hill Rd., Lisle, NY 13797-1002, USA, (non-US) Scott Nichols, VE1OP, 387 Rudderham Rd., Point Edward, NS B2A 4V6, Canada o May 10, 2002 EA RTTY Contest - email to: ea1mv@retemail.es, paper logs to: EA RTTY Contest Manager, Antonio Alcolado, EA1MV, PO Box 240, E-09400 Aranda de Duero (Burgos), Spain o May 11, 2002 DX YL to NA YL Contest, CW - paper logs only to: Jeanie Parker, WA6UVF, 28400 Vista del Valle, Hemet, CA 92544, USA o May 14, 2002 QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party - email to: rfoltz@turbonet.com, paper logs to: Randy Foltz, K7TQ, Attn: Spring QSO Party, 809 Leith St., Moscow, ID 83843, USA o May 15, 2002 432 MHz Spring Sprint - email to: springsprints@etdxa.org, paper logs to: 432 MHz Spring Sprint, ETDXA/KG4ENR, Jeff J. Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849, USA o May 18, 2002 DX YL to NA YL Contest, SSB - paper logs only to: Jeanie Parker, WA6UVF, 28400 Vista del Valle, Hemet, CA 92544, USA o May 18, 2002 TARA Spring Wakeup PSK31 Rumble - Post results at: http://www.qsl.net/wm2u/score.html, paper logs to: Ernest Mills, WM2U, 9 Morningside Dr., Ballston Lake, NY 12019-1531, USA o May 18, 2002 Helvetia Contest - email to: contest@uska.ch, paper logs to: Hermann Stein, HB9CRV, Bruelmatten 13, CH-4410 Liestal BL, Switzerland o May 20, 2002 Michigan QSO Party - email to: mqp@contesting.com, paper logs to: Mad River Radio Club, c/o Dave Pruett, 2727 Harris Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48198, USA o May 21, 2002 YU DX Contest - email to: 2002@yudx.net,, paper logs to: Savez radio-amatera Jugoslavije, YU DX Contest, P.O. Box 48, 11001 Beograd, Yugoslavia The following contests are scheduled: Nevada QSO Party - CW/SSB/RTTY - sponsored by the Frontier Amateur Radio Society from 0000Z, May 11 to 0600Z, May 12. Frequencies: 160 -- 6 meters, CW 15 kHz and SSB 25 kHz above General class band edge. Exchange: RST and S/P/C or Nevada county. QSO Points: SSB -- 1 pt, CW/RTTY -- 2 pts. Score is QSO Points x Nevada counties or S/P/C counted only once. Logs must be emailed or postmarked by June 15th to nw7o@arrl.net or to NW7O, Jim Frye, 4120 Oakhill Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89121-6319. Oregon QSO Party -- CW/SSB - sponsored by the Central Oregon DX Club, 1400Z, May 11 to 0200Z, May 12. Frequencies: CW 1815 kHz and 40 kHz above band edge, SSB 1855, 3900, 7240, 14280, 21390, 28390 kHz, no repeater QSOs. Exchange: RS(T) and OR county or S/P/C. QSO Points: SSB -- 1 pt, CW -- 2 pts. Stations may be worked once per band/mode and in each county. Score is QSO points x OR counties or S/P/C + OR counties counted only once. 50 bonus points for working K7O. 100 bonus points for working K7ZZZ. Logs must be emailed or postmarked by June 10 to k4xu@arrl.net or to Oregon QSO Party, c/o K9QAM, 23083 Maverick Ln, Bend, OR. 97701. FISTS Spring Sprint -- CW -- sponsored by the FISTS International CW Club from 1700Z - 2100Z, May 11. Frequencies: 80 - 10 meters, work US/VE stations, once per band. Categories -- SOAB-QRP (<5W), SOAB-QRO and Club. Exchange name, RST, state/province/DXCC country; members send FISTS number, nonmembers send power output. QSO Points: FISTS members -- 5 pts, nonmembers - 2 pts. Score is QSO points × SPC (count each only once). For more information - http://www.FISTS.org. Send paper logs only within 30 days to Dan Shepherd, N8IE, 1900 Pittsfield St., Kettering, Oh 45420. CQ-M International DX Contest -- CW/SSB/SSTV - sponsored by the Krenkel Central Radio Club from 2100Z, May 11 to 2100Z, May 12. Frequencies: 160 -- 10 meters including satellites, which count as a separate band; remain on a band for at least 10 min. Categories: SOSB (CW, SSB, Mixed, Satellites), SOAB (CW, SSB, Mixed, QRP -- must sign "/QRP"), MS-Mixed, SWL-Mixed, WWII Veteran, SSTV, Victory. Exchange: RS(T) and serial number. QSO Points: Using P-150-C award countries, own country -- 1 pt, same cont. -- 2 pts, different cont. -- 3 pts. Score is QSO points x countries counted once per band. For more information - http://www.mai.ru/~crc/cq-m/cqmain_e.htm. Logs must be emailed or postmarked by July 1 to cqm@mail.ru or to CQ-M Contest Committee, Krenkel Central Radio Club of Russia, PO Box 88, Moscow, 123459, RUSSIA. 50 MHz Spring Sprint, sponsored by the Eastern Tennessee DX Association from 2300Z, May 11 to 0300Z, May 12 Fixed and Rover categories. Exchange is Grid Square only, count 1 pt per QSO. Score is QSO Points x Grid Squares, score each sprint separately. Rovers and Microwave sprints total all points and all grids worked from each grid. For more information -- http://www.etdxa.org/vhf.htm. Logs must be emailed or postmarked within 4 weeks of the contest to springsprints@etdxa.org or Jeff J Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849 USA. His Majesty King of Spain Contest, CW, sponsored by the Union de Radioaficionados Españoles (URE) from from 1800Z, May 18 to 1800Z, May 19 (SSB is June 22-23). Frequencies: 160-10 meters using IARU Region 1 bandplan. Categories: SOAB, SOSB, and MS. Exchange: RST and serial number or EA province. QSO Points: 1 pt per QSO. Score is QSO points x EA provinces counted once per band. For more information, send email to ure@ure.es. Logs must be emailed or postmarked by 25 June (SSB by 30 July) to ure@ure.es or ea5al@ure.es or Vocalia Concursos URE, Apartado Postal 87, 12200 Onda, Castellon, Spain. Anatolian RTTY Contest, sponsored by the Anatolian Radio Amateurs Association from 0000Z, May 18 to 2400Z, May 19. Frequencies: 80 -- 10 meters. Categories: SOAB, MS, SWL. Exchange: RST + serial number. QSO Points: Own country -- 5 pts, Same continent -- 10 pts, different cont. -- 15 pts. QSOs with TA2KW, TA3KA, TA4KG, TA7KB count 150 pts on 20-10 meters and 300 pts on 80-40 meters. Score is QSO points x DXCC entities + call areas in TA, VK, VE, JA, and USA counted once per band. For more information - http://www.www.qsl.net/ta4kg/rtty/kurallar.html. Logs must be emailed or postmarked by 10 December to anarad@ttnet.net.tr or to PO Box 97, Söke 09200, Turkey. NEWS & PRESS RELEASES The lists of Logs Received for the 2002 ARRL International DX CW Contest and 2002 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes have been posted at http://www.arrl.org/contests/claimed/. If you find an error in your listing, please have your Cabrillo log file and receipt number available when you contact me at 860-594-0232 or by email at contests@arrl.org. If your entry is missing, please contact me at the above numbers. Logs received after the deadline for submission, received with an invalid format or with missing information may be re-classified as Checklogs. (Thanks, N1ND) Bill Feidt NG3K has located and posted the VK4EMM Contest Band Plan Web pages which describe band plans around the world. This is useful stuff, particularly for the phone contesters and Dxers. John VK4EMM was kind enough to send Bill copies of the the files. You can get to them from http://www.ng3k.com/Contest/ under "World Contesting Bandplan", toward the bottom of the page. (Thanks, Bill NG3K) From N7WA regarding the popular 3830 claimed-score submittal web page located at http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/ - "A new era has begun for producing contest summaries. In the past, it would be neccessary for individuals to collect and format the data at periodic intervals and then mail out the results. The Web Submission form by Bruce/WA7BNM was a big improvement as it allowed the data to be parsed and imported by software. The next logical leap is to have a database itself produce reports and we are close to that that point. The data being input into the Web Submission pages is going into a database and reports can be produced at whim. The possibilities are endless. For now, while the system gets fine-tuned and Bruce refines the system, I will continue sending out the summaries as e-mail. We hope you will continue your fine tradition of comments and input. One downside, if you don't use the Web-page submission forms, it's really going to be hard to show your results in the summaries. For now, Bruce is manually inputting that data but it's slow and demanding process and probably not something that can go on for long. This doesn't mean you can't post your own results to 3830, it just means that they will be delayed for now and may not get into summaries in the future. It's a lot of work to manually input contest data and a job I have seriously been considering giving up. Now that the technology is available to make that job unnecessary, I really implore that you use the Web-page submission forms IF you want to be in the summaries. Best, Dink" I think we can all figure out who the "individuals" were that had to collect and manipulate the emailed scores in the past -- a big tip of the cap to WA7BNM and N7WA for putting this service together. (Thanks, Mike N7WA) The Mad River Radio Club has decided to change the previously announced date for the 2002 Ohio QSO Party from August 31 to August 24, 2002. It will run from 1600Z August 24 to 0400Z August 25. Rules are the same as last year. The the web site for full information has changed to http://www.mrrc.net/oqp. (Thanks, Jim K8MR) While there are several DX and contesting reflectors around, award enthusiasts have not had this luxury. There is now an awards reflector - any licensed HAM and SWL with a genuine interest in this part of our hobby is invited to join the list. More details can be found at: http://users.pandora.be/egbert.hertsen/awardlist.htm. (Thanks, Egbert ON4CAS) TECHNICAL & TECHNIQUE Unbypassed Diodes May Cause Interference During Transmit The first challenge of using a second radio effectively is the ability to listen while the other radio is transmitting. Obviously, some filtering may be required -- particularly if you are running high power. There are many good solutions available for both homebrew and purchased filters that can handle exciter power. However, lurking in your shack are interference generators that you will NEVER hear when using a single radio -- because you don't listen while you transmit. I am referring to the many unbypassed rectifiers in switches and control equipment. A rectifier junction makes a dandy harmonic generator when a signal of more than a few hundred millivolts is applied across it. Even a 100-watt radio is capable of driving a rectifier to this level. I discovered this phenomenon the hard way and found the culprits in my rotor control box. Transmit or receive filtering will do NOTHING against this type of interference because the generator (the rectifier) is not filtered and the noise is "in-band". For example, a rectifier being driven by a strong 3.510 MHz signal will generate harmonics at 7.020, 14.040, and 21.080 -- all right in a busy band - regardless of how much filtering is applied at any of those frequencies. RF gets into and out of these boxes on their control lines or even directly through plastic cases. The best solution is to bypass the rectifiers by soldering a 0.001 uF capacitor directly across the diode. It costs only pennies and is easy to do. As a bonus, this may also knock down TVI being generated the same way that filters won't help. Check the schematics of those accessories in your shack. You will be surprised at how many little PN junctions are just waiting for a loud signal to come along. CONVERSATION Q: What's the difference between an amplifier and some contesters digging the base for a new tower? A: One has a lid with some holes in it, the other has a hole with some lids in it. (Thanks, Mike N2MG) 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/
