Contester's Rate Sheet for May 7, 2003
*********************** Contester's Rate Sheet 7 May 2003 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver, N0AX SUMMARY o Nevada and Oregon QSO Parties -- Work the Wild West o High-Speed Meteor Scatter Rally o Pre-Dayton Product Info from Elecraft and MiLog o Extreme Metric Prefixes and Trap Troubleshooting o More Logs in the Woodpile BULLETINS o The US Counties QSO Party-SSB is May 17 and 18. This is a revamped version of the old MARAC County Hunters Contest. Some magazines and websites have incorrectly listed the dates as April 5/6. (Thanks, Scott VE1OP) BUSTED QSOS o The 10-10 Contest listings in QST refer to incorrect pages of previous QST issues. Just refer to the Contest Corral column in the referenced issue. (Thanks, Steve N0WY) ANNOUNCEMENT & NOTICES FOR 7 MAY TO 20 MAY 2003 Logs are due for the following contests: o May 10 - EA RTTY Contest, email to: ea1mv@ure.es, paper logs to: Antonio Alcolado, EA1MV, PO Box 240, E-09400 Aranda de Duero (Burgos), Spain o May 10 - DX YL to NA YL Contest, CW, email to: wa6uvf@pe.net, paper logs to: Jeanie Parker, WA6UVF, 28400 Vista del Valle, Hemet, CA 92544, USA o May 10 - 222 MHz Spring Sprint, email to: springsprints@etdxa.org, paper logs to: 222 MHz Spring Sprint, ETDXA/WU4O, Jeff J. Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849, USA o May 13 - 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 17 - Georgia QSO Party, email to: jshort@mindspring.com, paper logs to: Jeff Short, KD3UC, 5106 Cypress Ct., Alpharetta, GA 30005, USA o May 17 - YLRL DX to NA YL Contest, SSB, email to: wa6uvf@pe.net, paper logs to: Jeanie Parker, WA6UVF, 28400 Vista del Valle, Hemet, CA 92544, USA o May 17 - TARA Spring Wakeup PSK31 Rumble, enter results using: http://www.qsl.net/wm2u/score.html, paper logs to: Ernest Mills, WM2U, 9 Morningside Dr., Ballston Lake, NY 12019-1531, USA o May 17 - 432 MHz Spring Sprint, email to: springsprints@etdxa.org, paper logs to: 432 MHz Spring Sprint, ETDXA/WU4O, Jeff J. Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849, USA o May 19 - Michigan QSO Party, email to: logs@miqp.org, paper logs to: Mad River Radio Club, c/o Dave Pruett, 2727 Harris Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48198, USA o May 20 - YU DX Contest, email to: 2003@yudx.net, paper logs to: Savez radio-amatera Jugoslavije, YU DX Contest, PO Box 48, 11001 Beograd, Yugoslavia The following contests are scheduled: Note that the following abbreviations are used to condense the contest rules summaries: SO - Single-Op; M2 - Multiop - 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 Nevada QSO Party - CW/SSB/RTTY - sponsored by the Frontier Amateur Radio Society from 0000Z May 10 - 0600Z May 11. 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 due June 15 to nw7o@arrl.net or Jim Frye NW7O, 4120 Oakhill Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89121-6319. Oregon QSO Party - CW/SSB - sponsored by the Central Oregon DX Club from 1400Z May 10 - 0200Z May 11. Frequencies (MHz): 80 -- 10 meters, CW - 40 kHz above band edge, SSB - 3.870, 7.270, 14.270, 21.370 and 28.470, no repeater QSOs. Exchange: RS(T) and OR county or SPC. QSO Points: SSB - 1 pt, CW - 2 pts. Score: QSO points x OR counties (OR stations add S/P/C), mults counted only once. One extra multiplier for every 8 QSOs with the same county. 100 bonus points for working K7O. For more information -- http://www.codxc.com. Logs due June 10 to k4xu@arrl.net or to Oregon QSO Party, c/o CODXC, 19821 Ponderosa St, Bend, OR 97702. FISTS Spring Sprint--CW - sponsored by the FISTS International CW Club from 1700Z - 2100Z May 11. Frequencies: 80 - 10 meters, work US/VE stations. Categories: SOAB-QRP (<5W), SOAB-QRO, Club. Exchange: Name, RST, SPC, members send FISTS number, nonmembers send power output. QSO Points: FISTS members - 5 pts, nonmembers - 2 pts. Score: QSO points × SPC (count each only once). For more information - http://www.FISTS.org. Logs due 30 days after the contest to W8PIG@yahoo.com or Dan Shepherd N8IE, 1900 Pittsfield St, Kettering, Oh 45420. Alessandro Volta RTTY DX Contest - sponsored by COMO and ARI from 1200Z May 10 -- 1200Z May 11. Frequencies: 80 -- 10 meters. Categories: SOAB, SOSB, MS, SWL. Exchange: RST, serial number, CQ Zone. QSO Points: see table on Web site. Score: QSO points x DXCC entities + W/VK/VE/JA/ZL call areas x Total QSOs. For more information -- http://www.contestvolta.com/. Logs due July 31 to log@contestvolta.com or to Francesco Di Michele I2DMI, PO Box 55, I-22063 Cantu, Italy. CQ-M International DX Contest - CW/SSB/SSTV - sponsored by the Krenkel Central Radio Club from 2100Z May 10 - 2100Z May 11. 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: QSO points x countries counted once per band. For more information -- http://www.mai.ru/~crc/cq-m/cqmain_e.htm. Logs due July 1 to cqm@mail.ru or to CQ-M Contest Committee, Krenkel Central Radio Club of Russia, PO Box 88, Moscow, 123459, Russia. Armed Forces Day, 1300Z May 10 -- 0600Z May 11. Not all stations maintain the same schedule, see http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/af-day/armdfrcs-2003.html for the complete information on stations, frequencies, and times. Baltic Contest--CW/SSB - sponsored by the Lithuanian Radio Sports Federation from 2100Z May 17 - 0200Z May 18. Frequencies (MHz): CW 3.510-3.600, SSB 3.600-3.650 and 3.700-3.750. Categories: SO-CW/SSB/Mixed, MS, SWL. Exchange: RS(T) and serial number. QSO Points: Baltic (YL/ES/LY) stations count EU - 1 pt and non-EU - 2 pts, EU stations count Baltic - 10 pts, non-Baltic - 1 pt; non-EU stations count Baltic - 20 pts, non-Baltic - 1 pt. Score: total QSO points. For more information - http://www.lrsf.lt/BContest/index2.htm. Logs due July 1 to lrsf@lrsf.lt or PO Box 210, LT-3000 Kaunas, Lithuania. His Majesty King of Spain Contest - CW - sponsored by the Union de Radioaficionados Espaņoles (URE) from 1800Z May 17 - 1800Z May 18 (SSB is June 21-22). Frequencies: 160-10 meters using IARU Region 1 band plan. Categories: SOAB, SOSB, and MS. Exchange: RST and serial number or EA province. QSO Points: 1 pt/QSO. Score: QSO points x EA provinces counted once per band. For more information, send email to ure@ure.es. Logs due 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. US Counties QSO Party--SSB - sponsored by The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club from 0000Z May 17 - 2400Z May 18. Frequencies (MHz): 3.880, 7.240, 14.275, 21.340, 28.340. Work fixed stations once/band and mobiles once for each county and band. Categories: Mobile, Fixed. Exchange: RST and county or S/P/C. County line QSOs count as one QSO but separate multipliers. QSO Points: US fixed stations - 1 point, US mobile - 15 points, all others - 5 pts, one station must be in a US county. Score is QSO Points × US counties (counted only once). Mobiles sum score from each state. For more information -- http://www.stpaulisland.net/countycontest.html. Logs due June 18 to (US logs) d.e.traver@worldnet.att.net or Duane Traver, WV2B, 99 Oregon Hill Rd, Lisle, NY 13797-1002, non-US logs to snichols@mvosprey.com or Scott Nichols, VE1OP, 387 Rudderham Rd, Point Edward, NS B2A 4V6, Canada. VHF CONTESTS 50 MHz Spring Sprint, sponsored by the Eastern Tennessee DX Association from 2300Z May 10 - 0300Z May 11. 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 four weeks of the contest to springsprints@etdxa.org or Jeff J Baker, 8218 Foxworth Trail, Powell, TN 37849. For the next week, the "North American HSMS Rally and Contest" will be active on 6 meters and higher VHF bands during the Eta Aquarids meteor shower through May 12th. See http://www.qsl.net/wa5ufh/Rally/NAHSMS.htm and http://www.pingjockey.net/cgi-bin/pingtalk. Use the "50" button on your radio and see what it does! 50.125 is the calling frequency to get things rolling -- remember to talk fast. (Thanks, Dennis K7BV) NEWS & PRESS RELEASES The 2002 10-Meter Contest results are moving into final production. The new certificates for the ARRL June VHF QSO Party, August UHF Contests, September VHF QSO Party, EME Competition, and IARU HF World Championships are being mailed. (Thanks, ARRL Contest Desk) The boys and girls at Elecraft have been very busy getting ready for the Dayton Hamvention. At Visalia, Eric WA6HHQ was showing off several new products: - The KDSP2 internal module kit for the K2 includes several CW & SSB filters, some user-configurable, and four different noise-reduction settings. - Thinking about VHF contesting? Try three new high-performance transverter kits for 6, 2, and 1-1/4 meters with 20-25 watts of output, sequenced amplifier keying, and front-panel wattmeters. Although they don't require a K2 host, integration with the K2 enables daisy-chained, automatic band selection and frequency display. - The new KRC2 is an automatic band decoder for external antennas and Band Pass Filter selection that works with all major radio serial interfaces, as well as with the K2. It features numerous switching configuration options, upgradable software, and a hefty drive capability. The RS-232 configuration and control interface is a nice feature that makes it easy to set up complex switching functions. If you haven't taken a look at the K2 and K1 family of products lately, it will be worth your while to check out how Elecraft has grown -- http://www.elecraft.com. MiLog 6.0 (http://www.HamToys.com) is both a general and contest logging program that is specifically designed for multi-radio and multi-rotator contest stations. I saw a demo at the Visalia DX Convention of its native support for Ethernet interfaces to antenna switching and control accessories such as the Shack-LAN radio and switching interfaces. With the Ethernet and TCP/IP support, no longer does everything have to be in reach of an RS-232 or parallel port cable. In fact, a multi-op team could have members literally anywhere with an Internet connection. MiLog handles DX cluster connections via TELNET or RF links, RTTY contest capability with an MMTTY module, and Cabrillo conversion of contest logs. It also has a superb built-in voice keyer. (Thanks, John N7ON) NPR had a nice show about Ham Radio and QSL cards with hams calling in with their experiences. To listen to the show go to http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1248508 or search the NPR archives for "Ham Radio". (Thanks, Glenn WA7SPY) RESULTS AND RECORDS The 2002 ARRL 160-Meter and November Phone Sweepstakes results are available in the Members' Only section. (Thanks, ARRL Contest Desk) The official results for the 2003 Minnesota QSO party are now available at http://www.w0aa.org. (Thanks Al, K0AD) CQ WW SSB High-Claimed scores are now available at: http://cqww.com/hiclaim.htm and all logs submitted are available at http://www.cqww.com/logs-received_ssb.htm. (Thanks Bill W4ZV and Alan K6ACZ) The Forsyth Amateur Radio Club is excited to announce that the results of the North Carolina QSO Party have been posted on the club Website, http://www.w4nc.com. (Thanks, Henry W2DZO/W4WS) If you worked C5P in the recent WPX contest, photos are available at http://public.fotki.com/C56TA/. (Thanks, Andy LY2TA/C56TA) TECHNICAL & TECHNIQUE While you might know a whole lot of metric prefixes, here are some that I'll bet you were blissfully unaware of. "Yotta (Y)" is 10 to the 24th power, "Zetta (Z)" is 10 to the 21st, "Zepto (z)" (sounds like one of the lesser known Marx brothers!) is all the way down to 10 to the negative 21st power and "Yocto (y)" for ten to the negative 24th. These (and more) are found at http://www.essex1.com/people/speer/large.html. That would make the Seinfeld Number -- YottaYottaYotta -- bigger than a Google! (Thanks, Mike WA8MCQ) If you have a trapped antenna and have gotten the traps mixed up or maybe need to troubleshoot them, this URL has a section on using a Grid-Dip Meter to help solve the problem - http://www.hal-pc.org/~kg5u/a3refurb.txt. Look for the section "Trap Troubleshooting." (Thanks, Dale KG5U) CONVERSATION More Logs in the Woodpile As expected, my discussion of logging programs generated some referrals from satisfied customers. Here are several more candidates for your logging needs. It's nice to have so many choices from within the amateur community!! DXtreme Station Log -- Multimedia Edition (tm), by DXtreme Software (tm) is a new logging program in its Amateur Radio product line that has a new feature. It provides multimedia. For example, an audio facility lets you create and maintain an audio archive of their memorable contacts. It also has a QSL Imaging facility, so that physical QSL cards can be scanned and electronic QSLs incorporated as they are received. Station Log also produces ADIF-based electronic QSLs for uploading to Web sites that specialize in the delivery of eQSLs. For more information, visit http://www.dxtreme.com or contact Bob Raymond at bob.raymond@dxtreme.com for more information. Andy, AE6Y has a free logging software package that was originally designed for CQP, but has been upgraded to handle the major contests and is very simple to configure. Check it out at http://www.cqp.org/Software-AE6Y.html. (Thanks, Ken K6TA) LOGic 6 is a software package which provides complete logging, tracking of any award, QSL cards/labels, contesting, rig interfacing, antenna rotor control, digital communications for all modes, packet spotting, CW keyer, sound card support, customizable screens/reports w/ user-defined fields, prints graphics and color, documentation, tech support, grayline, AZ-EQ map, callbook from web or CD. More info and demo versions are available at http://www.hosenose.com. (Thanks, George K3GV) An update from Paul EI5DI -- "SD supports all the big international events as well as dozens of "local" European and other events (including US QSO parties). I offer separate programs - SDI for the IOTA Contest (which is freeware) and SDC for the RSGB Commonwealth Contest, two very different contests." Win-EQF - Log-EQF for Windows by Tom Dandrea N3EQF tracks the whole logbook, award totals (DXCC, WAS, IOTA, counties, VUCC, WAZ, 10-10, WPX ) or my QSL collection. It's been advertised in QST for many years and more info is available at http://www.eqf-software.com. (Thanks, Paul AD4IE and Stephan VE2OWL) Lux-Log is a general purpose logging program that tracks awards plus it has a contest logging module. It's distributed as freeware at http://www.qsl.net/lx1no/llog_win.html. (Thanks, David NN4DF) While not a logging program, per se, the BV7 QSL management and label program by DF3CB for organizing, searching, sorting, and printing QSL labels is highly touted by many. It's a standalone program, which is sometimes easier to use than an integrated package. The program is available at http://www.df3cb.com/bv/. (Thanks, John N7ON) 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/ Windows is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.
