Contester's Rate Sheet for April 21, 2004
*********************** Contester's Rate Sheet 21 April 2004 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver, N0AX SUMMARY o 2003 CW Sweepstakes writeup by KH6ND o Florida, Nebraska, Kentucky, Indiana, and New England QSO Parties o 432 MHz Sprint, 2 GHz and Up, and Meteor Scatter VHF Contests o Chemical Safety Resources o World's Largest Sub-Woofer o Cleaning Silver Stuff by W7WKR o Contest Crossbreeding BULLETINS o No bulletins in this issue BUSTED QSOS o A golden issue last time. ANNOUNCEMENT & NOTICES FOR 21 APRIL TO 4 MAY 2004 Logs are due for the following contests: April 24 - CLARA and Family HF Contest, email to: ve7vpe@rac.ca, paper logs and diskettes to: Paulette Schouten, VE7VPE, c/o VECTOR, 3301 East Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V5K 5J3, Canada April 25 - EU Spring Sprint, SSB, email to: eusprint@kkn.net, paper logs and diskettes to: Dave Lawley, G4BUO, Carramore, Coldharbour Road, Penshurst, Kent, TN11 8EX, England, UK April 25 - SARL Hamnet 40m Simulated Emerg Contest, email to: admin@sarl.org.za, paper logs and diskettes to: SARL Hamnet Emerg Contest, PO Box 1721, Strubensvallei 1735, Republic of South Africa April 27 - Mississippi QSO Party, email to: (none), paper logs and diskettes to: Vicksburg ARC, 14 Lake Circle Drive, Vicksburg, MS 39180, USA April 27 - Spring Break RTTY Sprint, email to: rttysprint@collegiatehams.com, paper logs and diskettes to: CARA, PO Box 150232, Alexandria, VA 22315, USA April 30 - CZEBRIS Contest, email to (UK): g3xjs@gqrp.com, email to (non-UK): karel.line@seznam.cz, paper logs and diskettes to (UK): G3XJS, Peter Barville, 40 Watchet Lane, Holmer Green, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP15 6UG, England, paper logs and diskettes to (non-UK): OK1AIJ, Karel Behounek, Na sancich 1181, 537 05 Chrudim IV, Czech Republic April 30 - Oklahoma QSO Party, email to: logs@okdxa.org, paper logs and diskettes to: OKDX Assn, OKQP, PO Box 2591, Claremore, OK 74018-2591, USA April 30 - SP DX Contest, email to: spdxc-logs@pzk.org.pl, paper logs and diskettes to: Polski Zwiazek Krotkofalowcow, SPDX Contest Committee, PO Box 320, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland May 1 - Makrothen RTTY Contest, email to: tmc-rtty@arcor.de, paper logs and diskettes to: (none) May 1 - BARTG Spring RTTY Contest, email to: ska@bartg.demon.co.uk, paper logs and diskettes to: (none) May 1 - CQWW WPX Contest, SSB, email to: ssb@cqwpx.com, paper logs and diskettes to: CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Rd., Suite 405, Hicksville, NY 11801, USA May 1 - Kids Roundup, email to: kids@qsl.net, paper logs and diskettes to: AARC, Jr 7901 Pepperbox Lane, Pasadena, MD 21122-6328, USA May 2 - UBA Spring Contest, SSB, email to: on6kl@skynet.be, paper logs and diskettes to: Lode Kenens, ON6KL, Oudestraat 8, B-3560 Lummen, Belgium May 3 - 144 MHz Spring Sprint, email to: springsprints@etdxa.org, paper logs and diskettes to: 144 MHz Spring Sprint, ETDXA/WU4O, Jeff J. Baker, 2012 Hinds Creek Road, Heiskell, TN 37754, USA 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 Florida QSO Party - sponsored by the Florida Contest Group from 1600Z April 24 - 0159Z April 25 and 1200Z - 2159Z April 25, 20 hours max, work FL stations. Frequencies (MHz): CW - 35 kHz from band edges, Phone - 7.260, 14.260, 21.335, and 28.485, no 160 or 80 meters, VHF/UHF. Categories: SO, MS, MM (one signal per band), Mobile (SO and SO+driver), School Club, SWL, all categories can enter as HP/LP (150W) or QRP (5W) and Mixed Mode/CW/SSB (except MM and SWL). Exchange: RST and FL county or S/P/C. QSO Points: CW - 2 pts, SSB - 1 pt. Score: FL stations - QSO points x S/P/C (W/VE/KH6/KL7 do not count as DXCC entities) x power multiplier; non-FL stations - QSO points x FL counties x power multiplier. All multipliers count once per mode. Power multiplier - HP x 1, LP x 2, QRP x 3. For more information: http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/. Logs due 25 May via the Web log entry page at www.b4h.net/cabforms/flqp_cab.php or to logs@floridaqsoparty.org (ASCII text or Cabrillo format) or Florida QSO Party, c/o Ron Wetjen, WD4AHZ, 5362 Castleman Dr, Sarasota, FL 34232. Nebraska QSO Party - CW/SSB - sponsored by the Heartland DX Association 1700Z Apr 24 - 1700Z Apr 25. Frequencies (MHz): 160 - 2 meters; CW - 1.805 and 35 kHz above band edge; Phone - 1.915, 3.865, 7.265, 14.265, 21.365, 28.465, 146.460; Novices/Technicians - 10 kHz above band edge and 28.460. Categories: SO, MS, Mobile. Work stations once per band/mode and NE mobile stations can be worked again in each county. County lines count as one QSO. Exchange: RST and NE county or S/P/C. QSO Points: CW - 2 pts, Phone - 1 pt. Score is QSO Points x S/P/C for NE stations or NE counties (multipliers count once only) x Power Multiplier (QRP x 3, LP x 2, HP x 1). For more information: http://www.qsl.net/hdxa. Logs due May 31 to NEQP2004@alltel.net (ASCII text) or Nebraska QSO Party, PO Box 375, Elkhorn, NE 68022-0375. Kentucky QSO Party - CW/SSB/RTTY/PSK31 - sponsored by Bullitt Amateur Radio Society from 1600Z Apr 24 - 0400Z Apr 25. Frequencies (MHz): SSB: +/-20 kHz about General class band edge; CW: 3.55, 7.05, 14.05, 21.05 and 28.05. Categories: Entries will be SO-Single Mode (SSB, CW, Digital), SO-Mixed, Rover. Work stations once on each mode and band (RTTY and PSK31 are considered separate QSOs). Work Rover stations in each county. Exchange: Name and KY county or S/P/C. QSO Points: SSB - 1 pt, CW/Digital/Rover - 2 pts. Score: QSO Points x KY counties (KY stations count S/P/C) + QSO with KY4KY. For more information: http://www.qsl.net/ky4ky/kyqsopartyrules.html. Logs due 10 days following the contest to kc4wq@arrl.net or KY QSO Party, c/o KC4WQ, 1229 Zoneton Rd, Shepherdsville, KY 40165. Helvetia Contest - CW/SSB/Digital - sponsored by Union of Swiss Short Wave Amateurs (USKA) from 1300Z Apr 24 -- 1300Z Apr 25. Frequencies: 160 -- 10 meters. Categories: SO-Mixed, SO-QRP, SO-Digital, MO-Digital, MO-Mixed, SWL. Exchange: RST and serial number (Swiss stations add canton abbreviation). QSO Points: 3 pts/QSO. Score: QSO points x Swiss cantons (Swiss stations also count DXCC entities). For more information: http://www.uska.ch/html/en/index_e.htm. Logs due 31 days after the contest to contest@uska.ch or USKA HF Traffic Manager, Hermann Stein, HB9CRV, Brüelmatten 13, 4410 Liestal BL, Switzerland. European Union Contest 2004 - CW/Phone/PSK31/RTTY/SSTV - sponsored by the Royal Union of Belgian Amateur Radio (UBA) from 0000Z to 2400Z May 1. This is a one-time contest to welcome new countries to the European Union. Frequencies: 160 - 10 meters according to IARU band plan. Categories: SO, MS (6, 12, and 24 hour), QRP (<5W), LP (<100W) and HP) and SWL. Exchange: RS(T) and serial number. QSO Points: New EU stations - 25 pts, EU stations - 10 pts, non-EU stations - 3 pts, own country - 1 pt, OR5EU - 100 pts. Score: QSO points x EU WPX prefixes counted once per band. For more information: http://www.uba.be/. Logs due 30 May to weu.contest@uba.be or to Carine Ramon ON7LX, UBA HF Manager, Bruggesteenweg 77, B-8755 Ruiselede, Belgium. IPA Contest - CW/SSB - sponsored by the International Police Association from 0000Z - 2359Z May 1 (CW), 0000Z - 2359Z May 2 (SSB), each mode is considered a separate contest. Frequencies: 80 -- 10 meters. Categories: SOAB, MS, SWL. Exchange: RS(T) and serial number, IPA stations add "IPA". QSO Points: Non-IPA -- 1 pt, Non-US IPA -- 2 pts, US IPA -- 5 pts, IPA club -- 10 pts, US stations with 1x1 call -- 20 pts. Score is QSO points x US states + IPA stations + 1x1 calls counted only once. For more information: http://www.iparc.org/. Logs to n2pig@arrl.net or to Alex Dutkewych N2PIG, PO Box 211, Pulteney NY 14874-0211. MARAC County Hunters Contest - CW - sponsored by the Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club from 0000Z May 1 - 2400Z May 2. Frequencies (MHz): 3.575, 7.050, 14.050, 21.050, 28.050, work fixed stations once/band and mobiles once for each county and band. Categories: Mobile, Portable, Fixed. Exchange: RST and county or S/P/C. County line QSOs count as one QSO but separate multipliers. QSO Points: Fixed stations in NA - 1 point, Mobile/Portable - 15 points, DX - 5 pts, one station must be in a US county. Score is QSO Points × US counties counted only once. Mobile/Portables sum score from each state. For more information: http://www.countyhunter.com/. Logs due June 10 to w3dya@juno.com or Norm Beavers W3DYA, 3320 McMillan Dr, Tyler, TX 75701-8239. 10-10 International Spring Contest - CW/Digital - from 0001Z May 1 - 2359Z May 2, logs due May 17. Frequencies: 10-meters only. Exchange: Callsign, name and 10-10 number (if a member). QSO Points: nonmembers - 1 pt, members - 2 pts. Score: total points. For more information: http://www.ten-ten.org/. Logs due Feb 23 to tentencontest@alltel.net or Steve Rasmussen, N0WY, #68684, 312 N 6th St, Plattsmouth, NE 68048. Indiana QSO Party - CW/SSB - sponsored by the Hoosier DX and Contest Club from 1500Z May 1 - 0300Z May 2. Frequencies (MHz): CW - 1.805 and 40 kHz above the band edge on 80-10 meters, SSB - 1.845, 3.850, 7.230, 14.250, 21.300, 28.450, try 160 at 0200Z, no crossband QSOs. Categories: SOAB (HP, LP < 100W, QRP < 5W, no spotting assistance), MS (incl. SO using spotting assistance), Mobile, Portable. Exchange: RS(T) + S/P or IN county (DX stations send RS(T) only). QSO Points: SSB -- 1 pt, CW -- 2 pts, contact stations once per band/mode and once per county. Score is QSO Points x IN counties or S/P/C counted once per mode. Bonus for working W9UUU (call sign may change - check Web site). For more information: http://www.hdxcc.org/inqp. Logs due June 15 to inqp@hdxcc.org (Cabrillo format preferred) or HDXCC, c/o Mike Goode N9NS, 10340 Broadway, Indianapolis, IN 46280-1344. ARI International DX Contest - CW/SSB/Digital - sponsored by ARI from 2000Z May 1 - 1959Z May 2. Frequencies: CW/SSB - 160 - 10 meters; Digital - 80 - 10 meters, change bands or mode no more than once per 10 min. Categories: SO-CW, SO-SSB, SO-Digital, SO-Mixed, MS-Mixed, SO-SWL-Mixed. Exchange: RST and Italian Province or serial number. QSO Points: own country - 0 pts (mult only), own continent - 1 pt, different cont. - 3 pts, Italian stations - 10 pts. Score: QSO points x Italian Provinces + DXCC entity (except I, IS0, IT9, IG9/IH9) counted once per band. For more information: http://www.ari.it/contari04.html. Logs due June 2 (Cabrillo format is encouraged) to aricontest@ari.it (Cabrillo format is encouraged) or to ARI Contest Manager, I4UFH Fabio Schettino, PO Box 1677, 40100 Bologna, Italy. New England QSO Party - CW/Phone - 2000Z May 1 - 0500Z May 2 and 1300Z - 2400Z May 2. New England is ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, and RI. Frequencies (MHz): CW - 40 kHz above band edge; Novice/Tech - 3.705, 7.130, 21.130, 28.130; SSB - 3.880, 7.280, 14.280, 21.380, 28.380; no crossmode or crossband QSOs, all CW QSOs in CW band segments. Categories: SOAB (HP, LP, and QRP), MS (includes stations using any kind of spotting assistance), mobiles use same categories. Exchange: RS(T) and S/P (non-US/VE sends "DX") or NE county/state. Work stations once per band/mode and mobiles in each county. County lines logged as two QSOs. QSO Points: phone - 1 pt, CW and Digital - 2 pts. Score: Non-NE stations - QSO points x NE counties; NE stations - QSO points x S/P/C; mobiles total QSO points from all counties and count multipliers only once. For more information: http://www.neqp.org/. Logs due 30 days after the contest to logs@neqp.org (Cabrillo format preferred) or NEQP, PO Box 3005, Framingham MA 01705-3005. VHF CONTESTS VHF Spring Sprint, 432 MHz - CW/SSB - sponsored by the Eastern Tennessee DX Association from 7 - 11 PM Apr 21; Microwave - 902 MHz and higher from 6 AM - 1 PM May 1. 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 ETDXA/WU4O Jeff Baker, 2012 Hinds Creek Road, Heiskell, Tennessee 37754. 2 GHz and Up World-Wide Club Contest - sponsored by the San Bernardino Microwave Society, 6 AM local time May 1 -- 12 midnight May 2, operate 24 hrs max. Frequencies: All bands 2.4 GHz and higher. Categories: Small (2 -- 10 members), Medium (11 -- 50), Large (> 50). Exchange: 6-digit Maidenhead Locator. For scoring and other information: http://www.ham-radio.com/sbms. Logs due 30 days after the contest to SBMS Contest Committee, Pat Coker, N6RMJ, 40916 179th Street, Lancaster CA 93535. North American Spring Meteor Scatter Rally - sponsored by the WSJT Group from 0000Z May 1 through 0000Z May 10 during the annual Eta Acquarids meteor shower. Please note that the annual Eta Acquarids is a morning shower, the radiant being in a good position from about 0500 to 1200 local time. For more information: http://www.qsl.net/wa5ufh/Rally/NAHSMS.htm. NEWS & PRESS RELEASES The excellent 2003 SS CW writeup by Mike KH6ND and the score databases are now available to ARRL members at http://www.arrl.org/members-only/contests. They will be opened to non-members after the June QST is published. The 2003 SS Phone and 160-Meter contest articles are in work and should also be available on the Web soon. (Thanks, Dan N1ND) NCJ News (by NCJ Editor Carl K9LA) - The May/June NCJ is at the printer, and should be arriving in mailboxes around the end of the month -- just in time for Dayton! The May/June issue features two items dedicated to recent SK Jim K4OJ: the J7OJ ARRL DX CW contest story by K5KG and K9PG's NCJ Profiles column. W3BBO and W3TX pen complementary stories about being a guest op and being a host station, respectively. This issue has two antenna articles: N3HBX's 160m antennas for his dream station and W1WEF's experiences with 4-Squares. N4GG begins a three part series about SO2R, K6VVA muses about meaningful contest exchanges, and N6NB tells about their Rover expedition in the January VHF contest. Rounding out this issue are five of our regular columnists and the results of the Aug 03 NAQP SSB contest, the Aug 03 NAQP CW contest, and the Oct 03 RTTY Sprint contest. Have you seen the latest FCC NPRM on rules and frequency allocations for the Amateur Service at http://www.arrl.org/? To quote Chip K7JA, "Wow!" The extra room on the phone bands, particularly 40-meters, will help both contesters and non-contesters. N6TR announces that the next SprINT contest will be held on May 8th. Look for rules in the next issue of the Rate Sheet or browse to the CQ-Contest archives on http://www.contesting.com/. VHF Contest Logger VHFLOG is now free software. The 32-bit install and updates are available on W3KM's web page: http://www.qsl.net/w3km. New features in DVK Override, Transverter control via parallel port, Rigblaster control, parallel port CW keying. A decoder card is available with relay contacts for switching/selecting transverters via the encoded output from a parallel port. (Thanks, Harry W3IIT and Dave W3KM) Mike KB3EIA reports that the Nittany ARC Web site was down for a while, including the Pennsylvania QSO Party pages. This is all fixed and you can them on-line at http://www.nittany-arc.net/. RESULTS AND RECORDS Randy K5ZD gives a two-thumbs-up endorsement to the Russian DX Contest which just ran on 20-21 March. "They have a happening contest and one of the best log checking and reporting systems of any contest. They show the claimed and final scores for every log." There is also an excellent analysis of error sources at http://www.rdxc.org/results/2003/mist.asp that is definitely worth a read. Final results and soapbox are now available for the 2003 Florida QSO Party at http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/results/fqp2003.pdf. Don't forget that Mission Control reports that we are in the final countdown for this year's FQP (dedicated to K4OJ), running this weekend. (Thanks, Charlie NF4A) CQ 160 Contests Director K4JRB compared the received-logs database with the Claimed Scores reported by WA7BNM and found claimed scores from more than 60 CW and 30 SSB stations that did not turn in a log. There were email and log format problems, so if you sent your log and did not get a confirmation number, your log may be missing. Please e-mail Dave at k4jrb@juno.com to make a check. Please allow a couple of days for a reply. The log deadline is May 1st. Please enter a claimed score to be listed in the top 200 claimed scores that will be posted on the CQ Magazine web site about June 1st. (Thanks, Dave K4JRB) TECHNICAL & TECHNIQUE As we start our annual antenna and tower work, it's easy to get a little careless, particularly with solvents and chemicals. A special thanks to Tom WA2BPE, a research lab veteran for the following information: "Some paint strppers contain methylene chloride (Dichloromethane) which is a carcinogen. It is easily absorbed through the skin and by inhalation. It is not miscible with water, has a high vapor pressure, and is not flammable. If you try it, do it out-of-doors and keep it off your hands. Do not use it in any plastic (Teflon is the only exception) or rubber-based containers; use glass or metal. Rubber gloves are no guarantee of safety either." Just because it's sold at the hardware store doesn't mean there are no hazards involved. Tom also contributes the following sources of good information about methylene chloride and other hazardous chemicals: o http://msds.ehs.cornell.edu/msdssrch.asp o http://hazard.com/msds o http://www.ilpi.com/msds/#General Matt WV1K points out that the Front-End Savers mentioned in the last issue will only save one front end at a time. You can probably cobble up a "key all front-end savers" circuit, but Matt reports that upgrades to the existing models will be available soon. In the meantime, be sure all of your receiver are protected. The World Contest Station Database maintained by Pete N4ZR has been completely updated and is back in service, including all the specialized searches. A search has been added for amplifiers, along with radios and logging software. Each of the specialized searches now reports the number of hits, depending on your search criteria, so you can see (within limits) how many listings there are for different types of radios, or who uses which logging program. Try them out at http://www.pvrc.org/wcsd. If you have suggestions for other kinds of searches, please let N4ZR know at n4zr@contesting.com. Hams have their Big Amps and Monster Beams, so why not other hobbies? How about the world's largest sub-woofer? http://www.royaldevice.com/custom3.htm has some photos and description of this monster during its construction. You can only imagine what the Mighty Royal Albert Hall Pipe Organ might sound like on this beast. There's also a "special note" on Little Feat's "The Last Record Album" that I might like to hear through these 60 cubic meters. But it won't fit in your dorm room. Dave N2NL reports that for freeing up frozen hardware, "PbBlaster kicks WD-40's butt any day of the week, any time. As someone who works all day on old, outdated, antique, and rusty USCG engines, I know. Most hardware stores in the southeast carry it." If you have tarnished silver-plated coils or other hardware, Dick W7WKR contributes this simple process that uses only baking soda and aluminum foil. o Get a large bowl/plastic bucket that can totally contain the object to be de-oxidized o Form pieces of aluminum foil over the outside of the bowl/bucket o Remove the formed foil, and place the bowl-shaped foil inside the bowl o Heat to boiling sufficient water to fill the bowl and cover the objects to be de-oxidized o Add several tablespoons of baking soda per quart of water to the bowl and pour in the boiling water. o Immerse the oxidized silver object ensuring there is a mechanical connection between the aluminum foil and the silver object. o There should be some visible bubbling activity taking place on the silver object and the aluminum foil should begin to turn black. o Thoroughly rinse the silver object after the cleaning process to remove any baking soda residue. Others have also suggested just placing the hardware in the dishwasher for starters (assuming that it doesn't have any components that would melt during the drying cycle). You will have to re-lubricate any moving parts after either of these procedures. CONVERSATION Contest Crossbreeding A recent email from Glen K6NA about the new sport of geocacheing got me thinking. "It's a little treasure hunt wherein you use your GPS to get yourself to a set of coordinates, then try to find the cache - usually a metal ammo box hidden at the site - containing some trinkets for exchange and usually a guest book to sign. Sometimes there is a trinket which "wants" to be carried to some other geocache and deposited. There is a Web site to track things. And of course there are some people who have visited more geocache sites than anyone else. Anybody can create a new one. It's kind of amusing to see that the geocachers use their internet "handles" to sign the book - - "Island Hopper" was here. Like hams. It's actually fun and a great excuse to do some hiking. Some of the caches are very difficult to reach (or find), so they rank them all by difficulty on the Web site." (The main geocacheing Web site is found at http://www.geocaching.com/>http://www.geocaching.com/.) Geocacheing and the similar sport of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (http://members.aol.com/homingin) are attracting enthusiastic, youthful participants that take their competitions every bit as seriously as we do. The upcoming 2004 ARDF World Championships (http://www.eham.net/articles/8147) will be held near Los Angeles in June and are getting as much "buzz" as WRTC does in contesting circles. Both of these sports are hybrids, creating a novel activity greater than the sum of its parts. Why shouldn't radiosport contesting make for an attractive partner in other hybrid competitions? There are a million varieties of radiosporting - shouldn't the ability to skillfully operate a radio combine well with other activities? For example, contesting while mobile combines radiosport with automobile orienteering. Why not take it one step further and have a full-fledged radio road rally? Field Day A-Go-Go! In that vein, biking, skiing, and sailing are also candidates for hybrid contests. These could be set up like the popular Olympic biathlon which combines target shooting and skiing. Imagine a course of waypoints at which the operators are operate for some maximum period as in a regular contest. The final score would be some combination of timely waypoint visits and contest scoring. Strategy would involve tradeoffs between operating for score and moving quickly. I hope the gears are turning out there as you think, "Why, we could combine contesting with [fill in the blank]!" There must be literally hundreds of neat things to try. But who has the resources to plan for and create a whole new contest just for an experiment? Not many, but there is another option. Recently, the contest-within-a-contest, such as the Collegiate Championships that use Sweepstakes scores or WRTC that piggybacks on the IARU-HF Championship, has become popular. As long as the experimental contest rules are completely compliant with the sponsor's rules (or they may be more restrictive) and the entrants are encouraged to submit logs to the hosts in valid categories, there is no reason not to advertise and try out a new contesting style. It's a win-win situation, stimulating interest and activity in the sponsor's contest. Once you have an idea for a hybrid, you should try partnering with a local chapter of a society for whatever the alternative activity is. For example, try a joint operation with a regional bike or road rally club. A local Scout troop would be a natural for a biking-contesting combination. Whatever you do, be sure to let the rest of us know about it by posting the rules to the CQ-Contest reflector. Write up the results and evaluate the successes and failures. Let us know all about it! These "strange bedfellow" combinations have the potential to introduce ham radio to a large population. A population that is enthusiastic, motivated, and skilled - just the type of individual that would make an excellent ham. Who knows, the old winning maxim may get turned on its head to, "Get your butt OUT of the chair!" 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/
