Contester's Rate Sheet for May 5, 2004
*********************** Contester's Rate Sheet 5 May 2004 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver N0AX SUMMARY o The Mid-Atlantic, Nevada, and Oregon QSO Parties o 50 MHz Sprint and the Internet Sprint Reappears - May 8th o N3FJP and EI5DI Announce Upgrades and Freeware o Dayton Hamvention - QRP Four Days in May and Contest Dinner Tickets o YCCC Announces First DXpedition Award Program o Fish Lake 160/80-meter Preamp o Maintaining our History by W0UN BULLETINS o No bulletins in this issue BUSTED QSOS o I truncated the URL for the World Contest Station Databas. The correct URL is http://www.pvrc.org/WCSD/WCSDsearch.htm. (Thanks, Pete N4ZR) ANNOUNCEMENT & NOTICES FOR 5 MAY TO 18 MAY 2004 Logs are due for the following contests: May 7 - Russian DX Contest, email to: RusDXC@contesting.com, paper logs and diskettes to: Russian DX Contest, PO Box 88, 119311 Moscow, Russia May 8 - EA RTTY Contest, email to: ea1mv@ure.es, paper logs and diskettes to: Antonio Alcolado, EA1MV, PO Box 240, E-09400 Aranda de Duero (Burgos), Spain May 8 - DX YL to NA YL Contest, CW, email to: wx4mm@tm-moore.com, paper logs and diskettes to: Mary Moore, WX4MM, 216 Lee Road 343, Salem, AL 36874, USA May 11 - ARCI Spring QSO Party, email to: wb5khc@2hams.net, paper logs and diskettes to: Tom Owens, WB5KHC, Attn: Spring QSO Party, 1916 Addington St, Irving, TX 75062-3505, USA May 11 - Georgia QSO Party, email to: ku8e@bellsouth.net, paper logs and diskettes to: Jeff Clarke, KU8E, 98 Mobley Ct, Hamilton, GA 31811, USA May 11 - CIS DX Contest, SSB, email to: srars@srars.org, paper logs and diskettes to: Scottish-Russian ARS, PO Box 7469, Glasgow G42 0YD, Scotland, UK May 11 - 222 MHz Spring Sprint, email to: springsprints@etdxa.org, paper logs and diskettes to: 222 MHz Spring Sprint, ETDXA/WU4O, Jeff J. Baker, 2012 Hinds Creek Road, Heiskell, TN 37754, USA May 12 - Low Power Spring Sprint, email to: om3kfv@zoznam.sk, paper logs and diskettes to: Radioklub OM3KFV, PO Box 3, 038 61 Vrutky, Slovakia May 15 - YLRL DX to NA YL Contest, SSB, email to: wx4mm@tm-moore.com, paper logs and diskettes to: Mary Moore, WX4MM, 216 Lee Road 343, Salem, AL 36874, USA May 15 - TARA Skirmish Digital Prefix Contest, post results at: http://n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_score.html, paper logs and diskettes to: John C. Durbin, N8PSK, 175 Footville Richmond Rd E, Jefferson, OH 44047, USA May 17 - Michigan QSO Party, email to: logs@miqp.org, paper logs and diskettes to: Mad River Radio Club, c/o Dave Pruett, 2727 Harris Road, Ypsilanti, MI 48198, 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 While it's not really a contest, the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are co-sponsoring the annual military/amateur radio communications tests in celebration of the 54th Anniversary of Armed Forces Day (AFD). Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on Saturday, May 15, 2004, the Armed Forces Day Military/Amateur Crossband Communications Test will be conducted one week earlier on May 8, 2004 (local) so as to avoid conflicting with the Dayton Hamvention (14-16 May 2004) which is on the same weekend as the actual Armed Forces Day. For complete information, including call signs and frequency lists, browse to: http://wa.mars.hfradio.org/armedforcesday-radio.html. Mid-Atlantic QSO Party - SSB/FM/CW - Sponsored by the Independent Mid-Atlantic QSO Party Committee from 1600Z May 8 - 2400Z May 9. Mid-Atlantic states include DE, MD-DC, NJ, NY, PA, VA, and WV. Frequencies: 160 - 10 meters, 50 kHz from bottom of band segment for operating mode, 50, 144, 222, and 432 MHz. Categories: SO-LP and QRP (<5W), MS/Club, Mobile, all classes except QRP max. 200 W output. Exchange: serial number and QTH (Mid-Atl stations send 3-letter county and 2-letter state, US/VE send state or province, DX sends "DX"). QSO Points: Phone - 1 pt, CW - 2 pts, Mobile - 3 pts. Score: QSO Points x Mid-Atl counties (Mid-Atl stations count S/P + 1 DX), all multipliers counted only once. For more information and free logging software: http://www.qsl.net/maqso. Logs due June 10 to maqplogs@yahoo.com or Mid-Atlantic QSO Party, Attn: Chuck Reville K3FT, 6400 Baltimore National Pike 131, Baltimore, MD. 21228. Nevada QSO Party - CW/SSB/RTTY - sponsored by the Area 51 Contest Club from 0000Z May 8 - 0600Z May 9. Frequencies: 160 -- 6 meters, CW 15 kHz and SSB 25 kHz above General class band edge. Categories: SO (QRP <5W, LP, HP >100W), MS, MM, and County DX-pedition (all LP, HP), Rover. Exchange: RST and S/P/C or NV county. QSO Points: SSB - 1 pt, CW/RTTY - 2 pts. Score is QSO Points x NV counties or S/P/C counted only once. For more information: http://members.cox.net/nvqso2004. Logs due June 15 to nk7c@cox.net or Pat Hess NK7C, 759 Fairway Drive, Boulder City, NV 89005. Oregon QSO Party - CW/SSB - sponsored by the Central Oregon DX Club from 1400Z May 8 - 0200Z May 9. Frequencies (MHz): 80 -- 10 meters, CW - 40 kHz above band edge, SSB--3.850, 7.250, 14.250, 21.350, 28.450; no repeater QSOs. Exchange: Serial number and OR county or S/P/C. QSO Points: SSB - 1 pt, CW - 2 pts. Score: QSO points x OR counties (OR stations add S/P/C) counted once on each mode. 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, 61255 Ferguson Rd, Bend, OR 97702. Internet Sprint - CW - sponsored by the Boring Amateur Radio Club from 2200Z - 2359Z on 8 May 2004. Frequencies: 20 and 40 meters around 40 kHz from the band edge. Categories: SO, 150 W maximum. Exchange: Serial number, name from previous QSO (on the first QSO send your name), and S/P/C. Both callsigns must be sent during the exchange. Follow the standard sprint QSY rules, moving 1 kHz after a QSO or 5 kHz before calling CQ. You may work the same station multiple times provided they are separatedby at least 3 other QSOs in both logs (regardless of band). Total score is the number of QSOs. Send logs in Cabrillo format to intspr@kkn.net. Please indicate the first name you used in the contest as a soapbox comment. Results will be published on the cq-contest reflector in a few weeks, so send your log right away! For more information: http://lists.contesting.com/archives/html/CQ-Contest/2004-04/msg00387.html. FISTS Spring Sprint--CW - sponsored by the FISTS International CW Club from 1700Z - 2100Z May 9. Frequencies: 80 - 10 meters, work US/VE stations. Categories: SOAB-QRP (<5W), SOAB-QRO, Club. Exchange: Name, RST, S/P/C, members send FISTS number, nonmembers send power output. QSO Points: FISTS members - 5 pts, nonmembers - 2 pts. Score: QSO points × S/P/C (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. CQ-M Contest - CW/SSB - sponsored by the CQ-M Contest Committee from 1200Z May 8 to 1200Z May 9. Frequencies: 160 - 10 meters. Categories: SOSB (CW, SSB, Mixed), MS (with a 10-minute rule), SWL. Exchange: RST and serial number. QSO Points: 1 point/QSO. Total Score: QSO Points x R-150 countries counted once per band. For more information: http://srr.ru/CONTEST/cq_m_4.php (Russian only). Logs due 1 July to cqm@hamsk.ru or "CQ-M" Contest Committee, FRS Tomsk, PO Box 2232, Ōomsk, 634055, Russia. (Thanks to Zoli HA1AG, Jim K1PX, and Filo US5MTJ for this information.) Alessandro Volta RTTY DX Contest - sponsored by COMO and ARI from 1200Z May 8 -- 1200Z May 9. 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. Portuguese Navy Day - CW/SSB/PSK31 - sponsored by the Portuguese Navy Radio Amateurs from 0800Z May 8 - 2300Z May 9. Frequencies: 80 - 10 meters according to the IARU band plan. Exchange: RS(T) and serial number. QSO Points: see Web site for table. Score: QSO points x multipliers. For more information: http://www.qsl.net/cq5mgp/regulamentos_ing.html. Logs due 24 May to Comissao Cultural da Marinha - Concurso Radio 2004, Attn: CT4DZ, Praįa do Imperio, 1400 -- 206 Lisbon, Portugal. Newcomers Run - CW - sponsored by the QRP ARC International from 1800 - 2000Z May 15. Exchange: "New" if a newcomer and "Elmer" for holders of certificates from previous QRP ARCI contests. For more information: http://2hams.net/ARCI/index.htm. Baltic Contest--CW/SSB - sponsored by the Lithuanian Radio Sports Federation from 2100Z May 15 - 0200Z May 16. 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. 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 15 - 1800Z May 16 (SSB is June 26-27). 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 concursoshf@ure.es or URE HF Contests, PO Box 220, 28080 Madrid, Spain. US Counties QSO Party--SSB - sponsored by The Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club from 0000Z May 15 - 2400Z May 16. 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) wv2b@juno.com 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 8 - 0300Z May 9. 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. NEWS & PRESS RELEASES QRP contesters headed to the Dayton Hamvention (May 13 - 16) will surely want to drop in on the "Four Days in May" festivities. The complete program is available at http://www.qrparci.org/fdimdesign.html. There is a portable antenna contest (both outdoor and indoor) and we're talking HF antennas, not rubber ducks mounted on hardhats. You will be amazed at the gear entered in the Building contests, too. QRP is a hotbed of ham activity these days. "Who's Who on TopBand" has moved and is now located at http://www.topbanders.com/. (Thanks, Nick VK1AA) Scott N3FJP reports that his State QSO Party Log software has been upgraded to support the Great Lakes QSO Party (May 28 and 29). A demo version can be downloaded from http://www.n3fjp.com/ and complete registration only costs $6.00. The VHF Contest Log program has been upgraded, as well. Paul EI5DI also write to say, "This is to let you know that all my loggers, both HF and VHF, are now freeware. They are written for single-op unassisted entries and support the major international contests and most European events. There are versions for HF and VHF contests, the IOTA Contest, DX-peditions, and the Commonwealth and UBA Contests. Paul is gradually replaced the DOS programs with Windows versions. The programs are available for download at: http:\\www.ei5di.com. (Thanks, Paul EI5DI and Scott N4JN) Eric K8LV has designed a 160/80-meter band-switching preamp aimed at low-band DXers and contesters, called the "Fish Lake Preamp". Along with the 20 dB nominal gain, these are reported to have a very high third-order intercept point (+35 dBm) and include a tunable band-pass filter at the input. Complete information is available at http://www.booksandtubes.com/K8LV.htm. Don G3XTT (IOTA Contest Manager) reports that, "Thanks to Braco OE1EMS, we now have a compilation of all-time records for the IOTA contest. These can be found by following the IOTA Contest links on the RSGB HF Contests Web pages (http://www.rsgbhfcc.org/). The timing is excellent for deciding which category you want to enter in this year's event (24/25 July). Rules can be found at the same location. Any queries, corrections, etc. should be addressed directly to me (don@g3xtt.com) or to iotacontest@rsgbhfcc.org. For questions regarding the IOTA Awards Programme (as opposed to the contest), go to the main RSGB IOTA Web site at http://www.rsgbiota.org/. The Yankee Clipper Contest Club (http://yccc.org/) announces its First Annual DXpedition Award Program for the 2004/2005 contesting season. The purpose of the program is to encourage new and young amateurs to participate in contesting. YCCC will award the winning applicant up to $1,500.00 to accompany for up to one week a YCCC authorized DXpedition/Contesting operation anywhere in the world, to operate in one of the four major contests (ARRLDX or CQWWDX CW or Phone). The award is to cover or help cover the costs of transportation, lodging. Applicants must live within a radius of 175 miles of the Club's center, Erving, MA. Applications should be made in the Youth (14 - 21 years) or in the New Amateur (licensed less than one year and no prior license) categories. Both categories require a General class license or higher. The application period extends from 1 May to 15 Jul 2004. The winner will be announced at the Boxboro Hamfest in August 2004 and must use the award within one year. For more information, contact Jim McCobb W1LLU, YCCC President, at w1llu@verizon.net or president@yccc.org. Martti OH2BH forwards the following via Tim N4GN: "Many noticed ZA/OH2BH and ZA/OH2PM signals bouncing in from Albania last week. Indeed, some 6000 QSOs were made - not only to please the Deserving but also to remind us about our shared responsibility to help those in need. Five stations were fully equipped: ZA1BH, ZA1BS, ZA1DC, ZA1DJ, and ZA1S." Look for more information along with accompanying pictures at http://www.n4gn.com/za. (Thanks, Tim N4GN) Tim K3LR reports that there are still a few tickets left for the Dayton 2004 Contest Dinner at which Oms PY5EG is the featured speaker along with Contest Hall of Fame inductions. Tickets must be ordered from Radio Bookstore (http://www.radio-ware.com/ or 1-800-457-7373 or jcclark@prexar.com) by this Thursday, May 6th so there is time for you to receive your tickets in time. If you have ticket pick up problems please contact k3lr@k3lr.com. We'll find a way. RESULTS AND RECORDS The claimed scores for the UBA DX Contest 2004 - SSB can now be found on the UBA Web site at: http://www.uba.be/hf_contests/pdf/ubatest_ssb_claimed_2004.pdf. The 1st claimed scores of the "Welcome to the European Union Contest" are also available at http://www.uba.be/hf_contests/results/2004/weu_claimed.html. (Thanks, Marc ON7SS) There has been a change in the address for paper logs for the Helvetia Contest. The new address is: Dominik Bugmann HB9CZF, Zuerichstrasse 104a, 8123 Ebmatingen, Switzerland . Any paper logs sent to Hermann, HB9CRV, will be forwarded to Dominik, so there is no reason to re-send your log. Electronic logs (which is the preferred method) still go to contest@uska.ch. Received Logs and the final results are/will be available at: http://www.uska.ch/html/de/contest/kwresults.html. (Thanks, Dominik HB9CZF) TECHNICAL & TECHNIQUE Combining power supplies in parallel to deliver higher currents can be a little scary. Some power supplies (and generators) have special connections that allow them to do just that, but for stand-alone supplies, make sure there is some small (less than an ohm) resistance between the supplies and the load, just as paralleled pass transistors have a small emitter resistor to keep one transistor from hogging all the current. For a typical amateur power supply delivering 20 amps a 4 to 6 foot length of #12 wire between the supply and the load would be sufficient. If you can find sufficiently rated diodes, place one in series with each supply output before connecting the supplies together (called "or-ing"). This prevents good supplies from back-driving a failed or off-line supply. More information is available at http://www.roassoc.com/apps/ap13b.pdf. (Thanks, Tom K1KI and Joe KM1P) Oh, what to do with those old 10 kW amplifier and giga-FLOP computer cabinets? Here's a Web site that will give you some ideas, I'm sure: http://home.planet.nl/~mourits/koelkast/. (Thanks to my brother Kurt for that link!) Another freeware schematic drawing program that seems to be straightforward to use is TinyCad: http://tinycad.sourceforge.net/downloads.html. It has quite a good library of parts and was easy to get running. The current version includes a number of improvements over the old version. (Thanks, Howard WA2AFD) To hear some "antique" CW from a 1971 ARRL CD Parties, browse to http://www.qsl.net/kl2a/audio_video.htm and click on "71 CD Party." You might not recognize some of the old calls. For example, K1ZND is now K1ZZ and W6PAA is N6RO. Any others you know? (Thanks, Danny K7SS) Richard K0XG contributes an interesting website for those looking for Stainless Steel Hardware: http://www.jschmidtstainless.com/products.htm. They don't carry transcom scuppers, but do have lavatory hardware and mould poker. Don't forget your local supply houses that carry most stainless steel items. They in the Yellow Pages under "Fasteners" or "Industrial and Construction Fasteners." Mark WA1ION has released a new technical article, "Passive Broadband Phasing," on his Web site, http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/index.html. There is also a zipped DOC format including drawings. Just when you thought commercial wireless telephony vendors had forgotten about ham radio entirely, up pops this little gem of a phone: http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=2752&start=1&end=10&display=photoshop. No word on whether it's iambic or not. (Thanks, Dick K6KR) CONVERSATION Keeping Our History Intact This time around, I am relaying a letter from John Brosnahan W0UN (shr@swtexas.net) about the need to find a home for documenting our contesting history. Those of us being dragged into middle age often start paying attention to our genealogy, often too late to get it directly from our ancestors. John has some good ideas...read on! "I had a short exchange with Steve, K4FJ, that progressed into a little post-WWII contest history. It got me to thinking that while some of these pioneers in "Big Time Radio" are still alive, many are not. In fact many of their "Elmer-itus" are getting pretty long in the tooth now as well. "While there is still lots of first-hand information and some CLOSE second-hand information fairly fresh in our collective memories maybe we should start a Web site history of these stations. It could be fun for a lot of us old timers as well as very instructive for some of the newer ops who missed out on this post-WWII explosion in technology and station design. One place to start would be with the Contest Hall of Fame list, but there are also a lot of stations and operators who are very worthy of being "enshrined" in some sort of history book who have never been so honored. "Of course there are the well-known guys like W3GRF, W4KFC, K2GL, W9TO, etc. But there are a lot of guys from the West Coast who are less well known and yet have made some serious contributions both to station design and operating. Others in the Midwest may never get any notice at all unless we really make an effort to concentrate on their contributions. "What I am thinking about first are the Silent Keys and those out there who are no longer active due to old age and poorer health. (W7RM comes to mind here.) Maybe we should start out with stations who were pushing the state of the art in the 1950s and then move to the 1960s at some point. "It would be nice to generate a history book and cover the guys that might be forgotten if we don't make some sort of serious group effort. Hopefully there are some good photos of the old-time stations that could be scanned and added to such a book. I would hope to spread the load so that any one person only needs to write a few pages. With a little effort we could get the first 100 guys into a site like this and it would not be much of a burden on any one individual. It would be nice to get a lot of the history of "Big Time Radio" collected into one place. "I am NOT an HTML guy or a Web master or anything that would be very helpful in actually pulling this off. Best I can do is to start the discussion and to cover a couple of guys that helped me to get started. But it seems like a way to honor any Elmer that helped make a real contribution to the advancement of the state of the art of competitive radio. So what do you think?" If you can lend a hand, provide bandwidth, or a hosting server, why not drop an email to John. As he points out, many keyboards make light work. This might be a good time for digging out those old slides and photos, too! Thanks for the idea, John. 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/
