Contester's Rate Sheet for December 15, 2004

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Contester's Rate Sheet
15 December 2004
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Edited by Ward Silver N0AX

SUMMARY
o Distance-Scored Contests - Stew Perry & Russian 160-Meter Contests 
o Digital Slugfests - OK RTTY Contest and PSK Death Match
o QRP Kits for Winter Projects
o SO2R Presentations and Web Sites
o Stubs, Transformers, and Dummy Load Oils, Oh My!
o Can I Watch?

BULLETINS
o No bulletins this issue.

BUSTED QSOS
o A golden issue last time!

ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 15 DECEMBER TO 28 DECEMBER 2004

Logs are due for the following contests:

December 15 - WAE DX Contest, RTTY, email logs to: waedc@dxhf.darc.de,
paper logs and diskettes to: WAEDC Contest Manager, Bernhard Buettner,
DL6RAI, Schmidweg 17, D-85609 Dornach, Germany 

December 19 - High Speed Club CW Contest, email logs to:
hsc-contest@dl3bzz.de, paper logs and diskettes to: Lutz Schroer,
DL3BZZ, HSC Contest Manager, Am Niederfeld 6, 35066 Frankenberg,
Germany 

December 21 - LZ DX Contest, email logs to: lzdxc@yahoo.com, paper
logs and diskettes to: BFRA, PO Box 830, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria 

December 22 - ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB, email logs to:
SSPhone@arrl.org, paper logs and diskettes to: November SS Phone,
ARRL, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111, USA 

December 22 - NA Collegiate ARC Championship, SSB, email log summary
to: wm5r@arrl.net. 

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

OK DX RTTY Contest - sponsored by the Czech Radio Club, 0000Z - 2400Z
Dec 18. Categories: SOAB (LP, HP >100W), SOSB, MOAB, SWL. Frequencies:
80 - 10 meters according to IARU band plan. Exchange: RST and CQ Zone.
QSO Points: 80 & 40 - 3 pts on same continent, 6 pts different cont.,
20-10 - 1 pt same cont., 2 pts different cont. Score: QSO points x
DXCC entities + OK stations (multipliers counted once per band). For
information: http://www.crk.cz/ENG/DXCONTE.HTM. Logs due 15 Jan to
okrtty@crk.cz or Czech Radio Club, OK DX RTTY Contest, PO Box 69, 113
27 Praha 1, Czech Republic.

Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge - CW, sponsored by the Boring
Amateur Radio Club, 1500Z Dec 18 - 1500Z Dec 19. Categories: SO and
MS. Operate 14 hours max. Exchange: grid square only. QSO Points: 1 pt
+ 1 pt for every 500 km distance calculated between grid centers (see
Web page for calculation information), QSOs with QRP stations that
submit a log count double QSO points. Score: QSO points x Power mult
(<5W x 4, 5 - 100W x 2, >100W x 1). For more information:
http://jzap.com/k7rat/stew.rules.txt. Logs due 31 Jan (Cabrillo format
only) to tbdc@contesting.com or Boring Amateur Radio Club, 15125 SE
Bartell Rd, Boring, OR 97009 USA.

PSK31 Death Match - PSK31 and PSK63, sponsored by the Michigan DX
Association, 0000Z Dec 18 - 2400Z Dec 19. Frequencies: 80 - 6 meters,
PSK31 and PSK63 count as separate "bands". Categories: SO, Class 1
(<100W), Class 2 (<25W), Class 3 (<10W). Exchange: Name + S/P/C. QSO
Points: 20 meters - 1 pt/QSO, 6 meters - 3 pts/QSO, other bands - 2
pts/QSO. Bonus points: W8DXI 500 pts (once) and 100 pts for uploading
logs to LoTW within 30 days of contest. Score: QSO Points x total
S/P/C + bonus points. For more information:
http://www.mdxa1.org/deathmatch.html. Logs due 30 days after the
contest to k8khz@yahoo.com or Brian R. Pawloski W8BRI, PO Box 140012,
Grand Rapids MI 49514-0012.

Russian 160-Meter Contest - CW/SSB. sponsored by Radio Magazine, from
0000Z -- 0200Z Dec 18. Categories: SO, MO, SO and MO 18 years and
younger, Mixed Mode only. Exchange: RST, serial number, and square ID
(see http://www.radio.ru/cq/contest/rule/map-2.gif for a map showing
the squares) QSO Points: own square - 1 pt, adjacent sq - 2 pts, 1
add'l pt each add'l square distant. Score: total QSO points. For more
information: http://www.radio.ru/cq/contest/rule (Cyrillic only). Logs
to contest@radio.ru, or Radio Magazine, Seliverstov per. 10, Moscow
107045, Russia.

Croatian CW Contest - sponsored by Hrvatski Radioameterski Savez
(HRS), from 1400Z Dec 18 - 1400Z Dec 19. Frequencies: 160 - 10 meters.
Categories: SOAB (HP >100W, LP, QRP <5 W), SOSB (HP, LP), MO, SWL.
Exchange: RST + serial number. QSO Points: 9A stations - 10 pts on
160-40, 6 pts 20-10; different cont - 6 pts 160-40, 3 pts 20-10; own
cont and country - 2 pts 160-40, 1 pt 20-10. Score: QSO points x WAE
countries on all bands. For more information: http://www.qsl.net/ctc/.
Logs due 30 days after the contest to zmaticic@inet.hr or Hrvatski
Radioameterski Savez (HRS), Croatian CW Contest, PO Box 149, 10003
Zagreb, Croatia.

RAC Winter Contest - CW/Phone, sponsored by the Radio Amateurs of
Canada, 0000Z - 2359Z Dec 18. Frequencies (MHz): CW - 25 kHz up from
the band edge (check on the half hour), Phone - 1.850, 3.775, 7.075,
7.225, 14.175, 21.250, 28.500, 50 and 144 MHz. Categories: SOAB-LP,
SOAB-HP, SOAB-QRP, SOSB, SO-NonVE, MS-LP, MO-HP, and MM. VE stations
exchange RST + Province, VE0 and non-VE stations exchange RST + serial
number. QSO Points: Outside Canada - 2 pts, VE/VE0 stations - 10 pts,
RAC stations - 20 pts. Score: QSO points x VE provinces + territories
(counted once per band and mode). For information:
http://www.rac.ca/downloads/canwin2004.pdf. Logs due 31 Jan to
ve5sf@rac.ca or Radio Amateurs of Canada, 720 Belfast Road, Suite 217,
Ottawa, ON Canada, K1G 0Z5.

Lighthouse Christmas Lights QSO Party - all modes, sponsored by the
Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, 0000Z Dec 18 - 2400Z Jan 2, 2005.
Frequencies (MHz): CW - 1.830, 3.530, 7.030, 14.030, 21.030, 28.030,
SSB - 1.970, 3.970, 7.270, 14.270, 21.370, 28.370, plus VHF and
repeaters. Exchange: sequential serial number or ARLHS member number
or ARLHS Lighthouse number + name + S/P/C. QSO Points: 1 pt/QSO,  plus
2 pts for ARLHS member, plus 3 pts for lighthouse. Score is QSO
Points. Stations activating light beacons multiply by 2. Special
logging requirements apply. For more information: http://arlhs.com/ or
send SASE to ARLHS, Box 2178, Riverton, NJ 08077. Logs due 31 Jan to
Dave Ruch NF0J, PO Box 20696, Bloomington, MN 55420-0696.

DARC Christmas Contest - CW/SSB, sponsored by the Deutscher Amateur
Radio Club, 0830Z - 1100Z Dec 26. Frequencies (MHz): CW - 3.510 -
3.560, 7.010 - 7.040, SSB - 3.610 - 3.650 and 3.700 - 3.775, 7.040.
Categories: SO-Mixed, SO-CW. Exchange: RS(T) + DOK or Special Station
code. QSO Points: 1 pt/QSO. The station calling CQ must QSY after
making a QSO. Score: QSO Points x DOK codes + WPX prefixes. For more
information: http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/fedcx.htm. Logs due 3
weeks after the contest to xmas@darc.de or Markus van Bergerem,
Brandenberg 5, D-47533 Kleve, Germany.

VHF CONTESTS

There are no VHF contests scheduled.

NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES

NCJ News (by NCJ Editor K9LA) - The Jan/Feb 2005 issue is at the
printer and will be hitting the mail by year's end. Look forward to
antenna articles from WA2WVL (160m/80m/40m beam) and K3LC (Part 1 of 2
comparing elevated radials to buried radials), a little controller
project by K4GMH, W7DRA's stealth operation from a rental condo in CQ
WPX CW last May, the Sep CW and Phone Sprint results, two features
related to the Sprints (one is about N6TR's impressive score from
KL7), and VE7FO's story of his effort to introduce non-licensed
individuals into amateur radio via contesting. Seven columns also made
it in, along with the NAQP and Sprint 2005 Rules. The cover feature is
G4BUO's M8C IOTA contest narrative.

A problem discovered in the IARU log checking process will cause the
results to be printed in the March issue of QST instead of February,
allowing time to ensure the corrections made by the log checking team
are done properly.  All other log data entry and processing is on
schedule. Although most plaques for the ARRL 2004 DX Contest have been
shipped, about a dozen are waiting for more inventory from the vendor
which will be received in early January. (Thanks, Dan N1ND)

Been thinking about giving the new ECHO satellite or the packet
station on the ISS a try? Mike N1JEZ has provided an update to the
Amateur Satellite Resource Guide on the AMSAT Web site at: 
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/faqs/ If you haven't
visited AMSAT lately, their site has undergone a major face lift.
(Thanks, AMSAT News Service)

While you're browsing, be sure to visit the Web site of the Area 51
Contest Club - http://www.a51cc.com/. Their motto?  "We're here, but we
don't exist!"  (Thanks, Pat NK7C)

Looking for a new homebrew project?  The QRP gang is one of the most
active in ham radio, with vendors introducing a new kit available
seemingly every week. Here are a few of the more active sources:
o Ham Gadgets (http://www.hamgadgets.com/) - the PicoKeyer kit,
Universal Keying Adapter, and the ID-O-Matic, plus small parts. (Dale
N0XAS)
o M-Cubed Electronics (http://www.m3electronix.com/) - a very neat
automatic semiconductor analyzer kit (Mike W0MNE)
o Small Wonder Labs (http://smallwonderlabs.com/) - QRP transceivers,
PSK-31 rigs, the Freq-Mite frequency counter, and more (Dave K1SWL)
o KangaUS (http://www.kangaus.com/) - receivers by KK7B, instruments
and rigs by W7ZOI, TICK keyers, and more radio stuff like DK9SQ
fiberglass masts (Bill N8ET)
o There's also a new Ramsey Kit catalog (http://www.ramseykits.com/)

If you're teaching someone Morse Code or in the process of working on
your own copying ability, you're probably familiar with the Farnsworth
method that sends each character at a higher speed than the letter
spacing speed. Lesser known, but gaining a wider following, the Koch
method sends characters at a rate high enough that the ear hears them
as a single sound pattern. This keeps the student from falling into
the "look it up" trap. Ray G4FON has written a Koch training program
that can be downloaded from http://www.ka8vit.com/koch. (Thanks, Bill 
KA8VIT)

Jim AD1C says that new Contest Country (.CTY) files are available. You
can download them from http://www.k1ea.com/cty/. (Thanks, Jim AD1C)

Here are two Web sites containing presentations or programs on
Single-Op, Two-Radio contesting are available on-line for downloading
or viewing.
http://home.columbus.rr.com/jmaass/Radio/K8ND_SO2R.htm has a number of
example SO2R setups. You may be surprised to see W4KFC's SO2R setup
from a generation ago - it's not a new phenomenon.
http://www.ok1rr.com/ lists a number of features and links.
Presentations available include the late W4AN's SO2R 'Two Radio
Single-op', 'Two Radio Presentation' by N6TR, and 'SO2R Operating' by
Rus K2UA. They're listed under the Operating menu. (Thanks, Ken
ZL1AIH, Rick KC5AJX, Gerry VE6LB)

A little-known fact: 73 + 88 = FB in hexadecimal (base 16). An even
lesser-known corollary is that 73 + 88 = A1. (Thanks, Mike KL7R and
Rus K2UA)

It occurred to me that I have omitted our Portuguese lessons for two
issues in a row! Desculpe (I am sorry)!  Here, from the Lonely Planet
phrasebook are a few more 'good' phrases...
Good morning - Bom dia (bo DEE-ah)
Good afternoon or evening - Boa tarde (BO-ah TAHR-d') 
Good night - Boa noite (BO-ah NOI-t')
Good luck - Boa sorte (BO-ah SOHR-t')

Finally, if you can't bear the thought of missing your team's game
during the contest, but want to stay in the chair, despair no more! 
You can keep a eye on the game by using ESPN's 'Realtime' feature at
http://espn.go.com/. Warning - combining SO2R and Realtime can cause
your brain to explode!

RESULTS AND RECORDS

You can find the results of the 2004 A.R.I. International DX Contest
at http://www.ari.it/ (click on HF and then on Contest). Look for
prizes by the end of the month. The 2005 rules and All-Time records
are also available. (Thanks, Stefano IK2HKT)

The results for the 2004 Texas QSO Party have been posted on the TQP
Web site: http://www.txqp.org/. Special congratulations to the great
multi-op scores from NX5M and K5PTC. Big mobile efforts were also
turned in by K5NA and K5P. (Thanks, H. O. K5CX)

TECHNICAL

For those of you pondering how to get the most benefit out of radials
made from a fixed amount of wire, the Al Christman K3LC, article
"Maximum Gain Radial Ground Systems For Vertical Antennas" that was
printed in the March/April edition of NCJ is on-line at
http://www.ncjweb.com/k3lcmaxgainradials.pdf. He lays it all out there
very nicely, so to speak. Another good reason to be an NCJ subscriber!
(Thanks, Bill W7KXB and others)

The folks at Elecraft just added a new article to their Tech Notes
page at http://www.elecraft.com/, "A 100W Z-Match for 160m - 10m",  By
Geoff Cottrell G3XGC. Lots of pictures and schematics. (Thanks, Eric
WA6HHQ)

I think I mentioned this gadget last year - the Leatherman 9-in-1
electronics tool. It's available at RadioShack (part number 64-2912)
and includes a wire stripper, pliers, screwdrivers, knife (imagine
that!) and they all work well. I got one last year and it's always in
my pocket. During December, it's bundled with a Maglite flashlight
(61-2821) so you might want to make a strageically-timed hint.

Maybe you accidentally spilled the oil in your Cantenna?  Where to get
more?  You shouldn't just dump any old oil in there. Bob W9YA says,
"The correct oil for this application is labeled ISO 46, regardless of
what trade name the oils carry." These are oils designed to transport
heat (among other things) and will not have additives that could
degrade resistor plating, such as motor oils might. Mineral oil is
said to be OK, but the ISO 46 oils are designed specifically for the
job. These oils can be purchased from a petroleum product distributor,
but are more inexpensively found at farm/tractor supply stores - check
the hydraulic oils. (Also thanks to Norman KA4PUV)

Eric K3NA has put together a detailed description
(http://www.yccc.org/articles/k3na_stubs.pdf) of the switching and
cabling at the top-notch W1KM SO2R station. This is not a recipe for
duplication, but will give you a lot of ideas to apply to your own
station, whether for contesting, emergency work, or even Field Day
where more than one station is on the air at a time. While I'm on the
subject, George W2VJN has written a top-notch book about stubs,
"Managing Interstation Interference" which is available from
International Radio at http://www.qth.com/inrad/book.htm.

Kyle WA4PGM has made up keyboard overlays for CT, N1MM, and Writelog
available laid out singly or as five per page. Take a look at
http://www.wa4pgm.us/my_station.htm. Created with Excel 2000 you can
edit them to suit your needs. Your suggestions on improving them are
welcome. Two free Excel viewer programs are available at 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads.  Under "Search for a Download",
select "Excel" in the Product/Technology menu and enter "viewer" in
the Keyword window. 

Saving your old N connectors? New pins and gaskets for N connectors
are available from most of the connector vendors. Just be sure to have
the right model number of the connector and ask - they're usually not
shown in the catalog, but may be at the bottom of an obscure part of a
Web site. Much cheaper than buying whole new connectors and somewhat
more satisfying to a cheapskate like me who wouldn't throw anything
away except at gunpoint. (And I'd probably save the spent casing for a
coil form or knob...)

Tracey G5VU reports an interesting article, "Impedance Matching
Transformers for Receiving Antennas at Medium and Lower Shortwave
Frequencies" written in June 2003 by Bill Bowers, John Bryant and Nick
Hall-Patch VE7DXR. He says that it has a lot of supporting technical
information and can be found at
http://radiodx.com/spdxr/media/imt_doc1.doc.

CONVERSATION

Can I Watch?

Perhaps I'm just a little too easily amused, but I get a kick out of
watching the DX network spots roll in from all corners of the earth
for frequencies from 1.8 MHz to 10 GHz. Simultaneously. On modes as
diverse as hand-sent CW and meteor scatter via WSJT. Next time someone
tells you ham radio is a dying hobby, sit them down in front of one of
the worldwide spotting networks for a while. Yes, including the pithy
remarks and insinuations about parental marital status in several
languages, a sure sign of passion. 

Plan on doing a little explaining. Well, maybe a lot of explaining,
since the text of the spots is pretty terse. The average bloke won't
understand a bit of the jargon, so most of the amazing stuff won't be
understood. They won't get the mental picture you already have in your
head.

This is typical of a lot of ham radio - it's pure magic, but
completely opaque to the non-ham. When explaining radiosport to a
layman they always ask, "How can I watch this?"  They really don't
want to join a multi-op group and we usually find it disruptive to
entertain visitors during a contest. You could explain it if you're
sitting right there with the viewer, but wouldn't it be better to
present the material in a way that most people could understand easier
by themselves?

Here's an idea to make all those spotting network outputs a little
more accessible to the non-ham: Write software that takes each spot
and makes it into a sentence, so that 

DX de N0AX   14025.5  TN6X  QSX up 2   2345

becomes "At 2345Z N0AX hears TN6X in the Democratic Republic of Congo
on 14025.5 MHz. TN6X is listening up 2 kHz."  

Better yet if the call signs and country names were hyperlinked to a
QRZ.com lookup or a Google search entry. Parsing the commentary might
be more challenging, but some of the common phrases such as 'QSX' or
'599' could be interpreted. Just a Simple Matter of Programming!

Building in a visual map-based presentation would be self-explanatory
to the viewer. Each QSO could be plotted on a world map as a great
circle path in different colors for different bands. Tabs might select
between "Shortwave", "VHF/UHF", and "Microwave" to control what QSOs
were displayed. Add a grey-line display and current solar position in
the sky. During a contest this would be a lively picture, indeed!

Imagine yourself as a somewhat bored young technoid idly surfing the
net and stumbling across this site. A colorful map is continuously
being updated with paths around the world. A scrolling window of
sentences explains what each line represents. Links to real-time solar
and geophysical graphics are right there. There are links to
explanations of the various bits of jargon. Perhaps by clicking on the
frequency for a contact, one of the on-line Internet receivers could
be tuned in and streaming audio delivered to our surfer. Is this
interesting, or what?

This is a window into our hobby in the language of the non-ham that
anyone can access and watch. It doesn't require a personal assistant
at your shoulder explaining what's happening. You can do it from
anywhere. You don't need any equipment or antennas. It's catchy and
fun and interactive. Got any programmers out there?

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