Contester's Rate Sheet for January 26, 2005
*********************** Contester's Rate Sheet 26 January 2005 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver N0AX SUMMARY o Ready, Set, Go! NA Sprint SSB! o CQ WW 160 - The Big One for Top Banders o Sprint Practice Aids o Record-Setting Contest Activity in 2004 o Ethernet Cabling Tips o Well-Grounded Observations o All Together Now BULLETINS o No bulletins in this issue. BUSTED QSOS o Sorry about the untimely headline regarding the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes last time. ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 26 JANUARY TO 9 FEBRUARY 2005 Logs are due for the following contests: January 29 - North American QSO Party, SSB, email logs to: ssbnaqp@ncjweb.com, Web log submission at: http://www.ncjweb.com/naqplogsubmit.php, diskettes and paper logs to: Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, 4225 Farmdale Avenue, Studio City, CA 91604, USA January 31 - RAC Winter Contest, email logs to: canadawinter@rac.ca, diskettes and paper logs to: Radio Amateurs of Canada, 720 Belfast Road, Suite 217, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 0Z5, Canada January 31 - SARTG New Year RTTY Contest, email logs to: contest@sartg.com, diskettes and paper logs to: SARTG Contest Manager, Ewe Hakansson, SM7BHM, Pilspetsvagen 4, SE-291 66 Kristianstad, Sweden January 31 - AGCW Happy New Year Contest, email logs to: hnyc@agcw.de, diskettes and paper logs to: Werner Hennig, DF5DD, Am Cappeler Freistuhl 33, D-59556 Lippstadt, Germany January 31 - Original QRP Contest, email logs to: oqrpc@qrpcc.de, diskettes and paper logs to: Dr.Hartmut Weber, DJ7ST, Schlesierweg 13, D-38228 Salzgitter, Germany January 31 - NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW and SSB, email logs to: nrau@edr.dk, diskettes and paper logs to: EDR HF Contest Manager, Peter Vestergaard, OZ5WQ, Vestervej 74, DK-4960 Holeby, Denmark January 31 - TOPS Activity Contest, email logs to: helmut.klein@chello.at, diskettes and paper logs to: Helmut Klein, OE1TKW, Nauseagasse 24/26, A-1160 Wien, Austria February 1 - International Naval Contest, email logs to: (none), diskettes and paper logs to: Romanian Marine Amateur Radio Club (YO-MARC), Chairman Marin Paicu, YO4DCF, PO Box 49, R - 6100 Braila-1, Romania February 1 - Holiday Milliwatt CW Contest, email logs to: n7ri@earthlink.net, diskettes and paper logs to: Ralph Irons, N7RI, 1119 Avon St, Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA February 6 - WQF QRP Party, email logs to: ru2fm@mail.ru, diskettes and paper logs to: RU-QRP Club, PO Box 229, Lipetsk, 398043, Russia February 8 - ARRL RTTY Roundup, email logs to: RTTYRU@arrl.org, diskettes and paper logs to: RTTY Roundup, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111, USA February 8 - EUCW 160m Contest, email logs to: f6cel@wanadoo.fr, diskettes and paper logs to: Ghislain Barbason, 5 rue de l'Ecluse, F-02190 Pignicourt, France 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 CQ WW 160-Meter Contest - CW, sponsored by CQ Magazine from 0000Z Jan 29 - 2359Z Jan 30 (Phone is Feb 26-27). Exchange: RST and S/P/C. Categories: SO-QRP (<5 W) -LP(<150 W) -HP, MO categories. Enter as MO if packet or spotting nets are used. QSO Points: own entity - 2 pts, same continent - 5 pts, diff. cont. - 10 pts, /MM stations count 5 points, but no multiplier. Score: QSO points X states + VE call areas + DXCC entities (KH6 and KL7 count as DXCC only). For more information: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/index.html. Logs due by Feb 28 to 160cw@kkn.net (Cabrillo format only) or CQ 160 Contest, 25 Newbridge Rd, Hicksville, NY 11801. REF French Contest - CW, sponsored by the Reseau des Emetteurs Francais, 0600Z Jan 29 - 1800Z Jan 30 (Phone is Feb 27 - 28). Contact French stations including Corsica, Overseas Territories, and EU Council station TP2CE. Frequencies: 80 - 10-meters. Categories: SOAB, MS, and SWL. Exchange: non-French stations send RST and serial number, French send RST and department number or prefix. QSO Points: different continent - 3 pts, 1 pt otherwise. Score: QSO points X departments and prefixes counted once per band. For more information: http://www.ref-union.org/concours/. Logs are due Mar 15 (CW) or April 15 (SSB) to cdfcw@ref-union.org (SSB - cdfssb@ref-union.org) or Reseau des Emetteurs Francais, REF Contest, BP 7429, 37074 Tours Cedex, France. UBA Contest - Phone, sponsored by the Royal Union of Belgian Amateur Radio from 1300Z Jan 29 - 1300Z Jan 30 (CW is Feb 27 - 28). Frequencies: 80 - 10-meters, according to the IARU band plan. Categories: SOAB, SOAB-QRP, SOSB, MS, packet is allowed for all classes. Exchange: RST and serial number, ON stations add their province abbr. QSO Points: QSOs with ON stations - 10 pts, with other EU - 3 pts, outside EU - 1 pt. Score: QSO points X ON provinces + ON prefixes + European DXCC entities counted once per band. For more information: http://www.uba.be/. Logs due 30 days after the contest to berger@cyc.ucl.ac.be or Michel Le Bon, ON4GO, UBA HF Contest Manager, Chée de Wavre 1349, B-1160 Bruxelles, Belgium. UK DX RTTY Contest - sponsored by the GM Contest Club from 1200Z Jan 29 - 1200Z Jan 30. Frequencies: 80 - 10-meters. Categories: SOAB (HP, LP <100 watts), MS. Exchange: RST and serial number, UK stations send UK region code. QSO Points: Own DXCC entity - 1pt, same continent - 2 pts, different cont - 3 pts, UK stations - 5 pts. Score: QSO points x UK regions + DXCC entities on each band. For more information: www.ukdx.scotham.net. Logs in Cabrillo format due 30 days after the contest to ukdxc@scotham.net or UK DX RTTY Contest Committee, PO Box 7469, Glasgow, G42 0YD, Scotland, UK. North American Sprint - SSB, sponsored by the National Contest Journal from 0000Z - 0400Z, Feb 6. (CW is Feb 13) Frequencies (MHz): 3.850, 7.225, 14.275, work stations once per band. North American stations work everyone, others work NA stations only. Exchange: other station's call, your call, serial number, name, S/P/C. QSY rule: Stations calling CQ, QRZ, etc, may only work one station in response to that call, they must then move at least 1 kHz before working another station or 5 kHz before soliciting another call. Once you are required to QSY, you may not make a new QSO on the previous frequency until you have made a contact at least 1 or 5 kHz (as required) away. Score: QSOs X S/P/C (count each only once). For more information: http://www.ncjweb.com/. Logs due 7 days after the contest to ssbsprint@ncjweb.com or Jim Stevens, K4MA, 6609 Vardon Ct., Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526. Spartan Sprint--CW--sponsored by the Adventure Radio Society, 0200Z -- 0400Z Feb 8 (Monday local time). The contest is held on the first Monday of every month. Frequencies (MHz): 3.560, 7.040, 14.060, 21.060, 28.060. Categories: SOAB. Exchange: RST, S/P/C, and power output. For more information: http://www.arsqrp.com/. Logs due following Wednesday afternoon to hjohnc@core.com or via automated scoring system on ARS Web site. VHF+ CONTESTS No VHF+ contests are scheduled. NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES The 4th Edition of the World-Wide Antarctic Program (WAP) Directory is now available to download from: http://www.ddxc.net/wap/dnw.php. The 2005 edition contains more than 400 WAP references, such as bases, camps and refuges, special prefixes used to celebrate the Antarctica, with references for the WAP Antarctic Directory Award (WADA). The callsign data base directory contains a huge collection of over 3000 Antarctic, Sub and Peri-Antarctic callsigns. Just the thing for determining the correct zone on those southern calls. (Thanks, OPDX Bulletin) Radio astronomers can still hear Voyager I's 2-watt transmitter, which is now 94.953 AU from earth. 1 AU is an Astronomical Unit, or the distance between the sun and the Earth. It is 1.6 billion kilometers (that would be 1600 Gigameters), or about 93 million miles. That's about 8835 million miles away, or 4420 million miles per watt. (Thanks, Harry KC9GRV and Paul NA5N) Several different playback files and formats for the sound heard by the Huygens Titan probe are available at http://planetary.org/sounds/huygens_sounds.html. I hear this all the time on 6 meters, could it be that we're being visited by alien probes? (Thanks, Diane NH6HE) Sprint's a-comin'! "The most fun you can have in 4 hours with your clothes on." - N6TR. Yet this is not an easy contest to learn without some helpful hints. Here's a few: CW Sprinting - Beginners Guide - by W4AN http://www.contesting.com/articles/198 The Sprint Survival Web Page http://n6tr.jzap.com/sprint.html If you would like to have some sprint QSOs to use for CW practice: http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/audio/sprint_practice/ The rules are here: http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintrules.php Past scores are here: http://www.ncjweb.com/sprintresults.php (Thanks, George K5TR) Not only are these references helpful, but the Northern California Contest Club is sponsoring some practice sessions: Thursday, January 27: 7:30pm-8:00pm PST - Sprint CW practice Thursday, February 3: 7:30pm-8:00pm PST - Sprint SSB practice Friday, February 4: 6:30pm-7:00pm PST - Sprint SSB practice Thursday, February 10: 7:30pm-8:00pm PST - Sprint CW practice Friday, February 11: 6:30pm-7:00pm PST - Sprint CW practice These are followed by the NCCC Net at 8pm PST on 3853 kHz +/-. Suggested frequencies for practice sessions are 3545, 7045, 14045 kHz, which encourage keeping clear of the 7040 kHz RTTY & QRP calling frequency. Avoid ongoing QSOs, as always. If you're not on the West Coast, feel free to start your own sessions! No reason not to have practice sessions for any major contest in an effort to help new operators up the learning curve. (Thanks, Rick K6VVA) For something fun to do between the ham bands, try Arnie CO2KK's "DX-ers Unlimited" program on Radio Habana every week. Check out the program and upcoming schedule at http://www.radiohc.org/Distributions/arnie.html. (Thanks, Pat W7GTO) If you thought Eva Gabor, Elizabeth Taylor, and Demi Moore were the leaders in marrying old and new, you haven't seen anything until you log on to: http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorial/Port-O-Rotary/portable-rotary.htm (Thanks, George K5TR) This issue's Portuguese lesson from the Lonely Planet "Western European Phrasebook" covers some of the niceties of dining with your hosts, a valuable social skill for guest operators! Breakfast - pequeno almoco (p'KE-nu ahl-MO-su) Lunch - almoco (ahl-MO-su) Afternoon tea - lanche (Lay-sh) Dinner - jantar (jay-TAHR) Not too spicy, please - Pouco picante, se faz favor (Po-ku pee-KAY-t, s'FAHSH fa-VOR) By the way, the movie "Aquatic Life" features some interesting Brazilian interpretations of David Bowie hit songs. RESULTS AND RECORDS Is contest participation declining? I think not. With a few more logs trickling in, the ARRL set an all-time record for number of submissions in 2005, 19103. That is a modest 0.6% increase from 2002 and the previous record, and a 3.9% increase from 2003. A record number of submissions were received for five events: RTTY Roundup, International DX, Field Day, IARU HF, 160 Meters, and Straight Key Night. Though not record numbers, there were increases in submissions over 2003 in the January VHF, August UHF, and September VHF contests. Submissions were down for June VHF, 10 GHz, EME and 10 Meter contests. Of the 19103 submissions, approximately 16000 were electronic submissions, about 84.2%, which is up about 10% from 2003. VHF submissions account for 2604 submissions across the six VHF events, which is a 0.7% increase from 2003 and the most since 1999. Also there were 286 submissions from Rovers, which is a record number of rovers (previous high was 280 in 1993) and accounts for a 12.24% of the total submissions in contests where there are rovers. This is the highest percentage of entries of rovers in the ARRL's records. (Thanks, Dan N1ND) The ARRL UHF Contest results are available on-line at http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/. (Thanks, Dan N1ND) TECHNICAL Anyone that has tried to obtain terrain data from USGS to use with HFTA, may have discovered that several aspects of the downloading process have changed. The article at http://www.arrl.org/notes/9043/HFTA-Changes.pdf describes the new procedure with screen shots and active links. Both N6BV and Peter Guth, the author of MicroDEM, were a huge help in pulling this together and making things work again. (Thanks, Pete N4ZR) Ken WM5R updated the TR Log web site to include a new page of links to information about DOS issues: http://www.trlog.com/dos.shtml. There is also a PDF file from Mark KD4D about dual-booting Windows systems so that DOS-based programs can run in their native environment. Look for it at http://www.trlog.com/DOS_dual_boot_20041207.pdf. Battery Tender Plus (http://batterytender.com/) is a three step 1.25 amp charger that will not only charge a lead-acid battery but also maintain it at the correct float level when not in use or in use. A good tutorial about batteries is also provided at http://batterytender.com/battery_basics.php, including a downloadable file on battery charging principles. (Thanks, Dick W7AND) If you're looking for a source of Fair-Rite products, here are all of Fair-Rite's distributors: http://www.fair-rite.com/support.htm. (Thanks, Jim W6RMK) To fight problems caused by insects getting into outdoor equipment enclosures, an old trick is to use moth balls to keep the insects out. This seems to work well for ants, too. (Thanks, Stefan DL1IAO and Stew K3ND) Power or telephone poles are often available for use as antenna supports, but how deep do you need to plant them? From the Handbook for Lineman, "A rule for determining the setting depth in soil is to take 10% of the height of the pole and add 2 ft, with a minimum of 5 ft. This is for poles in a straight line. If the pole is an angle point or a corner point [meaning subject to significant sideways forces - Ed.] it should be set at least 1/2 ft deeper." The depth is a function of load and of soil conditions so if the soil is unusual then you need to set the pole deeper and at some point you will need a soils engineer to sort out the details. (Thanks, John W0UN and others) Hardware for Rohn towers often needs to be replaced when reinstalling a used tower. Time was that the bolts were a special grade, but that has changed. From Gerald K5GW at Texas Towers, "For many years Rohn has supplied Grade 5 electroplated bolts with 25G sections. These bolts are in no way special or different from what you can purchase at a good hardware supplier. In fact, last year I needed some for a project and Rohn/Radian was not yet shipping, I found exact replacements at Home Depot for about 50 cents each. The joint bolts for 45G, 55G and larger towers are hot dip galvanized. In this respect they are different from those found at the usual hardware sources. The galvanizing requires special oversized nuts for everything to fit properly. The galvanizing also makes for a tighter fit in the leg joint which is a good thing." For Rohn 25, the leg bolts are 1/4-28 x 1-1/2" and 5/16-24 x 1-1/2". Nuts are 1/4-28 and 5/16-24. CAT-5 Ethernet cabling can cause EMI problems (both received and transmitted) if the connectors aren't installed properly. The 8 conductors in that cable are actually 4 pairs of twisted cables. Each pair is a "hot" and a ground return. Crimp the connectors keeping the colors all the same on each pin at each end. This will keep the twisted pairs connected properly. To address common mode radiation from the cable (generated by the equipment to which the cable is attached), you can add ferrite core chokes without affecting data flowing within the twisted pairs. These Web sites address wiring CAT5 connectors properly: http://www.netspec.com/helpdesk/wiredoc.html http://www.netadmintools.com/art146.html http://yoda.uvi.edu/InfoTech/rj45.htm (Thanks, Ford N0FP, Jim K9YC, and John W0UN) With winter storms dumping lots of water on our antenna farms, sleeve and thrust bearings are at risk of freezing up. Many good ideas were offered for keeping the water out of those spaces (no, not mothballs) and here is a good one from Jerry K3BZ. "I use a rubber boot called a "FERNCO" which is available in many sizes wherever plumbing products are sold. They're used to adapt from one size pipe to another. Get one that is the size of your mast on one end and large enough on the other end to clear the OD of your bearing. Mount it with an SS hose clamp to the mast, just above the bearing. To install on a mast already in place, slit it down one side before mounting, then clean the rubber with alcohol and seal the slit with RTV silicone rubber." Jerry also adds a bearing between the sleeve and mast. "I use a thin piece of polyethylene sheet cut from one of the new "disposable" cutting boards. I wrap it around the mast and cut it so it doesn't overlap, then slide it in between the mast and the sleeve. I checked it after a year and there was no noticeable wear." There was an EXTENSIVE discussion about RF vs. Lightning vs. Safety grounding on the Towertalk email reflector over the past couple of weeks. It is too far-ranging and detailed to summarize here. All I can say is that if you're interested in the topic of grounding, browse through the Towertalk archives at http://dayton.akorn.net/pipermail/towertalk/. Here are some additional resources contributed by Jim K9YC and Jim W7YR: http://audiosystemsgroup.com/SurgeXPowerGround.pdf http://audiosystemsgroup.com/Pin_1_Revisited.pdf http://audiosystemsgroup.com/Pin_1_Revisited_Part_2.pdf Motorola's installation standard - "R56 Site Standards and Guidelines for Communications Sites" and TIA J-STD-607-A are encyclopedic references. Try a local university library or inter-library loan to find a copy. Jay WX0B at Array Solutions also mentioned that they have a number of good station-specific grounding articles by ICE on their Web site at: http://www.arraysolutions.com/Products/ice/10.html. There are other articles about doing a station noise audit - something to do BEFORE a BPL installation comes to town. CONVERSATION All Together Now It just blows me away how much depth of expertise exists within this hobby. I am always hearing the whining about how "dumbed down" it is, but it seems to me that on a weekly basis, one or more Serious Experts will contribute answers and guidance to almost any technical question you can imagine. This type of expertise was simply not available when I was getting started, unless you happened to be in tight with the right group on the right frequency. The Towertalk Reflector (http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk) was the star over the past couple of weeks. Grounding at frequencies from dc to daylight, data cabling analysis, all sorts of useful hardware help, and more was offered and shared freely. Just cruise the archives for an idea of the scope of the discussion. Other reflectors and forums (fora?) such as RFI, CQ Contest, QRP, etc. will provide similar riches on any given day. Try any of the reflectors on the http://contesting.com/ Web site. I know of no other hobby that even remotely comes close to providing the kind of mutual support and assistance that ham radio does. Yeah, I know there are old grouches out there that run off newcomers, but they are obviously the exception to the rule. If more people were as generous with their assistance as hams, we would all be better off. Elmering is alive and well! Newcomers will greatly benefit from monitoring the traffic on the reflectors and other Web forums. They only need to learn about them, so don't hesitate to pass on the addresses and URLs for subscriptions. These are really where Elmering takes place these days, not so much on the air. They might not aware of it, either, feeling a little lost when it comes to those technical questions we all had starting out. Don't assume that everybody knows, because they don't! Anyway - the message for this week is simple, if not short. Give yourself a hand for providing, contributing to, and reading these great resources! Ham radio is the stronger for using Internet technology as a source of technical and operating strength. 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
