Contester's Rate Sheet for June 29, 2005

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Contester's Rate Sheet
29 June 2005
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Edited by Ward Silver N0AX

SUMMARY
o Midsummer Fun - Canada Day and IARU HF Championship
o Final WRTC2006 Competitor Selection Criteria and Process
o Summer Reading - "Contesting from West Africa" and "Signor
Marconi's Magic Box"
o HF Radar Intruders
o Tropospheric Propagation Predictor
o Tower Resources - Rohn Catalog and Guyed Tower Behavior
o Who Is Listening?

BULLETINS
o No bulletins this issue

BUSTED QSOS
o Just because Field Day "is not a contest" was no reason to leave it
out of the listings in the last issue, along with the QRP Milliwatt,
King of Spain, and Marconi Day contests.  Apologies to those sponsors
for poor cut-and-paste technique.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 29 JUNE TO 12 JULY 2005

Logs are due for the following contests:

June 29 - ARCI Hootowl Sprint, email logs to: va3jff@yahoo.ca, Paper
logs and diskettes to: ARCI Hoot Owl Sprint, c/o Jeff Hetherington,
VA3JFF, 139 Elizabeth St W, Welland, Ontario L3C 4M3, Canada ,

June 30 - IARU Region 1 Field Day, CW, all logs go to your national
society.

June 30 - Manchester Mineira CW Contest, email logs to:
cwjf@powerline.com.br, Paper logs and diskettes to: CWJF Contest
Committee, PO Box 410, Juiz de Fora - MG 36001-970, Brazil

June 30 - MI QRP Memorial Day CW Sprint, email logs to:
n8cqa@arrl.net, Paper logs and diskettes to: L.T. Switzer, N8CQA, 427
Jeffrey Avenue, Royal Oak, MI 48073-2521, USA

July 1 - Baltic Contest, email logs to: lrsf@lrsf.lt, Paper logs and
diskettes to: Baltic Contest, PO Box 210, LT-44003 Kaunas, Lithuania

July 1 - CQ WW WPX Contest, CW, email logs to: cw@cqwpx.com, Paper
logs and diskettes to: CW WPX Contest, CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Rd,
Suite 405, Hicksville NY 11801, USA

July 1 - CQ-M International DX Contest, email logs to: CQM@SRR.RU,
ua0agi@andys.ru, Paper logs and diskettes to: CQ-M Contest Committee,
PO Box 25464, Krasnoyarsk 660049, Russia

July 4 - AGCW VHF/UHF Contest (Jun), email logs to: vhf-uhf@agcw.de,
Paper logs and diskettes to: Manfred Busch, DK7ZH,
Carl-von-Ossietzky-Weg 6, D-63069 Offenbach/Main, Germany

July 6 - VK/Trans-Tasman 80m Contest, CW, email logs to:
vktasman@hotmail.com, Paper logs and diskettes to: VK/trans-Tasman
Contest, 28 Crampton Crescent, Rosanna, VIC 3084, Australia

July 8 - WorldRadio Friends' Day QSO Party, email logs to: (none),
Paper logs and diskettes to: QSO Party, PO Box 807, Hadley, MI 48440,
USA

July 10 - REF DDFM 6m Contest, email logs to: ddfm50@ref-union.org,
Paper logs and diskettes to: F6IIT, Patrick Vermote, 175 chemin des
Meuniers, F-86130 Dissay, France

July 12 - QRP TAC Sprint, email logs to: tac@n3epa.org, Paper logs
and diskettes to: Eastern PA QRP Club, N3EPA, Attn: Ron Polityka,
3050 Elm Road, Reading, PA 19605-2343, USA 

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

Canada Day Contest--CW/Phone, sponsored by the Radio Amateurs of
Canada (RAC) from 0000Z - 2359Z Jul 1. Frequencies: 160-10, 6 and 2
meters. Categories: SOAB (HP (>100W), LP, QRP (<5W), SOSB, MS (LP,
HP), MM. Exchange: VE1-9 send RS(T) and province or territory, VE0
and non-VE send RS(T) and serial number. QSO Points: VE and VE0s--10
pts, non-VE--2 pts, RAC official stations (suffix of --RAC)--20 pts.
Score: QSO points x Provinces/Territories counted once per band and
mode. For more information: http://www.rac.ca/service/infocont.htm.
Logs due Jul 31 to canada@rac.ca or Radio Amateurs of Canada, 720
Belfast Road, Ste 217, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 0Z5 Canada. 

MI QRP Jul 4th CW Sprint, sponsored by the Michigan QRP Club, from
2300Z Jul 4 - 0300Z Jul 5. Frequencies: 160 - 6 meters. Categories:
SOAB with classes A (<250 mW), B (<1 W), C (<5 W), D (>5W). Exchange:
RST, S/P/C, and MI-QRP number or power output. QSO Points: MI-QRP
members--5 pts, non-member W/VE--2 pts, DX--4 pts. Score: QSO points
x S/P/C counted once per band. If homebrew RX or TX, multiply by
1.25. If both RX and TX are homebrew, multiply by 1.5. For
information: http://www.qsl.net/miqrpclub. Logs to n8cqa@arrl.net or
L. T. Switzer, N8CQA, 427 Jeffrey Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48073-2521, USA

Venezuelan Ind. Day Contest--CW/SSB, sponsored by the Radio Club
Venezolano from 0000Z Jul 2 -d 2400Z Jul 3. Frequencies; 160-10
meters. Categories: SOAB and  SOSB (CW, SSB, and mixed), MS (mixed
mode). Exchange: RS(T) plus serial number. Work any station--not just
YV. QSO Points: Own country--1 pt, different country, same
continent--3 pts, different cont.--5 pts. Score: QSO Points x YV call
areas + DXCC entities counted once per band. For more information:
http://radioclubvenezolano.org/concurso.htm.  Logs due 31 Aug to
contestyv@cantv.net or Radio Club Venezolano, Concurso, Independencia
de Venezuela, PO Box 2285, Caracas 1010-A, Venezuela.

Bahia Independence Contest--SSB/CW, sponsored by LABRE-Bahia, from
0000Z Jul 1 - 0000Z Jul 2 (SSB) and from 0000Z Jul 2 - 0000Z Jul 3
(CW). Frequencies: 160 to 10 meters. Categories: SOAB (SSB, CW,
Mixed). Exchange: RST and serial number. QSO Points: with non-Bahia
stations - 1 pt, with Bahia stations (PY6) - 4 pts, with PY6AA - 30
pts. Total Score: QSO Points X PY Prefixes, counted once per band.
For more information: http://www.labre-ba.org.br/. Logs due 31 Jul to
labre@labre-ba.org.br or LABRE-BAHIA, Rua dos Radioamadores, 73
Parque Pituaçu, CEP 41741-080, SALVADOR-BAHIA, BRAZIL or PO Box
533-CEP 41700-000.

DL-DX-RTTY-Contest--RTTY/PSK, sponsored by the DL DX RTTY Contest
Group (DRCG) from 1100Z Jul 2 -1059Z Jul 3. Frequencies: 80-10
meters. Categories: SOAB and SO-Dipole/Ground-Plane (Full-time, 6
Hour), MS. Exchange: RST + serial number. QSO Points: own country--5
pts, diff. country--10 pts, diff. continent--15 pts, with DL station
add 3 pts from EU, 5 points elsewhere. Score: QSO Points x DXCC
entities + VK/VE/JA/W call areas from each band. For more
information: http://www.drcg.de/. Logs in Cabrillo format due 10 Aug
to logs@drcg.de.

DARC 10-Meter Digital "Corona"--RTTY/AMTOR/PACTOR/PSK31/Clover--
sponsored by Deutscher Amateur Radio Club from 1100Z - 1700Z Jul 3.
Frequencies (MHz): 28.050-28.150, work stations once per mode.
Categories: SO, SWL. Exchange: RST + serial number. QSO Points: 1
pt/QSO. Score: QSO points × DXCC entities + WAE countries + JA/VE/W
call districts (all counted only once). For more information:
http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/cqdlcont/corona03.htm. Logs due 4
weeks after the contest to df5bx@darc.de or Werner Ludwig, DF5BX, PO
Box 1270, D-49110 Georgsmarienhuette, Germany.

IARU HF World Championship--from 1200Z Jul 9 to 1200Z Jul 10.
Frequencies: 160 - 10 meters, work stations on each mode. Categories:
SO (Phone, CW, Mixed Mode), MS (with 10 minute rule). Exchange: RS(T)
and ITU Zone, HQ stations will send a society abbreviation, such as
"ARRL". (See http://www.arrl.org/contests for a list of prefixes and
zones. A good ITU zone map is available at
http://www.iaru.org/ituzonesc.gif.) QSO Points: own zone and HQ
stations - 1 pt, same zone, different continent - 1 pt, different
zone, same continent - 3 pts, different zone and continent - 5 pts.
Score: QSO points x ITU zones + HQ stations counted once per band.
For more information - http://www.arrl.org/contests. Logs due Aug 9
to IARUHF@iaru.org (Cabrillo format only) via the Web applet at
http://www.b4h.net/cabforms or to IARU HF Championship, IARU
International Secretariat, Box 310905, Newington, CT 06111-0905, USA.

WRTC-Style Team Challenge--runs concurrently with IARU HF World
Championship. Two-operator teams follow WRTC-style rules in IARU
Multi-Single category. For more information:
http://www.wwdxc.org/wrtcrule.htm.

FISTS Summer Sprint--CW, from 1700Z - 2100Z Jul 10. 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.

QRP ARCI Summer Homebrew Sprint--CW, from 2000Z - 2400Z Jul 10 (see
Dec QST, p 85, or www.qrparci.org/contest.htm). Add the following
bonus points for each band on which homebrew gear is used; 2000 pts
for homebrew transmitter, 3000 pts for homebrew receiver, 5000 pts
for homebrew transceiver. Logs due 30 days after the contest to
contest@qrparci.org or Jeff Hetherington VA3JFF, 139 Elizabeth St W,
Welland, Ontario, Canada L3C 4M3.

VHF+ CONTESTS

There are no VHF+ contests scheduled.

NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES

Is the move to electronic log handling and checking having the
desired effects? ARRL Contest Administrator Dan N1ND sees definite
improvement. "Because of the success of the Cabrillo project, the
ARRL Contest Robot, and the log checking teams, I would like to note
that the results for all ARRL Contests are available at least a full
month earlier than just 5 years ago... And in some cases, such as
this year's DX CW Contests (and phone results next month), the
results are a full 2 months earlier."  Now if he could just do
something to improve my personal performance!

The final version of the competitor evaluation criteria and selection
process has been released by the WRTC2006 committee. You can download
it as a PDF file at http://www.wrtc2006.com/.  The allocation of Team
Leaders has been revised in consideration of propagation variations
and the process of computing an applicant's rating has been modified,
as well. 

As long as we're on the subject of WRTC - to get an idea of what the
competition is actually like, try entering the IARU HF Championship
with a friend in the WRTC-Style Team Challenge!  If your station has
a tribander and a wire antenna, you can enter.  The complete rules
are available at http://www.wwdxc.org/wrtcrule.htm.  This year,
there's a family category, just right for sharing a contest with a
son, daughter, or a sibling!  I think it's the perfect opportunity
for a summer beer-bet with your cross-town rivals.

The Polish Telegraphy Club and the Polish Radio Amateur's Journal are
sponsoring the 2005 Worked HQ Stations award for working HQ stations
during the upcoming IARU HF Contest.  The basic W-HQ-S is earned for
10 QSOs with HQ stations representing all three IARU Regions. Special
endorsements are available for each 10 additional QSOs/HRDs.  For
more information, send email to qtc@post.pl.

Morse code seems to be enjoying a revival of late, turning up in
projects such as the Liverpool, England "River of Light." You can
read all about it at http://tinyurl.com/bqkdz. (Thanks to the K9YA
Telegraph, http://www.k9ya.org/)  

By the way, to alleviate the frustration of trying to use
ridiculously long URLs in newsletters or email, the tinyurl.com
service makes generating a simple, short URL easy and at no charge.

The VooDudes Contest Group, led by Roger Western G3SXW, is the author
of the new book "Contesting from West Africa" published by Idiom
Press. With each team member contributing a chapter or two, the book
really captures the spirit I think we all strive for when we
multi-op.  Aside from the technical and operating wisdom it contains,
it's obviously a whole lot of fun to travel with this team, a
critical measure of any successful contest adventure.

The passing of Al Kahn K4FW on June 15th is certainly noteworthy in
contest circles. Al started Ten-Tec after retired life failed to keep
him sufficiently busy.  Al also was a founder of fabled radio
company, Electro Voice. Al also was a big supporter of the Heath
company and ARRL. Perhaps the best observation about him was that,
"Ham radio would be very different if he had not walked our way."
(Thanks, Bill NY9H, Jim K9YC, and others)

Another book to put on your reading list is "Signor Marconi's Magic
Box", by Gavin Weightman, published by Da Capo Press. Marconi was the
first DXer and if there had been anyone else on the air, he'd have
been the first contester, too! (Thanks, Bob Nelson - K6KL)

New sea-surface radars operating in the HF amateur bands are cropping
up around the world.  A particularly obnoxious intruder is found at
the lower end of 40 meters, wiping out ham signals as high as 7.100
MHz around Asia.  Brett VR2BG observes, "The 40-meter 'Woodpeckers'
look to be a serious threat to the radiosporting and DXing
communities in particular, as we're going to have a hard time hearing
each other through these things."  Anyone that can do so is
encouraged to record the signals in support of protests through the
IARU and our national radio societies - send a note to VR2BG
(vr2bg@harts.org.hk) with the link to your recording, such as N7MAL's
at http://www.ctaz.com/~suzyq/N7mal.htm.   In the US, send reports to
Chuck Skolaut K0BOG, the ARRL's IARU monitoring liaison
(cskolaut@arrl.org), and in Canada to Don Moman VE6JY (ve6jy@rac.ca).
Don recommends using a spectral analysis program such as Spectran to
capture the signal. Reporting the signal on the DX spotting networks
with "RADAR" in the comments field will also help document where and
when the signals are being heard.  Despite the systems being operated
by governments that should know better, the amateur community has had
some success in getting these intruders removed as described by the
story at
http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/features/radar.html.
(Thanks, Brett VR2BG)

On a lighter note, Steve WB6TNL contributes the following useful
definitions:
Arthritic:  Painful mathematics used in calculating complex
impedances.
Balum:  A device used to convert from a balanced ("bal") line to
something uncertain ("um...")
Bifibular:  A type of winding used in construction of a balum.  Also
describes the convoluted logic used by some when explaining a
technical subject of which they have little or no knowledge.
Cernik:  Unit of measure of balum efficiency.
Conjugal Match: Something Hams strive for but only rarely attain.
Smith Chart:  Graph used to plot WB6TNL's genealogy. 
Torrid:  A type of inductor core popularly used in balum
construction.  (Caution:  A balum bifibularly wound on a torrid core
may overheat.)

Here's an "unusual" installation uncovered by Danny K7SS. "I worked
G0FTD/M today on 18 MHz. He was running this setup -
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/jan2005/g0ftd_mobile.htm."

We'll all be watching the clock as WRTC2006 gets closer - by months,
weeks, then days and hours. The Lonely Planet Western Europe phrase
book lists many common terms for date and time.
Now - agora - a-GOH-ra
Today - hoje - O-zh
Tonight - hoje a noite - O-zh ah NOY-t
Tomorrow - amanha - ah-ma-NYA
Next week - na proxima semana - na PROH-see-ma s'-MA-na
This year - este ano - ESH-ty A-nu

RESULTS AND RECORDS

ARRL Members may now access the on-line results for the 2005 ARRL
International DX CW Contest at http://www.arrl.org/contests/results.
Once again, a tip of the cap to author Scott W4PA. Non-members will
be able to download the PDF version of the QST article with line
scores sometime in mid-July.  There has been a change in the
log-checking team for the ARRL DX Contests so individual LCRs are not
yet available but are expected in the future. Awards for a number of
ARRL contests are also hitting the mails including 2005 ARRL DX pins,
2004 Sweepstakes plaques, 2004 10-Meter certificates, and 2005 RTTY
Roundup certificates. (Thanks, Dan N1ND)

Results of the latest running of the EU Sprint are now available at
http://www.eusprint.com/.  The site is now managed by a pair of World
Wide Young Contesters, led by Hrle 9A6XX.  EU Sprint results include
not only the final scores, but logs and UBN reports. (Thanks, Hrle
9A6XX and Dave G4BUO)

WZ1V advertises his club's Web site
http://www.newsvhf.com/junscores.html as a place to list your VHF
Contest claimed scores for fun. It's not official, so don't confuse
it with submitting your log. It's a great way to get an idea of how
you did or find out about other scores. (Thanks, Paul K7CW)

You can also find the Montana QSO Party scores at the Flathead Valley
ARC Web site: http://www.fvarc.org/. (Thanks, Norm K7NCR)

QRP contesters will want to check out the results for the 2005
Elecraft QSO Party on the Elecraft Web site,
http://www.elecraft.com/Awards/eqp_2005_results.htm. Roger WA7BOC is
credited with preparing the results. (Thanks, Eric WA6HHQ)

CQ WW 160 Contest Manager Dave K4JRB needs some more pictures of this
year's CQ 160 contests.  Send them as e-mail attachments (please
minimize) to thompson@mindspring.com or by snail mail to his
FCC/callbook QTH (Thanks, Dave K4JRB)

TECHNICAL

There is a product called AmpKeyer
(http://www.theheathkitshop.com/ampkeyer.html) that will key
virtually any amplifier with any transceiver. Jim K1PX uses it with
all of his amps, "including the 120 Vdc for my SB-221 and it will
handle currents up to 2 amps at 125V with its relay or 6 amps at 250V
with its MOSFET."

Here's an interesting resource for VHF+ DXers - "Hepburn's Tropo
page." This is a tool for predicting tropospheric ducting based on
weather patterns. Check it out at
http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/tropo.html. (From the ARRL Propagation
Bulletin by Tad Cook K7RA)

Recently, the Rate Sheet included some tips on dealing with fatigue
during contesting.  An authoritative paper on the phenomenon is
available for downloading at:
http://members.cox.net/bmw-ldrider/Fatigue.pdf (Thanks, Bob N5NJ)

Jan Axelson's Lakeview Research page is an extensive set of resources
on computer serial and parallel ports - http://www.lvr.com/. 
Everything you wanted to know and much, much more! (Thanks, Tracy
N4LGH)

Tower maven Steve K7LXC reminds us that one of the most important
books to have in your library is the legendary Rohn catalog. It's
chock full of products, specs, and drawings for their popular guyed
and self-supporting towers. Even if you don't put up a Rohn, you can
make some educated inferences. You can get your own copy on CD from
the Rohn website http://www.rohn.net/ Go to 'Register' on the top
toolbar and sign up for one. They're free and Steve got his in a
little more than a week.  This is, of course, in addition to their
online catalog - both excellent  resources.

Kurt K7NV has written a detailed paper on the behavior of guyed
towers that is available on-line at
http://k7nv.com/notebook/towerstudy/towerstudy1.html.  If you're
really interested in the behavior of real-world towers and associated
hardware, this is good reading. (Thanks, Pete N4ZR)

CONVERSATION

Who Is Listening?

In the last issue of the Rate Sheet, there was a short item about US
stations operating in Canada and vice versa.  That spawned a couple
of email exchanges on the subject of compliance with rules and
regulations, in particular the treaties by which countries establish
the "rules of the road." 

Duane WV2B contributed the specific FCC rule for US stations
identifying themselves while operating in Canada, FCC Part 97:119
(g). "When the station is transmitting under the authority of an
amateur service license issued by the Government of Canada, a station
location indicator must be included after the call sign". Elaborating
further on the point the "FCC Rule Book" states the following:
"Because of treaty constraints, however, proper identification for
VE3GRO is in the traditional manner - Canadian call sign followed by
US prefix." He notes that the treaty specifically addresses the
proper way to identify and that placing the prefix before the call
sign is not an option for either Canadians in the US, or Americans in
Canada. 

Continuing, part 97:119 (g) also says, "At least once during each
intercommunication, the identification announcement must include the
geographical location as nearly as possible by city and state,
commonwealth, or possession". Giving an example, the "FCC Rule Book
shows the following- "VE8RCS/W1 mobile 20 miles west of Hartford,
Connecticut." For a US amateur in Canada it gives the following
example- "N1KB/VE6 portable near Lake Louise, Alberta". The rule
requiring that the actual location be given is also part of the
reciprocal treaty and not doing so puts one in violation of FCC rule
97:119 (g).

I must confess that although I have operated from Canada a couple of
times, I was largely unaware of the particulars of the treaty and
rule requirements.  While using repeaters in VE6 and VE7, I
identified as "N0AX/VE6 or /VE7", only occasionally giving an exact
location except as a point of conversation, and never gave it a
second thought.  On HF, however, it now occurs to me that I have come
to expect the opposite format, with the prefix preceding the call,
such VE7/N0AX. When was the last time you heard anyone give the full
location "as part of each intercommunication"? Why should I care,
really, as long as it's clear to everyone where I am and does my
exact location really matter?

If one looks closely, there are so many rules and regulations that it
is nearly impossible to turn around without stepping outside the
bounds of some legality. If, in an attempt to streamline
communications, I sign VE7/N0AX, breaking the rule, what are the
consequences? My initial (and somewhat faulty) reaction is that as
long as I am satisfying the broad requirement to clearly identify
myself that should be "good enough."  After all, the fine points of
standards and treaties and other similar agreements are sometimes
created simply in order to fill the legal vacuum, without thorough
consideration of their effects.  For example, it's easy to make the
case that putting the prefix before the call actually speeds up
location recognition and is clearer in normal amateur operation.  But
that's not the point.

Similar considerations abound, particularly with one's personal
behavior while visiting or residing in another country where ham
radio is of a more precarious situation.  Most countries have a very
different legal structure and look to the rules and treaties in place
elsewhere (and our compliance with them) as a guide for administering
ham radio locally. Thus, playing fast and loose with our local rules
and regulations may be fouling the nest for the local hams. Whether
it is us or our signals travelling around the world we are an
ambassador for Amateur Radio. The local hams have to clean up any
mess we might make, the local PT&T staff are not our radio bellhops,
and when we visit in person, the local residents have every right to
expect that their hospitality and goodwill will be reciprocated by
good behavior on our part.

Back to the issue of US/VE identification, we could possibly try to
get the rule fixed.  It's not a very useful rule and actually
encumbers communication. Yet I don't think there is much hope of
getting the treaty renegotiated, what with all the other important
things the US and Canada worry about.  It would be easier to request
that the FCC and Industry Canada issue an administrative ruling that
a broader set of standard methods will be considered as satisfying
the treaty requirements - such practices are not unusual.  That would
allow us to use our "best practices" without being scofflaws.

In the meantime, we should all pay a bit more attention to how our
operating practices and behavior represent Amateur Radio.  What may
not matter a bit here in anything-goes North America where radio is
just another of the myriad communications technologies might be
looked at very differently where ham radio is just barely tolerated.

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