Contester's Rate Sheet for April 16, 2008
******************************************** CONTESTER'S RATE SHEET 16 April 2008 Edited by Ward Silver N0AX Published by the American Radio Relay League Free to ARRL members - tell your friends! (Subscription info at the end of newsletter) ******************************************** SUMMARY o QSO Parties Everywhere -- MI, Motorola, VE3, FL, and NE o TARA Skirmish and SP DX RTTY Digital Dustups o N0AX, N5EG, and KB9IBW Share Dayton Limelight o New WRTC Rankings at NS3K's Radiosport Web site o NASA Science Web Site o Larsen E Rapp WOIOU Archive -- Or Am I Bluffing? o WPX Plaque Program Update o On-Line RF Webinars o Switchable "Field Day" Stub o Pi-L Network Calculator by WB6BLD o Share the Love NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO o How many QSO Parties can you work in one weekend? You'll have fun jumping from contest to contest and filling up the log with contacts from all over. BULLETINS o The Kids Roundup contest was originally listed in Contest Corral as 19-20 April, but is actually scheduled for 31 May -- 1 June. BUSTED (OR AT LEAST DIFFICULT) QSOS o Marty K1OYB, a long time Fairchild Semiconductor employee, respectfully reminds us that both TI and Fairchild are 'officially' credited with invention of the Integrated Circuit. A good historical article can be found at <http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa080498.htm>. o The note about Sherwood Engineering's new presentation should have been attributed to N8RA and not K8RA. (Thanks, Tom K1KI) o PAR Electronics, manufacturer of 6 meter Moxon antennas mentioned in the 2 April issue, is currently not accepting orders for amateur antennas due to a large backlog. I guess that's the right problem to have! o Gene W3ZZ notes that the data on VHF+ antenna stacking was generated by well-known EME operator Lionel VE7BQH. CONTEST SUMMARY (Rules follow Commentary section) April 19-20 - EU Spring Sprints, Phone - TARA Skirmish Digital Prefix Contest - EA QRP Contest, CW - Michigan QSO Party - Motorola QSO Party - Ontario QSO Party - YU DX Contest, CW - ES Open Championship - VHF Spring Sprint, 432 MHz (23 April local time) April 26-27 - Florida QSO Party - Helvetia Contest - Nebraska QSO Party - Old-Old-Timers Club QSO Party - SP DX RTTY - QRP To The Field, CW Note that the Straight Key Sprint is Wednesday UTC, but actually Tuesday evening in the States, NOT Wednesday evening. (Thanks, Gene KL7GLL) --o- ooo - --o- ooo - --o- ooo - -oo o NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST - oooo o o-o o- - o ooo oooo o o - -o- It's now official, veteran contester Andy Blank N2NT is the Director of the CQ World Wide 160-Meter Contest, succeeding the retiring Dave Thompson, K4JRB as mentioned in the 20 February 2008 issue of this newsletter. Anyone that reads Top Ten boxes will recognize Andy's call. His plans for the contest are to build on K4JRB's record of success and growth by making the log-checking procedures consistent with those used in other CQ contests, creating a web presence for the contest and updating some of the rules. The 2009 contest rules will appear in the November 2008 issue of CQ magazine. (Thanks, Jim AD1C) Your editor was honored by the Dayton Hamvention <http://www.hamvention.org/> as this year's "Ham Of The Year"! The winner of the 2008 Technical Excellence Award is Tom McDermott N5EG and the Special Achievement Award for 2008 went to Ernie McClendon KB9IBW. All three of us are honored to be recognized by our fellow hams and for being selected by the Hamvention committee. ARRL Contest Branch Manager, Sean KX9X will be speaking at the New England Weak Signal convention in Enfield, CT this Saturday (April 19) at 9 am. <http://www.newsvhf.com/vhfconf.html> His talk will cover the Fred Fish Memorial Award and discuss the new VHF Rover rules. Sean will also do VUCC card checking while there. The 2008 Dayton Hamvention Contest Forum will be held on Saturday, May 17, from 11:45 AM to 2:15 PM in HARA Arena EDT Room 1. The forum will be moderated by Doug Grant K1DG. The topics span history to cutting-edge technology: "Passing the NCJ torch" by Carl Luetzelschwab K9LA and Alan Dewey K0AD "When giants walked the bands - the early days of multi-multi" by Doug Zwiebel KR2Q "SDR and Contesting - The Future is Now" by Pete Smith N4ZR and the CW Skimmer "Beamforming on 160 Meters" by Victor Kean K1LT "Contesting with 28 Miles of Feedline" by John Battin K9DX (Remote station operation) "The Great 2008 Contest Technology Debate" by Barry Merrill W5GN, and Bob Naumann W5OV (Thanks, Doug K1DG) Jamie NS3K has updated the WRTC rankings with some newly published scores <http://wrtc.radio-sport.net/US_ranks0408.htm> and there has been some movement in the US regions. Check out Jamie's terrific radiosporting news site for some good reading and to see who's zooming by who lately! Digital contesters may want to put this on their Dayton to-attend list: Shelby K4WW announces the 2008 Dayton RTTY Forum from 1230 to 1330 on Saturday, May 17 - in Room 2 at Hara Arena. Speakers will be Ed W0YK and Fred WW4LL. Ed will talk about the history of the NA RTTY Sprint contest, operating techniques for beginner and seasoned contesters, and an overview of the log submittal and log checking process for Sprint. Fred will report on recent WPX M/M operations at W8JI. Ham-Com is being held this year on June 13 & 14 in Plano, TX. The theme of the event is "Not Your Daddy's Ham Radio!". The organizers would like to see an emphasis on what is new and modern in every area of the hobby. This can include new features in radios, digital technologies, updated operating practices, and so on. How about something on contesting in the 21st century? To submit a presentation for this year's Ham-Com, please visit the presenters' submission form at <http://tinyurl.com/4ldv9z>. Program coordinator John N5OOM can be contacted at n5oom@arrl.net. There is an article on working the 48 lower states on 2 meters in the latest edition of the Society of Midwest Contester's "The Black Hole" newsletter < http://tinyurl.com/3qmfuw> Since there are only 11 people that have confirmed all 48 contiguous states, it's quite an accomplishment! (Thanks, Kevin W9GKA) Space science fans (and that includes our propagation pondering peers) will enjoy the new NASA Web site featuring its own scientific achievements and programs <http://nasascience.nasa.gov/>. Hams will find the section on "Heliophysics" of most interest, but there is a lot of really interesting material that is now a lot easier to browse. Teachers will find this useful in the classroom, as well! I just love stories like this. Jeremy W7EME posted a link to "The First EME QSO from OM on 6m - OM3RRC & OK1TEH" < http://tinyurl.com/4msbvw> These guys worked and worked and worked, overcoming one obstacle after another to finally make the round trip with W7GJ. Highly entertaining! (And watch out for "mummified misses" in the boom of antennas!) The new Rover rules for ARRL VHF+ contests can get a little confusing, but Sean KX9X Contest Branch Manager pointed out a simplification that might help answer some of the questions about Family Roving: "A rover vehicle can only transport one station, whether or not the operators are related. And a radio can only be associated with one call, unless operators are related to each other." Hope that helps! Don NJ2E wrote to recommend the Fetchbook Web site <http://www.fetchbook.info/> as a source of inexpensive used books. He also notes that there are International editions of many texts, fully authorized by the publisher, in paperback form and usually with black-and-white graphics substituted for color. For example, he was able to find a copy of "The Art of Electronics" for under $50, including shipping. Your mileage may vary, of course, but this is another tool in the book collector's arsenal. The Potomac Valley Radio Club < http://pvrc.org/> is celebrating their 60th full year in 2008 and have a nice on-the-air reunion scheduled for June 7th and 8th. Stop by the Web site and check out some of the terrific photo galleries from past years. This might be a good project for your club, preserving history that is easily lost. The Mid-Atlantic QSO Party has come to an end this year. "Thanks to all participants and everyone who did help along the way. It was a fun contest, although troubled by pretty bad conditions most years. We'll be sorry to see it go. Hope to catch you all on the other big contests! 73 from the Mid-Atlantic QSO Party Committee." (Thanks, Walter WO2U) Two very interesting articles about sports and cheating were published in the April issue of Scientific American; "Let the Games Begin" <http://tinyurl.com/49pkbr> and "The Doping Dilemma" <http://tinyurl.com/3t2bns>. These discussions are very relevant to contesting issues. And while you're trudging through Sunday afternoon, here's another article on boredom < http://tinyurl.com/29z52p>. (Thanks, Tom K1KI) URL of the Week -- How could the complete works of Larsen E Rapp WOIOU not be this week's featured site? <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/Larson> The occasional April QST article from Larsen was always a great read! --- oooo o- o-- oo ooo o --o oo- -o-- oo--oo WORD TO THE WISE -o --o-- oo- -o- -o --o-- oo- -o- -o --o-- oo- -o Daraf - The daraf is the unit of elastance (in volts per coulomb) which is the ability of an electric potential to charge a capacitor. Elastance is the reciprocal of capacitance and thus the daraf is the reciprocal of the farad. This ought to win a few bar bets after the next club meeting. oooo o -o-- -o-- o- o-oo o-oo SIGHTS AND SOUNDS o-- o- - -o-o oooo - oooo oo ooo If you missed the "60 Minutes" story about John Kanzias K3TUP's innovative RF-based approach to cancer treatment, the program is on-line at <http://tinyurl.com/6lft2n> While the exact words "ham radio" were not used, they did show him at his rig sending "TEST DE K3TUP" on the paddles. A television professional, John was also responsible for this video about WRTC-96 < http://tinyurl.com/k8las>. (Thanks, Bob N6TV) "Excuse me!" Watch this movie of a tsunami wave rocketing across the surface of the Sun after a big explosion. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7326097.stm> At a million kilometers per hour, this is a humdinger of a tidal wave. The team at EH8A for the 2008 CQ WW WPX SSB contest have created a nice video and posted it at <http://tinyurl.com/43ua98>. Comments are welcome! (Thanks, Edu EA8AUW) This is fun -- a mathematician and magician doing some amazing things with numbers. < http://tinyurl.com/2xm5fv> It's good for a little time off from chores and would really impress the math students in the family! (Thanks, Randy WB9FSL) oo-o oo -o -oo -o-- --- oo- o-o RESULTS AND RECORDS -o-o o- o-oo o-oo oooo o o-o o Results for the following 2007 ARRL contests are now on-line at the ARRL Contest Web page <http://www.arrl.org/contest>: - 2007 CW Sweepstakes by VE4XT - 2007 EME Contest by W7EME - 2007 September VHF QSO Party by KX9X All logs have been received for the ARRL DX Contest. Paper logs are currently being entered into the Access database. We are well over 2,500 total logs for each contest. We have about 40 Sweepstakes mugs left over from the initial order. CW pins are reasonably stocked, but we have only a handful of SSB pins left. 2008 ARRL DX Contest pins orders are coming in at a steady pace. ARRL Phone Sweepstakes and 160 Meter results are ready for QST. There has been some difficulty with the database of 2007 EME Contest results. With the help of Dan Henderson, N1ND, the EME results have been put in order. (Thanks, Sean KX9X, ARRL Contest Branch Manager) From Ken K5KA, "On behalf of the CQ WPX Contest volunteer team I would like to thank the contesting community for their support of the WPX Plaque program. We now have sponsors for every plaque currently offered. If you wish to sponsor a plaque that is not listed on the website at <http://www.cqwpx.com/plaques.htm> please send an email to awards@cqwpx.com. All 2007 Plaques have been prepared and are in the mail. If you won one of these awards please send a note of thanks to the sponsor. Thanks again for your support, and good luck in the upcoming contests." oooo o -o-- -o-- --- oo- OPERATING TIP o-- o- -o- o oo- o--o The tip this time is a tip to some tips at <http://tinyurl.com/4nmnm2>. We were tipped off by Hector XE2K -- gracias, amigo! oo oo-o oo - ooo -o --- - -ooo o-o --- -o- o TECHNICAL TIPS AND INFORMATION -o-- --- oo- o-o o -o --- - - o-o -o-- oo -o --o Go mow the yard! Spring is a good time of year to play "Hide the Ground Radials". If the thought of trenches in the sod raises the blood pressure of you or your spouse, here's a time-tested, no-digging procedure. Get out the mower, sharpen its blade, and cut the grass as short as possible. Yes, that short! Scalp it! Then lay out the radials and hold them down against the crew-cut blades with short U-shaped pieces of wire placed every couple of feet or so along the radial. (Cheap iron wire will do nicely and rusts away fairly quickly.) In a couple of weeks the grass will have completely covered the radials and you'll never trip over them or hit them with the mower! The grass will continue to work the wire down until it hits the soil. Grass clippings and earthworm activity will contrive to bury it. A Lightning Protection Yahoogroups forum <http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LightningProtection> has been established. This is a moderated technical forum for all aspects of power quality so there are plenty of topics that might strike your fancy! (Thanks, Rick O'Keefe) A professional-quality Webinar on Impedance Matching in RF and Microwave Devices is available on-line at the Microwave Journal magazine Web site <http://www.mwjournal.com/Resources>. The instructor is Les Besser of Besser Associates and the presentation is hosted by David Vye of Microwave Journal. The presentation is sponsored by Maury Microwave. Registration is required, but there is no charge. If you are storing gear for more than a few weeks, particularly in an outside storage facility, moisture is a concern. Responding to a request on the Amps reflector <http://www.contesting.com/> for suggestions on how to keep the gear dry, several members recommended using widely dessicant packets. Wrap the gear in a sturdy plastic bag, place at least one dessicant packet in the bag, suck out as much air as you can and seal the bag tightly. If you can put the wrapped gear in a cardboard box, so much the better. Dessicant packets are included with most new pieces of electronic gear, too. Buying plastic feet made specifically for electronics gear can be pricey because of the low volume in which these parts typically sell. Howard K2UD points out that hardware stores sell adhesive feet for furniture and appliances that may do just as well. Craft stores are always another possible source, carrying a stupendous array of stuff. Instructions for building a switchable "Field Day" stub that reduces interference between stations on 40/20/15/10 are on the Hands-On Radio Web site <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/Hands-On-Radio>. (This was originally suggested by K6LL or N2IC.) Download Experiment #22 on "Stubs". At the 80/75-meter station, attach a 1/4-wave shorted stub as that will act as a short on 40, 20, 15, and 10 with varying degrees of attenuation on the higher bands. For the complete (and I mean COMPLETE) story, get a copy of W2VJN's book "Managing Interstation Interference" from International Radio <http://www.qth.com/inrad>. Relays adapted to RF applications need suitable connections to the contacts and armatures. Vic K2VCO makes connections to the relays with thin strips of hobby shop copper foil (0.002" thick, cut to about 1/8" width). He notes that the connection should have a little slack in it. Pat AA6EG has used solder wicking braid as a flexible RF conductor at various places in an HF amp, that needed a small amount of movement flexibility. (Thanks, Pat AA6EG) When repairing an electromechanical component, such as a switch or insulating mounting bracket, if you use epoxy be sure that it does not contain metal particles. The popular JB Weld, for example, has metal filler so it would be risky to use when repairing a bandswitch. The pure resin epoxies (usually clear or translucent) or cyanoacrylate glue would be a better choice in such an application. (Thanks, Carl KM1H and others) Some erroneous design calculations for Pi-L networks are still circulating in older literature. However, Jim WB6BLD's excellent free--ware PI-EL program <http://www.tonnesoftware.com/> and the Web calculator at <http://www.qsl.net/wa2whv/radiocalcs.shtml> give the correct values. (Thanks, Roger N1RJ) An occasionally crucial transistor parameter is the thermal resistance from the junction (where the action is) to the case (where the heat finally escapes). Symbolized as a "theta" with subscripts denoting the points between which the resistance is specified, this is occasionally insufficient for real-world design. So manufacturers have started using a broader specification, symbolized by "psi". For an explanation of the difference, check out the article "Psi or Theta?" <http://tinyurl.com/54vznf> by Roger Stout in the March 2008 issue of Power Electronics Technology magazine. The IEEE Antennas & Propagation Society magazine for December 2007 (vol 49, no 6) was particularly meaty, containing articles on ground losses ("Accurate Evaluation of Magnetic- and Electric-Field Losses in Ground Systems", by Dorado and Trainotti), basic antenna concepts ("The Antenna as a Transducer: Simple Circuit and Electromagnetic Models" by Sevgi), and analysis of servo mechanisms of those big NASA Deep-Space dishes by Gawronski. If you have access to a professional library, it's a good issue to browse. Mario S56A notes that COM ports implemented via USB generally don't support the RTTY Baudot standard. As it turns out, there is at least one known USB adapter that does. Mike NF4L replied that AA5AU's authoritative RTTY Web site <http://www.aa5au.com/gettingstarted/rtty_start8.htm> lists the Belkin F5U103 as being an adapter that will run 5-bit Baudot code. Little things like this can derail big efforts! Rooting around on the 'net turned up the URL for National Semiconductor's App Note 31, a collection of op-amp circuits: <http://www.national.com/an/AN/AN-31.pdf> This is a handy document to have in your collection of references. This Cal Tech lab < http://tinyurl.com/3uclwu> explains a few of those circuits, as well. TECHNICAL URL OF THE WEEK -- Jim W6RMK reported on an excellent reference handbook -- the "Guide to Low-Voltage and Limited-Energy Systems" by Mike Holt at <http://www.mikeholt.com/>. Not only is the low-voltage guide to electrical safety excellent -- and it has examples of antenna and tower grounding and bonding -- but there is a huge amount of free information on a whole host of electrical issues and topics. Look for the "free stuff" link on the home page in the "Tell A Friend About This Site" area. o- -o-o -o-o oo- o-o o- -o-o -o-- oo ooo o--- --- -ooo CONVERSATION --- -o o oo -o -o-o --- -o - o ooo - oo -o --o Share the Love I picked up an interesting phone message late on the evening of March 31st purporting to be from the Dayton Hamvention and letting me know that I'd been selected as this year's Ham of the Year! Huh? After listening a couple times, I realized what was actually happening. It was really April Fool's Day GMT and my "friends" were pulling a good one. But whose voice could that be? It didn't sound all that familiar -- somebody really had to be working hard! Not bad guys, thanks for trying and an 'A' for effort -- ha ha! So I slept on it. Well, it turned out to be the Real Deal and I am more than honored to have been selected! As a geeky kid in the basement, reading QST cover to cover and hammering out the CW on an HW-16, I certainly did not dare hope that I would one day be in that Dayton Hamvention photo someday. Yet, here we are. Receiving such an award is a validation of one's entire amateur career, with its many bumps, diversions, and plain old goofs. It's got a major "Wow!" factor! That said, there are a lot of hams out there that work every bit as hard as any of the Dayton Hamvention award-winners. I'll bet you know one or two. Why couldn't your group take the time to honor them in an appropriate way? They don't even have to be a member of your group, club, or team. You don't even have to be an official group. Just step up and let them know that you've noticed and appreciate what they do! After all, none of us are doing this because the money is so good or the fame so widespread. Recognition by one's peers is a prime motivation for many hams, whether for their contest scores, technical expertise, public service, or simply dedication to the Amateur service and the magic of radio. They're the "Energizer Bunnies" that just keep going and going and going behind the scenes to sort contest logs, run the convention registration or club membership department, organize the local emergency team, or publish an article about their new invention. Does your group have a membership awards program? If not, why not start one? The Western Washington DX Club created membership awards with a baseball theme; Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year. They're given out around the end of baseball season. We also have a Lifetime Achievement and Member of the Year award. It's fun to award them and the big smiles on the faces of the recipients confirms that they're appreciated. Please consider making the effort to reward those that make Amateur Radio enjoyable and worthwhile for you. It won't happen unless somebody takes the first step and that could be you. Hurry up and get 'er done before the next batch of sunspots are upon us! 73, Ward N0AX -o-o --o- - o ooo - -o-o --o- - o ooo - CONTESTS -- 16 APRIL THROUGH 29 APRIL 2008 -o-o --o- - o ooo - -o-o --o- - o ooo - 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 (>100 W); LP - Low Power; QRP (5W or less). Be sure to check the sponsor's Web site for special operating rules, time limits, bonus stations, etc. An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format is available at <http://www.arrl.org/contest>. HF CONTESTS EU Spring Sprints, Phone, from 19 Apr 1600Z to 19 Apr 1959Z. Bands: 80-20, 3.730,7.050,14.250. Exchange: both callsigns, serial, name. Logs due: 15 days. Web site: http://www.eusprint.com/ TARA Skirmish Digital Prefix Contest, Digital, from 19 Apr 0000Z to 19 Apr 2400Z. Bands: 160-10, 50. Exchange: Name, prefix. Logs due: 17-May. Web site: http://www.n2ty.org/seasons/tara_dpx_rules.html EA QRP Contest, CW, from 19 Apr 1700Z to 20 Apr 1300Z. Bands: 80-10. Exchange: RST, category, M if EA QRP member. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.eaqrp.com/ Michigan QSO Party, Phone/CW, from 19 Apr 1600Z to 20 Apr 0400Z. Bands: 80-10, CW 45 kHz from band edge, Phone 3.825,7.200,14.250,21.300,28.450. Exchange: Serial and MI county or S/P/C. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.miqp.org/ Motorola QSO Party, Phone/CW, from 19 Apr 1700Z to 20 Apr 0300Z. Bands: 160-10, 50-144, Phone 1.880,3.880,7.180,14.280,21.380,28.380,50.180. Exchange: RS(T), S/P/C or Motorola office number. Logs due: 31-May. Web site: http://www.qsl.net/k9mot/motqp.htm Ontario QSO Party, Phone/CW, from 19 Apr 1800Z to 20 Apr 0500Z and 20 Apr 1200Z to 20 Apr 1800Z. Bands: 160-10, 50-144, CW 30 kHz above band edge; Phone 1.870,3.735,3.860,7.070,7.260,14.130,14.265,21.260,28.360; VHF-SSB: 50.130,52.540,144.205,146.550,432.105,446.1. Exchange: RS(T), S/P/C or Ontario QTH. Logs due: 31-May. Web site: http://cco.ve3xd.com/oqp YU DX Contest, CW, from 19 Apr 2100Z to 20 Apr 0500Z. Bands: 160-10. Exchange: ITU zone. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://yudx.net/ Holyland DX Contest, Phone/CW/Digital, from 19 Apr 0000Z to 21 Apr 2359Z. Bands: 160-10. Exchange: RS(T), serial or Israel district. Logs due: 31-May. Web site: http://www.iarc.org/ ES Open HF Championship, Phone/CW, from 19 Apr 0500Z to 19 Apr 0859Z. Bands: 80,40. Exchange: RS(T), serial, dupes OK once/hour. Logs due: 20-May. Web site: http://www.erau.ee/index.php?newlang=eng Florida QSO Party, Phone/CW, from 26 Apr 1600Z to 27 Apr 0159Z and 27 Apr 1200Z to 27 Apr 2159Z. Bands: 40-10, CW 7.020-7.030,14.040-14.050,21.040-21.050,28.040-28.050; Phone 7.265-7.275,14.265-14.275,21.340-21.350,28.480-28.490. Exchange: RS(T), FL county or S/P/C. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/. Helvetia Contest, Phone/CW/Digital, from 26 Apr 1300Z to 27 Apr 1259Z. Bands: 160-10. Exchange: RS(T), serial or Swiss canton. Logs due: 31 days. Web site: http://www.uska.ch/e_index.htm Nebraska QSO Party, Phone/CW/Digital, from 26 Apr 1700Z to 27 Apr 1700Z. Bands: 160-10, 50,144, CW--1.805 and 35 kHz above band edge, Novices/Technicians--10 kHz above band edge; Phone--1.915,3.865,7.265,14.265,21.365,28.465,146.460. Exchange: RS(T), NE county or S/P/C. Logs due: 31-May. Web site: http://www.qsl.net/hdxa Old-Old-Timers Club QSO Party, Phone/CW, from 26 Apr 0000Z to 27 Apr 2359Z. Bands: 80-10. Exchange: RS(T), member number or state. Logs due: 30 days. Web site: http://www.ootc.us/party SP DX RTTY Contest, Digital, from 26 Apr 1200Z to 27 Apr 1200Z. Bands: 80-10. Exchange: RST, serial, SP province. Logs due: 19-May. Web site: http://www.pkrvg.org/zbior.html QRP To The Field, CW, from 26 Apr 1500Z to 27 Apr 0300. Bands: 40-10. Exchange: RST, S/P/C. Logs due: 1-Jun. Web site: http://www.zianet.com/QRP/2008/qttf2008.html VHF+ CONTESTS VHF Spring Sprints, Phone/CW, from 23 Apr 1900 local to 23 Apr 2300 local. Bands: 432. Exchange: Grid Square. Web site: http://www.sysadnet.com/vhfsprintrules.htm See above for VHF+ bands in the following contests: TARA Skirmish, Kids Roundup, Motorola QSO Party, Ontario QSO Party, Nebraska QSO Party -oo --- -o - -- oo ooo ooo -o-- --- oo- o-o LOG DUE DATES - 16 APRIL THROUGH 29 APRIL 2008 o-oo --- --o -oo o o- -oo o-oo oo -o o ooo April 20 - SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, post log summary at: http://www.skccgroup.com/sprint/wes/sf.html, paper logs and diskettes to: (none). Find rules at: http://www.skccgroup.com/sprint/wes/wknd-sprint-rules.html April 22 - RSGB RoPoCo 1, email logs to: ropoco1.logs@rsgbhfcc.org, paper logs and diskettes to: RSGB G3UFY, 77 Bensham Manor Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 7AF, England. Find rules at: http://www.vhfcc.org/hfcc/rules/2008/rropoco.shtml April 23 - 144 MHz Spring Sprint, email logs to: springvhfsprints@sysadnet.com, paper logs and diskettes to: 144 MHz Spring Sprint, Steve Gilmore, W4SHG, 11 Ryan Way, Stafford, VA 22554, USA. Find rules at: http://www.sysadnet.com/vhfsprintrules.htm April 23 - Low Power Spring Sprint, email logs to: om3kfv@zoznam.sk, paper logs and diskettes to: Radioklub OM3KFV, PO Box 3, 038 61 Vrutky, Slovakia. Find rules at: http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/lowpowerspringsprint2008.pdf April 25 - EA RTTY Contest, email logs to: rttycontest@ure.es, paper logs and diskettes to: (none). Find rules at: http://www.ure.es/hf/concursos/eartty/basesearttyingles.pdf April 27 - EU Spring Sprint, CW, email logs to: eusprint@kkn.net, paper logs and diskettes to: Dave Lawley, G4BUO, Carramore, Coldharbour Road, Penshurst, Kent TN11 8EX, England. Find rules at: http://www.eusprint.com/index.php?page=140&lang=g ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The Contester's Rate Sheet wishes to acknowledge information from the following sources: WA7BNM's Contest Calendar Web page - <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal> SM3CER's Web site - <http://www.sk3bg.se/contest> ARRL members may subscribe at no cost by editing their Member Data Page as described at <http://www.arrl.org/contests/rate-sheet>. Copyright 2008 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved Windows and Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation