 July 8, 2020 Editor: Paul Bourque, N1SFE | |
IN THIS ISSUE
The IARU HF World Championship contest is this coming weekend. It's a popular Phone and CW contest that in some years is also the "host" for the WRTC competitions. Multipliers include ITU zones, IARU Headquarters stations, and IARU committee personnel. Multipliers are per band but not per mode, but contacts count per mode per band. The next weekend is the CQ WW VHF Contest - yes, not an "HF" thing - but with the way that the 6- and 2-meter bands have been behaving lately, it could be a very fun one. During the ARRL VHF Contest a couple of weeks ago, comments were made along the lines of "6 meters was open nearly the entire contest" and "I don't know if I've ever experienced conditions this good during a VHF contest -- EVER!" For HF fare, the North American QSO Party, RTTY, will be warming up the ether. If you plan to enter that one, make sure you test any recently upgraded Microsoft Windows-based systems well in advance of the contest, as reports continue of driver shuffling due to the OS update. Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section 9 Jul - 23 Jul 2020 July 9 July 10 July 11 July 12 July 13 July 14 July 15 July 16 July 17 July 18
July 19
July 21 July 22 Dave, N8SBE, wrote in response to a method to use a "swapped" paddle in the last Contest Update: "I discovered this issue with an MFJ keyer I purchased many years ago. I made a short cable with a 1/4" stereo plug on one end and an inline 1/4" stereo jack on the other. Wired the tip/ring from one end to the other end swapped. Voila! Instant re-swapped paddle! This has always been a part of my kit when I take my paddle someplace, so I can get it to work, no matter the wiring on the keyer or radio." The IARU HF World Championship is coming up this weekend. Bob, N6TV, and Joe, OZ0J, are updating and distributing a "call history" file of all of the IARU Headquarters stations. "Download itu.zip from https://bit.ly/itudtb, which is updated frequently. Installation instructions and test procedure are documented in the Readme.txt file inside the zip. Send HQ station corrections/updates to contest@oz0j.dk." Watch for stations that don't have an "HQ" suffix to also hand out IARU multipliers in the upcoming IARU HF World Championship. For example, The Daily DX reports in its July 2, 2020 issue that Executive Committee members for Region 2 will be dispensing the R2 multiplier. So far, it's known that Georg,e VE3YV; Jay, K0QB; Gustavo, PT2ADM, and Ramon, XE1KK will be using their own call signs. The WSJT-X development team released version 2.2.2 of the popular software a few days before ARRL Field Day to address some bugs, and "adds PE to the list of allowable sections for the contest mode messages." (Dennis, W1UE) Proper grounding and bonding can be designed to handle lightning, but if the energy levels are unusually high, protection could be overwhelmed. Extreme lightning bursts, aka "megaflashes," were observed in record sizes in Argentina and other areas in 2019, according to the UN's weather agency WMO. Imagine a flash lasting over 16 seconds, or a single flash that traverses a distance of 400 miles. Oklahoma held the longest-distance flash of 199 miles set in 2007 up until Brazil's distance-record flash in October 31, 2019. After the last issue's discussion of contest scoreboards, Scott, N3FJP, wrote that "using the two major online scoreboards is nearly frictionless with my software as well. All the information is prefilled for each contest (another advantage of contest specific software). Users only need to check one check box to enable the on line scoreboards for upload to both cqcontest.net and contestonlinescores.com via WA7BNM's score distributor. Other sites can also be added and served simultaneously." Call History A call history file is a database of call signs and associated exchange information gleaned from a previous contest to be used by a logging program. While entering a contact, information from the call history can be pre-filled to save typing and provide additional confidence to the operator that they've copied everything correctly. Over time, the sources of call history information have increased to encompass publicly available logs, announcements of intended contest operations, and so on. The use of a call history lookup is not viewed as assistance in most contests. Some stations may change their exchange information from year to year to stymie the use of call history files by stations they contact, but in doing so also have to accept that they'll be asked to repeat their exchange more often. Good news! While you've been paying attention to other things for the past 10 years, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has been consistently taking pictures of the sun -- one every three-quarters of a second -- across a number of different wavelengths. Images of the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 17.1 nanometers reveals the sun's corona, and hourly corona pictures have been combined into a time-lapse movie of the last decade of solar activity, condensed into about 60 minutes. Use the video playback controls to flip between the starting and later portions to visualize how activity has diminished between 2010 and now. (Bill, AI5I, and Ward, N0AX) The expanded results writeup for the ARRL January 2020 VHF contest is now available.(Duffey, KK6MC) 6E2T won #1 in the world in the Multi-2 category of the ARRL DX CW Contest in 1995. Here is N6NC's telling of the story and pictures of the Southern California Contest Club's operation that took place in Ensenada, Baja, Mexico. (Dennis, N6KI) The 2020 DRCG WW RTTY Contest results are now online. For those who qualify, certificates are available for downloading. (Goetz, DJ3IW) Record QSOs and Review Mistakes To Get Better To reduce your error rate, you need to know what errors you are making, and try to figure out why you're making them. That starts with reviewing busted contacts indicated by Log Checking Reports (LCRs) in conjunction with listening to a recording of the contact. If you're not recording your contest QSOs, take a look at this presentation from the 2019 International DX Convention by Bob, N6TV, entitled "How to Record an Entire Contest and Learn From Your Mistakes." His methods are very detailed, and can scale to record SO2R contests. Once you have recordings, you can find out if you are miscopying certain letters, whether noise was a factor, or whether you just blew the contact at 3 am on 40 meters because you were fatigued. Loftur, TF3LJ/VE2LJX, has been working on an automatically tuned loop antenna. It uses band data from a wide variety of radios to control a vacuum variable capacitor via a stepper motor, in either a stored-setting mode, or with appropriate additional hardware, tuning by minimizing SWR. He's shared his hardware and software design via his web page. User-space applications that send and receive IP packets are made easy by the TAP/TUN interface that exists in Linux. This means that link-layer transports can be written without the overhead of managing a device driver. Here's a project by VK5DGR to send/receive IP packets over VHF/UHF frequencies using the native hardware capabilities of the Raspberry Pi in conjunction with an RTL-SDR. The stated goal is to enable low-cost, low-speed links for areas that don't have connectivity. Tom, N1MM, found this gem for Microsoft Windows users: "Did you know you can rename sound card inputs and outputs? If you only have one sound device, there is no need, but if you have many, it may be confusing which is which. Once you figure it out, use this link to see how to rename the sound card to something more meaningful. (via N1MM Logger+ group) If you have an SDRPlay RSP1A SDR in a plastic case in a high-RF environment, you might appreciate a metal case to help with shielding. According to the RTL-SDR website they are back in stock, but this batch will be the last. F1ATB's blog describes a complete system of using inexpensive RTL-SDR hardware with a small Linux computer to serve streams to WebSDR clients specifically for the reception of SSB. The SSB signal chain is realized using GNU Radio, where changing the receiver is as easy as moving functional blocks in a diagram. (via the RTL-SDR website) More Motivation For A Solitary Activity Here's a quote from 2019 CQ Contest Hall Of Famer WA7BNM's Score Distributor website: "Contesting has traditionally been a very lonely sport. You sit in your shack, make QSOs, and then find out how you did at the end. That requires a lot of self-motivation to keep going, particularly when conditions are poor. By watching an online scoreboard while operating, it gives an idea of how you're doing compared to others. You don't have to be in contention for a top-ten score to benefit from watching a scoreboard during a contest. Contesters with very simple stations have been motivated by seeing how they're doing against another club member or buddy with a similar station." Motivation during a solitary activity is not limited to radio contesting. During the current pandemic, traditional gyms are closed, and some states require that people not go outside at all during self-quarantine. This can make exercising a challenge. My preferred mode of aerobic exercise, prior to social distancing restrictions, was a group spin class a few times a week at the local gym. With the right trainers, some good music, and other people sharing the misery, it was something to look forward to. Like everything else, spin classes have gone online - I'm sure you've seen the ads for Peloton, it's just one of the options for spinning at home in conjunction with a human trainer communicating via the internet. I already have a road bicycle, so the solution for me was a variable resistance trainer that I can use in conjunction with whatever device I have on hand (PC, phone, tablet) to use with a virtual reality cycling app. The application that I've grown to like is called Zwift. I ride my road bicycle in place on the trainer. The pedaling effort corresponds to the scene displayed on my iPad, which is mounted on my handlebars, and I can listen to sounds like crowds cheering, the wind blowing, birds tweeting, and the sound of wheels on pavement. I can see metrics on how many miles I've cycled, calories expended, current cadence and heart rate, and so on. There are also other people in the game. Through the app, any time I'm pedaling I can see other cyclists' avatars and see them participating in their "solitary" endeavors. An aspect that really helps to make this a compelling experience are scheduled group events. At any time of day or night - there are international users crossing all time zones - different cycling organizations can sponsor events online, everything from training and casual rides to serious races. During group events, each competitor can see their own metrics and the status of those around them. Spectators and other participants can "thumbs up" any participant. Cyclists in an event can post messages that can be observed by other participants. Somehow this doesn't seem to get abused. After a race, results are calculated and displayed, and anomalies in performance can be flagged automatically. Results are published within minutes, providing immediate reinforcement and reward. How does this cycling stuff relate to radio contesting? Zwift hasn't changed the fundamentals of riding a bicycle. They have done as much as possible to reduce the solitary nature of the activity. Assuming we can get a number of radio contesters to report scores online during contests, we could build on and around that in conjunction with resources that we already use like 3830scores.com to have a more immersive experience during and outside contests:
Everything I've described enhances or makes it easier to participate in the activity of using a radio to make contacts over the air. Could it also encourage more contest activity? That's all for this time. Remember to send contesting related stories, book reviews, tips, techniques, press releases, errata, schematics, club information, pictures, stories, blog links, and predictions to contest-update@arrl.org 73, Brian N9ADG 9 Jul - 23 Jul 2020 An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral is available as a PDF. Check the sponsors' website for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions. HF CONTESTS CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jul 9, 0300z to Jul 9, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: July 11. VHF+ CONTESTS CQ Worldwide VHF Contest, Jul 18, 1800z to Jul 19, 2100z; Any; Bands: 6, 2 m; four-character grid square; Logs due: July 24. Also, see SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, above. LOG DUE DATES 9 Jul - 23 Jul 2020 July 9, 2020 July 10, 2020 July 11, 2020 July 12, 2020
July 13, 2020 July 14, 2020 July 15, 2020 July 16, 2020 July 17, 2020 July 18, 2020 July 19, 2020 July 20, 2020 July 21, 2020 July 22, 2020 ARRL Information Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability. Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information ARRL membership includes a choice of one print magazine: QST, the monthly membership journal, or On the Air, ARRL's new bimonthly publication for beginner and intermediate hams. All ARRL members can access all four ARRL magazines -- QST, On the Air, NCJ, and QEX - digitally. Subscribe to NCJ - the National Contest Journal. Published bimonthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. Subscribe to QEX - A Forum for Communications Experimenters. Published bimonthly, features technical articles, construction projects, columns and other items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals. Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe to The ARRL Letter (weekly digest of news and information), the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), Division and Section news -- and much more! ARRL offers a wide array of products to enhance your enjoyment of Amateur Radio. Visit the site often for new publications, specials and sales. Donate to the fund of your choice -- support programs not funded by member dues! Reprint permission can be obtained by sending email to permission@arrl.org with a description of the material and the reprint publication. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest Calendar and SM3CER's Contest Calendar. | |
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