 March 17, 2021 Editor: Paul Bourque, N1SFE | |
IN THIS ISSUE
Next weekend, the Russian DX Contest will be the place to be for DX contacts. Contacts with Russian stations count for the most points, but everyone can work anyone for at least a few. There are plenty of entry categories using both CW and SSB. For Digital competition, try the BARTG HF RTTY, with its own single operator, multi-single, and multi-operator entry classes. Domestically, the Virginia QSO Party provides two sessions over the two weekend days. Stations can be worked once per band-mode, but only count once for multiplier purposes. If you're unsure of what bands to use to reach the Virginia multipliers, check out the excellent VA QP Pre-Party Tidbits web page. During the weekend of March 27, the CQ WW WPX Contest, SSB is on tap. For strategies that work with this contest's scoring structure, check out the February 2021 Northern California Contest Club Jug newsletter, where David, WD6T, outlines how to approach the RTTY WPX. While the RTTY-specific parts aren't relevant, everything else is. Also, see the 2021 Unassisted Challenge contest-within-a-contest mention, below. BUSTED QSOS Last issue's link to the solder dispenser for SMD work was broken, here's the correct one: Disper solder paste syringe. Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section. 18 Mar - 31 Mar 2021 March 18 March 19 March 20
March 21 March 22 March 23 March 24 March 25 March 26 March 27 March 28 March 29 March 30 March 31 There is a new contest-within-a-contest event happening this year: "We invite U.S. Amateurs to participate in the 2021 Unassisted Challenge. The Challenge is open to Amateurs in the lower 48 States who enter the 2021 CQ WPX SSB and/or CW contests in the single-op category but do NOT use spotting assistance. Even though CQ WPX no longer recognizes separate unassisted categories, we feel the need to continue having such categories. To enter, email your Cabrillo log (as submitted to CQ WPX) to unassistedchallenge@gmail.com. Please indicate from which CQ Zone you operated in the text of the message. We also encourage you to post your score to www.3830scores.com and select the unassisted overlay. High Power and Low Power winners in CQ Zones 3, 4, and 5 will receive a plaque (six plaques available in each event). We encourage operators throughout the world to participate as single-op unassisted also, but plaques are only available for the lower 48. Full details and rules coming soon! Send any questions to Axel KI6RRN Dan N6MJ Note: the Unassisted Challenge is not affiliated with CQ or CQ WPX." The Youth on the Air Camp 2021 Application Period has Opened: The application period for the first camp for young amateur radio operators in North, Central, and South America is now open at YouthOnTheAir.org through March 21, 2021. For more information, see the YouthOnTheAir website. The upcoming (March 20-21) Russian DX Contest (RDXC) has a new MM Multi-op class: "A maximum of six transmitted signals, one per band at any one time. All equipment (transmitters, receivers, amplifiers, antennas, etc.) must be located in same DXCC entity, including remotely controlled equipment. Six bands may be activated simultaneously." This allows a distributed multi-op type of operation. Will competition in this class resemble that of the IARU society stations during the IARU HF Championship contest? ALL RDXC entry classes are allowed ONE remote receiver "located within 25 kilometers of the main transmitter site is permitted, in addition to the receiver at the transmitter site." Sean, KX9X, covers "Your First Pileup: Techniques for Success" on the DX Engineering Blog. Learn why you should work the loudest stations first, and why phonetics use is essential. WSJT-X 2.4.0-RC3 is now available from the WSJT-X website. This version has the new Q65 protocols "designed for minimal two-way QSOs over especially difficult propagation paths including EME and most types of scatter." Debounce When pressing a button, or stomping on a footswitch, it may seem like the circuit will go from open to closed (or vice versa). But what really happens is the switch contacts make (or break) many times a second before settling into the new state. The transition period is called contact bounce, and it's the bane of digital circuits everywhere. To take a noisy, bouncy switch and have it emit a single, clean transition from one state to another is to debounce the switch. There are many approaches for doing so, but here's a classic paper on how to handle it, by Jack Ganssle. A tweet of a 28-second video of solder melting around surface mount parts is mesmerizing. Francois, F1GYT posted this gem. Jim, K5ND, presented "VHF Contesting" to the Front Range 6 Meter Group back in May 2020. HamCation was an occasion for presentation of information, including "Small Station Bang for the Buck" by Ward, N0AX. About 3 hours of HI3LT's Multi-2 operation in the ARRL International DX SSB Contest have been posted to YouTube. Mark, WA0MHJ, writes: "The results of the 2021 Minnesota QSO Party are now available. Links to the all-time scoring records can be found at the bottom of this web page." Ward, N0AX, writes: "Thanks to fast and diligent work by the Boring Amateur Radio Club, results author Jim George, N3BB, and the NCJ/ARRL editorial staff, the full results for the February CW Sprint are available at https://ncjweb.com. On the Sprint page (https://ncjweb.com/north-american-sprint/) there are two more interesting things to read: an analysis of the earlier start time and an updated set of records. The full results will be excerpted in the May/Jun printed issue of NCJ, as well. This was nearly a record-breaking Sprint in terms of logs submitted and as you will see from the list of records, a number of records didn't survive -- good job to everyone who submitted a log and helped promote the contest." (Ward, N0AX, NA CW Sprint Manager) "Preliminary results for the February 2021 North American QSO Party on RTTY are now available at the National Contest Journal website. http://ncjweb.com/current-naqp-rtty-results/ Congratulations to all participants! Please report any problems to me. There is still time to send me a photo or story for the final results." ( Mark Aaker, K6UFO, NAQP RTTY Contest Manager)
Halftime Results: 2021 NAQP Challenge By Tim, K9WX The NAQP Challenge is an annual competition between three of America's premier ham radio contesting clubs: the Northern California Contest Club, the Potomac Valley Radio Club, and the Society of Midwest Contesters. Logs for individual club members who submit a log for any or all of the six North American QSO Parties sponsored each year by the National Contest Journal are automatically included in the NAQP Challenge scoring for their club. Scoring for the Challenge rewards both high participation and high personal scores, which means that both big guns and little pistols can contribute to the success of their club. The results have been tabulated for the January NAQP CW and SSB contests along with the February RTTY contest with regard to their contributions to the 2021 NAQP Challenge. PVRC is in first place in the Challenge with two first place finishes and a second place finish while SMC is in second place with one first place finish and two second place finishes. NCCC is in third place, but it's still anyone's ballgame as all three clubs are capable of winning the overall 2021 Challenge with strong showings in the July RTTY and August CW and SSB NAQPs. Visit the NAQPC web page for more information. BARTG Contest Manager Ian, G0FCT, announces that the results of the 2021 BARTG Sprint Contest are now available. JARTS Contest Manager Hisami, 7L4IOU, announced: "We are pleased to inform you that the results of the 29th JARTS WW RTTY CONTEST held in October last year have been posted on our website. In 2020, there was a record high of 1,304 entries. We would like to thank everyone who participated." Along with the announcement of the results, there was an emphasis that the rule of observing existing band plans will be enforced, especially with how it relates to the 20 meter international beacon frequency of 14.100 MHz. Accorting to Hisami, 68% of the logs turned in had "problem QSOs" on or near this frequency in 2020. Different logging programs log the operating frequency differently which compounds the issue of being able to enforce this rule. So the contest committee decided that:
The 2020 JARTS contest results were calculated after deleting those violation QSOs. For 2021, the JARTS Contest committee is revising the rules. Please see the JARTS Web page for additional details, but for 2021: "Band: 3.5, 7, 14, 21, 28MHz
As part of a FAQ, noting that some logging programs only report MHz as the frequency (e.g. 14000 for all contacts on 20 meters): "Q2 Will a frequency entry in a log such as 14000, whose units are not in kHz, be free from the violation? A2 No. Frequencies without kHz units are regarded as those of the QSO partner. If the partner's frequency is 14100 kHz, 10 points will be deducted." Note that the DARC Worked All Europe DX Contest recommends against operating outside of contest frequencies for their contests: "According to IARU recommendations operation should be avoided outside contest-preferred segments. No operation to take place on:
Craig, K9CT, heard this from North American Collegiate Championship competitor K7UAZ, the University of Arizona: "Hi Craig! Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos. I (KG6T) was the only op who had any free time to get on the air. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. It was nice having the Contest Online Scoreboard to see how the other college clubs were doing. I was going to QRT a couple hours before the end of the contest, but seeing W9JWC still accumulating QSOs motivated me to stay until the end. 20 meters was nice; 15 meters was open but few stations ever moved up there, unfortunately; 40 meters at night was better than usual (there obviously aren't any stations on 40 meters in the west during the day) -- luckily not a lot of noise; 80 meters was rough because of the QRN on top of a really (high) noise floor on campus (S6-S8). We were operating on our rooftop OCFD the whole time -- the rest of our antennas are still offline pending repairs -- so making it out east was challenging, but the QSOs were plentiful. 73, Ken KG6T on behalf of K7UAZ" Many of the usual suspects in the NACC were not participating due to campus restrictions due to COVID. Here's a snapshot of the activity from the live contest scoreboard:
W8UM President Michael, KE8AQW, wrote: "I wasn't sure if I was going to get to work the RTTY contest because I had a shakedown meeting for our crew that is going to Philmont Scout Reservation in July. Luckily, we finished at 3pm and I was able to get to campus. It then took me a couple hours to figure out which radio was set up for RTTY and change a couple configurations. Regardless, I had a good time. I made 36 QSOs with 20 multipliers."
Know DX Frequency Allocations Not all countries have the same frequency allocations as the U.S. For example, calling CQ on 7.205 MHz in a 40-meter phone contest won't yield any Japanese contacts, since the JA 40-meter band ends at 7.200 MHz. Similarly, be aware that IARU Region 1 stations have phone privileges below 7.100 MHz and may be calling CQ there in some contests, but U.S. phone privileges start at 7.125 MHz. Sometimes a Region 1 station will announce a listening frequency that is legal for U.S. stations. You can usually find information on a given country's allocations from the country's national radio association, for example the JARL in the case of Japan, or WIA for Australia. Or via Google. Brian, K1LI, writes: "Your readers may be interested to know that Whizoo sells components and complete kits that use their Controleo3 Reflow Oven Controller. Just add toaster oven and your time. They also sell ready-to-go converted ovens. In addition to a step-by-step conversion guide, the Controleo includes a servo motor that opens the oven door to control the cooling phase of the reflow profile." "This (website) is really handy for all kinds of construction stuff: https://www.spikevm.com/calculators/decimal-feet.php. I know we should be able to do this but this is mighty handy." - Ward, N0AX In the 1.0.9018 (March 9, 2021) N1MM Logger+ release, there are two changes that may be of interest to those using more than one operating position:
In distributed multi-ops, where physical access to all of the participant computers may not be possible, these two new options can help prevent the situation of when a station goes offline for whatever reason, and takes everyone's spot source with it! Remember debouncing from a few paragraphs back? When driving the handshaking lines (e.g. DTR or RTS) of the serial port of a USB to serial converter connected to a PC with a mechanical switch as one might do for software PTT or to initiate logger functions, unstable operation may result because of switch bounce. The various layers of software processing the line state change may not have been designed to handle it. Something to try if you're experiencing unstable switching action, such as "Push To Try To Talk" or "PTT without audio," and suspect contact bounce: temporarily add a 0.1uF capacitor between the contacts of your existing switch, and see if the unstable behavior lessens. Or, temporarily replace the switch with a straight key, where the contacts are not inclined to bounce as much. To get rid of the bounce for good, you'll need to choose a method based on the type of switch and/or your tolerance for switching time. Distributed Multi in the ARRL International DX Contest Sort of like the special "limited-time" flavors of a favorite super-premium ice cream brand, the availability of the distributed multi-operator entry category in the ARRL International DX Contests may be fleeting. The 2021 Multi-operator Accommodation to allow this class will likely sunset as the pandemic recedes. The temporary provision permits the combination of multiple stations within a 100 km radius of a designated center station to operate as a multi. John, W7CD, is the Western Washington DX Club's contest participation booster. He envisioned using this year's rule exception to get a few of the larger member stations on the air for longer periods under a single call sign, to concentrate on building up a higher number of multipliers, so our club would have a higher score in the regional Pacific Northwest Challenge Cup. It would also be an opportunity to develop club expertise in how to do this type of operation in future contests. W7DX was the call sign of the combination of John's station, Rob's, N7QT, station, and Grant's, KZ1W's station for both CW and SSB legs of the ARRL International DX Contest. I was also part of the team, contributing setup expertise and operating time via remote. Our first order of business was to understand our resources, including the strengths and weaknesses of each station. Since the ARRL DX Contest includes 160 through 10 meters, that two of the stations had unresolved issues with 160-meter antennas due to winter storm damage meant W7CD would shoulder the burden of that band. The stations were going to be operated differently -- John would be operating his FlexRadio station in-person, with no other help. Rob was remoting into his own Elecraft station in Redmond, Washington, with no other help. Grant would be on site at his FlexRadio-based station, and I would be remoting into Grant's station. The only rational way to combine as a multi-op for contest purposes was for everyone to use the same logging program, and thankfully everyone's default logger was N1MM Logger+, already interfaced appropriately with their radios. Following the guide on the N1MM Logger+ website for setup and operation with a Hamachi VPN, we were able to get all of the logging programs communicating with minimal fuss. It was fortunate that the CW contest came before the Phone event. We had remote accessibility networking issues right up to the CW contest with one station, so we defaulted to the minimum workable configuration of using AnyDesk to control a local PC running N1MM Logger+ in the shack. This got us on the air, but it would not have been workable for the Phone contest. For the phone contest, we'd need to be able to have full access for transmit audio. The CW contest worked out well. Stations were running when they could, and were otherwise searching for multipliers. W7DX made more contacts and had a higher score in aggregate than if the stations were operated independently. More importantly, team members noted they'd probably contributed more time on the air as part of the team than they would have individually to the contest, since weekends are by nature busy. Of particular note was the unanticipated fun of coordinating via the chat function. Even though we were all physically single operators, the contest was not a solitary experience. It was easy to see a multiplier get worked in the log, and send out a congratulatory message to the run or S&P operator, hand-off a run to another operator, discuss operating changes, or just talk about the space weather. After the CW contest, we sought to fix the issues we found to have an even better SSB contest. In the days between the CW and SSB events, we were able to resolve the network accessibility issues and use all radio functionality via SmartSDR or RCForb. "Glass cockpit" functionality grew as more antennas were controllable. Band conditions were much worse for the phone contest, sadly, and there were issues using Hamachi's built-in chat capability which hindered our coordination for a time. Ultimately, we made just a fraction of the CW event's points. Overall, we did solve accessibility issues so we can get more operators involved remotely, but we also identified the need to use a more appropriate chat client that is accessible via desktop and phone so the entire team has access to what's going on all of the time, and has a record of what's transpired since the last time they looked. This will probably mean using Slack or Discord. If you have an interest in a distributed multi-op, use our experience to inspire you to give it a try. There are at least two more opportunities for a distributed multi-op: The upcoming Russian DX Contest, and the CQ WW WPX. 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 18 Mar - 31 Mar 2021 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 CLARA Chatter Party, Mar 16, 1700z to Mar 17, 1700z and, Mar 20, 1700z to Mar 21, 1700z; CW, Phone; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS(T) + Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: April 15. VHF+ CONTESTS AGCW VHF/UHF Contest, Mar 20, 1400z to Mar 20, 1700z (144) and, Mar 20, 1700z to Mar 20, 1800z (432); CW; Bands: 144 MHz, 432 MHz; RST + "/" + Serial No. + "/" Power class + "/" + 6-character grid locator; Logs due: March 28. Also, see Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, SKCC Sprint, above. 18 Mar - 31 Mar 2021
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March 29, 2021 March 30, 2021 March 31, 2021 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. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest Calendar. | |
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