Contester's Rate Sheet for June 30, 2004
*********************** Contester's Rate Sheet 30 June 2004 *********************** Edited by Ward Silver N0AX SUMMARY o Canada Day, the IARU HF Championship and WRTC-Style Team Challenge o New products from DX Engineering and Gigavac o Pilemania Contest Simulator o Oceania and Wisconsin QSO Party Results o Double Tuning - Inverted-Vees and Harmonic Suppression Stubs o Unsolvable Field Day Mysteries BULLETINS o Problems with the June VHF Contest log-handling robot prevented it from accepting entries immediately after the contest. These problems have been corrected, including hand-processing of all logs received during that period. If you submitted a log via email, you should have received a confirmation number. If not, check the On Line Logs Received at http://www.arrl.org/contests/claimed and, if your call is not listed, resubmit the log. (Thanks, Dan N1ND) o The super-rare Nunavut province will be active as VY0RAC during the RAC Canada Day contest. (Thanks, Bob VE3KZ) BUSTED QSOS o A golden issue last time! ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 30 JUNE TO 13 JULY 2004 Logs are due for the following contests: June 30 - Manchester Mineira CW Contest, email to: cwjf@powerline.com.br, mail diskettes and paper logs to: CWJF Contest Committee, PO Box 410, Juiz de Fora - MG 36001-970, Brazil June 30 - MI QRP Memorial Day CW Sprint, email to: n8cqa@att.net, mail diskettes and paper logs to: L.T. Switzer, N8CQA, 427 Jeffrey Avenue, Royal Oak, MI 48073-2521, USA June 30 - IARU Region 1 Field Day, CW, submit your logs to your national radio society. July 1 - CQ-M International DX Contest, email to: cqm@hamsk.ru, mail diskettes and paper logs to: CQ-M Contest Committee, PO Box 2232, Tomsk 634055, Russia July 1 - Baltic Contest, email to: lrsf@lrsf.lt, mail diskettes and paper logs to: Baltic Contest, PO Box 210, LT-3000 Kaunas, Lithuania July 1 - CQ WW WPX Contest, CW, email to: cw@cqwpx.com, mail diskettes and paper logs to: CQ Magazine, 25 Newbridge Rd., Suite 405, Hicksville, NY 11801, USA July 1 - Great Lakes QSO Party, email to: k8khz@yahoo.com, mail diskettes and paper logs to: Sean Fleming, K8KHZ, 27120 Barrington St., Madison Heights, MI 48071, USA July 3 - VK/Trans-Tasman 80m Contest, CW, email to: vktasman@hotmail.com, mail diskettes and paper logs to: VK/Trans-Tasman Contest, 28 Crampton Crescent, Rosanna, VIC 3084, Australia July 5 - AGCW VHF/UHF Contest, email to: vhf-uhf@agcw.de, mail diskettes and paper logs to: Manfred Busch, DK7ZH, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Weg 6, D-63069 Offenbach/Main, Germany July 6 - Major Six Club Contest, email to: w3wrl@aol.com, mail diskettes and paper logs to: Wayne Lewis Sr., Six Club Contest Director, 3338 S. Cashua Dr., Florence, SC 29501-6306, USA July 8 - WorldRadio Friends' Day QSO Party, email to: (none), mail diskettes and paper logs to: QSO Party, PO Box 807, Hadley, MI 48440, USA July 10 - UKSMG Summer Contest, email to: contest@uksmg.org, mail diskettes and paper logs to: Dennis Robbemond, PA7FM, Loggerhof 11, 3181 NS, Rozenburg, Netherlands July 12 - QRP TAC Sprint, email to: tac@n3epa.org, mail diskettes and paper logs to: Eastern PA QRP Club, N3EPA, Attn: Ron Polityka, 1155 Robeson St, 2nd Floor, Reading, PA 19604-2151, USA The following contests are scheduled: Note that the following abbreviations are used to condense the contest rules summaries: SO - Single-Op; M2 - Multiop - 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/opsinfo/infocont.htm. Logs due Jul 31 to ve5cpu@rac.ca or Radio Amateurs of Canada, 720 Belfast Road, Ste 217, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 0Z5 Canada. MI QRP Jul 4th CW Sprint - 2300Z Jul 2 - 0300Z Jul 3. 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 Bahia Independence Contest - SSB/CW - sponsored by LABRE from 2100Z Jul 2 - 2100Z Jul 3 (SSB) and from 2100Z Jul 3 - 2100Z Jul 4 (CW). Frequencies: 160 - 10 meters. Categories: SO (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 are due 31 Jul to labreba@cdl.com.br or LABRE BA, Rua dos Radioamadores 73, Parque Pituaçu, CEP 41700-000, Caixa, Brasil. Venezuelan Ind. Day Contest - CW/SSB - sponsored by the Radio Club Venezolano from 0000Z Jul 3 - 2400Z Jul 4. 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. DL-DX-RTTY-Contest - RTTY/PSK - sponsored by the DL DX RTTY Contest Group (DRCG) from 1100Z Jul 3 -1059Z Jul 4. 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.dl-dx.de/. Logs due 10 Aug to logs@dl-dx.de. DARC 10-Meter Digital "Corona" - RTTY/AMTOR/PACTOR/PSK31/Clover - sponsored by Deutscher Amateur Radio Club from 1100Z - 1700Z Jul 4. 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 10 to 1200Z Jul 11. 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 10 to IARUHF@iaru.org (Cabrillo format only) or IARU HF Championship, IARU International Secretariat, Box 310905, Newington, CT 06111-0905, USA. WARC-Style Team Competition - sponsored by N0AX, this competition runs during the IARU HF Championship as did WRTC in 2000 and 2002. Operate as a two-operator team in accordance with the modified WRTC-2002 rules as posted at http://www.wwdxc.org/. All team scores are also eligible for IARU-HF submission in the MS category. Teams must pre-register by sending email with team call, QTH, operators, and an optional team name to n0ax@arrl.net by 1200Z on 9 Jul. 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 11 (see Dec QST, p 84, or http://2hams.net/ARCI/sumhom.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. UK DX Contest - RTTY, sponsored by the Scottish-Russian ARS from 1200Z Jul 10 - 1200Z Jul 11. Frequencies: 160 - 10-meters. Categories: SOAB and SOSB (HP, LP <100 watts, QRP < 10 watts), MS, MM. 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: http://www.srars.org/ukdxcruleseng.pdf. Logs due 30 days after the contest to ukdxssb@srars.org or Scottish-Russian ARS, PO Box 7469, Glasgow, G42 0YD, Scotland, U.K. VHF CONTESTS There are no VHF contests scheduled, but don't forget about the upcoming CQ WW VHF and Six Club Contests on July 16th - 18th! NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES Send Field Day results via the Web this year. The ARRL Contest Dept. worked extensively with Bruce Horn WA7BNM, who put together a Field Day Submission applet at http://www.b4h.net/cabforms/. It appears to be working well, as almost 100 Web-based submissions were received by Monday morning after Field Day. If you file your Field Day summary on-line, you must still submit the support materials such as dupe sheets or logs, proofs of bonus points, and so forth. An unusually large number of Field Day queries were received compared to previous years. (Thanks, Dan N1ND) NCJ News by Carl K9LA (NCJ Editor) - The July/August issue of NCJ is in the mail. For VHF contesters, K1KC tells how he built his Rover station and W9GKA looks at the VHF QRP Portable category. For SO2R aficionados, N4GG continues with Part 2 of his SO2R series and AA5AU goes through the design of his SO2R station in the RTTY Contesting column. For those with limited space but desiring to have a bigger presence on the low bands, K3LC describes a compact 4-Square. For the traveling types, SM0JHF tells the C5Z story. K4ZA covers voice techniques for contesters, W7DRA revisits the 100w contest amplifier, K3MD comments on N3FJP software, and OH1VR pens a sure-fire controversial open letter about the ethics of contesting. N0AX, K1DG, and K3LR review Visalia activities, the Dayton Contest Forum, and the Dayton Contest Dinner, respectively. Rounding out the July/August issue are several of the regular columns and contest results for Feb 04 NAQP RTTY, Feb 04 Phone Sprint, and Feb 04 CW Sprint. DX Engineering announces its new TB-1P Tilt Base mounting plate that enables operators to raise or lower Hustler BTV, Cushcraft and Butternut vertical antennas in seconds while leaving the base securely attached to the mounting post. This is really handy for portable operation where you might not want to leave the antenna vertical all the time. The TB-1P mounting plate resists corrosion and complements the DX Engineering RADP-1P radial plate which is shown with the TB-1P at http://www.dxengineering.com/. Gigavac (http://www.gigavac.com/ or 1-800-755-2000) has introduced three new low-priced, high-voltage vacuum relays that are priced from $69 to $119. The GH1 HAM is rated at 5 kW, the G41C HAM is rated at 18 kW, and the G2 HAM at 42 kW. Lest eyebrows be raised at the size of the ratings, relays used in hot-switched applications such as HF transmitting should be rated very conservatively. All of these relays carry a 1-year warranty and are available directly from Gigavac. The USA Headquarters station for the IARU contest will return to the tenth district this year. Listen for W1AW/0 under the capable management of Walt W0CP. Those of us out here on the West Coast were kept in the dark about the transit of Venus across the sun, but we got to watch it on the SpaceWeather Web site, http://spaceweather.com/. There is an amazing photo sequence on the site of the International Space Station transiting right along with Venus taken from a small Austrian town in the very narrow corridor from which such a view was possible. Rin JG1VGX, who operates from the JA1ZLO contest station, contributes some links to photos of several of the big JA stations: JH4UYB - http://www.dxcom.jp/fedxpfront/jh4uyb.html JE1ZWT - http://www010.upp.so-net.ne.jp/TTRC/ JA6GCE - http://jh6qil.hp.infoseek.co.jp/photo/ja6gceant.htm He also reminds us that, "For us the contest starts at 9 AM Saturday morning and ends at 9 AM on Monday. Normally we work on Saturday also." What that translates to for NA contesters is to work the JA stations on our Friday and Saturday because many of them will be at work as the contest comes to a close. The Northern California Contest Club announces a weekly 20-minute Sprint-like practice session from 0300-0400Z on Friday (Thursday evening in NA). Frequencies are7040, 3540, and 1820 kHz. SSB and RTTY events may be added. Exchange and contest format are the same as the Internet Sprint (http://lists.contesting.com/archives/html/CQ-Contest/2004-04/msg00387.html). No practice will be held before major contests. Send your results to n6zfo@arrl.net and results will be posted on the 3830 Reflector. (Thanks, Bill N6ZFO, Ken N6RO, and Dean N6DE) A new pileup simulator, Pilemania, created by Yasushi JA1DYB, is available at http://www.jg1vgx.net/etc/pilemania0.09.zip. The only Web information is in Japanese, but you can start running it without documentation. Isn't that what we do anyway? Here's a very short set of instructions after downloading, unzipping, and running the program: 1) Replace "My Call" and "Send Number" with your own. 2) Make a CQ with F1. You will be called back. 3) Fill in the "Call", and press F2, it will send Call and your number. You can press F4 here to ask them to call you again. 4) Move to Number field with SPACE bar, then copy his number. You can press F3 here to ask them to send NR again. 5) Use Enter to log a QSO. The program has only been tested on Windows XP systems. (Thanks, Rin JG1VGX) RESULTS AND RECORDS The results of the 2003 Oceania DX contest and the rules for the 2004 edition are now available on-line at the Oceania DX Contest web site http://www.oceaniadxcontest.com/. KH6ND operating at KH7X hit the jackpot by winning both the PHONE and CW sections in the Oceania SOAB category. Despite the poorer solar conditions, a number of new records were set. (Thanks, Brian ZL1AZE) The results of the 2004 Wisconsin QSO are now available on the West Allis Radio Clubb Web site - http://www.warac.org/. The writeup is quite substantial and has a detailed overview of the contest and extensive soapbox section. (Thanks, Lynn K9KR) State QSO Party Committees - don't forget to send me a note when your results have been published! The June edition of the Adventure Radio Society's monthly web magazine, The ARS Sojourner, is hot off the virtual press at http://www.ARSqrp.com/. It contains the results of the June Spartan Sprint, with special recognition to Skinny Division Champ, K4PQC and Tubby Division Champ, K3TW. TECHNICAL Bob W2SR has found some terrific, low-cost insulators for wire antennas and other RF applications. Check out the BW-KK-10 electric fence insulators at http://www.dareproducts.com/catalog/images/catalog_ad-3349/products/bw-kk-10.jpg. Bob reports that they are UV-tough, don't get hot when microwaved, and are darn cheap. Look for them in stores that handle electric fence components. Reading the July issue of "The Pack Rats Cheesebits" (the Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club newsletter) I discovered some neat software, RainScatter!, by Andrew Flowers K0SM. The program downloads National Weather Service radar images and calculates beam headings for two stations trying to use the weather systems to communicate at microwave frequencies. Even if you're not a microwaver, you might find RainScatter! interesting. New radars are being added to the radars already included from W1, W2, W3, eastern seaboard south through SC, Great Lakes region, and all of MN/SD/CO. Learn more at http://mail.rochester.edu/~af006m/RainScatter.html. Before returning those DVDs to the video rental shop, are you sure that you've rewound them? If rewinding your DVDs takes up too much time, I'm sure you'll appreciate this handy gadget that makes rewinding a breeze - http://dvdrewinder.com/. It works on CDs, too! The perfect gift for that deserving someone. The most commonly available ferrite cores use #43 and #61 material, which is generally considered to be effective for suppression only at VHF and low UHF. However, Jim K9YC reminds us that those cores are quite effective in the HF spectrum if you put multiple turns of cable or wire through the core. George K5KG contributes a neat trick for making an 80-meter inverted-Vee do double-duty for phone and CW without a tuner. "Cut the inverted-Vee for phone. Install an SO-239 connector about one foot from the distant end of each leg. It doesn't matter whether which wire goes to the SO-239 center pin. When operating phone, connect shorted PL-259's to each SO-239. For CW, replace the shorted PL-259 with one attached to a length of coax, shorted at its distant end. This adds length to the inverted-Vee, making it resonant in the CW band. For example, make the inverted-Vee 119' long for resonance at approximately 3900 kHz, or 59.5' on each leg. Install SO-239's as described above. When operating CW (3600 kHz), replace the shorted PL-259s with six-foot sections of shorted coax at each SO-239 connector." The following explanation of how to use "staggered stubs" for effective harmonic filtering was posted by Ken K2KW. "A single shorted 1/4-wave stub (RG213 type coax) will give you approx. 30 dB attenuation on the 2nd harmonic. (RG-8X may only reach 25 dB.) Cut one stub for the phone portion and a second stub for the CW portion of the 2nd harmonic band. Install the stubs separated by 1/4-wavelength at the center of the 2nd harmonic band. For example, to reduce 20-meter harmonics from a 40-meter transmitter, cut one stub for 14.050, a second for 14.225 and space them 1/4-wavelength apart at 14.150 MHz. The spacing distance is not critical, but don't forget to account for the velocity factor of the coax. Peter VE3PN cautions that this procedure assumes a low SWR on the line. If the impedance at the point of stub insertion is very far from 50 ohms, attenuation will suffer. Either improve the system match or use a network analyzer to adjust stub length at the actual line impedance. For those of you that want to know more about stubs, check out George W2VJN's excellent book, "Managing Interstation Interference" at http://www.qth.com/inrad/. CONVERSATION Unsolved Field Day Mysteries Every year, there are certain unsolvable Field Day mysteries. You have yours, I have mine. Do we share any? Read on and see. The first mystery of Field Day was, "How can a cat get pee INSIDE a closed-up cooler?" This pleasant discovery was made at 6:30 AM as I packed the day's grub. Hmmm, what's that odd smell? It's so...familiar...oh. Yes, there it was, but only on the inside! Perhaps the spirit of Hoodunnit resides in one of our cats? It sure seemed that one of them was taking an inordinate interest in my kitchen activities that morning. Who can tell if a cat is really smirking? They look that way all the time. That is unsolvable mystery number one. The packing of the car had been completed on Friday night, so I only had about two dozen items that "occurred" to me during the night to load on Saturday morning. Insignificant things like sleeping bag and air mattresses and the 6-meter antenna. In they went along with the aforementioned (and now cat-free) cooler for transport to the Field Day site. This year, our site was only a mile away, so I did not feel the need to haul the usual 800 pounds of cr.., er, equipment. I have often suggested that it would be easier to simply run a big eye-bolt through the house and have a helicopter transport the whole building to Field Day. Minutes later, I alighted and was ready to be presented with mysteries two and three. Mystery number two involved teleportation. On Friday, in my nearly infinite wisdom honed to a razor's edge by thirty-two years of Field Days, I packed everything pertaining to a single station in one box, in order, according to a check list. There. Done. Finito. The box was carried to the car, placed in the back and not touched for the fourteen intervening hours, before being carried to the station tent and unpacked by yours truly. And yet, in a manner unknown to mortals, the keyer power cord and keying cable had vanished! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, unaided by human hands, the cables had managed to transport themselves through thin air and impenetrable cardboard into the sealed container for the antenna analyzer several boxes away! (Wild applause) This feat, of course, resulted in several, shall we say, terse, phone calls home followed by my actual going there and returning empty handed and thoroughly deflated. At this point, the cables trotted forth from their hiding place to more wild applause and general frivolity all round. The cats must have put them there. I can just see them snickering with their little paws over their mouths. You will surely identify with the third of the mysteries, that one that Mark Twain labeled, "The Innate Cussedness of Inanimate Objects." It involves wire, cable, and rope. Indeed, any physical object possessing the ability to bend and a high length-to-diameter ratio is bursting at the seams with what I call "Tangle Power." This apparently limitless source of energy causes any such object, when left at rest with a configuration in which any part of itself lies in proximity to another such part, to invariably create a knot rivaling the Gordian in its topology, density, and ability to resist the miserable and unworthy attempts by humans to undo it. If only Tangle Power was harnessable, the world's energy problems would be solved forever by one bag of #12 Copperweld left in the trunk for a week. The fourth of the unsolvable mysteries is that of the Moving Rock. This rock, or one of its close family members, appears whenever a guy anchor is being driven into what is surely pure and unadulterated dirt. It detects the rhythmic pounding of hammer on rebar stake and rapidly moves to a position immediately in the path of the stake. It can also detect when the pounder has relaxed in anticipation of success, so as to deliver the maximum amount of buzzing, tingling shock to the hand, wrist, and arm. If one moves the rebar to a new spot a few inches away, the rock will be there in just a few hammer blows. The goal of the rock is to cause the rebar to be gradually moved farther and farther from the original spot until the rope is six inches (15 cm) too short for a secure knot. Should the Moving Rock cause a mast or tower to fall due to knot failure, it gets big points with the rest of the rocks, I can assure you. Special bonus points are scored by a Moving Rock snuggling up to a seated rebar, making it impossible to pull out, even though it went in with only two hammer blows. The fifth, and most unsolvable, Mystery of Field Day is that of the lowly Thermos bottle. This Confucius of the Kitchen, this Einstein of Emptiness, this Feynman of Food must possess a deep and unknown secret of the Universe. With unerring precision and the utmost steadfastness, it keeps the hot stuff hot and the cold stuff cold. How does it know? 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 Windows XP is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation
