Contester's Rate Sheet for December 14, 2005

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Contester's Rate Sheet
14 December 2005
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Edited by Ward Silver N0AX

SUMMARY
o Holiday Contests on Top Band and Digital Modes 
o NCJ News by K9LA
o WRTC2006 Application Deadline
o New Videos and New Products
o Check The CQ WW Logs-Received Page!
o Connectors and Transmission Lines
o Some Bits on Beverages
o My Brain Hurts

BULLETINS
o No bulletins this issue

BUSTED QSOS
o None reported!

ANNOUNCEMENTS & NOTICES FOR 14 DECEMBER TO 27 DECEMBER 2005

UPCOMING LOG DUE DATES

December 15 - Arkansas QSO Party, email logs to: bismith@uark.edu,
paper logs and diskettes to: Bill Smith, K1ARK, 3032 Strawberry Dr,
Fayetteville, AR 72703, USA. Find rules at:
http://zinfoserv.com/arkan/qso_party.php 

December 15 - WAE DX Contest, RTTY, email logs to:
waedc@dxhf.darc.de, paper logs and diskettes to: WAEDC Contest
Manager, Bernhard Buettner DL6RAI, Schmidweg 17, D-85609 Dornach,
Germany. Find rules at: http://www.darc.de/referate/dx/xedcwr.htm 

December 18 - High Speed Club CW Contest, email logs to:
hsc-contest@dl3bzz.de, paper logs and diskettes to: Lutz Schroer
DL3BZZ, HSC Contest Manager, Am Niederfeld 6, 35066 Frankenberg,
Germany. Find rules at: http://www.qsl.net/dl0hsc/en/contests.html 

December 19 - eXtreme CW World-Wide Challenge, email logs to:
xcw@alg.demon.co.uk, paper logs and diskettes to: XCW WW Challenge,
14 The Paddock, Chepstow, NP16 5BW, UK. Find rules at:
http://www.alg.demon.co.uk/xcw/2005rules.htm 

December 20 - LZ DX Contest, email logs to: lzdxc@yahoo.com, paper
logs and diskettes to: BFRA, PO Box 830, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria. Find
rules at: http://www.qsl.net/lz1fw/contest/ 

December 21 - ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB, email logs to:
SSPhone@arrl.org, paper logs and diskettes to: November SS Phone,
ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 
USA. Find rules at:
http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2005/novss.html 

December 21 - North American Collegiate ARC Championship, SSB, email
logs to: SSPhone@arrl.org, email log summary to: wm5r@arrl.net, paper
logs and diskettes to: November SS Phone, ARRL, 225 Main St.,
Newington, CT 06111, USA. Find rules at:
http://www.collegiatechampionship.org/ccrules.html 

December 24 - EU-PSK-QRP Contest, email logs to: box73@comail.ru,
paper logs and diskettes to: (none). Find rules at:
http://www.qrp.ru/eupsk.htm 

UPCOMING CONTESTS

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

OK DX RTTY Contest--sponsored by the Czech Radio Club, 0000Z - 2400Z
Dec 17. Categories: SOAB (LP, HP >100W), SOSB, MOAB, SWL.
Frequencies: 80 - 10 meters according to IARU band plan. Exchange:
RST and CQ Zone. QSO Points: 80 & 40--3 pts on same continent, 6 pts
different cont., 20-10--1 pt same cont., 2 pts different cont. Score:
QSO points x DXCC entities + OK stations (multipliers counted once
per band). For information: http://www.crk.cz/ENG/DXCONTE.HTM. Logs
due 15 Jan to okrtty@crk.cz or Czech Radio Club, OK DX RTTY Contest,
PO Box 69, 113 27 Praha 1, Czech Republic.

Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge--CW, sponsored by the Boring
Amateur Radio Club, 1500Z Dec 17 - 1500Z Dec 18. Categories: SO and
MS. Operate 14 hours max. Exchange: grid square only. QSO Points: 1
pt + 1 pt for every 500 km distance calculated between grid centers
(see Web page for calculation information), QSOs with QRP stations
that submit a log count double QSO points. Score: QSO points x Power
mult (<5W x 4, 5--100W x 2, >100W x 1). For more information:
http://jzap.com/k7rat/stew.rules.txt. Logs due 31 Jan (Cabrillo
format only) to tbdc@contesting.com or Boring Amateur Radio Club,
15125 SE Bartell Rd, Boring, OR 97009 USA.

PSK31 Death Match--PSK31 and PSK63, sponsored by the Michigan DX
Association, 0000Z Dec 17 - 2400Z Dec 18. Frequencies: 80 - 6 meters,
PSK31 and PSK63 count as separate "bands". Categories: SO, Class 1
(<100W), Class 2 (<25W), Class 3 (<10W). Exchange: Name + S/P/C. QSO
Points: 1 pt/QSO, 2 pts for QRP, 3 pts for 6 meters. One time bonus
of 1000 points for contacting the MDXA club W8DXI on both PSK31 and
63. Score: QSO Points x total S/P/C + bonus points. For more
information: http://www.mdxa1.org/deathmatch.html. Logs due 30 days
after the contest to k8khz@yahoo.com or Brian R. Pawloski W8BRI, PO
Box 140012, Grand Rapids MI 49514-0012.

Russian 160-Meter Contest--CW/SSB. sponsored by Radio Magazine, from
0000Z -- 0200Z Dec 17. Categories: SO, MO, SO and MO 18 years and
younger, Mixed Mode only. Exchange: RST, serial number, and square ID
(see www.radio.ru/cq/contest/rule/map-2.gif for a map showing the
squares) QSO Points: own square--1 pt, adjacent sq--2 pts, 1 add'l pt
each add'l square distant. Score: total QSO points. For more
information: http://www.radio.ru/cq/contest/rule (Cyrillic only).
Logs to contest@radio.ru, or Radio Magazine, Seliverstov per. 10,
Moscow 107045, Russia.

Croatian CW Contest--sponsored by Hrvatski Radioameterski Savez
(HRS), from 1400Z Dec 17 - 1400Z Dec 18. Frequencies: 160 - 10
meters. Categories: SOAB (HP >100W, LP, QRP <5 W), SOSB (HP, LP), MO,
SWL. Exchange: RST + serial number. QSO Points: 9A stations--10 pts
on 160-40, 6 pts 20-10; different cont--6 pts 160-40, 3 pts 20-10;
own cont and country--2 pts 160-40, 1 pt 20-10. Score: QSO points x
WAE countries on all bands. For more information:
http://www.qsl.net/ctc. Logs due 30 days after the contest to
zmaticic@inet.hr or Hrvatski Radioameterski Savez (HRS), Croatian CW
Contest, PO Box 149, 10003 Zagreb, Croatia.

RAC Winter Contest--CW/Phone, sponsored by the Radio Amateurs of
Canada, 0000Z - 2359Z Dec 17. Frequencies (MHz): CW--25 kHz up from
the band edge (check on the half hour), Phone--1.850, 3.775, 7.075,
7.225, 14.175, 21.250, 28.500, 50 and 144 MHz. Categories: SOAB (QRP,
LP, HP), SOSB, MS-LP, MO-HP, and MM. VE stations exchange RST +
Province, VE0 and non-VE stations exchange RST + serial number. QSO
Points: Outside Canada--2 pts, VE/VE0 stations--10 pts, RAC
stations--20 pts. Score: QSO points x VE provinces + territories
(counted once per band and mode). For information:
http://www.rac.ca/downloads/canwin2004.pdf. Logs due 31 Jan to
ve5sf@rac.ca or Radio Amateurs of Canada, 720 Belfast Road, Suite
217, Ottawa, ON Canada, K1G 0Z5.

Lighthouse Christmas Lights QSO Party--all modes, sponsored by the
Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, 0001Z Dec 17, 2005 - 2359Z Jan 1,
2006. Frequencies (MHz): CW--1.830, 3.530, 7.030, 14.030, 21.030,
28.030, SSB--1.970, 3.970, 7.270, 14.270, 21.370, 28.370, plus VHF
and repeaters. Exchange: sequential serial number or ARLHS member
number or ARLHS Lighthouse number + name + S/P/C. QSO Points: 1
pt/QSO, add 2 pts for ARLHS member, add 3 pts for lighthouse. Score
is total QSO Points. Stations activating light beacons multiply total
points by 2. Special logging requirements apply. For more
information: http://arlhs.com/ or send SASE to ARLHS, Box 2178,
Riverton, NJ 08077. Logs due 31 Jan to Dave Ruch NF0J, PO Box 20696,
Bloomington, MN 55420-0696.

RAEM Contest--CW, sponsored by the Central and Krenkel Radio Clubs,
from 0200Z - 0959Z Dec 25. Frequencies: 80 - 10 meters. Categories:
SOAB (LP, HP), SOSB, MO, SWL. Exchange: Serial number and lat/lon
(degrees only). QSO Points: 50 pts/QSO + 1 pt each degree of
difference in lat/lon. Polar Circle stations - add 100 pts, RAEM
station - add 500 pts. Score: total QSO points. Logs due Jan 10 to
alo@udmurtneft.ru or to RAEM Contest, PO Box 3945, Izhevsk 426011,
Russia.

VHF+ CONTESTS

There are no VHF+ contests scheduled.

NEWS & PRESS RELEASES

NCJ News from Carl K9LA (NCJ Editor) - The January/February issue of
NCJ contains the results of four NCJ contests: the March RTTY Sprint,
the July NAQP RTTY, the September CW and SSB Sprints. 2006 rules for
the NAQPs and Sprints are also in this issue. The cover feature,
penned by N5OT, is about N9IW's contest-grade remote HF station in
Wisconsin. N3HBX concludes with Part 2 of his efforts to get his new
contest station going. K3LC compares 40m 4-Squares to Shorty 40s.
K1ZM tells us about the upcoming WRTC2006. With the ARRL DX contests
just around the corner, the single-band W/VE winners are listed for
those contemplating single-band efforts. W1WEF shows an easy way to
solve inter-station interference in an SO2R operation. The regular
columns include budgeting and tracking contest expenditures (K5AF),
getting started in RTTY contesting (W6WRT), comments about 40m
4-Squares and Shorty 40s with respect to propagation (K9LA), a
discussion of bearings (K4ZA), a quick review of Hamcalc and
real-time scoring (N4ZR), and Part 2 of tactical decisions (W9XT).

The December 31st deadline looms for WRTC2006 Applications!  The
organizers especially want to encourage Young Contesters 21 years old
and younger to apply.  This would be a great way to get a new
contester interested in international competition by filling out an
application.  Young Contesters are only compared to other Young
Contesters.  Here's how to apply - for young or old - go to
http://www.wrtc2006.com/ and click "Rules" on the left side of the
page. Click "Application File for Selection Criteria" in the middle
of the page to download the spreadsheet file (it is a compressed
"zip" file).  To help you fill out your application, the organizers
have provided a database of contest scores.  On the WRTC2006 home
page, click "Go To Results Checking System" at the right side of the
page.  A page of instructions is also available - the link is "Result
Checking System Instructions". Team Captains - young and old - will
be announced on January 15th, 2006!  The list of applications
received so far can be viewed at http://www.py2yp.ws/wrtcapp.htm.

Icom has a whole bunch of new ham radio videos on their Web site at
http://icomamerica.com/amateur/video.  There are a trio on the 2005
Dayton Hamvention, a D-STAR presentation by N5MIJ and N5ZPR, two on
ham radio in India featuring VU2RBI, and a feature on ham radio from
Channel 12 TV in Chattanooga, TN.

West Mountain Radio (http://www.westmountainradio.com/) has a new rig
control product, the "RIGtalk USB Rig Control Interface."  New
laptops and PCs often don't have RS-232 ports, so the USB interface
becomes ever more important.  The interface works with the Icom and
Ten-Tec CI-V interface and the Yaesu CAT interface and costs $49.95.

ARRL DX CW operators are licking their chops in anticipation of the
3Y0X Peter I multiplier, the DXpedition planning on being active
during the contest.  DX Engineering (http://www.dxengineering.com/)
has supplied them with a special, ruggedized 75/80-meter vertical to
withstand the rugged climate and put out a big low-band signal.  You
can also purchase a 3Y0X hat, just right for winter-time antenna
work, that will support the expedition.

Have any antenna modelers in the family? AntenneX has just released
CD-ROM #13 with 1133 articles  plus free software for antenna
utilities, antenna & network designs and  modeling.  The CD is
available at http://www.antennex.com/news/index.html.

Dave K1TTT has just published "Building a Super Station" covering
over 20 years of building a contest station. There are lots of
operating pictures and bunches of technical and contesting tidbits.
It's available in a full color printed version or for download at:
http://www.lulu.com/content/182762. Whether you're a serious
contester or not, you'll find plenty of value here.

Clark W8TN wrote to let me know that he has written BasicLog 1.0, an
Excel spreadsheet that greatly speeds up the process of converting
paper log data to ADIF for uploading to Logbook of the World or
importing into logging programs.  The program is free for downloading
along with a printable manual at http://www.w8tn.com/software.htm.

The VHF & Up Register is a Web site for listing the capabilities of
VHF+ contesters from far and wide.  You can learn more, including how
to contribute a list of your own station, at
http://www.aa1yn.com/register-info.html. (Thanks, Lee AA1YN)

While you're busy DXing over the holidays, here's some different ways
to wish your contacts well, courtesy of the Radio Amateur's
Conversation Guide by  Jukka Heikinheimo OH2BR/OH1BR and Miika OH2BAD
and several on-line translation services.
   English - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. (Holiday)
   German - Frohe Weihnachten und ein gliickliches Neues Jahr.
(Feiertag)
   French - Joyeux noel et bonne annee. (Vacances)
   Italian - Buon natale e felice anno nuovo. (Festa)
   Spanish - Feliz navidad y ano nuevo. (Dia de fiesta)
   Portuguese-  Feliz Natal e Prospero Ano Novo. (Feriado)
   Russian - Visjolava razdestva i snovyim godam! (Prazhdink)
   Japanese - Christmas omedetogozaimasu, Tanoshii Christmas-o,
Shinnen  
   omedetogozaimasu, Yoi otoshio. (Horidei)

RESULTS AND RECORDS

The 2005 IARU Web writeup should be available later this week - keep
checking the ARRL contesting Web site at
http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/. (Thanks, Dan N1ND)

If you have submitted your log to the ssb@cqww.com or cw@cqww.com
email addresses and have not received an acknowledgment reply from
the CQWW Robot, at least one ISP (AOL) has apparently lost some
email. Whether you are an AOL user or not, first check your "spam
box" for the CQWW Robot reply.  Your ISP may have "filtered" it for
you.  Or you may have filtered it for yourself if you're using your
own spam solution. Regardless, even if you have received a
confirmation number, check these Web pages to make sure your log has
been received: SSB: http://www.cqww.com/logs-received_ssb.htm, CW:
http://www.cqww.com/logs-received_cw.htm. The lists are auto-updated
at least daily. (Thanks, Dave KM3T)

EU HF Championship 2005 results are now final and published on the
SCC Web page http://lea.hamradio.si/scc/. According to the Contest
Committee decision all UBN reports are public and open to all,
accessible with "click" on the  desired callsign! (Thanks, Robert
S57AW)

The results of the Eu Sprint Contest - Spring SSB have just been
released. You can find the UBN reports on the new EU Sprint web page
at http://www.eusprint.com/. Once again both the UBN and the LOGs will
be public and available for everyone. Just click on a callsign to see
the UBN report or to download the log in .ASC format. (Thanks, Paolo
I2UIY)

The JIDX 2005 Phone Logs Received page has been updated at
http://jidx.org/jidx2005ph-log.html. There is also a "Needed Log"
list at http://jidx.org/2005ph-loglist.html (Thanks, Tack Kumagai
JE1CKA/KH0AM)

TECHNICAL

K0TO made some measurements that were to be used to design BN86
replacement units. He looked at some type 30 material that many folks
across the US acquired recently in a "Big Buy" and compared it with
type 61 material. The results are posted at
http://www.k0to.us/HAM/Balun/choke_balun.htm. Check out the
dual-dipole article while you're there, as well. (Thanks, Tod, K0TO)

In a related RF concern about the worthiness of UHF connectors at VHF
and up, John W0UN contributed a link that debunks some of the myths
of UHF connectors.  It's a tech note on UHF connectors by K2RIW on
the Roadrunners Microwave Group web site:
http://www.k5rmg.org/UHF-con.html.  Great reading!

Dave K8CC contributes a not-so-well-known transmission-line trick -
the 1/12th wavelength transformer. Dave's station uses surplus 75-ohm
CATV hardline, matching the antennas to 75 ohms, then matching the
transmission lines to the rig's preferred 50 ohms with the
transformer.  Place a 1/12th wavelength section of 75-ohm impedance
in series with another 1/12th wavelength section of 50-ohm cable. 
Connect the 50-ohm section to the 75-ohm load and you'll see a 50-ohm
at the output of the 75-ohm section.  It looks like this:  50 ohms in
===75===[]===50=== 75-ohm load.

Here's another piece of software to perform analysis on contest logs.
 It's called SH5 and was written by UA4WLI.  The software is
available at http://rescab.nm.ru/. (Thanks, Bob N6TV and Howie N4AF)

Here's a great evening project - a circular SWR, Gain, Loss and
Return Loss chart by F5BU. Download the pieces in PDF format from
http://tk5ep.free.fr/tech/abaqueROS/gainchart.php, print them out and
attach them - voila! (Thanks, Scott KB0FHP)

Jim WA7KYI recently found this page while perusing the AC6V Website. 
He suggests that it's a great tutorial for those new hams you're
Elmering on how to make a CW contact and the procedures normally used
during the contact. Send your proteges to
http://www.netwalk.com/~fsv/CWguide.htm.

Can't figure out what section you (or someone you're contacting) are
in? Try http://www.arrl.org/sections. There is a county map of each
section. Or, if you know the city,
http://www.arrl.org/locate/locate.html will give you the section
along with grid square and other information. 

I have had several requests for "searchable archives" for the Rate
Sheet.  Give the new Google-based ARRL search function a try.  Enter
"rate sheet" and your topic.  The search is greatly improved from the
previous ARRL search engine.

Those of you working with long Beverage runs, elevated radials, or
the like may be interested in the following article on working with
"hi-tensile wire" from the University of California Farm Extension
program. http://www.foothill.net/~ringram/hitensle.htm (Thanks, Bob
K0RC)

More on Beverages - "Memorandum on the Beverage Wave Antenna for
Reception of Frequencies in the 550 - 1500 Kilocycle Band" by
Benjamin Wolf and Adolph Anderson. Original Artilcle,
http://www.akdart.com/bev/bev.html. Converted to HTML for better
legibility: http://www.akdart.com/bev/bev2a.html (Thanks, John W0UN)

For those of us who wear glasses, headphones can be a pain,
literally. Airline pilots have a solution with David Clark "Stop-Gap"
eyeglass frame cushions.
(http://davidclark.com/PDFFiles/TwoWayBrochure.pdf) Placed on
eyeglass frame temples, Stop-Gaps provide added comfort and stop
noise from leaking through the ear seal.  These are available from
many aviation supply shops. (Thanks, Bob N6TV and John VE3EJ)

Speaking of headphones, so to speak, their foam earphone pads can
take a beating over a contest season, degenerating into grubby,
foam-shedding gunk.  RadioShack has several replacement foam pad sets
and I've found model number 33-380 to be a good fit for the Heil BM
boomsets, for example.  Heil's prices and service for replacements
are quite good, but if you find yourself needing new ones on contest
day, the local RadioShack may have them on the rack.

Did the cat knock your paddle on the floor? Here's a novel idea for
replacing broken paddle fingerpieces - guitar picks.  (Thanks, Neal
WA6OCP)

Steve K8JQ was concerned that replacing his #18 ladder line with
heavier stuff would lead to disaster if something (such as a tree
limb) fell on it, wrecking whatever it was attached to (such as a
window feedthrough).  After some discussion, the solution selected
was to put a short piece of #18 ladder line in series with the
heavier stuff as a "mechanical fuse."  Banana plugs at the
feedthrough were also suggested and considered. 

Here is an animation (1.8 Mb in size) of 10-meter conditions in North
America for the preceding 24 hour period -
http://propnet.findu.com/yesterday.gif. Data is gathered by
volunteers using PSK31. For more information and additional maps,
browse to http://www.PropNET.org/. (Thanks, Ev W2EV)

The winter solstice approaches and with it, the annual Determination
of True North Festival. If you know the time of your local solar noon
a simple sundial will suffice to point the way.  John W0UN chimes in
again to point out how to determine local solar noon. "Go to your
newspaper weather forecast column (or almanac section) and get local
sunrise and sunset times. Half-way between those two times is local
solar noon." He notes that the same information is available at
http://www.weather.com/ or http://www.weatherunderground.com/ by
entering your zip code. "Plumb a stick and at the calculated time the
shadow is true north.  With a long enough stick and a bright sun you
should be able to obtain true north with greater than one degree
accuracy." No word on the effect of accuracy should a plastic owl
perch upon the stick.

CONVERSATION

My Brain Hurts

The more the solar flux falls, the more severe the relative advantage
or disadvantage incurred by contesters around the world.  Whatever
band or contest, you will either have feast or famine, depending on
one's location and perspective.  On the high bands, long-distance
openings shrink and with them scores.  On the low-bands, population
swells and with it QRM.  Geepers!  What's a contester to do?

I have discussed the idea of "Contests Within A Contest" before -
make up your own set of parameters that satisfy the sponsor's rules
and have a competition.  For example, the North American Collegiate
ARC Championship runs "piggybacked" onto the ARRL Sweepstakes.  The
WRTC-Style Team Challenge promotes two-operator teams within the IARU
HF Championship's multioperator rules.  Numerous clubs around the
world have their own competitions, no doubt.  If you're not on the
Right Coast for Top Band, then make up your own regional competition!

What else can be done?  Well, you could start your own contest - make
up the necessary rules, find a spare weekend, publish the rules, put
up a Web page, line up prize sponsors, advertise the contest, collect
the logs, process all of the errors and problems, cross-check them,
write up the results, publish...ah...maybe it's easier to crack
another 807 and pound out another couple of emails on the reflectors.
 Besides, we already have literally hundreds of contests throughout
the year.

What if we tried competitions based on multiple contests?  Take a
look at, say, the weekend of December 17th and 18th.  There are a
couple of 160-meter contests, a RTTY and a PSK31 contest, the RAC
Winter Contest, the Croatian CW Contest, and the Lighthouse Christmas
Lights event.  Other weekends typically sport similar mixes - perhaps
a state QSO party or two mixed with a DX and a digital contest. 
There are no shortages of events!  What if you entered more than one
contest at a time?

This wouldn't work well in the presence of really Big Contests - they
are too massive.  But as we are fond of reminding non-contesters,
there aren't that many Big Ones.  Most weekends are relatively quiet,
but you can find a relative handful of stations pursuing their
national or state or club contests, sprinkled around the band.  There
is generally enough activity to keep entertained for a few tours up
and down the bands.

Here's the "Contest Beyond A Contest" proposal.  Actually, there are
two and by the time I finish this paragraph, I may have thought of
another one.  Proposal one - multiply your score from all contests
together.  Can you make a million points?  How about ten million
points?  The beauty of this is that each weekend is likely unique - a
once in a lifetime strategic opportunity.  Proposal two - create a
"meta-score" by summing together all of the QSO points from all the
contests then multiplying them by the sum of all the multipliers from
all the contests.  It will be the biggest score in your log all year!
 Oh yes, a third proposal did occur - devise a scavenger hunt based
on multipliers and modes from the available contests.  Extra points
for minimizing elapsed time!

Instead of SO2R, you could have SOMC - Single-Op Multiple-Contests. 
Or MOMC!  The possibilities are literally endless. Imagine
Multi-Multi-Multi-Contests!  By the time the end of the weekend came
around, you'd have been worn to a frazzle trying to remember all the
exchanges and abbreviations. How would you call CQ?  "Should I stay
on Hellschrieber for another state or should I switch back to phone
and look for Bean Blossom County or maybe 80 meters is open to
Bechuanaland..."  I mentioned the possibility of putting multiple
contests in a single program to Tree N6TR.  He thought for a minute
and then said, "My brain hurts" and walked away.  I can just see K3LR
or KC1XX or W3LPL trying to come up with a winning strategy for
all-bands and all-modes - and losing more sleep in the process.

Would you like to try alternate scoring rules for existing contests?
It can be done by post-processing.  That is, write some software (or
use Cabrillo analysis tools) to re-score logs from existing contests.
 Don't like the QSO point mix of CQ WW?  Come up with something else
and have competitors send you their logs - after they send them to
the CQ WW Committee, of course!  Would you like to score individual
QSOs by distance?  The calculations are straightforward - just get
everyone to send you their grid square along with the log (or just
look up their grid square) and have at it!  How about power?  Or
antenna ERP?

Furthermore (and I can see you looking around for the chloroform, so
I'll be brief) there is no particular reason why all of the contests
have to be running at the same weekend.  Cumulative competitions are
a little-explored area of contesting.  Sum QSOs and multipliers from
all of the Top Band or 10-Meter or digital contests throughout the
season and calculate that score.

We have such a vigorous community of competitors, skilled in so many
arts. We also have an embarrassing richness of competitive
opportunities.  Let's take the first and apply it to the second to
come up with challenges no one has seen before!  Does that make your
brain hurt, too?  It sounds like a great club project to me.

On a separate topic, it is an honor to have been appointed Chair of
the ARRL's Contest Advisory Committee.  That doesn't mean, though,
that every musing and marginal witticism that you find in the
Conversation section of the Rate Sheet is necessarily Official CAC
Policy.  Unless I specifically say otherwise, you can assume that
these rambles are merely the product of the same over-caffeinated
imagination as usual - it's just me.  A scary thought, isn't it?  See
you in the pileups!

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