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Yearly Archives: 2010
Varying Speed When Sending Your Call Sign
I still receive emails from Dick, KB1H, about the goings-on in his contest group, despite not having operated at his station for many years. One of the things they have had difficulties with is other stations miscopying their call sign (such as “K6JH”). In trying to make it easier to copy, it was suggested that they vary the speed and spacing at which individual characters in their call are sent. This may be obvious to some of you but I thought I would mention it. I know other stations do this, as I have heard them during contests.
By breaking up a call into more easily discernible parts, you should increase intelligibility and therefore decrease fills and NILs (Not-In-Log) . For example I know on CW, Matt, WE1H gets his call miscopied as “VE1H” quite a bit. Unlike many character errors (as in confusing a “B” and a “6” and a “1” and a “J” as in KB1H’s case), Matt’s problem obviously doesn’t arise from any similarity between the “W” and the “V” but due to the uniqueness of his prefix’s similarity to the “VE” prefix. In other words, operators may be copying his “W” correctly but then mentally altering the prefix once they hear the “E” to make it fit with a much more prevalent (and therefore probable) “VE” prefix. He might benefit from separating the “W” from the rest of his call by either sending it at a slightly slower speed (~2-4 WPM) than the rest, and/or by slightly increasing the spacing between the “W” and the “E” to make it stand out more. He may already be doing this, but I thought it would make a good example. Maybe he has some input he can give.
I even have to do this on SSB. Many people get confused by the “NG” and the “1G”, and try to make sense out of it by concocting call signs like “November One Golf Something…” or “November Golf Golf”. This happens even in good or excellent conditions, so I know it’s a recognition issue. So what I do is say my call sign like this: “November Golf <slight pause> ONE Golf”, making sure I emphasize the “ONE” after the pause. I have found that it really helps others understand my call better. It not only separates my call into two distinct phrases but by emphasizing the “ONE” and placing it with the suffix I think it makes the second “Golf” easier to understand. Of course on CW you can’t emphasize a character in the same way, but by altering speed or spacing you can make a character or groups of characters stand out more, producing the same effect and making it easier to copy correctly.
During the CW Sweepstakes I used this method to help with my exchange. I don’t think Writelog provides a way to use variable sending speed within a stored message, so what I did was simply add spaces between parts of the exchange to make them stand out. I could control the overall sending speed, which I did according to receiving operator or conditions, but I think the variable spacing also helped, even at higher speeds. I didn’t get asked for a lot of fills, but I also have no frame of reference since this was my first CW SS. Perhaps my LCR (Log Checking Report) will shed light on my success or lack of it.
It”s one thing to hear someone copy your call incorrectly during the QSO, but it’s another to see how they actually logged it. Even if you correct them and they repeat it back correctly you still don’t know what their brain (or hands) did to your call. The UBN (Unique, Bad, NIL) report and LCR are invaluable tools in post-contest assessment for determining if this is happening to you, and the effects of making your call and exchange as easy as possible to copy should be reflected in those reports. Has anyone else adopted this method?
Great November Meeting at W1AN
Many thanks, John, for hosting the meeting on Saturday AND for you and W1NAN providing such a feast for lunch. It was a grand event!
It was also a very good meeting with thanks to Ed, W1PN, walking everybody in attendance through a “How To” for the new club website (not yet fully ready for prime time, but it’s getting there.) Hmmmm… I think I’d better put this post on that web site as well as here on the reflector.
73,
Ken K3IU
November Meeting Notice
K3IU Takes First in RI ARRL VHF/UHF Contest 2009
Ken Wagner, K3IU, was surprised with what he found in the mailbox. “In today’s mail I received a lovely piece of wallpaper from the ARRL for being the SOLP Winner for 50 MHz in the RI Section, in the 2009 Sept VHF QSO Party.
It just goes to show that you should always submit your log. My score was 207 and I had 23 QSOs (before dupes).”
Ken had no serious expectation of winning anything when he submitted his log. He didn’t even submit any observations or results to the CTRI CG reflector except an oblique reference to his logs when he responded to a post from NG1G several weeks after the contest identifying a problem with the scoring robot.
There is an object lesson in this for all of us. No matter how modest your performance in a contest seems at the time finish the effort with a log submission. At the very least it will boost the club’s aggregate performance slightly, and, who knows, you might pull off a surprise win!
Congratulations Ken.
New SteppIR at KS1J… Finally
Early on the morning of Saturday, October the 16th, a crowd of club members met at the home of Jim Bowman, KS1J, to help him finalize the project that he has been working on for months. Jim had a new four element SteppIR (40m thru 6 m) that wanted to get up on the tower. The temperature was in the high 40s and the wind was whipping out of the northwest.
Jim has already assembled the SteppIR which included the 40 meter element and it seemed like it took up most of the back yard. However, in all cases like this, there was still several things needing to be done, not the least of which was figuring out how to get the 108 pound, 4 element beam, with a 32 foot boom and 34 foot long elements up to the top of the tower.
It was determined that the best way to get the 108 pound beam up to the mast was to rig a tram wire from a tree across the yard to the mast. Here are a couple of pictures showing the preparations.
And here is the other end of the tram wire…
Jim, KS1J, making the final inspections before hauling the beam up the tram wire.
I had to leave before I remembered to take a picture of the beam atop the tower, so I came back a few days later after Jim had cranked the tower up to its fifty-two feet (or so) height. Jim has reported that when he first attempted to put some RF into the beastie, he got HUGE SWR indications. However, when he plugged the coax from the beam directly into the back of the tranceiver, it was normal (or should I say, nominal). Later searching resulted in a trashed elbow connector on his manual coax switch. Jim reports that everything is working now as it should.
Here’s the SteppIR up in the air in Barrington, RI.
That’s All, Folks…
73,
Ken Wagner K3IU
NP3U winning the 2008 World Multi-Two
NP3U winning the 2008 World Multi-Two Plaque was made official in the
July issue of CQ magazine with a 9.9 million score. Here is a repost of
our operation:
Our mainland group Jay AJ1M, Ken K3IU, Bill N1HRA and John W1AN were all
charged and ready for another exciting operation. We arrived in Puerto
Rico on the Wednesday before the contest. From experience we knew we had
some work cut out for us. Many from the mainland are probably not aware
of the difficulties of maintaining equipment, especially antennas, in
the tropics. In the Caribbean, each year antennas must be lowered or
taken down for hurricane season and serviced before reinstalling.
Humidity and salt does its damage to hardware. Coax braid turns black in
short time. Even rigs suffer. Salt air corrosion is everywhere, even
high in the hills at 1800 feet where we operate. For a M2 operation, our
preparation took a little less time than for a MM, but still antennas
needed to be raised, coax made up and everything put in order. We had
two new wire antennas to raise. The 3el 40M Monobander had high
intermittant SWR. Burned up connectors were found and coax needed
replacing. The rotor clamping plate had disintegrated and needed
replacing. Four trips up the tower got most in order. The 6el 15m
monobander was still in decent shape from our 2007 and 2008 operations
but still needed to be raised. As expected most of the Hygain rotors
from corrosion had non-functional azimuth indicators. With all the
equipment, antennas and towers, Carlos does a great job getting ready,
but counts on our group to make things sing. Since we were going to
operate M2, we left down the 4el 20M Monobander, expecting good
performance from the Skyhawk, which except for the rotor was in working
order. The 6EL 10M Monobander was checked out and functional in the
event we would find an opening. We also raised a new Carolina Windom and
new Bazooka dipole for 80M.
Brought with us were the RTTY Meister PC’s with which we’ve had great
success on our last RTTY operations. They transport easily and have
three real serial ports and nice audio sensitivity for running MMTTY and
Writelog. Custom isolated audio/FSK and CAT cables for the 3 rigs we
planned to run were made. All hooked up well. We had some difficulty
customizing a CAT cable for rig control with PW1 amp control on the Icom
756 ProIII, but that was put in order. An FT1000MP with an AL1200 amp
was our Station 2. The TS2000 was a backup.
We had a good start, but after a few hours time we lost the receiver on
the MP, and later the receiver in the backup TS2000. Both these rigs
were performing well and there was no warning. Apparently, RF getting in
from the 756 Pro III was too much. The isolating filter on Station 2 was
just not up to the task. Because we ran out of working radios there were
about 15 hours of downtime on Station 2 until daytime when we were able
to get a not quite perfect and power limited FT1000 brought in from a
few hours away. We moved Station 2 to antennas further separated from
Station 1 and were back on track. We lost a lot of 6 pointers from the
downtime the first night and needed no more problems. The AL1200 also
needed some surgery which we did during the downtime from Station 2.
The operation was very enjoyable and a lot of work! We had the
additional challenge to try and beat our last years M2 NA record of over
14,000,000. It was not to happen, but we did achieve a respectable
score. And considering the downtime, all the operators need to be
commended for the recovery! Thanks to all who worked us and spotted us!
And much appreciation for our host Carlos WP4U and also Carlos WP4N.
They put in many hours in the chairs.
John W1AN
September Meeting Now on the 18th
The September Meeting has been moved to Saturday the 18th and will be at John W1XX’s QTH at 11:00am. Check the yahoo reflector for driving directions.
New Login Registration Feature – eMail Notification of new posts
When you login if you look near the bottom of the right hand sideboard you will see a widget titled SUBSCRIBE TO POSTS. If you put your email address into the dialog box and press the Submit button you will get a screen compaining that you haven’t put the correct entry in the Captcha box. Ignore the fact that you haven’t even tried to do so yet and put your best interpretation of the scrambled characters you see in the Captcha display into the input field and press enter. Chances are good that you will have to fill in the input field several times to get it to go. This is a pain but it stops spambots from messing up our website and stealing your email address, etc.
You will be told that an email has been sent to you that you must respond to. Follow the directions.
Now what do you get for all this aggravation? Whenever a new post appears on the website you will get an email telling you about that. When next you log in you should read the post and if it is a subject you would like to follow you can check the Subscribe to this Post box and you will be notified when the post is edited or when comments to that post are entered. The net result of all this is that you will be notified whenever a new subject is raised and will then be able to arrange to be further notified when it is updated if you are interested in the subject.
Boxboro Items Needed List
I’ve posted in the files section of yahoo an excel spread sheet in the
folder “Boxboro 2010- Items to Bring” with reminders for items you may
have volunteered or wish to bring to Boxboro. You can post back with
your contributions or questions and I will update the list.or you may be
able to do it yourself. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there!
John
2-Meter FM Simplex Challenge
By John Lindholm, W1XX, CTRI Contest Group Contest Manager
For the past two years CTRI has sponsored the Ocean State 2-Meter FM Simplex Challenge. It has provided an opportunity especially for stations 2-meter FM bound to get a taste of contesting. As in EC in RI EmComm, I see this is a potential plus for furthering the skills of RI’s ARES operators. If it has accomplished this, I would have to judge only modestly so. In last year’s Challenge, were it not for W1WBB (w/KW2G), KA1BNO, and myself (as KA1RI) operating rover stations, activity would have been relatively sparse. An EnComm shout-out by K1NPT in Newport also did much to activate East Bay. This is a CTRI sponsored event. Do we want to continue? Is it worth continuing?
Before I get too negative, I want to throw out an idea in the positive direction for consideration. But before I do that, I want to caution that all ideas are not good ones. I have seen a tendency for the club in the past to embrace any wild concept thrown out there….maybe not to hurt someone’s feelings. So before you say “Yeah, let’s do it,” please ask yourself will you participate and also realize that some work needs to be done in advance to give it a chance to be successful.
So here goes. CTRI is not just an “Ocean State” club. Although it has tentacles that reach out to Vermont, Arizona, western Connecticut and God knows where else, it is primarily a Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut based club. So why not expand the contest to include Windham and New London Counties in Connecticut and rename the activity the CTRI 2-Meter FM Simplex Challenge? There are 21 city/towns in New London County and 15 in Windham County. This would almost double the number of multipliers. Besides a commitment of substantial activity from our CT brethren in the club, we would need to get some positive signs from other sources in CT such as the SEC and SM. Mobile (rover) activity is essential for success not only in CT but also in RI.
I welcome your thoughtful comments on the reflector. Please be sure this does not in any way divide us as CT vs. RI. Please observe my admonition regarding “good ideas.” This could be discussed at our next meeting. 73!!!
CTRI Contest Group Champions 2009 – 2010
CTRI Contest Group Champions
2009 – 2010
1. Objective: The 21 major contests of the year feature a club competition. To maximize the CTRI standing amongst other clubs, the CTRI club member(s) who contributes the most points in the 2009 – 2010 contest-year to the club’s credit is the CTRI Contest Group Champion. A champion will be recognized in the High Power, Low Power, and QRP categories in accordance with the specific rules which follow. Authorization for this program was by club vote at its May 23, 2009, meeting.
2. Scoring:
A] An individual’s submitted score will be used for “keeping score.” If at the end of the contest year there is a very close race for determining champion, then the official published scores will be used.
B] The score must be submitted to the sponsor for CTRI credit.
C] To be eligible for a champion award, at least 25% of the contests (see list) must have a submitted entry.
D] If a club member submits scores in different categories (HP, LP, QRP), his category for champion will be the highest power used unless at least 25% are in a single lower power category.
E] A member participating in a multi-operator effort gets individual credit as follows: total score divided by number of operators.
F] After each contest, a member gets credit by either posting his score on the CTRI Yahoo reflector or submitting the score to: scores09-10 [AT]cox[DOT]net
A running tally sheet will be posted on the reflector periodically so that members can see individual progress and standings.
3. Contest season: The yearly contest season runs from September 1, 2009 through August 31, 2010. The following contests which have a club competition component count for champion credit:
Sep: ARRL September VHF QSO Party
CQ WW RTTY Contest
Oct: CQ WW SSB DX Contest
Nov: ARRL Sweepstakes CW
ARRL Sweepstakes Phone
CQ WW DX CW Contest
Dec: ARRL 160 Meter Contest
ARRL 10 Meter Contest
Jan: ARRL RTTY Roundup
ARRL VHF Sweepstakes
CQ WW CW 160 Meter Contest
Feb: CQ WPX RTTY Contest
ARRL CW DX Contest
CQ SSB 160 Meter Contest
Mar: ARRL SSB DX Contest
Russian DX Contest
CQ WW SSB WPX Contest
May: New England QSO Party
CQ WW CW WPX Contest
Jun: ARRL June VHF QSO Party
Jul: CQ WW VHF Contest
4. Awards: A suitable plaque will be awarded in each of the three categories in which there are qualified entries. The plaque will indicate champions in memorium of all past CTRI Contest Group members whose keys now remain silent (SK).
5. Resolution: In the event of any dispute over the results of this program, a panel of three members selected by the President shall review the matter with its decision final.
6. Sunset: This club champion program expires at the conclusion of the 2009 – 2010 contest season. At that time its effect on club competition scores and member likes and dislikes will be evaluated. Its continuation in this or modified form requires formal club action.
7. Errors or Omissions: In codifying these rules, any obvious errors or omissions may be corrected.
About CTRI Contest Group
The CTRI Contest Group is an ARRL affiliated club. When the club was first started it was located in southeastern Connecticut and southern Rhode Island however over the years it has gained members from all over New England. As our name implies, we are specifically interested in contesting.
The club was started back in 1992 as a project to setup a station where club members and other amateurs from around the area could go and operate. Being that the major players in the group were all into contesting, the station started to take shape as just that, a place to contest from, along with an open door policy for anyone that needed a place to operate during the contests, or just to work some DX. After an eight-year run and many multi operator operations, and many new people introduced to contesting, the CTRI club station was dismantled in the year 2000. We will always be thankful to Andy KA1VMG for letting us use his property. In the eight years the club station was operating, many members bought homes and setup stations of their own. CTRI is still growing to this day and still has a open door policy at many of it’s members stations. Many members put on Multi operations from the homes and invite all interested to come join the fun.
We have sponsored a large group of students at the Dunn’s Corners Elementary School in Westerly R.I. in the SAREX program. This class which was run by Ken Chaffee, WA1QXR, ran for seven years ending in 2003. The CTRI Contest Group also runs VE test sessions headed by Joe Natale, K1JN. We also provide an annual subscription to QST magazine to a different local area school or library each year. Past schools have been: Wheeler High School in North Stonington, CT. Block Island school on New Shoreham, The Westerly library in Westerly, RI, and Cross Mills Public Library in Charlestown RI.
The Biggest project the group took on was the “2002 Grenada Computer project” and with the help of the YCCC Membership we were able to ship 12 complete computer systems and more than enough computer gear to make up another 12 systems which the kids will build themselves.
The CTRI Contest Group sponsors a number of other things, too. We provide the plaques for a number of contests throughout the contest year. Some of the past plaques were for the Rhode Island section winner of the New England States QSO Party, the CQ Worldwide DX SSB and CQ Worldwide DX CW contests in the World Single Operator, Unlimited category. Back in (2004-2005) CTRI added couple of ARRL contests to the list and continues to support many contest Plaques.
CTRI members have made the trip to DX locations to operate during some of the big four contests, CQWW DX Phone, CQWW WPX Phone. These trips started with Grenada in 2002 operating as J3A, Bermuda in 2002 as VP9I and in 2004 operating as NP3U at the “Mi Casita” Contest Station in Puerto Rico. Member also headed back to Bermuda in the fall of 2005 to operate during the CQWW WPX Phone contest once again using the Call VP9I. In 2007 eight members traveled back to Puerto Rico for the CQWW WPX Phone operating once again at the “Mi Casita” contest station of Carlos WP4U in a Multi-2 operations that ended up with the guys putting over 6000 Q’s in the log and over 23 Million points. In the year 2008 members traveled back to Puerto Rico to operate in the CQWW WPX RTTY where they beat last years record by over 7 million points. The group put just under 15 million points in the log with 14,905,00 points and holds to this day the World record and North American record.
If you have any questions regarding the CTRI Contest Group operations and/or membership please contact any of the officers or drop a general e-mail to wa1rr
Minutes of May 23, 2009
Minute for Meeting May 23, 2009
Crandall House, Hopkinton RI
Meeting was brought to order at approximately 11:13 am by President John W1AN.
Committee Reports
Secretary
The minutes were read and accepted. Moved: Ken K3IU Second: Jim KS1J
Treasurer
The Treasurer was unable to attend.
Membership
Two guests were elected members: Bill W1WBB, Portsmouth, licensed 30 years, a contester (member of YCCC), Top Bander; Chris KA1ZEU, Charlestown, licensed in the mid ‘80s, ARES, Flex 5000. Both were recruited by W1XX. The requirement for written applications was waived, there being no application forms available. Moved: Jim W1AN, Second: John W1XX.
Contesting
The president reported on electronic committee meetings to resolve the issues of an intra-club contest and the K1GOX memorial. A written report (attached) was circulated and adopted. Moved: Ken K3IU, Second: Jim KS1J. There followed a motion to disband the intra-club competition committee which passed. Moved: John W1XX, Second: Ken K3IU.
A plaque for the 2008 NEQSO Party xxxxxxx, and the June VHF QSO Party 220 MHz CT Section Low Power AM went to John W1AN.
A discussion of the whereabouts of older club awards ensued with a determination that they are in a box transferred from president to president.
Field Day
A signup sheet was circulated to collect who was bringing what. The list will be posted on the reflector. The field has been reserved and the town will be providing the generator. Campers on Friday through Sunday are OK. Matt will bring his camper and logging computers. Dan Roy will do PR. John will bring the new club enclosure, antenna masts, etc. After a slow start things seem to be coming together.
Announcements
It was mentioned that Bob KB1LN needs a merit badge counselor for some scouts in Charlestown later this year. Ed W1PN said he could probably do that.
The Ham COW will attend the meeting on September 12.
Antenna work
Jim KG1J: some help taking down ???
John W1AN: take down verticals put up 40M beam
Norm NR1H: some VHF refurb plus erecting 6M beam
Meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:30.
Respectfully submitted.
Ed Haskell, K5RJI
Secretary
Minutes of March 21, 2009
Minute for Meeting March 21, 2009
Crandall House, Hopkinton RI
Meeting was brought to order at approximately 11:10 am by President John W1AN.
Committee Reports
Secretary
The minutes were read and accepted with minor changes.
Treasurer
The Treasurer indicated a balance of $1182.11 in the treasury. Income was $185.00 for the Post Holiday Party reservations. Disbursements were $574.01 for Gregg’s Restaurant and the Post Holiday Party, $60 for Single Op RI CQ WPX plaque, $50 for a donation to the American Heart Association in memory of Ernie Piche N1SW, $100 for a donation to the ARRL Education Fund in memory of Ernie Piche N1SW. The report was unanimously accepted.
Membership
John W1AN mentioned that it would be good to bring in new members. The group commented that new members would help to add to the fun, add points for contesting and add to our antenna crew.
Contesting
Ken K3IU gave a thorough report on the CQWW WPX RTTY operation at NP3U. Additional comments were made by John W1AN. The claimed score was 10,418,000 for the M2 operation with John W1AN, Ken K3IU, Bill N1HRA, Jay AJ1M, Carlos WP4U and Carlos WP4N as operators.
New Business
Intraclub Contest
Dean N1SXL made a motion which was amended and seconded to have the Intraclub Contest Committee meet and put together a proposal for the May meeting to make the K1GOX DX Marathon the group’s Intraclub competition. There was extensive discussion in favor. Chuck KA1CQR discussed the existing rules and indicated that it should be a simple process to adapt the scoring program to changes contemplated. There was disappointment from members that there had been no action by the Intraclub competition committee.
Field Day
The topic of Field Day was brought up. Member expressed great interest in participation, but there was little interest in manning a committee to make it happen. It was decided by consensus that if there were insufficient volunteers to chair and take operations responsibility we would pass on this year’s field day. Bill N1HRA will start the paperwork to reserve Crandall field in April once we are confident we can adequately manage the operation. John W1AN agreed to solicit for the major responsibilities on yahoo groups. The decision point on this is early to mid-April so if you are interesting in volunteering for one of the required tasks please don’t wait.
N1SW call
Bill N1HRA asked if the group was interested in getting Ernie Pichies N1SW call for the club. He indicated that Ernie’s family would need to approve, and Ed K5RJI offered to prepare the paperwork. The group agreed unanimously that this should be pursued.
Announcements
It was mentioned that John KO1H needs some antenna work done.
Pat NG1G gave an update on the activity to inventory Ernie’s radio equipment. He indicated that a basic inventory will be presented to Amy, Ernie’s daughter with some options on how the equipment could be sold. The family will make the final decision. It was again stated that this was not a CTRI group function.
It was mentioned that a contesting operations discussion was to follow the meeting.
Meeting was adjourned at approximately 12:15.
Respectfully submitted.
Ed Haskell, K5RJI
Secretary
