Operation ARRL 10-Meter Contest: December 10 – 11, 2011
Attention all CTRI members: “Operation NEQP” last May was very successful in getting the club membership to pull together to meet the 1 million point objective. It has spawned talk of another targeted contest for a super club effort. In response, your club Contest Manager is calling on the membership to focus on the ARRL 10-Meter Contest, December 10 – 11 (starts 0000 UTC Saturday and ends 2359 UTC Sunday).
Why the 10-meter Contest? Lotsa reasons! With the upswing in the sunspot cycle, 10 meters is becoming a very good DX band. It’s open most days to Europe and JA early in the evenings and stateside all day. QSOs are plentiful and easy to make. Ten meters is well known for its ability to support QSOs with low power to a wet noodle. It’s a great band for neophytes to get their feet wet in contesting.
What’s CTRI’s history in this contest? CTRI had 7 entries last year: W1WBB, K3IU, NG1G, KS1J, W1XX, KA1GEU, and W1AN with a club aggregate score of 218,720 points; in 2009 – 7 entries with 129K points; and 2008 – 5 entries with 141K points. Not really great scores in non-optimum conditions. Conditions should be much better this year.
What’s the goal? It’s tempting to again make the goal 1 million points as in NEQP. But with the recent resurgence of 10 meter propagation, that may be very easily met. Our goal should be to get as many club members QRV for the maximum club score possible.
“I don’t operate CW….or….I don’t have a big station….or….I don’t have a 10-meter antenna….or….I don’t have a station….or….I haven’t operated in a contest before.” The 10 Meter Contest is ideal in responding positively to all those excuses. In a nutshell, you can operate categories for phone, CW, or both…low power, high power or QRP. You can work the world with a very modest station. If you are station-less, no doubt CTRI will run one or more multis that will welcome you. It’s the perfect contest to begin or continue to hone your contesting skills. No antenna? Simple, make a quickee 10 meter dipole with 16 ½ feet of wire.
Contest essentials.
[1] Exchange = RS(T) and state. VEs = RS(T) and province. XEs = RS(T) and state. DX = RS(T) and serial # starting with 001.
[2] Operate no more than 36 hours. No spotting assistance for single ops.
[3] CW operation only below 28.3 MHz.
[4] You can work the same station once each on CW and phone.
[5] See the rules for QSO points, multipliers and final score.
Where do I get complete rules? http://www.arrl.org/contests. This will be discussed at
the November 12 meeting with rules’ handouts. This early announcement is intended to help you get fully prepared in advance.
Will you commit to operate? As the club’s Contest Manager, I respectfully request that you let me know that you are committed to this venture with your CTRI brethren. You can do so at the November meeting or e-mail me at: w1xx [at] cox [dot] net. Good luck and have fun! 73!
— John Lindholm, W1XX
CTRI Contest Manager
This is going to be a fun contest and a great way to add to the country count on 10M (for those who care)! If folks get on during this weekend’s CQ WW contest, they’ll get a good taste of how the 10M contest should be. Thanks for taking the lead on this one too, John!
73,
Pat, NG1G
This is going to be a tremendous contest considering the great conditions on 10M we just experienced with the CQWW DX phone contest. What a rush. I’m looking forward to it.
73,
John, W1AN
Count me in too. A big rule change beginning with last year’s event added the 30+ Mexican states as new multipliers…that, plus U.S. states/VE provinces and the likely plentiful DX mults with the hoped for propagation could result in a real ‘mult fest’ during this December’s event.
This contest is purposefully scheduled at this time of year to also coincide with the peak of the Perseids meteor shower which can enhance 10m propagation, even during night time hours. Overall, this contest should be alot of fun this year.
Bill W1WBB
I plan on operating. I may do it from home, I haven’t decided yet, but I’m in. Mike, K1DM
Correction — the December meteor showers are known as “the Gemenids”, not Perseids, which occur earlier in the year…my bad. They may not be much of a factor in the contest (although the solar flux certainly *will* be) as the meteor shower peak is expected roughly 3 days after the contest’s end. Bill W1WBB
My radio should be back in time for this one. I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully i can get a 10m dipole up in the air by then.
73 de Chris
Right now I plan on operating. However, we will be out of town some weekends in December and ComNavHouse hasn’t informed me which ones yet :-))
Ken
Well I hope this is the right place to post this info. I was asked to give some 10 meter advice for the upcoming contest. For some good insight into the nature of the contest, I recommend that you take a look at http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Contest-Operating-Guides/2011/2011-10M-Pre-Contest-Writeup-V1.pdf. Here Scott, K7ZO offers his analysis of participation and forecasted conditions for 2011. He talks about the best locations for 10 meter contesting and notes that for New England is definitely a good spot. There isn’t much on strategy so here are some pretty common tips at least from someone without high antennas or a KW!! At contest start time, the band may be pretty close to being shut down for DX but if there are openings they will be to the south. There could be some good domestic activity from 4’s 5’s and 6’s so pointing WSW could be fruitful. Keep in mind that you can operate both CW and SSB so if things seem slow in one mode try another. Try running while your at it but if the response rate is slow switch back to search and pounce. In the moring, EU should start coming in around 0630 locally. I doubt it any domestic stations would be workable at this time so point ENE and work em til you drop. As the day goes on, the DX will follow the typical pattern: EU stations will shift to Southern and Western EU but Mid-East and Zone 20 21 can be worked then as well. Later still SA and the Carib should be stronger (early PM) and finally Pacifica and Asia near sunset. How late 10 stays open will be dependent on conditions but domestic stations should be workable anytime from mid morning on, shifting from South to West as the day goes on.
For you LP guys, remember the limit here is 150 watts, not 100 as in the CQWW contests. But if the F2 is sizzling, the extra 50 watts won’t matter.
Decide if you want mixed, cw only or phone only. There are different award categories for each. The Mixed mode probably offers the best opportunity to rack up big totals but it is also pretty popular. And CW Q’s count twice as much as phone Q’s, so that is worth considering.
One neat thing about this contest is that you can put in a pretty good effort and still get a decent night’s rest!
Good Luck
Jim KS1J
Great stuff Jim! Folks should know that any use of “assistance” (spotting networks, etc) puts them in the Multi-Op Single Transmitter [MOST] Category in this contest.
If you still want to use spotting assistance as a single op and mostly go DXing to have fun you can still go for it. Just know you’ll be lumped in with the big multi-Op stations. There ARE *separate* High Power and Low Power MOST categories (new this year, I believe) but no specific Single Operator *Assisted* Category in ARRL 10 Meter Contest.
Good luck all and enjoy the contest.
Bill W1WBB