The CQ WW RTTY has come and gone, with some great scores submitted. Rick, KI1G and his M2 team submitted 8,880,003 points, placing them 7th overall in the claimed score standings and 3rd in North America. John, W1AN and his M1 team as W1DX submitted a score of 3,552,508 points, unfortunately placing them pretty far down in the standings. There were a lot of M1 scores submitted, so as a strategic choice it may not have been the best one for the team to make. Live and learn. As a club, we had four logs submitted, two of which were from members of the multi-op teams (K1SD and K1DM). Our aggregate claimed score is 12,525,058, which is down from last year but still a very significant amount. Great job guys! In searching the submitted scores I saw a lot of unaffiliated 1-land scores reported. I wonder how many of those hams are in the CTRICG “zone”?
This weekend is the Oceania DX Contest (Phone), through 0800Z on Sunday October 6th. Its CW version is from 0800Z on October 12th through 0800Z on October 13th. They might be a good opportunity to pick up some new countries for 5BDXCC.
If you want another good RTTY contest opportunity the Makrothen RTTY Contest will fill the bill. It has some interesting operating times spread across three separate periods between 0000Z October 12th through 1559Z on October 13th.
Get those radials laid out! The Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge is a 160M, CW-only contest that takes place this year from 1500Z, October 19th through 1500Z, October 20th. This is what they call the “Pre-Stew”, in preparation for the “Big Stew” in December. I expect 160M conditions to be somewhat favorable this year due to a declining solar flux, but we’ll see. It’s a great contest that offers good DXing opportunities as well as many NA contacts. Scoring is by distance between stations (hence the name), and you get multipliers for working low-power and QRP stations. Those are figured by the log-checking software after you submit your log.
As we all know, one of the “big ones” occurs at the end of the month, from 0000Z, October 26th through 2400Z, October 27th. It’s the CQ WW DX Contest (SSB). There’s not much I can say about it that most of us don’t already know, but for those not “in the know” this is one you won’t want to miss. It is an exciting, fast-paced, bare-knuckled bru-ha-ha of a contest. To borrow a phrase from our illustrious Dave, W1CTN, it’s like “a knife-fight in a telephone booth.” There will be wall-to-wall signals on all bands if conditions are right. I know many of us aren’t thrilled by SSB contests, but if you don’t mind getting beat up a little it makes for a really good time. John, W1AN is talking about opening up his shack for a multi-op effort, and if any of our less-experienced operators would like to try the contest from a fairly “big-gun” perspective, this is a good way to do it. I expect periods where we will be running stations at 200-300 per hour if we find some good spots on the high bands. No kidding. I’m sure John will tell us his plans shortly, so keep your calendar open! Last year we had 4 entries in this contest for a combined score of 3,567,268.
In case I don’t get to post my notes for November before it happens, the ARRL Sweepstakes (CW) is the weekend of November 2nd through the 4th. This is among a lot of members’ favorite contests, probably because it’s so friendly and such a huge part of contesting history. It’s one in which US and Canadian stations work each other, with ARRL/RAC sections as multipliers (for a total of 83). Getting a “clean sweep” of the sections is the dream of many who enter, and lots of folks come up one or two short each year. It can be very frustrating but great fun to try for. The exchange is a long one, which makes for lower rates, but it can really test your copying ability! Last year we only had 4 members submit scores for this for a total of 344,144 points, so I think we can do better. Why not give it a try?
I hope to hear many of you on the air during the month. Good luck!
73,
Pat, NG1G
Pat,
Thanks for this post. Now we all have something to aim for! I don’t know if anyone will hear me on the CQWW SSB. My old ears can’t take much of the din and splatter, but I might give it a try.
Keep up the good work. 73, Mike, K1DM
Pat: As I recall you were somewhat the reluctant candidate for the Contest Manager’s job….but you have surely taken the bull by the horns with your postings to whip up the CTRI troops for putting much contest RF into the ether. Congrats! I’m looking forward to the fast approaching contest season….and hope CTRI can post some very respectful club scores with the whole team pulling as one. TNX, Pat for your leadership! — John, W1XX
Gentlemen,
The Makrothen Contest Pat mentions is a fun test where the grid squares compute the scores and the lower bands are multiplied; 40 meters x 1.5 and 80 x 2.0. It is rather short and Europe likes it. I played for a while last year and made about 300 QSOs in around 8 hours of operating.
http://home.arcor.de/waldemar.kebsch/The_Makrothen_Contest/TMC_Rules.html
73 James K1SD
Hello All, The station here will be open for the upcoming contests as a Multi-2. With a trip up the tower this week, my solder gun in the bag, an extension cord and a run of coax in tow I was able to repair the stackmatch relay box and add a dedicated line for the 20M beam. At 112 feet up, the new monobander should get a workout. Surprisingly, none of the 4-40 screws from the relay box were dropped. I did lose an empty glove to the wind.
Now all that’s needed is to shake the walls and muster the troops to operate. Gotta get those club points.
John, W1AN
That’s good news, John! About the relay box, not the glove. At least your hand wasn’t in it when you lost it :0)
I plan on operating the contest from there. I’d like to see a good-sized group of people (5-6) willing to operate this, it could be a lot of fun.
One thing that might make it more fun for some is something Ed and I did a few years ago in this contest. We split the headphone output so we could both hear, and I worked the mic while Ed backed me up with call signs (I think he ran the keyboard too but I’m not sure). We don’t have to work that way but it does get more people involved and it’s a good way to “train” someone who might not be confident in an SSB contest. That way you can hear both sides of the QSO and get a good feel for things, especially at high rates. Plus, I distinctly remember Ed helping me pull out an Asian station (it was a rare one but I can’t remember the call). Four ears can be better than two!
We’ll need ops who can not only do the easy daytime high band shifts but also can put in some time on the low bands, where rates can be low and calls tough to copy.
73,
Pat, NG1G