Take a leap of faith and visit 10 meters some time this weekend.
Last year t there was activity (outside local) during most of the daylight hours, including propagation to PY and LU. In CQ-WW a few weeks back, I worked V5 and 6W with my 100 watts to a wire.
Period: 7pm local Fri–7pm Sunday
Modes: CW, SSB, mixed
Exchange: RST + state. DX will send RST + SN.
Mults: Per mode, SPC + countries + (unique to this contest) Mexican states
Scoring: 2 pts per qso SSB, 4 pts CW
K1SX SO Unlimited LP
167–48–14–22,940
Genesis G11 SDR, homebrew sspa, 100w to inv L 65’/65′ in tree with 16 radials
5 hrs
I know a lot of members were on and congrats W1XX and NC1CC for fb scores on 3830 so far. I heard KS1J, W1AN and wkd XX, AI1TT and K1DM. I have trouble associating the term “Unlimited” with my station, but such is the rule, even tho I didn’t use the bandmap but just glanced at spots occasionally.
With limited time I tended to drift into dx’ing instead of pursuing the numbers, and so I was happy with the country count but wish I had tried more running. When I did, briefly, I got loud zero beat pileups and was really stumbling over the keys. Few Europeans heard and fewer worked–6 in all, and 8 carib. mults. Best was EM2Q. Noise levels seemed normal, but propagation didn’t seem too special. I did get 4 west coast mults which is a lot for me. KH6”s were right at noise and will have to wait for another day. This is a fun, very straightforward contest. But it seems the mysteries of 160m antennas are still before me.–Dave K1SX
ARRL 160 Meter contest this weekend–from 5pm Friday local, to 11am Sunday. I’m hoping to get in some time. This is a contest where DX stations will be looking for W/VE’s.
Info: http://www.arrl.org/160-meter
Looks like a rainy week for antenna work…but I guess we can enjoy an undistracted Thanksgiving this year. K index of 0 today, maybe it will hold.
I listened to Randy K5ZD give his tips for this at Boxboro. Of course he’s all about getting a 7-figure score for YCCC, but I know many of us post for YCCC anyhow in this one. So he says go HP Assisted and spend lots of hours :). But he had some scheduling ideas to consider even in a casual effort–
–20 should be open to Europe by 1100z
–Keep an eye on 15 bcz we may get an opening in NE that the rest of the US misses. I can say that 15 was surprisingly good Saturday in LZ DX around 14z and may have been open sooner.
–Go to 40 early. I did not think it was so great this past weekend but in WW there are a lot more super-stations active over there so I could be under-estimating. Eu will be there all day at some level.
–He claimed that he loses patience after 3 minutes of un-answered CQ’s. And that, at least, I could completely sympathize with. 🙂
–And, have FUN!
–Dave K1SX
Even if (like me) you’re not big on phone contesting, at least look for club members on
the cluster and give a call!
Your alternative contest is LZ DX–usually lots of activity and a good
tune-up for CQ WW, with an easy exchange.
Local times: 7am Sat-6:59am Sun
Bands: 80-10
Modes: CW, SSB or mixed
Exchange: RST+ITU zone (8)
Multipliers: Zones + LZ districts, per band (not countries)
Scoring: Work everyone, per band, per mode. 10 pts LZ’s, 3 pts between continent, 1 pt own continent
Assistance: Cluster OK
Rules: http://lzdx.bfra.org/rulesen.html
I’ve been messing with building an amp for my qrp rig for a while, and sort of last minute I decided to enter it in a design contest. So take a look if you’re interested. I think it helps me in the competition if I get views. 🙂
https://sspafun.blogspot.com/
If you want to see a real slick one from the Hardrock 50 designer, look here–
73, Dave
Next up is our good old, retro, W/VE get together, the Sweepstakes. Times at right. Long complicated exchanges, and mults count only once.
But no fear, usually CW speeds are moderate and all of us are challenged by the multiple fields to copy. Repeats are routine.
Between the mult-once scoring and bottomed-out solar conditions, expect activity to be crammed into 40 and 20 in daytime and 80 at night. If you have a good 160 setup, it may be less crowded.
Tips:
If you find EWA, don’t let him escape.
The other callsign is part of the exchange, that’s where you can catch up your typing. This also helps with S&P.
VY1AAA was said to be QRT but is now reported (on YCCC group) to be active; clean sweep may yet be possible.
GL,
Dave K1SX
Contest Mgr.
K1SX
SO LP
74 qso’s–285 points acc. to N1MM.
60 watts to 65/65′ inv L with 16 radials
FB to see 3 CTRI ops posted on 3830.
I got my inverted L back up over a good high branch Friday morning. It seemed to be doing well as I got LY and YL both that evening, but Sat. for the contest there were few Eu to be heard on the L and only one worked. VE6 was my best to west, wkd on Sun. am even tho he was louder Sat. night. K index did come up a bit but many commented on the good conditions, all I can say is this band is still mysterious. Got 60w from my homemade contraption–better than the QRP struggle but still , many loud stations could not hear me. Maybe a beverage for Dec. –assuming there are other LP stations with receive antennas that I miss now.
Congrats KA1J for an amazing QRP score. I see he was singled out by KV4FZ for his effort. But Gary you could not hear me! The circle 8 must really do its job. AB1BX did get in the log, tnx Andy!
Frustrated with HF? If you have 160m, try the “Fall Stew” or just SP, short for the Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge.
It’s a pretty friendly contest. Action doesn’t really start til 5pm or so local, so no conflict with meeting :).
Local times: 11am Sat–11am Sun
Bands: 160m only
Mode: CW only
Exchange: 4 character grid
Multipliers: None
Assistance: None allowed
Scoring: Points based on distance and power levels. 1 pt. for every 500km increment. After log cross-checking, you get double for working an LP station and 4x for working a qrp’er. They have their own web page to display scores, and your score increases as others send in their logs. You get more data about your log than any contest I know of.
Rules: //www.kkn.net/stew/
Also on: JARTS RTTY which is usually pretty busy, IL and NY QP
Dave K1SX
As your contest manager, if no one objects, I will take some space here , more or less weekly, to point out some of the lesser known activities coming up.
This week’s plug:
Makrothen RTTY Distance Contest
This is not some obscure Bulgarian event, but a California-based, relatively young contest with interesting scoring and op time features. I found some decent activity last year. Scoring by distance gained credibility when it was included in the new WW-Digi contest. The broken-up time periods are a help to those of us who don’t have the oomph to last out a 24 much less a 48 hour BIC marathon.
Local times: 8pm Fri–4am Sat, Noon-8pm Sat, 4am-Noon Sun.
Bands: 80 thru 10
Modes: RTTY
Exchange: 4 char. grid
Multipliers: None
Scoring: Work stations once per band. 1 pt per km distance. 1.5x for 40m and 2x for 80m.
Assistance: Allowed, separate categories
Rules: http://www.pl259.org/makrothen/makrothen-rules/
I see that last year I secured CTRI a 94th place finish among 109 clubs.
Also up: Oceania DX CW, Scandinavian Activity Contest SSB
Whether or not you’re a fan of the new digi modes, here’s an opportunity to be in on the first running of a new contest that seems to be hoping to join the CQ WW family. I’m hoping to make some Q’s in this, probably as a QRP entry. It’s 1200-1200Z Sat-Sun , FT4 and FT8, and you will want the latest version of WSJT-X with “NA VHF contest” selected as the contest mode, so that your exchange will be your grid square. QSO points are based on distance calculated from the grid, rather than continents. Get your call in the record book! Rules here– https://ww-digi.com/rules.htm
Dave K1SX
Just when we were getting a handle on FT8 contest mode (and wishing it was faster)–
http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/FT4_Protocol.pdf
“FT4 is a special-purpose mode designed for rapid-fire
contest QSOs. ” If you listened to my rants on the topic, I predicted there would be a 5-second cycle time version of FT8 within a year or two. I was only off by a second! Now my next crystal ball prediction–This will take HF by storm, never mind the slight sacrifice of sensitivity. I’ll be checking it out–
Dave K1SX
Not to distract from the contest results, but late last week I could hear V84SAA at our sunset, near the noise but readable. I’ve done very little on 160, but It just seemed so freakish to me. That had to be long path, and my inv-L is pretty noisy. He was calling NA but despite the huge pileup, hearing no one unfortunately. Is that as extraordinary as I think it is?
Check out QRZ.com’s home page. I don’t think they stay up there for long but as of 2328z Weds. there he is.
94 q’s, 627 points raw score. Best: G3BJ 33 points, K6XX 27 pts (including x3 for qrp).
3h 45m op time
5 watts to a 65’/65′ inverted L with 16 65′ radials (originally intended for 80m).
Did anyone give this a try? I worked AB1BX in Warren but didn’t hear anyone else.
This contest is one of my favorites even tho 160 is not very qrp-friendly. The best part is that you get rewarded for taking the time to work QRP stations by a 4x multiplier, so I don’t feel like such a pest :). The other unusual feature is that your score grows as everyone submits logs and you get those credits. Although you probably don’t pull ahead of anyone. The downside is they post your longest qso, and the pressure is on for it to be someone other than K1LT.
Anyway last year I worked 5 in Eu but this year I wasn’t getting heard. G3BJ was not the strongest (probably due to 400w limit there) but he had the patience to stay with it for my only one. Lots of Europeans were called, even RW7K, just not quite workable. US conditions seemed better though and I got several 4 & 5 pointers and K6XX, who must have some remarkable rx capability because he was pretty weak here. The activity in this is pretty amazing considering it’s CW only and with all the frustrations of 160, like noise and the mysterious large antenna systems. A lot of qrp entries. Many others outscored me with seemingly no better antenna systems than mine so more research seems to be needed! —
Dave K1SX
