Hi all,
What time would you prefer that our meetings start? The two choices are:
0900
1000
Please respond with the time and if you wish, your reason(s) for choosing it. In order to choose the time for this Saturday’s meeting, please respond ASAP.
Thanks in advance.
Pat, NG1G
NEWS FLASH!!!! Our Rhode Island ARRL Section Manager, Bob W1YRC, will be providing commentary on a video of the Spratly Island Operation 1S1A of 1973, one of the early DX-peditions. Bob had a first had connection to this early operation to what are today’s now important islets in the South China Sea claimed by several countries and being build up militarily by China. Hear how early DX-peditioners were shot in a war zone at as they approached uninhabited islands during the closing years of the Viet Nam war. Did you work the recent Spratly operation? Time and place: This Saturday April 14, 9 AM, South Kingstown (Peace Dale) Library. Members, guests, etc. welcome.
73,
Pat, NG1G
Greetings, all,
Mike, K1DM, sent this today about another possible venue for February 4th’s meeting. We are scheduled to go to T’s restaurant but I wanted to throw this out there for the membership’s consideration. Time is short so please reply ASAP with your choice.
The Cadets at W1CGA would like to invite us to share their hamshack for the Feb 4th meeting. We can hold the meeting in the Communications Lab (home of W1CGA) and stay all day. Coffee and other food are be allowed. Mike will provide additional information about access to the Coast Guard Academy grounds if the meeting venue is approved by the CTRI members.
Following the meeting, it might be fun to introduce the Cadets to RTTY since the Mexico RTTY contest is that day.
There are some other issues regarding the W1CGA antenna farm that we may be able to assist with – more to follow.
Also, the Cadets are scheduling a VE Exam for later in February. We have about half a dozen already licensed, and probably 20 who showed up for the preliminary meeting this passed week! Very exciting. If you are a ARRL VE, and would like to help proctor the exam, please let Mike know. We could use some EXTRA class license holders.
73,
Pat, NG1G
This is to test the listserve posting function.
Gentlemen,
According to Linda McKaughan’s obituary, donations in Linda’s memory may be made to Officer’s Christian Fellowship, 3784 South Inca, Englewood, CO. 80110-3405. Gifts should be designated in memory of Linda “Mom” McKaughan. http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Linda-McKaughan&lc=2080&pid=173665921&mid=6257006
The club will be donating an as-yet-unspecified amount. Members who desire to add their donation to the club’s may send a check to Mike Visich, KB1RFJ, by NOT LATER THAN January 14. Please make the check payable to Mike.
73,
Pat, NG1G
At the meeting yesterday, I submitted a proposal for a score handicapping system to be used in the CTRI Champions competition. We debated it and the membership decided to give it a try this season to see how it goes. Not as official scores, but as a trial run.
Here’s the link to the file: CTRI Championship Score Handicapping Proposal
I am asking everyone to take a few minutes to review my proposal and give me feedback – what problems you see, how it might be improved, or if it’s great the way it is. I am not asking for folks to tell me if they think we should or shouldn’t do it; that’s something that should be decided at a meeting.
The proposal is short and, I think, self-explanatory. But if you have any questions please feel free to post them here or email me. Thanks for your consideration!
73,
Pat, NG1G
Matt, WE1H and I are going to the convention on Saturday. Who else from the club is planning on going?
73,
Pat, NG1G
As a subscriber to the RTTY list on contesting.com I’ve seen some helpful operating tips I thought we might find useful. The points about sending “UP” frequently and Ed, W0YK’s caution about using digital call stacking are of particular note. I assume at least some of us will want to run RTTY, so these bear some thought. Of course, saying “UP” frequently is a good idea independent of mode. I would even suggest specifying the limits, such as “UP 5-15” or something, and then staying within the limits.
To me, having a TU…NOW…answered by silence is more frustrating than simply working stations one at a time. Most DXpeditions I’ve seen/worked operate this way, as most operators on RTTY are not contesters.
FWIW.
73,
Pat, NG1G
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 19:44:41 -0800
From: Hank Garretson <w6sx@nullarrl.net>
To: “James C. Hall, MD” <heartdoc@nullnwtcc.com>
Cc: “rtty@nullcontesting.com” <rtty@nullcontesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Being the fox – pileup running
Message-ID:
<CABD27U=3k3GqD+1UPwR4UFzZL6Mbym+gA1Xsdqf4qJ5CMAedGA@nullmail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Yee Haw! You are going to have a blast.
One tip gleaned from my operation as W1AW/6 and from listening to other W1AW/# operations.
When you work split, include UP at the end of every CQ and at the end of each end-of-contact acknowledgement.
Just this evening I was listening to a W1AW/# operator who sometime sent UP and sometime didn’t. It was chaos. Stations calling up, stations calling on his frequency. Even some frequency cops.
Send UP every turnover.
While I’m thinking of it. I tried stacking. It didn’t work well. While stacking works well for me in contests, many of the guys calling W1AW/# are not contesters and are thrown for a loop with w3xxx TU NOW w7abc 599 CA w7abc. I found it was better to work each station one station at a time.
More thinking. Often when running during contests, I send w8aaa 599 CA without a w8aaa at the end. For W1AW/#, I found it useful to always send the call at the end. Likewise during contests, I often send TU W6SX CQ to acknowledge a contact. For W1AW/#, I recommend w5xyz TU W1AW/# CQ (with UP if split).
Diddly Exuberantly,
Hank, W6SX
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 7:29 PM, James C. Hall, MD <heartdoc@nullnwtcc.com>wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> I will be W1AW/4 during the 3rd week of March running RTTY. I need a
> little advice. I, like many, use N1MM with MMTTY and 2Tone for
> demodulation during contests. Being the ‘DX’ for this one means
> potentially split operation, something I do routinely to put DX in the
> log when I’m chasing – but not being the DX.
>
> On our DX club reflector, it was suggested that I consider MMVARI and
> use its multi-channel RX and browser. This sounded appealing to me as
> I could use my mouse and just click the QSO’s into the log (using DXpedition mode).
> I’m set up for FSK operation. With a waterfall type operation, I worry
> about not tight enough filters to effectively copy the signal. It
> looks good and I’m reading more on it such as using the Align button
> to get the target signal properly tuned. I’ll use either my Mark V or
> my K3. I do have a P3 panadapter, so that’s another option to line up and click signals.
>
> I plan on starting simplex and using stacking. If it gets too thick,
> I’ll run split. Stacking looked like a good idea for DX’ing until you
> realize that there’s a lot of jumping around on the frequencies in the
> split window
> – probably not practical. My macro responses will be designed for
> speed – probably as short as Ed W0YK’s !
>
> So, what do DXpeditioners et al do ?
>
> 73, Jamie
> WB4YDL
>
> Sent from my iPad
> _______________________________________________
> RTTY mailing list
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
>
——————————
Message: 3
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2014 19:56:27 -0800
From: “Ed Muns” <ed@nullw0yk.com>
To: “‘James C. Hall, MD'” <heartdoc@nullnwtcc.com>
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Being the fox – pileup running
Message-ID: <C215710444A0453EA2A4EA8DF9230F1F@h81420t>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii”
The DXpeditions I’m familiar with use a standard logger, usually N1MM Logger, with MMTTY or, lately, 2Tone. I would stick to that basic setup.
Setting up multiple decoders will reduce the number of repeats required, but that may not be a big enough factor to worry about. If two decoders, I’d use MMTTY Standard Profile and 2Tone Normal. If 3, I’d add the DXP38 because it decodes off-frequency callers faster (or you’ll pick up calls faster as you tune through a pile-up). Beyond 3 decoders, I’d do multiple instances of 2Tone with Flutter, Selective, etc. settings.
If you operate split and have the sub-RX in the K3, I would use that radio so you can have a DI window on both your TX and RX frequencies. As you note, the P3 will be very helpful to monitor multiple stations calling.
Call stacking will speed things up a bit, so that’s very useful if you’re comfortable with it and adept at running it. However, about 40% of the time I use it in contests, I get silence in return, or else the guy I just sent a report to simply sends his callsign 3-4 times again. Outside a contest, this percentage may rise. The general public of casual ops may not yet be ready for call stacking and therefore it could slow you down!
I can’t imagine the W1AW/4 pile-ups will be any greater than the P49X ones and the plan above has worked well there.
Ed W0YK
Happy Thanksgiving to all CTRI members and their families!
Let me start this month’s notes by apologizing for my relative inactivity over the last month or so. I’ve been pretty busy with work, school, and family, and just recently was hired as the Graduate Research Assistant in PC’s History department, so I have not had much free time with which to enjoy amateur radio in general. Unfortunately I missed operating in the CQ WW CW Contest, which I had been counting on to improve my country count of 80M and 160M. There’s always next year, I suppose.
On to December’s contest happenings. December is a great month for contesting, although I don’t know that most contesters would view it as such. There are some interesting opportunities with plenty of activity to satisfy almost anyone I would imagine.
If you like 160M December and January are your months. The ARRL 160-Meter Contest runs between 2200z December 6th through 1600z December 8th.
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
Greetings, fellow CTRICG’ers,
The next club meeting is on October 19, 2013, at the house of John, W1XX .
During the meeting we will take up the issue of the club’s financial situation. Presently we do not have sufficient funds in our account to meet our commitments, which largely consist of plaque sponsorships. It is very likely that any discussion of finances will entail the question of membership dues. If this is an issue of importance to you, you may want to consider attending the meeting. It is vital that we decide on a plan to resolve this financial issue and get as much input from the membership as possible.
To that end I recommend that we begin the discussion here on the web site, below this post. This will give all members a chance to air their views, without time constraints and in a way that promotes thoughtful consideration and well-reasoned responses. We should be able to distill the issues into some major points upon which we can concentrate at the meeting, which will shorten discussion and allow us to advance to other issues of importance.
For your reference:
CTRICG Constitution: http://ctri.club/2010/06/15/constitution-as-amended-in-2007/
CTRICG By-Laws: http://ctri.club/2010/06/15/bylaws-as-updated-in-2007/
73,
Pat, NG1G
Greetings, fellow CTRICG contesters! I have several items to cover in my first post as the club’s Contest Manager so please bear with me. First, a huge “Thank you!” goes out to Bill, W1WBB and the Keeper of the Spreadsheet, Ken, K3IU! Without their effort and enthusiasm the CTRICG Champions program couldn’t have continued. I hope to be able to follow in Bill’s footsteps in promoting contesting and informing the membership on contest-related news and events. Ken has graciously offered to keep maintaining the scores spreadsheet, which I am all too happy to accept. Another big “Thanks!” to John, W1XX for his retooling and revitalizing the club’s Intra-Club Competition. Through his efforts we’ve seen a significant increase in contesting activity, which is what we’re all about! And last but not least thank you CTRI members for all your hard work during the 2012-13 contest season. We finished with an aggregate score totaling almost 63,000,000 points!
Which brings me to my first item of business. In the tradition of setting goals for the coming contest season, I’d like to offer one that I think is obtainable – an aggregate club score of 70,000,000 points. We’ve seen a tremendous increase in our scoring, not just in the number of scores submitted but in their individual totals. There’s no doubt that it’s due in large part to some multi-op operations and significant single-op scores, but every score counts. This has to be a group effort, and with this season likely to be the beginning of the downhill slide toward the bottom of the sunspot cycle we’ll need everyone to pitch in. There are 21 CTRI Championship contests spread throughout the year, offering plenty of chances to participate. Whether you like HF, VHF, SSB, CW, or RTTY, domestic or DX contests, there’s something for everyone. You might even want to try a new mode, band, or category.
This month we get our first two chances to hit the ground running. This weekend is the ARRL September VHF Contest, which starts at 2 pm local time Saturday and ends at 10:59 pm (that’s right, NOT 11:00 pm) local time Sunday night. The rules can be found at http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf and I encourage everyone to review them prior to the contest. HELPFUL HINTS: you can enter in a single-band category (high or low power), single operators MAY NOT use spotting, and there is a Single-Operator, FM-only category that is restricted to the 6M, 2M, 1.25M, and 70cm bands. Log submissions must be sent not later than 11:00 pm local on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. If you don’t have a VHF antenna, you can always throw up a wire for 6M – when conditions are good you’d be surprised what you can work! The club had NO scores submitted for this contest last year, so we have a chance to do better right out of the gate!
Next is one of the “big ones” – the CQ WW RTTY Contest, taking place from 8 pm local time on Friday, September 27 through 8 pm local time on Sunday the 29th. The rules can be found at http://www.cqwwrtty.com/rules.htm Last year we had 11 stations enter, including a M2 at W1DX, and submitted combined scores of over 14 million points. Obviously this contest is a big factor in our club goal of 70 million points, so it’s critical that we get as much participation as possible! HELPFUL HINTS: The exchange is signal report, zone, AND state abbreviation (i.e. 599 05 RI). If you’re just out to have fun while maximizing your score, check out the Single-Op Assisted category. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can work stations by using spotting but make sure you verify the call sign before sending a report, as RTTY contesting is notorious for bad calls spotted. IMPORTANT! The log submission deadline for this contest is 7:59 pm local time, October 4, 2013. You only get 5 days to submit your log, so don’t forget!
One important reminder – when submitting your scores to the contest sponsor, please remember to post your score (including your category and power) to the club’s web site. We won’t chase members for their scores, but Ken makes it easy to post them by creating a place on the web site where you can do it. Posting scores there will make Ken’s job much easier and allow him to update the spreadsheet faster. You can also email scores to either Ken or me.
Here’s to a fun and successful 2013-2014 contest season!
73,
Pat, NG1G
It just occurred to me that although I saw Andy’s post on the Yahoo Group regarding services for his mother Toni, that I had not seen it on this site. So I’m reproducing it here for anyone who might want to attend. Bill, N1HRA had notified me of this earlier in the week but I mistook my having seen it on the Yahoo Group for it being here as well. My apologies.
Services will be held at Rushlow-Iacoi Funeral Home at 64 Friendship St, Westerly. Calling time is 9:00 to 10:30 am. Mass will be at St. Mary’s Church in Stonington, CT at 11:00 am. For more information the funeral home’s number is 401-596-2352.
Toni’s obituary can be found here: http://www.rushlowiacoifuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Rushlo1/obit.cgi?user=1008068Clark
73,
Pat, NG1G
I heard from Bill, N1HRA that Andy’s mother passed away this morning. I don’t have any other details at this time but if I hear more from Bill I will pass them along.
My sincere condolences to Andy and his family.
Pat, NG1G
Results for the 2012 NEQP are in, and once again CTRI is the leader of the pack in club competition, with some very impressive single- and multi-op scores!
Check it out at http://www.neqp.org/2012/2012-results.html
73,
Pat, NG1G
