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CQWW WPX CW – last major HF contest of the season

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CQWW WPX CW is this weekend May 26 – 27… the last major HF contest that counts for the CTRI CG intraclub championship for this contest season.

Up-to-date tips and operating info for the event can be found at the WPX blog here:   http://www.cqwpx.com/blog/

The CQ WPX website – linked to the above site – may be the most comprehensive and interesting site on the web for *a specific contest*…it is really very well done and is a ‘must view’ before jumping in to CQ WPX CW this weekend — check it out!

Even if you have little time available to operate this holiday weekend (and especially if you have a rare-type prefix in your call) you will be in demand for those in the contest… so turn on the radio, call CQ and have some fun.

Additional food for thought…for LoTW users the WPX award program is presently being implemented into LoTW.  Many rare and unique prefixes will be on-air THIS weekend and can soon be applied towards the WPX award electronically.

GL es 73,  Bill W1WBB

 

2011 ARRL 10 Meter Contest results now on-line

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Results for the 2011 ARRL 10m ‘test  can be found here:  http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ContestResults/2011/2011-10M-Web-V1_3.pdf  This is an extensive detailed event report with graphs, tables, pictures and in-depth analysis…and a great spot to plan your 2012 10m effort!

Record-breaking activity as anticipated resulted in the highest number of logs ever submitted for *ANY* ARRL contest.   CTRI CG was no exception, breaking our own intraclub best combined score for this event (more than doubling it, actually) with 2,566,664 points and a new high number of ‘official’ club participants at 15.  Great job by so many club members who jumped on 10m, made some QSOs, submitted their logs and hopefully had some fun!

Rick KI1G led the way in CTRI with almost 1350 QSOs and 767k points.  John W1AN had a low-key part-time ‘flea power’ effort from his great station and got the New England high score for Mixed-mode QRP!  Operating in the newly created Multi-Op Low Power category (mixed mode, of course, and just using the spotting network as assistance) this author was able to initiate a record score for New England where none existed before!  Lots of ‘chair time’ and the new Hexbeam certainly helped my effort.

Additional results info can be found here:  http://www.arrl.org/contest-results-articles

Just click on ‘2011 Contest Results’, then scroll down to the ARRL 10 Meter Contest and select from the options such as Printable Linescores, Results Database, Log Checking Report, QST Articvle, etc.

Hopefully, 10m will make a resurgence this year and into 2013 as we near the cycle 24 ‘peak’.

73,  Bill  W1WBB

Top Honors for KI1G & KS1J – 2011 CQWW RTTY!

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Hearty congrats to Rick KI1G for achieving the highest score for *any* Single Operator in *the World* during the 2011 CQWW RTTY Contest and winning the World – Single Operator Assisted High Power All Band category and associated plaque with 6.4M pts…while establishing a new North American record!  Amazing effort Rick!!

Jim KS1J placed in the “Top Five” United States for Single Operator Assisted Low Power All Band in this contest…another outstanding effort!  **Well done to these fine CTRI CG contesters.**

Full details in the May 2012 CQ magazine with on-line results I believe in early June.

BTW, the May issue cover photo features WA1VQY of Tiverton, RI… the town Fire Chief here in my town of Portsmouth, RI — and a big-time ‘boat anchor’ collector (and avid CW op) looking at his shack.

Bill  W1WBB

NEQP 2012: Recommended Reading

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Just a reminder as you make your NEQP 2012 preps (10 days left & counting down!) that some great contest tips and advice from last year’s “1 Million or bust!” effort exists right here on this club website.   Just click on the “Index to Posts” icon, then the letter “N” and you’ll find some very helpful info, under titles beginning with “NEQP…”, provided by John W1XX and Ken K3IU, such as:

NEQP Strategy – How to Maximize Your Score

NEQP:  Utilizing the other Contests

NEQP:  Phone vs. CW

and…NEQP:  New England Mobiles

Additional contributors for *this* year are always welcome!

A significant change for this year is that the Italian ARI International Contest has changed its endtime to 1200Z on 6 May and thus will *not* overlap with NEQP on Day 2 (Sunday) as NEQP restarts at 1300Z.  Thus, you’ll need to capitalize on the DX mults that will be available in the ARI event (an everybody works everybody contest) on Saturday only.  Last year, with 100 watts and a wire doublet at around 45 ft, I worked 45 plus ARI contest participants adding many unique DX mults to the log.  We are worth 10 pts to Italian stations and 3 pts to non-North American ARI ops so they’ll be happy to have us in their logs!

ARI Contesters will need a serial number exchange from you…just send them a sequential serial # starting with 001 as well as your NEQP exch too (which they won’t care about but should still be sent).  I kept a prepared “tick” sheet handy (with the last sequential ARI # I provided to an ARI participant) right at the operating position and checked the next number off as I went along…low tech but it worked.

Good luck and I hope you find the past NEQP articles to be informative and helpful — happy reading.   Additional comments and questions re: NEQP 2012, as members make final plans, can be posted right here.

73,  Bill  W1WBB  

 

2011 ARRL 160m Contest results are on the web

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Results for the 2011 running of ARRL’s 160m ‘test can be found here:

  http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ContestResults/2011/2011-160M-Web-V1_0.pdf

Just a few of us slugged it out under less than stellar condx, with the first night being particularly brutal when it came to any type of DX comms.

Of note, our esteemed club Prez Mike K1DM earning 70,000 hard-fought pts as an LP stn — an excellent effort as one of the very top New England LP ops and just missing a “Top 5” box within the whole Northeast Region…well done Mike.

73,  Bill  W1WBB 

 

 

 

Multi-op opportunities for NEQP 2012??

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For anyone planning a multi-operator effort in NEQP 2012 with open positions available to CTRI members, please detail your plans here including specific contact info.  This is a great way for the club to increase member participation for those seeking to be part of a team effort, as well as for those unable to operate from their home QTH in this event.

NEQP M-Op rules appear minimal, with use of DX spotting network permitted (ONLY for M-Ops!) and a second TX permitted only for hunting new multipliers.  In this multi-mode event (SSB, CW & Digital) whenever it gets a bit slow calling CQ as a Multi-Op, just change bands OR mode and keep on “running”!

Also, there are many M-Op county/state records that could be in jeopardy of being broken (or have yet to be established!)…check them out and you can likely set a goal for this year’s contest.

Good luck to the club multi-op teams in our NEQP 2012 “1 X 1 By One” effort!

73,  Bill  W1WBB

 

Five “major” HF contests to go – ARRL DX SSB this weekend!

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Yes, we’re already 2/3 of the way through the primary contest season…with 5 remaining major HF events upcoming (which all count towards the CTRI CG intra-club competition) , including this weekend’s ARRL DX SSB contest.   Good luck to all breaking out the microphones and working some DX!

In two weeks will be the 24-hr Russian DX Contest, a great multi-mode DX contest where you can work anyone (US/VE or DX) for points but mults are DXCCs plus the many Russian regions (Oblasts).  Plans are afoot for a club Multi-op effort again from W1DX, courtesy of hosts John W1AN and his XYL Nancy W1NAN.  Contacts to be made on both CW *and* Phone so ops for both modes needed.  New ops encouraged! … please advise here or direct to W1AN or myself if interested.  Event runs Sat. to Sun.  March 17-18 begin/end 8am local (1200z).  P/T or F/T participation welcome.

A week later is CQ WPX SSB, another everyone works everyone event…a now major 48-hr contest.

The first weekend of May brings us the NEQP and our big club effort with our many 1×1 callsigns celebrating 20 yrs of the CTRI CG.

Late May brings us the CW version of CQ WPX.

In between all this are many smaller events including lots of other state QSO parties.  We hope YOU are making plans to be contest-active during this “final third” of contest season.  

GL and good contesting!  73…

Bill W1WBB

Summary of Club effort in 2011 ARRL 10m Contest

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A little summary from your new club Contest Manager of the CTRI CG-focused effort in the recent ARRL 10 Meter contest of December 2011 follows.  We had record setting participation and the best total score ever submitted for this event for our individual club by big margins…great job by the more than 15 club participants — it was indeed a team effort! 

Claimed scores from the 15 logs submitted in 2011 (double our previous best of logs submitted back in 2003) totaled about 2.69M pts (well more than double our previous group best of 1.14M pts from 2002).  Well done to John W1AN and Matt WE1H who were part of the 2002 AND 2011 efforts.  Of course, log checking must occur at ARRL HQ but the club’s final effort in the 2011 10M Contest will certainly be historic.  I expect results to be published in late fall of 2012. 

ARRL Affiliated Club Competition records dating as far back as 1995 were found for the 10 M Contest.  CTRI CG first formally appeared in 2002, placing 3rd in the “Local Club” category.  They won 1st place as a “Local Club” in 2003 and were awarded the “Wooden Gavel” with 719K pts as the solar cycle had begun its downturn.  Due to larger membership these days we typically now compete in the very competitive “Medium Club” size category. 

The ARRL Contest Branch now reports with the log submission deadline complete almost 5300 total logs submitted for the 2011 10M event…**the most logs EVER submitted for ANY ARRL Contest**!!  So, participation was outstanding and conditions were very good.  But as the solar cycle continues to swing upward, as our own KI1G said “…wait ’til next year!”.  Things should be even more fun in December 2012 as the solar flux and sunspot numbers are likely near their peak…as contesters and DXers we can only hope.

We certainly have the opportunity to put up big numbers again and challenge our expected record-setting 2011 New England QSO Party (NEQP) club score with all our 1×1 callsigns on-air during the 2012 running of the NEQP this May.  That should be alot of fun as well!

Good luck and hope to see you in an upcoming contest… 

73,  Bill W1WBB   

CQWW 160-M CW Contest this weekend

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The biggest contest on the 160 Meter band starts Friday night at 2200z (5 PM local time here) and runs until 2200Z Sunday eve…rules and full contest info can be found here:  http://www.cq160.com/

It’s an all-CW event with a simple exchange for us:  RST & state

A list of some of the expected DX participation is here:  http://www.ng3k.com/Misc/cq160c2012.html

The T32 expedition gang will be active as T32XX.  HK0NA and VP6T DX-pedition stns were heard here faintly before sunrise this AM under less than ideal condx…who knows what the weekend will bring??  Not sure they’ll specifically be active but much other DX will be.

I’ll have limited participation Saturday eve due to other commitment.  Hope to hand out RI a few times on Friday Night.

Good luck to all in this intra-club competition qualifying event.  BTW, the SSB version of this contest is held in late February.

CU on Topband,  Bill  W1WBB

logs due reminder//upcoming events

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Happy New Year!

Just a reminder that logs for last month’s ARRL 10 Meter Contest are due to ARRL NLT Jan 10.  This event was marked by outstanding participation by CTRI CG and most members who were active have already submitted their logs.  For the few who may have been active that weekend but have yet to submit, there is still time!  ARRL is just a few logs shy of 5000 for the event…and every point helps the overall CTRI club score.

…and logs for the ARRL 160 M Contest are due NLT 1600Z Tuesday Jan 3!!

Good luck to those participating in ARRL RTTY Roundup this weekend — the first significant contest of the New Year!  The contest calender is very busy for the next few months with a big contest just about each weekend…check out the convenient calendar link at the top of the webpage for general dates.

The following two weekends after RTTY Roundup will have the North American QSO Party CW, then Phone.  These events are excellent for accumulating needed U.S. states on all the HF bands 10-160m.  The exchange is simple too — name & state!  This event is only 12 hours long too (max 10 hrs for single-ops).  We may put teams together for these events if there is interest (teams consist of max. 5 single-op **UNassisted ops**only).

ARRL’s January VHF Sweeps coincides with the NAQP SSB during the 3rd weekend in January for the VHF’ers among us.

Hope to see you in the contests.

73  –  Bill  W1WBB

 

1/2 way thru Operation 10m Contest

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Great activity from CTRI CG in the ‘test so far…9 mbr stations were heard active from here with very good conditions today — and a few of our ‘big guns’ not even yet heard from.

First Europe in the log abt 6:30 A.M. local hr…lasted until around 11:30 A.M.  No real e-skip Friday night…just 2 stns worked in W9 just after 10:15 P.M. via ‘ESP’ as things never quite broke open.  Will check band again later tonite.  Unable to work JA/KH2 this eve …disappointing; too weak — maybe tomorrow.  Last mult/QSO was NV…in log 2 hrs 15m past sunset.

Bands were busy but not quite like CQWW…still, plenty of DX around.  And plenty of US/VE still to work.  Only 7 Mexico Q’s made.

Hope folks had fun through Day 1.  Hope to work a few more CTRI mbrs on day 2.  My numbers through the first day running LP:

Band  Mode  QSOs    Pts  Cty
28  CW     353    1412  114
28  USB     82     164   59
Total  Both   435    1576  173
Score: 272,648

73,  Bill  W1WBB

Less than 48 hrs until the big 10m Contest

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Just a few items in preparing for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest this weekend…   At contest start Friday eve at 0000Z the band may be pretty much closed down, except for local contesters — of which I put many into the log (all good mults – CT, RI, MA, NH, NY) the first night the past few years.

Check the band every so often during each evening as it may open to sporadic-E skip or even meteor scatter.   A nice opening to the Midwest/Southeast in last year’s contest the first night lasted over 2 hours and went past local midnite!  Some nice state mults were worked then that may not otherwise be available during the contest.

Speaking of multipliers, there are 97 available mults just among the U.S., Canada and Mexico — all 50 U.S. states + D.C.,  the individual 14 VE provinces and territories as well as the recently added 32 Mexican states.  Maritime mobiles may be worked also as a mult — giving out their region: R1, R2 or R3.

Adding in all the DXCC mults that will be available may allow some single mode ops to push the 200 multiplier envelope!  For mixed mode ops (where multipliers count per *mode*) 300 mults will likely be achievable.  Bottom line…lots of multipliers to be had in this contest.

But with all the frequency space available on 28 MHz, operators should try to ‘run’ a frequency by calling CQ when possible to increase their QSO rate and because many multipliers will come to them.  During the recent CQWW SSB ‘test Phone stations were found calling CQ in the contest above 29.1 MHz due to the great activity on the band!  Expect more of that this weekend, for sure.

With the crowded conditions and great popularity of the spotting networks worldwide, DX and rare multiplier stations have commented how difficult it is now to separate the dozens (hundreds?) of callers (esp. on CW) who are ALL zero-beat together after pointing and clicking on their DX ‘spot’.  As a caller of the DX *a small change in your TX freq of a few Hz* either side of his TX frequency will likely help you be heard and get thru the pile more quickly.  A number of DX ops went ‘split operation’ temporarily to manage the pileups during CQWW.  Be sure you know how to quickly ‘go split’ with your radio when needed to get the DX!

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest is a great way for folks to work on their WAS award as well as DXCC.  Many contesters are active on the ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) so credits for worked entities can come quickly.  I personally need 5 more states for 10M WAS (all close in to New England) and hope to snag a few of those this weekend.

Conditions remain good on the band this week…China and Hong Kong were worked via Long Path in the A.M. early this week and many African stations have been heard to be active.  Openings to Europe Saturday and Sunday mornings could be earlier than 7 A.M. EST so don’t forget to check the band by then.

Operation:  ARRL 10 Meter ‘Test is almost upon us — Enjoy the contest and go CTRI CG!

73,

Bill  W1WBB

 

Operation ARRL 10 Meter Contest this coming weekend!

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I hope members are planning to support the club’s effort to get on-the-air for “Operation ARRL 10 Meter Contest” this coming weekend.

Similar to our efforts earlier this year in the New England QSO Party our goal is to *maximize club activity* and have fun.  Additional activity for this event by club members should make us competitive in the Affiliated Club Competition and perhaps, help us establish a new CTRI club combined high score compared to our own previous 10 Meter Contest club high.  Conditions on the band seem prime to help that happen.

The contest starts Friday evening at 7 P.M. EST (0000Z) and runs 48 hours until Sunday through 6:59 P.M. EST (2359Z).  Additional info on the contest can be found here:    http://www.arrl.org/10-meter

Folks can get a feel for the event and read the write-up about last year’s ARRL 10 Meter Contest here:  http://www.arrl.org/files/file/ContestResults/2010/2010-10M-Web-V1_0.pdf

And, additional info from members (including contest-specific tips and strategies from KS1J) can be found at this previous post from our website:  http://w1pn.com/wp/2011/10/27/operation-arrl-10-meter-contest-december-10-11-2011/

A reminder:  when submitting your log to ARRL ensure the club name appears on the club line only as:  CTRI CONTEST GROUP

This ensures each club member’s score is also credited to our specific club for the Club Competition.

Good luck with your planning and operating in this CTRI CG-focused “Operation ARRL 10 Meter Contest” event!  With the expected conditions this event should not be missed!!

73 and CU on 10 Meters…

Bill  W1WBB

club member contest claimed scores reporting *update*

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As the club’s newly designated ‘Contest Manager’ I wanted to let folks know that Ken K3IU (also our new club V.P.!) has kindly volunteered to take over the maintenance of the CTRI intra-club Champions scoreboard from John W1XX, commencing immediately.  Thanks much John for providing your many updates of member’s scores over the last few contest seasons.  And thanks Ken for your help.

The scoreboard is now updated per Ken’s earlier post of today.  Club members are **highly encouraged** to submit their claimed scores for any of the designated contests VIA THIS WEBSITE as the **preferred method**, using the ‘Create a Post’ button at the top of the main page.  Please make sure your full operating category also appears in your post (esp. indicating HP, LP or QRP power levels) so your score can  be properly credited.   And don’t forget to submit your score to the contest sponsor by the deadline!  (note: the trend is now for shorter deadlines, ie. ARRL Sweepstakes, CQWW SSB/CW and CQ WPX).

I also encourage you to provide your comments regarding your particular contest experience as part of your Post…others members enjoy and can really benefit from your observations.

By the way, a much less preferred method for members score submittal (but available alternative) is to submit directly to Ken at his e-mail address:  k3iu@nullarrl.net   I suggest this route as only a last resort.

Any score, large or small, is welcome!  It’s nice to see contest activity from members, no matter how much time/effort could be put in during any particular event.

Below the ‘content’ area of your Post in the ‘Post Tags’ area (when creating your Post), members may want to enter the words ‘contest results’ so their claimed score info will also be available for history purposes in the Contest Results subforum.

So, the ARRL 160m contest starts this Friday eve @ 2200Z, going to 1600Z Sunday A.M. (exclusively on CW)…word is that a certain South County RI station with a recently repaired tall vertical is planning a strong effort.  Any others??

I hope most folks have plans to support the club effort the following weekend in getting active in some form or another for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest.  With the expected great propagation, choice of SSB, CW or Mixed Modes, large amount of available frequency space and growing interest in contesting in general, this event could be one for the ages!

Good luck and hope to see you in the contests.

73,

Bill  W1WBB / CTRI CG Contest Manager

 

 

2011 CQWW CW – W1WBB

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With such good conditions on the upper bands I gave the new Hexbeam a pretty good workout.    Running SOLP(A) my goal was to go for the mults, turning the N1MM ‘available mults’ window from green to red, then blue…then repeat on next best band.  Great choices abounded during daytime on either 20, 15 or 10m!  Allowed me to also better track beam’s effectiveness to various regions around the globe.  Ran a little Sunday when mults thinned/rate slowed.

Was fun and relaxed, and I was quite pleased to break many pile-ups early by moving up or down just a bit from the spotted frequency, esp. on Sunday when competing vs. fewer big-guns.  Sunday morning brought huge signals on 15m and I ran up my QSO total there.  Agree with Jim KS1J that 10m propagation was very good but not quite the same as during CQWW SSB…BTW, *amazing* QSO totals for Jim again in this contest – 2000+ with, I assume, LP!

Heard K1DM snag 8Q7DV on Sunday, who was too weak with too big a pile to likely work here at the time.  I did get more Africans in the log but was disappointed with the propagation to JA/SW Asia.  Only 1 JA worked but 3 from KH2/KH0 – strange.

No big operating for ARRL 160m here this coming weekend.  Will save time for the ARRL 10m event the following weekend…hope many from CTRI plan activity for that one.

What are the plans at W1AN/W1DX for ARRL 10m Contest John?

73,  Bill  W1WBB

 

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: W1WBB
Operator(s): W1WBB
Station: W1WBB

Class: SOAB(A) LP
QTH: RI – USA
Operating Time (hrs):

Summary:
Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
——————————
160:   19     7       10
80:   59    12       45
40:  214    19       75
20:  157    31      101
15:  163    26      109
10:  128    28      105
——————————
Total:  740   123      445  Total Score = 1,160,424

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Comments:

The new Hexbeam worked great on the high bands!

Strategy was to go DXing, using N1MM Logger ‘available mults’ to clear out
unworked zones and countries as best as possible, exercising patience as an LP
stn but knowing when to skip the major pile-ups for later.  Then, repeat on
next band with highest available mult count.  Great results on 10/15/20m,
working DXCC+ on each.

CQ’d a bit Sunday afternoon/eve when point/click rate was slow and few workable
‘available’ mults.  Less than 10% of QSOs made running.  Found a few good mults
late that were not posted while I searched in-between callsigns on bandmap
going ‘old-school’ – turning the dial!

Good fun with great participation from around the radio globe.  Thanks for the
Q’s, and esp. to the many DXpeditions and big sig M-Op stns for getting on.

Log will be uploaded to LoTW.