October 23, 2024

Editor: Paul Bourque, N1SFE

In this Issue:

• Upcoming Contests – Things to Do
• Contest Summary
• News, Press Releases, and Special Interest
• Word to the Wise
• Sights and Sounds
• Results and Records
• Operating Tip
• Contests
• Log Due Dates

The CQ World Wide DX Contest, SSB is this weekend beginning at 0000 UTC on Saturday, October 26, and concluding at 2359 UTC on Sunday, October 27. If you’re new to HF operation, and interested in HF contesting and working DX, there will be plenty of opportunity for you to hone your contesting skills while snagging some new countries for your DXCC totals. The exchange is your signal report plus your CQ Zone (i.e., “5/9 08”). If you’re unsure of what your CQ zone is, you can find it by using this map. Full rules for the event are available at www.cqww.com/rules.htm.

ARRL November Sweepstakes, CW

The CW weekend of the ARRL November Sweepstakes is November 2 – 3. ARRL Sweepstakes is the “oldest domestic contest, beginning in 1930” with competition at the individual, multi-operator, and school club levels. In this contest, multipliers are the 85 ARRL and RAC Sections; each may be contacted as a multiplier once in the contest, regardless of band. The exchange may be daunting for first timers, but it’s familiar to those who’ve operated in this contest before. Contacts may be made on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters, but because multipliers may be worked only once, activity tends to cluster on the bands that are open and populated. See the full rules and additional information at https://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes.

October 24

• CWops Test (CWT)
• RSGB 80m Autumn Series, SSB

October 25

• NCCC FT4 Sprint
• Weekly RTTY Test
• NCCC Sprint
• K1USN Slow Speed Test

October 26

• CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB
• Ham Spirit Contest, CW

October 28

• K1USN Slow Speed Test
• QCX Challenge
• ICWC Medium Speed Test
• OK1WC Memorial (MWC)
• QCX Challenge
• RSGB FT4 Contest

October 29

• Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest
• QCX Challenge
• ICWC Medium Speed Test

October 30

• Phone Weekly Test
• A1Club AWT
• CWops Test (CWT)
• Mini-Test 40
• Mini-Test 80
• UKEICC 80m Contest

October 31

• CWops Test (CWT)

November 1

• NCCC FT4 Sprint
• Weekly RTTY Test
• NCCC Sprint
• Silent Key Memorial Contest
• K1USN Slow Speed Test

November 2

• IPARC Contest, CW
• ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW

November 3

• IPARC Contest, SSB
• EANET Sprint
• High Speed Club CW Contest

November 4

• K1USN Slow Speed Test
• ICWC Medium Speed Test
• OK1WC Memorial (MWC)
• RSGB 80m Autumn Series, Data

November 5

• ARS Spartan Sprint
• Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest
• ICWC Medium Speed Test

November 6

• QRP Fox Hunt
• Phone Weekly Test
• A1Club AWT
• CWops Test (CWT)
• VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest
• Mini-Test 40
• Mini-Test 80
• UKEICC 80m Contest

Thanks to Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, and Trey Garlough, N5KO, for their assistance in rebuilding and recovering the contest website.

When reading rules for a specific contest, you’ll often see language like “W/VE stations work DX stations; DX stations work everyone.” I’ve been asked what a W/VE station is on several occasions. W/VE stations are located in the United States and Canada, while DX stations are located throughout the rest of the world. Be careful though, in some contests Alaska, Hawaii, and the US territories are considered DX (such as in the ARRL International DX Contest), and others they are considered W/VE (such as in ARRL November Sweepstakes).

The preliminary results for the North American RTTY sprint are now available at https://ncjweb.com//sprint-scores/preliminary/sprintrttysep2024prelim.pdf. Log check reports are available upon request by emailing Ed Muns, W0YK, at ed@w0yk.com.

— Thanks to Ed Muns, W0YK

Eliminate wasted words.

Avoid phrases like “please copy” and “thank you for.” The quicker and more efficient each QSO is, the higher your net rate will be.

Avoid repetition.

Do not repeat your call or the exchange unless conditions warrant it. If the station you’re working missed part of the exchange, they will ask you for a fill.

Limit fill information.

When a station requests a fill, give only the information that is asked for. Do not repeat the entire exchange, it wastes your time, and theirs.

Avoid partial calls

When giving your call sign, always give your entire call. Partial calls will only cause stations to ask for more repeats. If they copy only part of your call, they’ll ask you for a repeat.

Remember the K3ZO (SK) “Rule of Twice”

If you can’t get them after calling twice, move on to another station. Additionally, you should move on if you come across a station “running” and they don’t give their call sign after transmitting twice.

— Thanks to Dan Zeitlin, K2YWE, and Contest University

That’s all for this time. Remember to send contesting-related stories, book reviews, tips, techniques, press releases, errata, schematics, club information, pictures, stories, blog links, and predictions to contest-update@arrl.org.

73, Paul, N1SFE

An expanded, downloadable version of QST‘s Contest Corral is available as a PDF. Check the sponsors’ website for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions.

HF CONTESTS

Weekly RTTY Test, Oct 25, 0145z to Oct 25, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Oct 27.

NCCC Sprint, Oct 25, 0230z to Oct 25, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: Oct 27.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Oct 25, 2000z to Oct 25, 2100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Oct 27.

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB, Oct 26, 0000z to Oct 27, 2359z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RS + CQ Zone No.; Logs due: Nov 1.

Ham Spirit Contest, CW, Oct 26, 0600z to Oct 27, 0559z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + ITU Zone No. + 2-character grid field; Logs due: Nov 3.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Oct 28, 0000z to Oct 28, 0100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Oct 30.

QCX Challenge, Oct 28, 1300z to Oct 28, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Rig; Logs due: Nov 3.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Oct 28, 1300z to Oct 28, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Oct 31.

OK1WC Memorial (MWC), Oct 28, 1630z to Oct 28, 1729z; CW; Bands: 80, 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Nov 1.

QCX Challenge, Oct 28, 1900z to Oct 28, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Rig; Logs due: Nov 3.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Oct 28, 1900z to Oct 28, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Oct 31.

RSGB FT4 Contest, Oct 28, 2000z to Oct 28, 2130z; FT4; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Signal report; Logs due: Oct 29.

Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, Oct 29, 0100z to Oct 29, 0159z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; RS + age group (OM, YL, Youth YL or Youth); Logs due: Oct 30.

QCX Challenge, Oct 29, 0300z to Oct 29, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Name + (state/province/country) + Rig; Logs due: Nov 3.

ICWC Medium Speed Test, Oct 29, 0300z to Oct 29, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + QSO No.; Logs due: Oct 31.

Phone Weekly Test, Oct 30, 0230z to Oct 30, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: Nov 1.

A1Club AWT, Oct 30, 1200z to Oct 30, 1300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: RST + Name; Logs due: Nov 4.

CWops Test (CWT), Oct 30, 1300z to Oct 30, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./”CWA”, non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 2.

Mini-Test 40, Oct 30, 1700z to Oct 30, 1759z; CW; Bands: 40; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Nov 1.

Mini-Test 80, Oct 30, 1800z to Oct 30, 1859z; CW; Bands: 80; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Nov 1.

CWops Test (CWT), Oct 30, 1900z to Oct 30, 2000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./”CWA”, non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 2.

UKEICC 80m Contest, Oct 30, 2000z to Oct 30, 2100z; CW; Bands: 80; 6-Character grid square; Logs due: Oct 30.

CWops Test (CWT), Oct 31, 0300z to Oct 31, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./”CWA”, non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 2.

CWops Test (CWT), Oct 31, 0700z to Oct 31, 0800z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./”CWA”, non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 2.

NCCC FT4 Sprint, Nov 1, 0100z to Nov 1, 0130z; FT4; Bands: (see rules); 4-character grid square; Logs due: Nov 3.

Weekly RTTY Test, Nov 1, 0145z to Nov 1, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 3.

NCCC Sprint, Nov 1, 0230z to Nov 1, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: Nov 3.

Silent Key Memorial Contest, Nov 1, 0600z to Nov 1, 0859z; CW; Bands: 80, 40; RST + SK call sign you wish to recognize; Logs due: Nov 15.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Nov 1, 2000z to Nov 1, 2100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 3.

IPARC Contest, CW, Nov 2, 0600z to Nov 2, 1800z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; USA IPA Members: RST + Serial No. + “IPA” + State, non-USA IPA Members: RST + Serial No. + “IPA”, non-IPA Members: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Nov 30.

ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, CW, Nov 2, 2100z to Nov 4, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Serial No. + Precedence (Q/A/B/U/M/S) + [your call sign] + Check + ARRL/RAC Section; Logs due: Nov 11.