November 6, 2024

Editor: Paul Bourque, N1SFE

In this Issue:

• Upcoming Contests – Things to Do
• Contest Summary
• Sights and Sounds
• Results and Records
• Technical Topics and Discussion
• Contests
• Log Due Dates

The North American SSB Sprint Contest begins at 0000 UTC on November 10 and concludes at 0359 UTC on November 11. North American stations contact as many radio amateurs as possible; non-North American stations contact as many North American stations as possible. Operation on only the 20-, 40-, and 80-meter bands is allowed. A unique aspect of the sprint is the QSY rule: when a station calling CQ receives a response, they must relinquish the frequency to the answering station once they conclude their contact. For rules and other information, visit https://ssbsprint.com/rules/.

ARRL November Sweepstakes, SSB begins at 2100 UTC on November 16 and concludes at 0259 UTC on November 18. If you’re new to HF operating and contesting, the contest can be challenging, as the exchange is a bit more complicated than that of other events. Be sure to check out the complete rules so that you’re familiar with the information to be exchanged. Sweepstakes is a great way complete your Worked All States (WAS) award, because stations from all 50 states and across Canada participate every year.

November 7

• Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest
• CWops Test (CWT)
• NRAU 10m Activity Contest
• SKCC Sprint Europe

November 8

• NCCC FT4 Sprint
• Weekly RTTY Test
• QRP Fox Hunt
• NCCC Sprint
• K1USN Slow Speed Test

November 9

• WAE DX Contest, RTTY
• PODXS 070 Club Triple Play Low Band Sprint
• FISTS Saturday Sprint
• 10-10 International Fall Contest, Digital
• JIDX Phone Contest
• SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
• OK/OM DX Contest, CW
• CQ-WE Contest
• AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party

November 10

• North American SSB Sprint Contest
• FIRAC HF Contest

November 11

• K1USN Slow Speed Test
• 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint
• ICWC Medium Speed Test
• OK1WC Memorial (MWC)

November 12

• Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest
• ICWC Medium Speed Test
• DARC FT4 Contest

November 13

• QRP Fox Hunt
• Phone Weekly Test
• A1Club AWT
• CWops Test (CWT)
• VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest
• Mini-Test 40
• Mini-Test 80
• RSGB 80m Autumn Series, SSB

November 14

• CWops Test (CWT)

November 15

• NCCC FT4 Sprint
• Weekly RTTY Test
• QRP Fox Hunt
• NCCC Sprint
• K1USN Slow Speed Test

November 16

• ARRL EME Contest
• LZ DX Contest
• All Austrian 160-Meter Contest
• REF 160-Meter Contest
• South American Integration Contest CW
• Feld Hell Sprint
• RSGB 1.8 MHz Contest
• ARRL November Sweepstakes, SSB

November 17

• FISTS Sunday Sprint
• Homebrew and Oldtime Equipment Party
• Run for the Bacon QRP Contest

November 18

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

November 19

• Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest
• ICWC Medium Speed Test

November 20

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

Pete Kobak, K0BAK, shared his experience roving in the 2024 Pennsylvania QSO Party in the November issue of the Pottstown Area Amateur Radio Club’s newsletter. You can read the article here, as well as visit the club’s web page at www.paarc.net.

The 2024 ARRL Field Day results are now available in the December issue QST and on the ARRL Field Day website at https://field-day.arrl.org/fdresults.php. Class A, B, and C scores are included in the 2024 QST results article. The scores for Class D, E and F station and club aggregate scores are listed in the 2024 line scores on the web site, as well in the digital edition of QST.

CQ World Wide SSB Raw Scores

The raw scores for the CQ World Wide SSB Contest are now available. You can

find them at: https://cqww.com/raw.htm?mode=ph. If you find any errors or have questions, contact the CQ World Wide Contest Director, John Dorr, at cqk1ar@gmail.com.

– Thanks to John Dorr, K1AR

2024 Solar Eclipse QSO Party Results

The results for the April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse QSO Party have been posted at hamsci.org/2024-SEQP-results. Congratulations to the Single Operator winner, Dennis Egan, W1UE, who scored over 300,000 points, from making around 450 QSOs. In the Multi-Op category, the Souris Valley ARC, K0AJW, came out on top, with 373 QSOs and more than 85,000 points. This concludes the scoring efforts for the competitive elements of the HamSCI Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science. All 2023 and 2024 scores and write-ups can be found at hamsci.org/foeis-results.

– Thanks to Gary Mikitin, AF8A, and Ward Silver, N0AX

September North American CW Sprint Results

The full results for the September North American CW Sprint are now available on

the National Contest Journal website at https://ncjweb.com. Full-color certificates from this and any NCJ contest are also available on the website.

– Thanks to Ward Silver, N0AX

Representatives from NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the international Solar Cycle Prediction Panel announced that the sun has reached its solar maximum period, which could continue into next year. You can read more on the NASA website here.

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

Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest, Nov 7, 0000z to Nov 8, 0300z; CW; Bands: 40; Maximum 13 wpm, RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (Member No./power); Logs due: Nov 14.

CWops Test (CWT), Nov 7, 0300z to Nov 7, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./”CWA”, non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 9.

CWops Test (CWT), Nov 7, 0700z to Nov 7, 0800z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: Name + Member No./”CWA”, non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 9.

NRAU 10m Activity Contest, Nov 7, 1800z to Nov 7, 2200z; CW, SSB, FM, Digital; Bands: 10; RS(T) + 6-character grid square; Logs due: Nov 21.

SKCC Sprint Europe, Nov 7, 2000z to Nov 7, 2200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./”NONE”); Logs due: Nov 14.

NCCC FT4 Sprint, Nov 8, 0100z to Nov 8, 0130z; FT4; Bands: (see rules); 4-character grid square; Logs due: Nov 10.

Weekly RTTY Test, Nov 8, 0145z to Nov 8, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 10.

QRP Fox Hunt, Nov 8, 0200z to Nov 8, 0330z; CW; Bands: 20; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: Nov 9.

NCCC Sprint, Nov 8, 0230z to Nov 8, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: Nov 10.

K1USN Slow Speed Test, Nov 8, 2000z to Nov 8, 2100z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Maximum 20 wpm, Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 10.

WAE DX Contest, RTTY, Nov 9, 0000z to Nov 10, 2359z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Nov 17.

PODXS 070 Club Triple Play Low Band Sprint, Nov 9, 0000z to Nov 11, 2359z; PSK31; Bands: 160, 80, 40; RST + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 18.

FISTS Saturday Sprint, Nov 9, 0000z to Nov 9, 2359z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; FISTS: RST + first name + FISTS No. + (state/province/country), non-FISTS: RST + first name + “0” + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 16.

10-10 International Fall Contest, Digital, Nov 9, 0001z to Nov 10, 2359z; Digital; Bands: 10; 10-10 Member: Name + 10-10 number + (state/province/country), Non-Member: Name + 0 + (state/province/country); Logs due: Nov 18.

JIDX Phone Contest, Nov 9, 0700z to Nov 10, 1300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; JA: RST + Prefecture No., non-JA: RST + CQ Zone No.; Logs due: Dec 12.

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, Nov 9, 1200z to Nov 10, 2359z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./”NONE”); Logs due: Nov 17.

OK/OM DX Contest, CW, Nov 9, 1200z to Nov 10, 1200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; OK/OM: RST + 3-letter district code, non-OK/OM: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: Nov 17.

CQ-WE Contest, Nov 9, 1900z to Nov 11, 0500z; CW, Phone, Digital; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2, 432 MHz; Name + Location Code (see rules) + Years of Service (see rules); Logs due: Dec 1.

AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party, Nov 9, 2300z to Nov 18, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20; RST + Name + QTH + Eqpt Year + Transmitter Type (see rules for format) + Input Power(W); Logs due: Dec 10.

North American SSB Sprint Contest, Nov 10, 0000z to Nov 10, 0400z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20; [other station’s call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name] + [your state/province/country]; Logs due: Nov 17.

FIRAC HF Contest, Nov 10, 0700z to Nov 10, 1700z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10; Member: RS(T) + Serial No. + “F”, Non-member: RS(T); Logs due: Nov 24.