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The ARRL Contest Update

July 13, 2016
Editor: Brian Moran, N9ADG



IN THIS ISSUE

 *  New HF Operators: NAQP RTTY
 *  Bulletins: HS to be active on 6 Meters in upcoming CQWW VHF
 *  Contest Summary
 *  News: CQWW Contest Names KR2Q as Director, Grid Pirates, AES-HRO
    agreement, and more
 *  Word to the Wise: Cabrillo Pronunciation
 *  Sights and Sounds: Giants From the Past, W1AW/9 in IARU, and more
 *  Results: January ARRL VHF, Revision to ARRL 10m Affiliated Club Results,
    and more
 *  Operating Tip: It's All About that Rate, for Webinars, Too
 *  Technical Topics and Information: Big Antennas, Antenna Analyzer Tunes
    Traps, and more
 *  Conversation: Radiosport GO
 *  Contests
 *  Log Due Dates



NEW HF OPERATORS -- THINGS TO DO

In the upcoming weekend, the NAQP RTTY will have a lot of activity. With a
12-hour period, and 100 W power limitation, it's a recipe for a bunch of
contacts, and an opportunity to try running or putting together a multi-op.
NAQP has a multi-two category, and with the propagation we've had recently it
may be possible to be on all of the bands that are open, simultaneously.



BULLETINS

Charly, HS0HCW, has obtained special permission from the Thailand authorities
to operate on six meters for the upcoming contest only. Contact him to suggest
when there may be a path to HS from your location, using CW, SSB, or RTTY.



BUSTED QSOS

QRU



CONTEST SUMMARY

Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section

July 14

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

July 15

 *  QRP Fox Hunt
 *  NCCC RTTY Sprint
 *  NCCC Sprint

July 16

 *  Russian Radio Team Championship
 *  Trans-Tasman Low-Bands Challenge
 *  DMC RTTY Contest
 *  Feld Hell Sprint
 *  CQ Worldwide VHF Contest
 *  North American QSO Party, RTTY

July 17

 *  RSGB Low Power Contest

July 18

 *  Run for the Bacon QRP Contest

July 20

 *  Phone Fray
 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

July 21

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test
 *  NAQCC CW Sprint
 *  RSGB 80m Club Championship, Data

July 22

 *  QRP Fox Hunt
 *  NCCC RTTY Sprint
 *  NCCC Sprint

July 23

 *  SA Sprint Contest

July 27

 *  SKCC Sprint
 *  Phone Fray
 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test



NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST

Doug, KR2Q, has been named Director of the CQ WW DX Contest. Doug is no
stranger to the workings of the contest, having been on CQWW Contest Committee
since 1979. He is well positioned to consider all of the contest
constituencies, having operated at one time or another in all entry
categories. Congratulations, Doug!

Andy, K1RA, compiled an exhaustive report on the Grid Pirates K8GP/R rover
operation that took place in the 2016 ARRL June VHF Contest. Terry, W8ZN, and
Andy, K1RA, visited five grids, K8GP claiming 838 contacts. Their web report
covers their preparation and operation in detail, including pictures, video
and audio of some of the memorable DX contacts, as well as a post-contest
analysis. (Rich, K1HTV)

You've likely heard that Amateur Electronic Supply is closing all operations
as July 28, after 59 years in business. On July 12, Ham Radio Outlet announced
that they have concluded successful discussions to hire a number of AES
personnel to staff HRO locations, and furthermore will remodel and reopen the
largest North American retail amateur radio showroom in Milwaukee in August,
2016. Current AES phone numbers and web addresses will be handled by HRO after
July 28.

Something to contemplate while CQing into a closed band: Researchers think
that fiddler crabs attract mates by generating vibrations akin to sending
Morse code. The characteristics of their code sending can indicate their size
and stamina. (Brian, K1BRF)



WORD TO THE WISE

Cabrillo

Tomahhhhhto, Tomayyyyto, Cabrilloe, Cabreeyo. Just what is the pronunciation
of that format for our contest log submissions? This is directly from Trey
Garlough, N5KO:

"Juan Rodr¡guez Cabrillo (Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho) is said to be the first
European to navigate the coast of modern day California. Both the Spanish and
the Portuguese claim him, so there is no one single correct answer to this
question.

Based on usage that I am exposed to both inside and outside of ham radio,
kuh-BREE-yo wins by a 10-to-1 margin, or more, over other variations.

Not definitive, but hopefully 'good enough' for your purposes. 73!"



SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

The World Wide Radio Operator Foundation has re-uploaded the webinar "When
Giants First Walked the Bands," which is a look back by Doug, KR2Q, of CQWW
contest multi-multi operations from 1959 to 1986.

The 2016 Dayton Contest University videos and slides are now available on the
Contest University website, along with some recently posted videos from 2015.
The 2016 content may be choppy in some spots -- there was an issue in
recording them. The Contest Dinner website has been updated to reflect past
speakers and programs, as well as the Contest Hall of Fame. Planning ahead?
The Contest Super Suite website has been updated to reflect the dates for 2017.

Also hot out of Dayton are the Spurious Emissions Band 2016 videos. You may
have your own bootlegs on your cellphone, but Bob, N6TV, was plugged into the
soundboard.

Did you work W1AW/9 in IARU last weekend? W1AW/9 was comprised of the phone
operation at WB9Z/NV9L, with CW at K9CT. In the IARU contest, headquarters
stations are permitted one transmitted signal per band mode, meaning that it's
possible to field multi-multi efforts on each mode. Headquarters stations must
be in the same zone, so there's flexibility as to where they're deployed.
W1AW/9 probably didn't have much inter-mode interference on any band, with
about 100 miles of separation between the two operating locations. Both
stations live-posted their scores to cqcontest.net, to goad each other to
higher scores during the 24-hour period.

The phone station also livestreamed to Facebook and Periscope. According to
Craig, K9CT, "The CW team operated on as many bands as there were open using
one transmitter per band. However, there were times where 20 and 40 had many
callers and we would change to use an assist station on each band with a
transmit interlock. Then we could work multipliers and interleave other
stations S&P while the other was running."



RESULTS AND RECORDS

The full results article for the ARRL January VHF Contest has been posted to
the ARRL website. The number of logs submitted was about the same as last
year, with the Mt. Airy VHF Radio Club having the highest number of submitted
logs in the Affiliated Club Competition. Seventy logs were attributed to their
members.

Following the 2015 ARRL 10 Meter Contest, the Medium Category Club Competition
was reviewed by the ARRL Contest Branch and adjustments based on member
eligibility were made to several club totals. The updated Full Results has
been posted to the ARRL website.

This is a good time to remind everyone that Club Competition rules require
clubs to meet specific criteria and provide certain information for each
contest. These are defined in section 8 of the General Rules for All ARRL
Contests. For example,

 *  Clubs must be ARRL Affiliated, meeting all membership requirements;
 *  Clubs must specify their club territory circle center or ARRL section
    for each contest (or a default for all contests);
 *  Clubs must submit a list of eligible members to the ARRL within 30 days
    after each contest they enter.

Please help your club leadership ensure that membership rosters are current --
including station locations -- and that the information is submitted in a
timely fashion.

As a matter of fairness to all participating clubs, the ARRL Contest Branch
will begin working more closely with clubs to help them meet the rules of the
Affiliated Club Competition.



OPERATING TIP

Speed Watching Webinars

When watching contest webinars or other video, you can usually speed watch by
increasing the video playback speed. This can be a great way to do more
viewing in less time -- a rate enhancer for sure! The option for increasing
the video speed is generally located under the video settings options.



TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

Tom, K5RC, has been orchestrating the construction and installation of new 80
meter beams at the Comstock Memorial Station, W7RN. It is a big, big project.
Some details: The 80 meter beam antenna sports 91-foot elements, weighs 600
pounds, and has a 75 foot boom. Force 12 assembled the elements. A 200-foot
crane was used to place the antennas onto the monopoles. Many people have been
involved in this project, and on installation day, the crew consisted of K7NV,
K6NV, KH2TJ, XE2K, K6NA, K6DGW, K5XI, and of course K5RC. Tom has photos on
the W7RN website, and HD drone video was captured by AA7XT. You can get a
sense of the size of the antenna in this video of the tips being installed.
Hector, XE2K, had the task of affixing the antenna to the tower, and he's
pictured at the top in the video. He also has an album of photos from the
event.

Elektor has updated its 2007 SDR receiver in the new form of an Arduino
shield. The claimed range is from 150 KHz to 160 MHz. A video has been posted
of the board in action, used with SDR-Sharp, decoding SSB and CW signals on 40
meters. It appears the Arduino assumes the role of the USB interface in the
original design, and that I-Q outputs are still processed by a PC.

In the January VHF Contest results, letters were used to denote the band
capabilities of each station. The "P" designator is for light communications.
The Internet of Things (IOT) Industry is now considering using light instead
of RF for communications for data transmission between devices to avoid RF
congestion.

Larry, N6NC, suggests a method for using an antenna analyzer to determine the
resonant frequency of an antenna trap. As a parallel L-C circuit, he found
inductive coupling to be necessary: "Wind 8 turns of #14 AWG wire at one wire
diameter spacing around a 3/8" to 1/2" diameter tube or dowel. Solder the coil
to a PL-259 or BNC connector, and cover it with heat shrink tubing. When
plugged into an analyzer, and inserted into the trap, the analyzer will act as
a grid dip meter using the analyzer's SWR meter." Dave, KG0ZZ, has a YouTube
video illustrating how to perform this measurement.



CONVERSATION

Radiosport GO

When talking about growing radio contesting and engaging youth, computer games
are often mentioned as having the mindshare that we wish our hobby had. Over
the last few days, you may have heard of Pok‚mon GO, a new game that is a
variation of an old card collecting game that has rapidly captured the
interest of gamers of every age. It's a big deal, and getting bigger. From
July 5th to July 8th, the percentage of the 90+ million Android phone users in
the US playing this game went from zero to five percent. In just four days.
While we were participating in the IARU contest over the weekend, the game
gained hundreds of thousands of users. Its daily usage is already approaching
that of Twitter. It's an opportunity to watch a phenomenon happening right in
front of us.

To play, you must install the application on your smartphone. The application
doesn't come with instructions or have any manuals. It's free to play. You
have to either experiment with the application to figure it out, or find a
mentor who has used it before. The premise is that you start with nothing, and
advance in the game by collecting, developing, or winning Pok‚mon characters,
which you can find by walking around outdoors and consulting the game
application.

What makes this game so appealing? One of Pok‚mon GO's innovations is that the
Pok‚mon world is an overlay to our real world, with your phone showing you
Pok‚mon that exist at particular places. You can visit new places to find
particularly rare Pok‚mon. Another innovation is, that travelling at
human-powered speeds by walking or biking in the physical world can reward the
player with additional Pok‚mon opportunities. Once you have gained experience,
you can also join a team or battle other players in particular places to
achieve higher status and more Pok‚mon.

Pok‚mon GO has recaptured the interest of many previous Pok‚mon players who
thought themselves too old to be playing Pok‚mon. Anecdotal information
indicates that nostalgia for past Pok‚mon fun, combined with the perceived
virtuosity of walking or running to find characters makes it okay to play
again as an adult. Of course, there are already reports of people cheating by
driving in cars, flying drones, or using other techniques that are viewed as
unethical.

Aspects of the game have analogues in our hobby -- we generally start with no
experience, and then learn by doing, sometimes with the help of a mentor. We
might always be on the quest for our next DX entity, or that next multiplier.
We develop skills that allow us to best other players in pileups or in
contests. We can compete by travelling to particular locations that give us an
advantage, like grids, mountaintops, or rare multipliers. We can compete
singly, but we can also team to achieve. Also similar -- the original Pok‚mon
was viewed as "moribund" until the new GO version appeared. Pok‚mon has
reinvented itself through use of technology and modern engagement metaphors.
Pok‚mon is not just a card game anymore. Some new players will never touch a
card.

Radio contesters have continuously drawn upon new technology and techniques to
compete more effectively. That contest sponsors in general don't offer modern
features like on-demand contests, instantaneous and continuous scoring, and
faster turnaround of contest results makes us appear quaint. But will it still
be radio contesting if players of the future don't have to physically touch a
radio?

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

73, Brian N9ADG



CONTESTS

14 Jul - 27 Jul 2016

An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format is
available. Check the sponsor's website for information on operating time
restrictions and other instructions.


HF CONTESTS

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jul 14, 0300z to Jul 14, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40,
20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (stat
/province/country); Logs due: July 16.

QRP Fox Hunt, Jul 15, 0100z to Jul 15, 0230z; CW; Bands: 20m Only; RST +
(state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: July 16.

NCCC RTTY Sprint, Jul 15, 0145z to Jul 15, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules);
Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: July 17.

NCCC Sprint, Jul 15, 0230z to Jul 15, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial
No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: July 17.

Russian Radio Team Championship, Jul 16, 0700z to Jul 16, 1459z; CW, SSB;
Bands: 40, 20, 15, 10m; RRTC: RS(T) + 3-character code, Non-RRTC: RS(T) + ITU
Zone No.; Logs due: July 16.

Trans-Tasman Low-Bands Challenge, Jul 16, 0800z to Jul 16, 1400z; CW, Phone,
Digital; Bands: 160, 80, 40m; RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: July 23.

DMC RTTY Contest, Jul 16, 1200z to Jul 17, 1200z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15,
10m; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: August 17.

Feld Hell Sprint, Jul 16, 1400z to Jul 16, 1759z; Feld Hell; Bands: 160, 80,
40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; (see rules); Logs due: July 20.

North American QSO Party, RTTY, Jul 16, 1800z to Jul 17, 0559z; RTTY; Bands:
80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs
due: July 24.

RSGB Low Power Contest, Jul 17, 0900z to Jul 17, 1200z, Jul 17, 1300z to Jul
17, 1600z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST + Serial No. + Power; Logs due: July 25.

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest, Jul 18, 0100z to Jul 18, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160,
80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + (Member No./power); Logs
due: July 24.

Phone Fray, Jul 20, 0230z to Jul 20, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m;
NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: July 22.

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jul 20, 1300z to Jul 20, 1400z, Jul 20, 1900z to Jul 20,
2000z, Jul 21, 0300z to Jul 21, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: July 23.

NAQCC CW Sprint, Jul 21, 0030z to Jul 21, 0230z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST +
(state/province/country) + (NAQCC No./power); Logs due: July 24.

RSGB 80m Club Championship, Data, Jul 21, 1900z to Jul 21, 2030z; RTTY, PSK;
Bands: 80m Only; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: July 28.

QRP Fox Hunt, Jul 22, 0100z to Jul 22, 0230z; CW; Bands: 20m Only; RST +
(state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: July 23.

NCCC RTTY Sprint, Jul 22, 0145z to Jul 22, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules);
Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: July 24.

NCCC Sprint, Jul 22, 0230z to Jul 22, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial
No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: July 24.

SA Sprint Contest, Jul 23, 2100z to Jul 23, 2300z; CW, SSB; Bands: 40, 20m;
RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: July 29.

SKCC Sprint, Jul 27, 0000z to Jul 27, 0200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15,
10m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./power); Logs due: July
29.

Phone Fray, Jul 27, 0230z to Jul 27, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m;
NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: July 29.

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jul 27, 1300z to Jul 27, 1400z, Jul 27, 1900z to Jul 27,
2000z, Jul 28, 0300z to Jul 28, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: July 30.


VHF+ CONTESTS

CQ Worldwide VHF Contest, Jul 16, 1800z to Jul 17, 2100z; Any Mode; Bands: 6,
2m; 4-character grid square; Logs due: July 31.

Also, see the Feld Hell Sprint, above

LOG DUE DATES

July 15, 2016

 *  Phone Fray

July 16, 2016

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

July 17, 2016

 *  SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
 *  Marconi Memorial HF Contest

July 18, 2016

 *  Kid's Day Contest
 *  DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest

July 19, 2016

 *  ARR BPSK63 Contest

July 20, 2016

 *  All Asian DX Contest, CW
 *  RSGB 80m Club Championship, SSB

July 21, 2016

 *  NRAU 10 Meter Activity Contest

July 25, 2016

 *  10-10 Int. Spirit of 76 QSO Party
 *  UFT QRP Contest

July 26, 2016

 *  Ukrainian DX DIGI Contest
 *  ARRL Field Day



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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest
Calendar and SM3CER's Contest Calendar.

____________________________________________________________________________


The ARRL Contest Update is published every other Wednesday (26 times each
year). ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their
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Copyright (C) 2016 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... Purely out of curiosity, how old is your daughter?
---
 * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)