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http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/?issue=2016-09-07

The ARRL Contest Update

September 7, 2016
Editor: Brian Moran, N9ADG


IN THIS ISSUE

 *  New HF Operators: Sprints, QSO Parties, RTTY, and RTTY Sprints
 *  Bulletins: The Pack Rats Celebrate their 60th Anniversary, Boxboro 2016
    Contest Activities
 *  Contest Summary
 *  News: Club Contesting, SO2R Practice and Simulation with WriteLog,
    W9DXCC Convention, and more
 *  Word to the Wise: MUF
 *  Sights and Sounds: CCO, YOTA, Gigantic Jets, and more
 *  Results: NJQRP Skeeter Hunt, Friendship Radiosport Games
 *  Operating Tip: Learn from LCRs
 *  Technical Topics and Information: DARPA SDR Radio Challenge, Apollo
    Guidance Computer Download, New Version of RTL-SDR, and more
 *  Conversation: Vacation Contesting
 *  Contests
 *  Log Due Dates



NEW HF OPERATORS -- THINGS TO DO

For traditional contests, placing well is "all about that rate," which implies
running a frequency. For the North American Sprint format contests, it's still
about rate, but runs are not a factor due to the mandatory QSY requirements.
In the 4-hour North American CW Sprint next weekend, you'd typically tune to a
frequency, hear a station completing a QSO, call them, complete the QSO, then
you are called by someone else on that frequency. After your second QSO on
that frequency, you have to move. Fast-paced and exhilarating. Give it a try!

The September 17-18 weekend, there are five QSO parties to take advantage of,
along with two RTTY Sprints, in addition to a handful of other contests. The
Washington State Salmon Run is the QSO party for Washington state, and if
you're a category winner, you could be eligible to receive some smoked salmon.
The BARTG Sprint 75 uses 75 baud Baudot, and does NOT have a QSY requirement.
Remember that if you're calling CQ in the BARTG 75, you may want to lengthen
your CQ message, as it helps a searching and pouncing station to better tune
your signal.



BULLETINS

The Mt Airy VHF Club is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2016. The December
15 club meeting of the Pack Rats is planned as an informal celebration for all
current and past members.

At the 2016 New England Division ARRL Convention, aka Boxboro 2016, September
9-11, 2016 in Boxborough, Massachusetts, there will be a number of
contest-related activities, including the Friday night DX/Contest Dinner,
Yankee Clipper Contest Club forum, and a forum on using the FLEX-6000 for
contesting and DXing.



BUSTED QSOs

Fred, K6DGW, reminded me that Greenland is also part of Region 2.

Steve, K6OIK, points out: "Last year's Pacificon presentation, entitled 'Weird
Waves,' is about ...the electromagnetic properties of OAM waves. The 2005 and
2006 Pacificon presentations, 'Novel and Strange Antennas' introduced OAM too
(along with metamaterial). So one must fairly conclude that radio amateurs
were aware of OAM waves more than a decade ago. I built my first OAM antenna
in 2010."



CONTEST SUMMARY

Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section

September 8

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

September 9

 *  NCCC RTTY Sprint
 *  NCCC Sprint

September 10

 *  Kulikovo Polye Contest
 *  FOC QSO Party
 *  WAE DX Contest, SSB
 *  SARL Field Day Contest
 *  SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
 *  Russian Cup Digital Contest
 *  Ohio State Parks on the Air
 *  ARRL September VHF Contest

September 11

 *  Russian Cup Digital Contest
 *  North American Sprint, CW
 *  Swiss HTC QRP Sprint
 *  Classic Exchange, CW

September 13

 *  Classic Exchange, CW

September 14

 *  Phone Fray
 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test
 *  RSGB 80 Meter Club Sprint, SSB

September 15

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

September 16

 *  NCCC RTTY Sprint
 *  NCCC Sprint
 *  AGB NEMIGA Contest

September 17

 *  ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest
 *  SARL VHF/UHF Analogue/Digital Contest
 *  Scandinavian Activity Contest, CW
 *  All Africa International DX Contest
 *  SRT HF Contest SSB
 *  QRP Afield
 *  New Jersey QSO Party
 *  New Hampshire QSO Party
 *  Washington State Salmon Run
 *  Feld Hell Sprint

September 18

 *  New Jersey QSO Party
 *  New Hampshire QSO Party
 *  Washington State Salmon Run
 *  North American Sprint, RTTY
 *  BARTG Sprint 75

September 19

 *  Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
 *  144 MHz Fall Sprint

September 21

 *  Phone Fray
 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test



NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST

Scott, N3FJP, author of the many and varied N3FJP logging programs, has also
written an article for the August 2016 issue of QST entitled "Kickstart Your
Group with Club Contesting." It might provide impetus and guidance for getting
members of your club to contest together.

Wayne, W5XD, has released the Contesting Super Simulator, an add-on to
WriteLog. This software enables real CW or RTTY Practice, including SO2R, by
emulating the radio and station hardware and providing simulated band
conditions. Search and pounce mode is even available. (Redmond Radio Club
newsletter)

The 64th Annual W9DXCC Convention and Banquet will feature Contest University
on Friday, September 16, 2016, in Schaumburg, Illinois. Featured speakers
include well-known contesters K9CT, K3WA, K9WX, K9ZO, and WW9R, who will
discuss topics including contesting basics, ethics, RTTY contesting,
propagation, modern contesting hardware and software, and how "little pistols"
can be competitive. The day's sessions will be followed by a gathering of the
Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC) at a local restaurant. The W9DXCC is an
ARRL-approved Specialty Operating Convention.

With 20,000 square feet, six stories, and the roof's ability to hold 70 tons,
this Blaine, Washington radar tower is intriguing for its potential as an
operating location. As it has an in-town location, perhaps modern RFI sources
could be a problem.

In the late 1950s, the US began monitoring what today we call space weather --
the effect of solar events on the Earth's ionosphere. In 1967, the Ballistic
Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) was disrupted in a way that could be
interpreted as jamming which, if true, would be interpreted as an act of war.
But because of solar observations and their predicted effect on BMEWS, the US
military did not go on heightened alert status. This information was only
recently publicly reported after a number of personnel involved were able to
share their stories. (John, WV8H)

Bill, K3WA, writes: "The Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC) held their 2016
annual SMC Fest on 27 August in Normal, IL. SMC is the Midwest's premier
contesting club with over 300 active members. SMC Fest started off on Friday
evening with an ad-hoc no-host dinner at Destihl Restaurant and Brew Works
with over 45 members and guests sharing fine food and consuming a sufficient
number of craft 807s to power all the legal limit amplifiers at any major
multi-op contest station. The formal program commenced on Saturday morning at
the Hyatt Place hotel in Normal, Illinois, with 71 SMCers enjoying a mix of
presentations ranging from basic to the most advanced, from SO2R operating
(Mike, W9RE) to contest station-building on a city lot with antenna
restrictions (Pat, WW9R). The final session was a rousing and brain-twisting
look into the future of radiosport presented by Ward, N0AX.

The ARRL was well-represented by Dave Patton, NN1N, ARRL Member Services
Manager; Kermit Carlson, W9XA, Central Division Director; and Carl
Leutzelschwab, K9LA, Central Division Vice Director. Dave gave an inspired
presentation of the QSLing task the league faced after the 2012 Centennial
operation. It required the handling of over 600,000 QSL cards. Attendees may
never look at a "big" box of bureau cards in the same way again. Valerie,
NV9L, oversaw the large number of door prizes, ranging from hats to gift
certificates from ham radio's major manufacturers, and SMC raffled off a brand
new Icom IC-7300 with all of the proceeds going to WRTC 2018. The last door
prize awarded, a Heil Pro 7 headset donated by Heil Sound, was won by Pat,
WW9R. Pat's wife had recently bought him a new PRO-7 headset, so he
immediately auctioned it to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to
WRTC 2018. The last event for SMC Fest 2016 was selecting the winner of the
Icom IC-7300, which turned out to be Pat, WW9R!"



WORD TO THE WISE

MUF - Maximum Usable Frequency. The highest radio frequency that can be used
to communicate between two locations when the path is via reflection off the
ionosphere. When typically used as a descriptor of current conditions, it's
the highest frequency that communications are perceived to be taking place.
When used as a predictor, it's the highest frequency at which propagation may
occur on 50% of the days of the month.



SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Contest Club Ontario had a summer barbeque and Annual General Meeting on
August 27, 2016 at the QTH of VE3EJ. With excellent weather, the pictures, too
numerous and of too high a resolution to be embedded can be viewed at
https://west-photography.smugmug.com/CCO-BBQ-2016/ . (Photos courtesy of
Peter, VE3HG)

This eight-minute video ( https://vimeo.com/177457557 ) is a nice summary of
the recent YOTA Camp 2016 event in Austria. English captions are available
through a setting on the web page. Conference attendees were provided with
WSPR hardware, and were recently invited to participate in a post-conference
YOTA 2016 WSPR Contest.

Spaceweather.com's August 15 edition featured a spectacular picture of a
gigantic jet of lightning emanating from the tops of a thunderstorm to reach
into the ionosphere. The photo was taken over China while attempting to
capture the Perseid meteor shower. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160823.html

August 27 was the date of the last event at the Hara Arena. Non-hams also have
memories of the venue, and are reminiscing. http://www.mydaytond
ilynews.com/news/news/as-its-final-bow-hara-arena-opens-doors/nsMzw/ or
http://tinyurl.com/jrh23dq

The RSGB's focus on youth is evident in a recent promotional video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x6x_6mDVlQ (Doug, EI2CN via Elecraft mailing
list)

The World Wide Radio Operator Foundation has posted "Solar Topics - Where
We're Headed" ( http://wwrof.org/webinar-archive/solar-topics-wh
re-were-headed/ ) by Carl, K9LA. Carl's presentation on propagation looks
forward to 2020 and beyond.



RESULTS AND RECORDS

The results of the 2016 NJQRP Skeeter Hunt have been announced, with the top
five scores as follows:

 *  1st Place Overall - KX0R
 *  2nd Place Overall - N3AQC
 *  3rd Place Overall - AB9CA
 *  4th Place Overall - NN9K
 *  5th Place Overall - N0SS

(Larry, W2LJ)

The Friendship Radiosport Games were held in Portland, Oregon, August 19
through 21. In its 27th year, the FRG consists of three elements: amateur
radio direction finding (ARDF), high-speed telegraphy, and HF radio
contesting. Overall, the Russian team had the highest aggregate score. The US
team was able to narrowly best the Russians in the ARDF event, while the
Canadians edged out the Russians in the HF contesting event. The direction
finding event was held on a 60-acre field consisting of trails, creeks, marsh,
and forests, with temperatures in the Pacific Northwest in the high 90s. With
90 minutes to find five beacons, no team finished in under 75 minutes, and
only two of the 16 competitors found all five beacons. One of the spectator
highlights of the ARDF event was Rick, VE7TK, wading in muddy water up to his
waist to get across a creek. Chris, NW6V, was the winner in the Morse
proficiency event (high speed RX, TX, and pileup). During the NAQP, the
following call signs were used:

K7R - Russian Team

K7C - Canadian Team

K7K - US Team

K7J - Japanese Team

(Thanks to Bill, K7IOA, and Carl, WS7L)



OPERATING TIP

Use Log Check Results (LCRs)

As you're getting ready for this fall's contest season, now might be a good
time to review log check reports from last year's contests to understand where
you need to make improvements or practice. Some contest sponsors provide LCRs
automatically, while some require that you e-mail to request them. For
example, If you're looking at a Phone Sweepstakes LCR, and you note having a
higher error rate with the precedence, you should plan to be extra diligent in
the contest this year. Perhaps practice using bandwidth, filtering, and noise
reduction capabilities of your radio to better copy that field of the
exchange. If the Check field was your kryptonite last year, it could indicate
an over-reliance on a pre-fill database. Remember to always, always, log what
is sent.



TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

DARPA is sponsoring a smart radio contest. Billed as "The world's first
collaborative machine-intelligence competition to overcome spectrum scarcity,"
the competition involves using a standardized SDR platform to demonstrate how
intelligence can be built into radios to establish and maintain communications
in the presence of congestion and interference. One of the interesting aspects
of the competition format is that the qualifying or hurdle round entries are
made using cloud computing images and data sets of sampled I/Q information, so
nearly anyone with SDR expertise can enter.

Talk about a flea market find: A surplus auction buy some decades ago may
inadvertently have preserved the software for the first Apollo Guidance
Computer software. According to a link sent by Chris, ZS6EZ, the hardware from
mission AS-202 was sold in a surplus scrap auction in 1976. Recently, an
enthusiast in South Africa started to extract the bits from the core memory,
after realizing the potential significance of the hardware. NASA apparently
did not archive the AGC software, so this may be the only copy that exists.

Post-contest, when archiving all of the various files for a particular event,
it's likely that you're using software like WinZip to keep all of a particular
contests' files together. Bob, N6TV, provides this tip for using WinZip 20.5:

I couldn't resist the offer to upgrade to the latest version of WinZip 20.5
for only $10. I also installed the WinZip Command Line Support Add-On which
command line aficionados find much faster and easier than waiting for WinZip
GUI to load. The GUI worked fine, but every time I tried the new WZUNZIP from
a command prompt to unzip a file downloaded from the Internet, it failed with,
"Warning: (filename) was blocked by Windows. Extracted file was blocked due to
security zone."

Internet searches revealed many unacceptable and incorrect solutions. I
finally discovered the new -yz command line option, which turns the Security
Zone identifier check OFF. WZUNZIP now extracts files just like the old
wzunzip. Just add the "-yz" option, like this:

wzunzip -yz filename.zip

Or put a one-line batch file in your PATH named unzip.cmd that adds the -yz
option for you:

@"C:Program FilesWinZipwzunzip.exe" -yz %*

If you need to adjust a transformer's output voltage up or down a bit, there
may be a different primary tap that you can select. If there's not, you could
use an additional buck or boost transformer to do the job. Schneider Electric
provides an online calculator can help in selecting a transformer with an
appropriate rating, and provides a schematic of how to use it. Hammond Power
Solutions also provides a selection guide in document form (PDF).

The customized RTL-SDR dongle version 3 has a "Direct Sampling HF Mode" that
allows coverage from 500 kHz to 28.8 MHz without an external mixer. This
should be of great interest to those that would like to use this device for CW
or RTTY Skimmer applications, or for general use at HF.



CONVERSATION

Vacation Contesting

While speaking with Rob, N7QT, the other day, we started talking about
potentially doing a contest from a location that had better propagation than
the Pacific Northwest. I had been seeing a flurry of announcements in the
DailyDX of planned contest activities, and was reminiscing about being part of
VP5W for CQWW CW in 2008. Rob has been on a number of DXpeditions and I just
wanted a refresher on travelling with radios. We were talking more about a
multi-single or even perhaps a solo effort, a combination of R&R and
operating. Part of the allure is that given the right contest, you'll be a
multiplier, and will have non-stop action.

"After picking your contest and deciding what type of operation you'd like to
do, your first priority is probably licensing. I've had varying experiences in
getting licensed, everything from instant CEPT country licensing, to a
surprising four month wait to obtain a VK license during a period where their
systems were getting overhauled. The second thing I like to think about is
location. You can't beat the Caribbean area for access, and depending on where
you go, it can be quite reasonable. Once I've chosen some possible countries,
I've had good luck searching AirBnB, VRBO, and other online sources for
potential vacation rentals. I'm NOT concentrating on finding a location that's
ham specific - I look for places that show a 360 degree view, or other
suitable geography, and then I'll try to contact them to see if radios are OK,
and find out how much room they have for antennas. I've had good success using
verticals and wires. If I were using beams, I'd probably concentrate more on
finding ham-specific locations. Sometimes the owners are amenable to antennas,
sometimes not. You don't know for sure until you ask. Also ask about the
Internet, if you need it. I've arrived at places that have assured us of
Internet only to find that it was broken, or too slow to be usable during my
stay."

"Airline tickets can be a challenge. Try to purchase a ticket that gets you
from your home to your final destination, and back, on a single ticket. One
time I thought we were saving money by buying the flight segments separately,
but all of the airlines had different luggage rules, and we ended up paying
excess baggage fees on many of the multiple segments, costing much more than
we anticipated."

"You should always be thinking about medical contingencies. Be aware of the
insects, animals, or plants that could affect your health, and bring
countermeasures. Medical trip insurance is a personal decision, but even in
places like Germany, if you have an issue, you may find that medical care must
be paid for in cash if you don't have insurance that they'll take."

"When I pack my gear, I make sure everything is attached and running at home,
and then I tear it down and then immediately pack it into luggage right in the
ham shack. I don't even bring equipment to another room to pack it as there's
simply too much risk of something important not getting packed. Checklists are
important, and should be used. I usually take an extra radio, but if I take an
amp and it breaks, I just enter a different power category. If other operators
are going, each should have their own paddles and headsets. Noise cancelling
headsets will be a real advantage in some places, the insects or birds can be
really loud, and they wear on you after a while."

"I budget two or three days ahead of the contest to adjust to the time zone,
and additional two days to get set up if it's not a complicated operation.
Then I work out operating schedules with other operators, or more importantly,
family members. Remember that Phone contests can be disruptive to those within
earshot. Coordinating food can be a issue for a 24 hour or 48 hour effort.
Eating is important, and I've found that in the grind of a long DXpedition or
multi-hour effort, mealtimes can really lift spirits. It's important to have
more than just junk food. We try to arrange for sandwiches or even full meals
to be brought to us while we're operating. "

"I really try to do more than just radio on these trips, though admittedly
that's sometimes difficult. I'm blessed that my significant other, Melanie,
N7BX, understands. She likes to work the pileups before and after the contest.
She even asks me where we want to go next!"

"It's not too late to plan a Caribbean trip for this fall - until December 15,
prices can be very reasonable."

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, predictions, and dull axes to
contest-update@arrl.org

73, Brian N9ADG




CONTESTS

8 Sep - 21 Sep 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, Sep 7, 1300z to Sep 7, 1400z, Sep 7, 1900z to Sep 7,
2000z, Sep 8, 0300z to Sep 8, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: September 10.

NCCC RTTY Sprint, Sep 9, 0145z to Sep 9, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules);
Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: September 11.

NCCC Sprint, Sep 9, 0230z to Sep 9, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No.
+ Name + QTH; Logs due: September 11.

Kulikovo Polye Contest, Sep 10, 0000z to Sep 10, 2359z; CW; Bands: 20m Only;
KP: RST + "KP", non-KP: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: September 25.

FOC QSO Party, Sep 10, 0000z to Sep 10, 2359z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15,
10, VHF; FOC-Member: RST + Name + Member No., non-Members: RST + Name; Logs
due: September 24.

WAE DX Contest, SSB, Sep 10, 0000z to Sep 11, 2359z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20,
15, 10m; RS + Serial No.; Logs due: September 26.

SARL Field Day Contest, Sep 10, 1000z to Sep 11, 1000z; CW, SSB, Digital;
Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS(T) + Number of transmitters + Category
(see rules) + Province (or "DX"); Logs due: September 18.

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, Sep 10, 1200z to Sep 12, 0000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80,
40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./"NONE");
Logs due: September 18.

Russian Cup Digital Contest, Sep 10, 1500z to Sep 10, 1859z, Sep 11, 0600z to
Sep 11, 0959z; RTTY, BPSK63; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Serial No. +
4-character grid square; Logs due: September 21.

Ohio State Parks on the Air, Sep 10, 1600z to Sep 11, 0000z; SSB; Bands: 80,
40, 20, 15, 10m; OH Park: park abbreviation, OH: "Ohio", W/VE: (
tate/province), DX: "DX"; Logs due: September 24.


North American Sprint, CW, Sep 11, 0000z to Sep 11, 0400z; CW; Bands: 80, 40,
20m; [other station's call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name] + [your
state/province/country]; Logs due: September 18.

Swiss HTC QRP Sprint, Sep 11, 1300z to Sep 11, 1900z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m;
RST + "/" + Class + "/" + (kanton, province, etc.) + "/" + first name; Logs
due: see rules.

Classic Exchange, CW, Sep 11, 1300z to Sep 12, 0800z, Sep 13, 1300z to Sep 14,
0800z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2m; Name + RST + (
tate/province/country) + rcvr/xmtr manuf/model; Logs due: December 31.

Phone Fray, Sep 14, 0230z to Sep 14, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m;
NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: September 16.

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Sep 14, 1300z to Sep 14, 1400z, Sep 14, 1900z to Sep 14,
2000z, Sep 15, 0300z to Sep 15, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: September 17.

RSGB 80m Club Sprint, SSB, Sep 14, 1900z to Sep 14, 2000z; SSB; Bands: 80m
Only; [other station's call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name]; Logs
due: September 21.

NCCC RTTY Sprint, Sep 16, 0145z to Sep 16, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules);
Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: September 18.

NCCC Sprint, Sep 16, 0230z to Sep 16, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial
No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: September 18.

AGB NEMIGA Contest, Sep 16, 2100z to Sep 17, 0000z; CW, SSB, Digital; Bands:
80m Only; AGB Member: RST + QSO No. + Member No., non-Member: RST + QSO No.;
Logs due: October 16.

Scandinavian Activity Contest, CW, Sep 17, 1200z to Sep 18, 1200z; CW; Bands:
80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: September 25.

All Africa International DX Contest, Sep 17, 1200z to Sep 18, 1200z; CW, SSB,
RTTY; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: October 3.

SRT HF Contest SSB, Sep 17, 1300z to Sep 18, 1300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40,
20, 15, 10m; RS + CQ Zone; Logs due: see rules.

QRP Afield, Sep 17, 1600z to Sep 17, 2200z; All; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15,
10m; RS(T) + (state/province/country) + (power or NE QRP No.); Logs due:
October 17.

New Jersey QSO Party, Sep 17, 1600z to Sep 18, 0359z, Sep 18, 1400z to Sep 18,
2000z; CW, Phone; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; NJ: RS(T) + county, non-NJ:
RS(T) + (state/province/"DX"); Logs due: October 1.

New Hampshire QSO Party, Sep 17, 1600z to Sep 18, 0400z, Sep 18, 1600z to Sep
18, 2200z; CW/Digital, Phone; Bands: All, except WARC; NH: RS(T) + county,
non-NH W/VE: RS(T) + (state/province), DX: RS(T) + "DX"; Logs due: October 31.

Washington State Salmon Run, Sep 17, 1600z to Sep 18, 0700z, Sep 18, 1600z to
Sep 19, 0000z; CW, Phone, Digital; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2m; WA:
RS(T) + County, non-WA: RS(T) + (state/province/country); Logs due: October 2.

Feld Hell Sprint, Sep 17, 1800z to Sep 17, 1959z; Feld Hell; Bands: 160, 80,
40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; (see rules); Logs due: September 21.

North American Sprint, RTTY, Sep 18, 0000z to Sep 18, 0400z; RTTY; Bands: 80,
40, 20m; [other station's call] + [your call] + [serial no.] + [your name] +
[your state/province/country]; Logs due: September 25.

BARTG Sprint 75, Sep 18, 1700z to Sep 18, 2100z; 75 Baud RTTY; Bands: 80, 40,
20, 15, 10m; Serial No.; Logs due: September 22.

Run for the Bacon QRP Contest, Sep 19, 0100z to Sep 19, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160,
80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + (Member No./power); Logs
due: September 25.

Phone Fray, Sep 21, 0230z to Sep 21, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m;
NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: September 23.

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Sep 21, 1300z to Sep 21, 1400z, Sep 21, 1900z to Sep 21,
2000z, Sep 22, 0300z to Sep 22, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: September 24.


VHF+ CONTESTS

ARRL September VHF Contest, Sep 10, 1800z to Sep 12, 0300z; All; Bands: 50 MHz
and up; 4-character grid square; Logs due: October 12.

ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest, Sep 17, 0600 (local) to Sep 19, 0000 (local); Any;
Bands: 10 GHz to light; 6-Character Maidenhead Locator; Logs due: October 18.

SARL VHF/UHF Analogue/Digital Contest, Sep 17, 1000z to Sep 18, 1000z; Analog
(CW/SSB/FM), Digital; Bands: 50 MHz, 70 MHz, 144 MHz, 432 MHz, 1296 MHz; RS +
6-character grid locator; Logs due: October 2.

144 MHz Fall Sprint, Sep 19, 1900z to Sep 19, 2300z; not specified; Bands: 2m
Only; 4-character grid square; Logs due: October 3.

Also see FOC QSO Party, SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, Classic Exchange, Washington
State Salmon Run, Feld Hell Sprint, New Hampshire QSO Party, above.


LOG DUE DATES

September 8, 2016

 *  ARS Spartan Sprint

September 9, 2016

 *  Phone Fray

September 10, 2016

 *  Wake-Up! QRP Sprint
 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

September 11, 2016

 *  RSGB SSB Field Day

September 12, 2016

 *  SARTG WW RTTY Contest

September 13, 2016

 *  Maryland-DC QSO Party

September 15, 2016

 *  NRAU 10m Activity Contest
 *  CVA DX Contest, CW
 *  CVA DX Contest, SSB
 *  MMMonVHF/DUBUS 144 MHz Meteorscatter Sprint Contest
 *  W/VE Islands QSO Party

September 17, 2016

 *  CWOps CW Open
 *  PODXS 070 Club Jay Hudak Memorial 80m Sprint

September 18, 2016

 *  Russian RTTY WW Contest

September 19, 2016

 *  DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest
 *  MI QRP Labor Day CW Sprint



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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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

____________________________________________________________________________


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