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The ARRL Contest Update

January 10, 2018
Editor: Brian Moran, N9ADG

____________________________________________________________________________


IN THIS ISSUE

 *  New HF Operators: Try Something New
 *  Contest Summary
 *  News: VHF Rover Experiences, Hi-Z's New Product, Dayton Events, and
    more!
 *  Word to the Wise: Prefill
 *  Sights and Sounds: EZNEC author Roy Lewallen Interview and more
 *  Results: 10 GHz and Up, EME, Stew Perry TBDC
 *  Operating Tip: Avoid Exchange Ambiguity
 *  Technical Topics and Information: UDP Latency, Ball Lightning, Signal
    Processing, and more
 *  Conversation: Evolving LCRs
 *  Contests
 *  Log Due Dates

____________________________________________________________________________


NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO

Consider trying something new in January. For example, operating with others as
 a team. By choosing the right contest, you can remain solitary and stoic in
your shack and don't even have to enter in the multi-operator category. In the
upcoming North American QSO Party (NAQP) contests, teams can be formed with
other NAQP competitors. The rules (PDF) state a "team must consist of two to
five Single-Operator stations whose individual scores are combined to produce a
 team score. Although clubs or other groups having more than five members may
form multiple teams, there are no distance or meeting requirements for a team
entry. Teams must be registered prior to the start of the contest." You operate
 from your QTH, and submit your score as if you were a single operator.

There's also the traditional multi-operator category, where a number of
operators gather at one location to jointly operate. In that context it's
easier to share tips and techniques, and to notice small things that others do
while operating that might improve your score.

As with any contest, using a search engine to search "NAQP strategies" can lead
 to a multi-hour advice adventure. Things to consider would be when to take an
off time, how to balance rates versus multipliers, and where to point a beam.

____________________________________________________________________________


CONTEST SUMMARY

11 Jan - 24 Jan 2018

Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section

January 11

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

January 12

 *  NCCC RTTY Sprint
 *  QRP Fox Hunt
 *  NCCC Sprint

January 13

 *  YB DX Contest
 *  Old New Year Contest
 *  UBA PSK63 Prefix Contest
 *  SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
 *  North American QSO Party, CW

January 14

 *  NRAU-Baltic Contest, SSB
 *  NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW
 *  DARC 10-Meter Contest
 *  Midwinter Contest

January 17

 *  Phone Fray
 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test

January 18

 *  CWops Mini-CWT Test
 *  NAQCC CW Sprint

January 19

 *  NCCC RTTY Sprint
 *  NCCC Sprint
 *  LZ Open Contest

January 20

 *  Hungarian DX Contest
 *  North American QSO Party, SSB
 *  WAB 1.8 MHz Phone
 *  ARRL January VHF Contest
 *  Feld Hell Sprint

January 21

 *  Feld Hell Sprint
 *  Classic Exchange, CW

January 22

 *  Run for the Bacon QRP Contest

January 23

 *  Classic Exchange, CW

January 24

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

____________________________________________________________________________


NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST

The January ARRL VHF Contest is coming up, and something to consider is to use
FT8 to work some extra grids.


Sean, WA1TE, as a Limited Rover as K1SIG/R in the 2016 and 2017 September ARRL
VHF Contests shared his experiences on his blog page. To potential new Rovers,
he recommended in an email sent to various VHF reflectors: "You might want to
go simple for your first time, but we didn't and it didn't hurt us that much.
You'll hit snags. Things won't go right. It'll still be fun. You'll think
you're insane. You'll know you're insane. It'll be even more fun. The addiction
 will grow."


The uBITX transceiver kits are starting to land in the US, and the build
stories are appearing. According to Rod, KM6SN: "This rig is fun to put
together- the whole thing puts the 'tinkering fun' back into ham radio. There
are lots of things to hack, hardware and software. The surface mount components
 are 0805 or bigger, and even us old guys can unsolder them and change them."
(Dennis, N6KI)


Hi-Z Antennas has announced new product, the Hi-Z Shack Switch II Plus. This
8-way switch can be used with any of the Hi-Z antenna arrays, and sports a
graphical display, rotary encoder knob, and USB interface for computer control.
 By 'acting like a rotator' with support for the GS-232 rotator protocol, it
works with common programs such as loggers. It's possible to 'click on a spot'
in your favorite program, and have the correct antenna selected based on the
spots compass heading. See the Hi-Z website for more information.


Contest University, the premier event for contesters new and experienced
returns to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dayton, Ohio on May 17, 2018, and
registration is now open. If you'd like to attend this event, you must register
 in advance. Now in it's 12th year, the one-day "CTU" will be chock full of
contesting goodness with sessions covering all aspects of contesting. Attendees
 will be learning from the best, and have multiple opportunities to rub elbows
with their peers. You can watch video of sessions from past years on the
website to get psyched. The Northern California DX Foundation is offering to
pay the registration fee for students 25 years and younger that would like to
attend - see the CTU website for more information.


The 26th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner happens on Saturday, May 19, 2018, at the
 Crowne Plaza Hotel. The festivities start off at 5:30 PM with a cash bar,
followed by dinner at 6:30pm. This year's Contest Dinner features Chris,
DL1MGB, as Dinner Speaker, and don't forget that the 2018 CQ Contest Hall of
Fame Inductions will be announced at the event. Tickets will NOT be available
at the door, and this event tends to sell out.


The 29th Annual Dayton Top Band Dinner will be held Friday evening May 18, 2018
 at the Crowne Plaza in the Presidential Ballroom in Dayton, Ohio. Social hour
is at 6:00 PM followed by dinner at 7:00 PM. This year's event features speaker
 Jerry Rosalius, WB9Z. "Jerry has worked and confirmed 316 countries and all 40
 zones on the Top Band." Jerry is also part of the highly anticipated Bouvet
DXpedition starting later this month. Reservations may be made through the Top
Band Dinner website. (Tim, K3LR)


Ed, W0YK, announces that the RTTY Contest Dinner will be held Thursday, May 17,
 2018, at 6pm the Spaghetti Warehouse, 36 West 5th Street, Dayton, Ohio. This
location is two blocks from the Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown Dayton. This
informal dinner is an opportunity to use a voice mode with your RTTY contesting
 friends. Contact Ed, W0YK to register.


The WRTC 2018 organization has published a summary report on the activities
during 2017 in preparation for the 2018 event. The document would likely be
helpful to future WRTC planning committees, and to everyone provides an
overview of the extensive planning and coordination that go into an event of
this magnitude.


The "Silver Snipers" is the name of a Counter Strike eSports team, the members
of which are "of a certain age." The Lenovo sponsored team started with
absolute neophytes, and built them into a team in just three weeks. Though they
 were defeated by other teams of relative youngsters, many of the 'Snipers
members enjoyed the experience enough to keep gaming.


Pat, N9RV, maintains the Glossary of Contesting Terms included with Contest
University course materials each year. What new terms will make it into the
Glossary this year? (Tim, K3LR)

____________________________________________________________________________


WORD TO THE WISE

Prefill

From the 2017 Contest University Glossary of Contesting Terms: "Prefill refers
to the features of some software packages which automatically fill in exchange
information based upon information obtained either before or during the
contest. Prefill software might enter "Pat" in the name field for the NA
Sprint, for example, if you work N9RV, either based upon previous contests, or
based on working N9RV on a different band in the current contest. If the
prefill information is different from what the station actually changes, of
course, it is up to the operator to manually correct it." (used with the
permission of ContestUniversity.com)


WRTC 2018 has announced the referees for the event taking place in July 2018.
The sixty-five Amateurs were drawn from over 130 applications that were
received. Each operating site will have one referee to observe adherence to the
 WRTC rules, and be available to answer questions by the competitors. They will
 also be required to simultaneously listen to audio from both of the operating
positions.


____________________________________________________________________________


SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Roy Lewallen, W7EL, EZNEC antenna modeling software creator and prolific
author, was interviewed on the QSOtoday podcast by Eric, 4Z1UG, back in April.
Roy discusses antennas, antenna modeling, and touches upon the difference
between models and implementation, but also touches upon feedlines, losses, and
 how Amateur Radio has changed. He also has some advice for new Amateur Radio
operators.


Ham Talk Live! interviewed new NCJ Editor Dr. Scott Wright, K0MD recently.
Starting at about 5:40, Scott discusses upcoming changes at NCJ, and the
imminent January/February 2018 issue.


The Association of Tunisian Radio Amateurs documented the "first licensing
examinations in this millennium" in Tunisia with pictures on their Facebook
Page. Twelve candidates sat for the test.


Dave, 9Y4DG, explains how to use Win4Yaesu Suite software in combination with
TeamViewer and Skype to do remote control of his radio station in this YouTube
video.


According to D4C's Twitter Status, they've been using FT8 on 10 meters
recently.

____________________________________________________________________________


RESULTS AND RECORDS

Unofficial Stew Perry Topband Distance Challenge results are posted on the Stew
 Perry website. The results are updated as batches of new logs are received,
and scores change based on the entry class of logs submitted, as a QSO scores
depend on the power category of both stations and distance between them.
Remember, scores from event are due within 15 days of contest end.


The full results of the 2017 ARRL EME Contest have been posted at on the ARRL
website. Held over three weekends, one hundred forty-eight logs were received,
with a combined total of 6913 QSOs. During the contest, a new 10 GHz distance
record for EME was achieved by Rex, VK7MO, and Jim, WA3LBI using the QRA64D
mode. Operational details submitted by the various operations are included in
the results article, such as the tidbit that the "team of hams at R1IF on
Victoria Island in Franz Joseph Land had to find a better place to operate as
they were being menaced by polar bears."


The results of the ARRL 10 GHz (and Up!) contest have also been posted to the
ARRL website. An excerpt from the results: "One hundred and twenty-seven
Amateurs turned in logs with contacts at X Band and above over the two
(contest) weekends. This was slightly down from the 131 logs turned in for
2016." The results article includes detailed reports from many operators,
organized by call area.


The International Grid Chase Leader Board is in operation on the International
Grid Chase website. Results are updated a number of times each day as logs are
uploaded to LOTW.

You can watch 5030 pins representing the locations of the contacts made by
NU1AW/5 during the 2017 IARU HF Contest drop onto this map, with 24 hours
compressed into 4.5 minutes.

"The Louisiana Contest Club had the privilege of operating the 2017 IARU HF
contest with the call sign NU1AW/5. Operating as a distributed multi-multi from
 3 stations, the group of 14 operators made 5,030 contacts in 24 hours.

Host    # TX    Operators
======================================================
KN5O    2       KN5O NO5W K2FF K5YG W5XU N5HZ KG5HVO
W5WZ    3       WM5H W5WZ W5LA K5ER KV8S
KA5M    1       KA5M KG5VK

Here is a map, animated to show the 5,030 contacts in the order they occurred
and compressing 24 hours down to 4 1/2 minutes. At this rate, 19 markers per
second are dropped onto the map (Click the DROP MARKERS button near the top of
the map to start the pins dropping). A very detailed report on the operation is
 available from the W5WZ website. Thanks to the IARU for selecting Louisiana to
 operate the IARU headquarters station during this contest." (W5WZ)

____________________________________________________________________________


OPERATING TIP

Avoid Exchange Ambiguity

Make sure the contest exchange that you are using is crisp and unequivocal.
Here's an example of an exchange that fails this criteria: The ARRL RTTY
Roundup exchange uses signal report and state, and a W9 station sends "599 IN
IL IL." IN and IL are both states in the W9 call area, both were sent in the
exchange. What goes in the log? Which will be used for log scoring?

____________________________________________________________________________


TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

Larry, K8UT, read the item in the Contest Update earlier this year regarding
keystroke latency, and shared his observation: "The movement from serial to UDP
 communication must have many hams wondering if there is some inherent
benefit/detriment to either connection. I conducted a similar latency
experiment earlier this year while developing a band decoder and SO2R switch
that receives commands via UDP packets. I wanted to compare the elapsed time
between clicking a mouse in the program and closing an external relay on a
Raspberry Pi connected by DE9 serial ports, USB serial ports, or UDP packets. A
 lobotomized mouse exposed its left-click button to the test computer, which
closed the button and then measured click-to-close times between software
initiation and contact activation. Although hardly a controlled scientific
experiment - there is a long list of hardware and software differences that
could contribute errors in my findings - I was happy to discover that UDP
activation occurred faster than either of the other two methods."


KB1LQC, Brenton, and KB1LQD, Bryce also collectively known as "The Salmi
Brothers," are the founders of FaradayRF and designers of their premiere
product, an open source digital radio which uses the 900 MHz band. Their goal
is to enable experimentation using Amateur Radio but at a higher level than RF.
 Assume you have a data connection, the network you're connected to has a radio
 physical layer, and you can send and receive data. Some of the services you
need might be temporarily over the horizon, or blocked by a mountain. It's not
about the network plumbing anymore, it's about what you can do with the
network. They're glad to share their opinions, and are weighing in how
millenials will be changing amateur radio. Ham Radio 360 featured them in a
recent episode, and they've even been mentioned in a recent AMSAT bulletin for
work they did on the AO-91 MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) controller.


Ball lightning is thought to be a type of plasma, but is difficult to study
since the conditions of formation are associated with lightning and
thunderstorms. Researchers may have made progress in being able to reproduce
the phenomenon in the form of a plasma ring that is stable in open air. What's
more, the researchers noted that their experiment also generated RF at
particular frequencies.


A Pragmatic Introduction to Signal Processing, by Tom O'Haver, Professor
Emeritus, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland at
College Park, is available for just a click. The emphasis is on how real-world
time-series information can be manipulated, and examples are illustrated using
various tools such as MatLab, Octave, and Microsoft Excel. Professor O'Haver
invites feedback through his website and Facebook group.


Some people have built their own tubes, but how many have built their own
integrated circuits? No, not using discrete components, but by laying out their
 own masks, using vapor deposition, and etching their own wafers. Probably not
many, but this 17-year old high school student does and he started by
reconditioning old equipment he found on auction sites.

____________________________________________________________________________


CONVERSATION

Evolving LCRs

Performing a log analysis in conjunction with a log checking report (LCR)
provided by the contest sponsor can help improve your score. Depending on the
information provided by the contest sponsor in the LCR, you should be able to
tell whether you're prone to miscopy certain letters, or whether other stations
 are miscopying your callsign or exchange. If it's the latter, maybe you need
to try different phonetics, or understand if there's a way to send your
information in a way that's clearer.

But there's also an opportunity for contest sponsors to think about LCRs
differently, and provide even more value to operators that enter their
contests.

The contest scorers have access to all of a contest's logs. Besides just direct
 log-to-log comparisons for scoring purposes, contest sponsors are in an ideal
position to analyze any particular log against similar logs in the contest
across other dimensions. For example, on an hour-by-hour basis, it might be
useful to compare the number of contacts made on each band versus its peers to
see if an opening was missed. Add to that the zones or countries worked, and a
more complete picture may emerge. Perhaps a sponsor will even put up a website
where ad-hoc queries like these can be performed. Sure, you can do this today
with by downloading the logs of interest to a database, and doing this work
yourself, and some do. It might also be an opportunity for a third party to
build an infrastructure for analysis that would improve over time.

Contest sponsors could also further delight their contesting customers by
borrowing some ideas from other 'sports.' For example, in many fantasy sports
leagues, one of the results of each week's competition is a narrative report,
written like a sports story. Today, some contest results articles contain these
 narratives, but they're usually only for the top few spots in any particular
category, and written by a human. A computer generated report customized for
each contest entry that contains useful statistics and comparison with peers is
 not much more difficult with today's technologies than generating a
downloadable participation certificate. Dial up or down the cheekiness as
needed, or make it an individual setting. Here's a fictional example of what's
could be possible today with information that's readily available:

"N9ADG did better than average in the 2013 ARRL 10m Contest. Entering in the
Single Operator, High Power CW-Only category from Western Washington, his 982
QSOs with 111 multipliers achieved a score of 433,344 points, earning him 104th
 place out 394 total category entries, 7th out of 15 total Northwest Division
Entries, and first in the Western Washington section. Multipliers were key to
N9ADG's performance, scoring higher than KN7T's close 2nd place WWA finish
despite a fewer number of overall contacts. If N9ADG wants to have more points
next year, here are some options:

· Consider trying a different ARRL section. The New England Division's average
score in this category is nearly three times that of Western Washington.

· Consider trying a different category. Single operators scores dominated in
the Western Washington section.

· Add a mode. N9ADG only operated CW, both CW and Phone are allowed.

Personal improvement goals for N9ADG in 2014's ARRL 10 Meter Contest should
include:

· Starting on time. N9ADG's first QSO in this contest occurred 32 minutes after
 the contest start.

· Keeping the Butt In Chair. Though single operators may be on the air for 36
hours, it appears that N9ADG only operated for 22 of them.

· Better Strategy. Other WWDXC stations were able to work more multipliers
including VK, ZL, FK.

· Reducing errors. N9ADG miscopied '4' three times during the contest.

· More running, less S&P. Compared to higher-scoring logs in the Western
Washington Section, you had a higher percentage of contacts on different
frequencies.

Over time, deeper analyses could be possible to suggest things that may not be
obvious, such as needing to improve antennas in certain directions, change
bands sooner or later, finding a little-known opening, and so on.

Which contest sponsor will do this first?

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, Brian N9ADG

____________________________________________________________________________


CONTESTS

11 Jan - 24 Jan 2018

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


HF CONTESTS

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jan 10, 1300z to Jan 10, 1400z, Jan 10, 1900z to Jan 10,
2000z, Jan 11, 0300z to Jan 11, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: January 13.

NCCC RTTY Sprint, Jan 12, 0145z to Jan 12, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules);
Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 14.

QRP Fox Hunt, Jan 12, 0200z to Jan 12, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST +
(state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 13.

NCCC Sprint, Jan 12, 0230z to Jan 12, 0300z; CW; Bands: (see rules); Serial No.
 + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 14.

YB DX Contest, Jan 13, 0000z to Jan 13, 2359z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
 RS + Serial No.; Logs due: January 20.

Old New Year Contest, Jan 13, 0500z to Jan 13, 0900z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40,
20, 15, 10m; RST + sum of operator age and years on the air; Logs due: January
28.

UBA PSK63 Prefix Contest, Jan 13, 1200z to Jan 14, 1200z; BPSK63; Bands: 80,
40, 20, 15, 10m; ON: RSQ + UBA Section, non-ON: RSQ + Serial No. (starting with
 001); Logs due: January 21.

SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, Jan 13, 1200z to Jan 15, 0000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80,
40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./"NONE";
Logs due: January 21.

North American QSO Party, CW, Jan 13, 1800z to Jan 14, 0559z; CW; Bands: 160,
80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; NA: Name + (state/DC/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs
 due: January 19.

NRAU-Baltic Contest, SSB, Jan 14, 0530z to Jan 14, 0730z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40m;
RST + Serial No. + 2-letter Fylke/Lan/Province/Region; Logs due: January 21.

NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW, Jan 14, 0800z to Jan 14, 1000z; CW; Bands: 80, 40m;
RST + Serial No. + 2-letter Fylke/Lan/Province/Region; Logs due: January 21.

DARC 10-Meter Contest, Jan 14, 0900z to Jan 14, 1059z; CW, SSB; Bands: 10m
Only; DL: RS(T) + QSO No. + DOK, non-DL: RS(T) + QSO No.; Logs due: January 29.

Midwinter Contest, Jan 14, 1000z to Jan 14, 1400z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20,
15, 10m; YLs: RST + Serial No. (beginning with 2001), OMs: RST + Serial No.
(beginning with 001); Logs due: see rules.

Phone Fray, Jan 17, 0230z to Jan 17, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m;
NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 19.

CWops Mini-CWT Test, Jan 17, 1300z to Jan 17, 1400z, Jan 17, 1900z to Jan 17,
2000z, Jan 18, 0300z to Jan 18, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m;
Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs
due: January 20.

NAQCC CW Sprint, Jan 18, 0130z to Jan 18, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST +
(state/province/country) + (NAQCC No./power); Logs due: January 21.

NCCC RTTY Sprint, Jan 19, 0145z to Jan 19, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules);
Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 21.

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