Discover the Wonderful World of Contesting Sharpen your operating skills and have a blast at the same time! Contesting is a major operating activity enjoyed by thousands of amateurs. In fact, it is one of the fastest growing areas of our hobby. One thing that makes contesting special is that it often combines several aspects of Amateur Radio at once. For example, the more you know about antennas, propagation and pileup techniques. the better your scores will be in a DX contest. In many ways. contesting is the ultimate test of knowledge and skill in Amateur Radio. Best of all. contesting offers competitive options to suit just about anyone.. you can compete against other individual operators. you can compete as part of a team in a multi-operator or club competition, or you can compete against yourself to improve your personal best. What is a Radio Contest? Simply put, most contests are based on the idea of contacting as many stations as possible in a fixed amount of time, usually one or two days. Each contact is brief: often the stations just exchange call signs, signal reports and locations. A typical exchange in a phone contest might go like this: WClM: CQ CONTEST, THIS IS WHISKEY CHARLIE ONE MIKE. CONTEST!" KAlLBW: KILO ALFA ONE LIMA BRAVO WHISKEY" WCIM: "KAILBW, FIVE NINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE" KAlLBW: '~FIVE NINE, VERMONT" WClM: "THANKS. WHISKEY CHARLIE ONE MIKE, CONTEST!" The exchange might look like this in a CW contest: WCIM: CQ TEST WC1M WC1M KA1LBW: KAlLBW WC1M: KA1LBW 599 NH KAlLBW: 599 VT WClM: TU QRZ WC1M Sound familiar? If you've participated in Field Day, you've made contacts just like these. Scoring All contests have rules about how the score is computed. Usually, you get one or more points per QSO. In some contests, you earn more points for working stations outside your country or continent, or more points for working stations on the low bands. It makes sense to study the rules carefully. For example, you might be allowed to work the same station once on each band, or perhaps only once regardless of band. The number of QSO points is then multiplied by the number of different multi- pliers you worked. A multiplier is usually a distinct location, such as a state, ARRL sec-tion. grid square. ITU or CQ zone or DXCC entity. In one contest. each unique call sign prefix (e.g., W1. KH6. DL2 is a multiplier. Some contests let you work each multiplier once per band, while other contests count only the first contact with a multiplier. Some contests include more than one type of multiplier, such as zone and DXCC entity. Here's a simple scoring example: let's say you get one point per QSO and each ARRL section counts as a multiplier. If you contact 500 stations in 50 ARRL sections, your score would be 25,000 points. QSO points and multipliers add a strategic dimension to contesting. They force you to think about the best way to optimize your score, given the propagation conditions, the time of day, your location, your antennas and your operating preferences. Should you try for as many contacts as possible? Should you spend more time looking for multipliers? When should you switch to 80 meters? Even the most experienced contesters debate these questions endlessly. Finding your own answer is part of the fun. Logging and Computers Computerized logging programs have had a major impact on contesting, making it easier and more fun than ever. These programs allow us to enter just the call sign and exchange, and then they automatically fill in other required information such as date, time, band. prefix, country, etc. The logging program takes care of 'dupe checking," too, warning us when we've already worked a station on that band. The logging program computes your score and QSO rate throughout the contest. so you always know how you are doing. At the end of the contest. you can output your log to a file and e-mail it to the contest sponsor The result is that get to spend more time operating in the contest and less time doing paperwork chores. The most popular logging programs are CT, NA, TR-Log and Write Log. CT, NA and TR-Log run under MS-DOS, while Write Log runs under Microsoft Windows. The MS DOS Based programs can be run on very inex-pensive IBM-compatible personal computers with a 286 or greater processor and minimal configuration. For more information, get on the Web and go to http://www.contesting .com where you'll find links to the home pages for the popular logging programs. Entry Categories Virtually every contest has multiple entry categories. providing you with many options for participating. In the standard Single Operator category. one person does all of the operating chores, including sending, receiving and logging, and is allowed to transmit from only one radio at a time. Within the Single Operator category there are usually several power classifications, including Low Power, High Power and QRP.The exact power limits vary depending on the type of contest. In the Multi-Single category, two or more operators share the operating chores, but usually transmit from only one radio at a time. This is a good choice if you can't allocate enough time to work the entire contest (or can't stay awake that long!). The Multi-Two category in the ARRL DX contest allows two operators to transmit from up to two radios at a time, on different bands. The Multi-Multi category allows any number of operators to use any number of radios. as long as there is no more than one transmitted signal on each hand. One of the hot new trends in contesting is Single Operator Two Radio, or SO2R. This is a station in which one operator uses two radios. but only one transmitted signal is on the air at any time. This allows the station to compete in the Single Operator category, but with the advantage of being able to call CQ on one radio while at the same time tuning a different band on the other radio. Operating two radios at the same time is a little like juggling cats. so I recommend that you get a lot of experience contesting with one radio before you try SO2R. Contest Resources When you're ready to get started, the first thing to do is to get a calendar of upcoming contests, read the rules, and decide which contests appeal to you. There's a contest calendar in every issue of QST. in the Contest Corral" department. and the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/contests/ has a calendar and rules for all upcoming ARRL contests. You can also find contest calendars and rules on various contest websites, including http://contesting.com. http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/, http:// wwwcq-contest.com/. and http://www .hornucopia.com/contestcal/. A great magazine resource for contest news and information is the Notional Contest Journal. You can subscribe by calling toll free at 1-888-277-5289 between 8 AM and 8 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. Try "The ARRL Big Three" Within the next few months you'll find three popular contests that are perfect for beginners: · ARRL November Sweepstakes ARRL November Sweepstakes is one of my favorite contests. and I try to participate every year. Since the contest is limited to the United States and Canada W/VE). excellent scores are possible even from modest stations. It's also a great way to accumulate states for the WAS and 5Bwas awards. The object is to work as many W and/or VE stations as you can in no more than 24 of the 30 hours of the contest from 2100 UTC Saturday to 0300 UTC Monday).There are separate contest weekends for CW (November 4-6)and Phone (November 18-20). Sweepstakes entry categories are Single Operators Low Power (150 W or less).Single Operator High Power (over 150 W).Single Operator QRP (5 W or less) and Single Operator Unlimited/Assisted (use of packet spots is allowed), Multi-Single. and Club. There's no Multi-Multi category. Complete rules for ARRL November Sweepstakes may be found elsewhere in this issue, or on-line at http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/rules-novss.html. · ARRL 10-Meter Contest Trying for 10-meter WAS. DXCC or 5BDXCC? Then the ARRL 10-Meter Contest is for you! It's a areat DX contest. even for small stations. The object of the contest is to work as many stations as possible on the 10-meter band in no more than 36 of the 48 hours of the contest (from 0000 UTC Saturday to 2400 UTC Sunday). The contest takes place on a single weekend, December 9-10, so the CW and Phone portions are combined. The ARRL 10-Meter Contest has Single Operator (Low Power, High Power, QRP). In the Single Operator categories you can work CW only, Phone only, or Mixed (both CW and Phone). The only other category is Multi- Single, which is mixed mode only. You'll find complete rules for ARRL 10-Meter Contest elsewhere in this issue. or at http://www.arri.org/contests/announcements/rules-10M.html. ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes You don't have an HF rig or antenna? The ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes may be just the ticket for you. It's the big Winter contest for VHF and UHF enthusiasts. and you can do very well with modest equipment and antennas. You can even operate with your mobile FM rig or an H-T. The object of this contest is to work as many stations as possible in as many "grid squares" as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. The contest lasts 33 hours and takes place the weekend before the NFL Super Bowl (1900 UTC Saturday January 20 to 0400 UTC Monday January 22). The January VHF Sweepstakes designates grid squares as multipliers. For more information on grid squares. see the April 1994 issue of QST. page 86. Even beam surf to http://www.arrl.org/locate/gridinfo.html/. There you will find a link to the QST article, along with links to a Web page and a program for your PC that will compute the grid square for any set of coordinates. You can work each grid square once per band for multiplier credit. A ROVING ROVER Rover is a special category unique to contests above 50 MHz.It's designed for operators of mobile stations that move among two or more grid squares during the contest. In addition to the grid squares of stations they work, Rovers can count each grid square From which they make a contact as a multiplier. The rules allow either one or two operators for a Rover station, so you can hop in the car with a buddy and have some real fun driving from one grid square to another making contacts. Complete rules for ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes maybe found in the December issue of QST or at http://www.arrl.org/ contests/announcements/01vhfss.html.