Everything not specifically prohibited is mandatory

In a post to cq-contest, Hans K0HB made the suggestion for a new universal contest rule:

"Rule XXII:  Everything not specifically prohibited is mandatory."

During my ethics presentation at CTU in Dayton, I specifically made the opposite point.

Contest sponsors have deliberately chosen to keep rules relatively simple. Perhaps to follow historical precedent or keep the text to something that will fit in a magazine. To fully cover every situation, our rules would look like Formula 1 car racing or top level sail boat racing and be hundreds of pages long.

We would then need judges, a commissioner, and an organization to manage the rules (not to mention more lawyers). We don’t have a big TV contract or big $$ sponsors, so contesting remains largely an honor sport.

This means participants have to consider two elements when making a decision about whether an action is permitted or not. 1) Is it in the rules? These are the “easy” ones. 2) Is there an accepted norm that deals with the issue? This is what keeps the cq-contest reflector humming.

The challenge for contesting is that the accepted norms vary from one culture to another, from one local group to another, and they change over time! Many times they are passed through word of mouth. Remember the game of telephone where you give a sentence to one person and then see the final result after it has been through many retellings?

At CTU, I suggested norms in contesting have 3 main objectives:

  • Just because its not specified in the written rules doesn’t mean you can do it!
  • Keep the contest on the radio and within the contest period
  • Don’t give or take unfair advantage

I am sure Hans was speaking tongue in cheek, but I really would prefer to continue enjoying a competition where people are following the rules and not always trying to find the outside of the envelope.

Randy Thompson, K5ZD

(This post was originally made to cq-contest reflector, June 6, 2009)

2009 ARRL DX SSB Contest (KM3T opr)

K5ZD (KM3T opr.), Single Op All Band, High Power

                    ARRL DX Contest, SSB

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): KM3T
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: MA
Operating Time (hrs): 45.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
  160:   69    51
   80:  301    71
   40:  565    78
   20: 1801   118
   15:  135    57
   10:    5     2
-------------------
Total: 2876   377  Total Score = 3,252,756

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

That was fun, for some value of fun. (If you don’t get that, ask someone who knows some higher level math).  😉

I don’t do any preparation for these single op events.   For me, at least, it’s a lot of wasted energy.  I kind of believe you have these innate and learned skills and you sit down on Friday night, you are dealt some cards, and you play the game.  (Easy to say for a guest op – all the thanks go to Randy for having a well-built and simple to operate SO2R station.)  But I did sleep a little bit Friday afternoon – that helped.

I tried to balance things out – 20m never really stopped producing *something* but I got real tired of the band.  For much of both days *everyone* was there – that wears you out.  I know I could have broken 2,000 Q’s there but the band broke me before I broke the 2,000.

Got a teaser opening on 15m Sunday morning and probably spent a little more time than I should have over there calling CQ. But it seemed to produce mults every time there was a tiny opening so I tried to give it a little time, but it really broke the 20m rhythm up since it really took CQing to milk things out of the band. If everyone is tuning the band, how do you know its open? I think with sunspot numbers this low there is a lot of that going on. And missed openings as a result. Good thing we have our M/M’s beaconing on those bands!

80 and 40 were pretty good.  Conditions on 160 were good both nights, could have spent a little more time there, too.  40m simplex is GREAT.

Can’t wait for the whole world to be broken out of the 7.000-7.100 prison.  Probably weighted 80 a little too much this time…not sure the MUF dropped quite enough to get serious suck-out on 40.  Live and learn.

All in all, good fun.  For a phone contest.  🙂  Thanks to all the DX stations who come out and work these contests year after year!  And congrats to all the ops who sat in chairs all weekend and cheated death for 48 more hours while contributing to their fame, fortune, and contest club scores – now let’s all spend at least 2 hours next weekend exercising instead so we can increase our chances of living for the next one.  🙂

Many thanks to Randy (and his wife Connie) for letting me invade his station, even while he was away on a business trip.

73,

Dave KM3T

By Continent

       160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %
 NA      21     24     33     48     31      0     157     5.5
 SA       6     10     24     41     56      5     142     4.9
 EU      39    257    468   1530     39      0    2333    81.1
 OC       1      6     26     18      1      0      52     1.8
 AF       2      3      9     18      7      0      39     1.4
 AS       0      1      5    146      1      0     153     5.3

Rate Sheet

Hour      160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm    Off

D1-0000Z  --+--   --+--   58/29   23/14   --+--   --+--   81/43     81/43
D1-0100Z    -     36/20   47/11     -       -       -     83/31    164/74
D1-0200Z   9/8    27/9    13/1      -       -       -     49/18    213/92
D1-0300Z   7/6    21/5    10/3      -       -       -     38/14    251/106
D1-0400Z   7/7    22/2     9/2      -       -       -     38/11    289/117
D1-0500Z  10/8    31/4    14/5      -       -       -     55/17    344/134
D1-0600Z   1/0    18/7    30/6      -       -       -     49/13    393/147
D1-0700Z    -      5/4    80/3      -       -       -     85/7     478/154
D1-0800Z   1/1     7/5    47/1    --+--   --+--   --+--   55/7     533/161
D1-0900Z   2/1     4/1    23/2      -       -       -     29/4     562/165
D1-1000Z    -      1/0     2/1   103/33     -       -    106/34    668/199
D1-1100Z    -       -       -    193/14     -       -    193/14    861/213
D1-1200Z    -       -       -    108/8    13/6      -    121/14    982/227
D1-1300Z    -       -       -    102/5     7/3      -    109/8    1091/235
D1-1400Z    -       -       -     88/3    27/19     -    115/22   1206/257
D1-1500Z    -       -       -     84/2     8/3      -     92/5    1298/262
D1-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--  118/5    --+--   --+--  118/5    1416/267
D1-1700Z    -       -       -     70/1      -       -     70/1    1486/268   1
D1-1800Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    1486/268  60
D1-1900Z    -       -       -     23/4     4/3     4/2    31/9    1517/277   8
D1-2000Z    -       -       -     35/2     2/0     1/0    38/2    1555/279
D1-2100Z    -       -       -     54/1     1/1      -     55/2    1610/281
D1-2200Z    -      7/0      -     37/11     -       -     44/11   1654/292
D1-2300Z    -     37/3    12/1     2/0      -       -     51/4    1705/296
D2-0000Z  --+--   --+--   29/2     8/3    --+--   --+--   37/5    1742/301
D2-0100Z   2/1     1/1    30/1     3/1      -       -     36/4    1778/305
D2-0200Z   9/6     3/0     5/2      -       -       -     17/8    1795/313
D2-0300Z   1/1      -      2/0      -       -       -      3/1    1798/314  47
D2-0400Z   2/2     1/1      -       -       -       -      3/3    1801/317  49
D2-0500Z   9/5    25/2     1/0      -       -       -     35/7    1836/324
D2-0600Z   4/2    33/2     3/1      -       -       -     40/5    1876/329
D2-0700Z    -      1/0    68/4      -       -       -     69/4    1945/333
D2-0800Z   2/1     2/2    46/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   50/3    1995/336
D2-0900Z   1/1     4/3     7/1      -       -       -     12/5    2007/341
D2-1000Z    -       -      1/0    54/0      -       -     55/0    2062/341
D2-1100Z    -       -       -    108/1      -       -    108/1    2170/342
D2-1200Z    -       -       -    100/2      -       -    100/2    2270/344
D2-1300Z    -       -       -     71/0    13/11     -     84/11   2354/355
D2-1400Z    -       -       -     29/0    16/0      -     45/0    2399/355
D2-1500Z    -       -       -     39/0    22/7      -     61/7    2460/362
D2-1600Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   54/1     2/0    --+--   56/1    2516/363
D2-1700Z    -       -       -     64/0     4/1      -     68/1    2584/364
D2-1800Z    -       -       -     26/0    15/2      -     41/2    2625/366
D2-1900Z    -       -       -     58/2      -       -     58/2    2683/368
D2-2000Z    -       -      1/0    58/1      -       -     59/1    2742/369
D2-2100Z    -       -       -     60/3     1/1      -     61/4    2803/373
D2-2200Z    -       -     27/2    15/0      -       -     42/2    2845/375
D2-2300Z   2/1    15/0      -     14/1      -       -     31/2    2876/377

Total:    69/51  301/71  565/78 1801/118 135/57    5/2

The contest is over

EZ4EBL and HK0T are two calls that have been discussed on the reflector in the past days.  People were more than happy to point out these calls were incorrect and what the correct call was.  I was very disappointed and concerned by that.

What is contesting?  It is a competition between operators.  This competition involves working stations on the air during the contest period.

Part of working stations is recording them accurately in the log.

When the contest is over the participants submit their log (the record of their activity) to the contest sponsor.  The sponsor checks the logs and publishes the results.  Some people are declared winners, but everyone is also able to compete with themselves and measure their own improvement.

Seems pretty simple.

If contesters sit around after the contest and compare their logs with others in order to make corrections to what they copied, is that within the spirit of the competition?  You are still competing to work stations, but accuracy is no longer being tested.  Same is true if you use other means after the contest to correct your log (looking at DX Summit records, listening to audio recordings, etc.).

In the “old days” ops would write their log using pencil and paper.  They would then have to manually go back through and dupe the log.  During this process they would correct errors they found or make the text easier to read.  This process took time and is a big part of the reason there is a 30 day period to submit logs.  It also lead to this perception that correcting logs after the contest was OK.

Today, we keep our log on computer.  At most we should scan through the log looking for typos and fixing anything we kept a note of during the contest.

These corrections should be done by you based on your own review and knowledge of the log.  Not as a group effort or using outside tools!

Its ok if you didn’t get every call or exchange correct.  Yes, your score may be reduced by the log checkers.  That’s part of the competition.

Request your log check report after the results are published and study it.

If you confuse certain letters on phone or CW you know what to work on during the next contest. Its called improving your skills and should be the most satisfying part of contesting.

Do all contesting and yourself a favor.  Follow the rules and work the contest as best you can.  Put your log in the proper format.  Send it in as quickly as possible after the contest.  The result will be an honest and fair competition that can be used to measure your skills against others and yourself.

 

Randy Thompson, K5ZD

(This item was originally posted to the cq-contest mailing list, December 4, 2008)

2008 CQ WW CW Contest K5ZD

                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: K5ZD
Operator(s): K5ZD
Station: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  126    16       55
   80:  717    24       97
   40: 1217    32      112
   20: 1755    32      124
   15:  149    24       69
   10:   14     4        6
------------------------------
Total: 3978   132      463  Total Score = 6,800,255

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Comments

I am officially announcing my retirement as a serious 40+ hour single op (at least from the USA -or- until the sunspots return). 

Any contest other than CQ WW CW this weekend, and I would have quit.  Tough conditions, although when it gets bad, New England is a great place to be. Nothing but saltwater between here and Europe!

With only one band open at a time (or so it seemed), was mostly in rate mode while trying to find anything new to work on the second radio.  Felt I was doing well for QSOs, but not mults.  Will be interesting to see what others report.

The halfway score was 3.3Meg (2295 Q, 118z, 383c).

Was never able to run on 15m or 160m.  Looking at my log, I was all search and pounce for the first 2-1/2 hours.  Wasn’t able to run much the first night at all.  20 was the exception.  Some amazing rate there.

Hard for us non-packet guys to know who some people were.  Was frustrating to hear someone running multiple stations and just send “TU”, but never a callsign.  V47NT, 8P5A, and P40W are guys who know how to run AND send their calls…

Otherwise, I thought the level of operating was great.  Very few bad (wide) signals and I managed to avoid any bad frequency fights.  I think this is why CW is so much more enjoyable than phone!

I continue to be amazed by all the multipliers with big QSO numbers reporting in on 3830 and I never heard them all weekend.  Room for improvement.  🙂

Audio streaming was running all weekend so I did record the whole thing. Will post the audio files up to my website in January.

Station

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m – 6-el @ 90′, 15m – 5/5 @ 66’/33′, 20m – 5/5 @ 100’/50′, 40m – 2-el @ 110′, 80m – wire 4 square, 160m – GP, shunt fed tower, TH7DXX @ 40′

Some numbers:

By Continent

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total      %

    EU      67    604   1037   1558     53      0    3319    83.4
    AF       3     12     21     28     11      0      75     1.9
    AS       0     14     32     28      3      0      77     1.9
    NA      47     73     89    102     40      2     353     8.9
    SA       7      9     26     32     35     12     121     3.0
    OC       2      5     12      7      7      0      33     0.8

Rates

QSO/ZN+DX by hour and band

Hour 160M     80M     40M     20M     15M     10M    Total     Cumm     Off

00Z  --+--    1/2   116/66   --+--   --+--   --+--  117/68    117/68  
01Z    -     59/46   12/2      -       -       -     71/48    188/116 
02Z    -     24/10   64/14     -       -       -     88/24    276/140 
03Z    -     60/8    39/12     -       -       -     99/20    375/160 
04Z  38/32    3/0     8/5      -       -       -     49/37    424/197 
05Z   8/6    76/8      -       -       -       -     84/14    508/211 
06Z  11/9    36/6      -       -       -       -     47/15    555/226 
07Z   3/2    17/6    77/3      -       -       -     97/11    652/237 
08Z  --+--    3/3   112/7    --+--   --+--   --+--  115/10    767/247 
09Z   3/1     7/5    82/2      -       -       -     92/8     859/255 
10Z    -      3/2    42/11     -       -       -     45/13    904/268 
11Z   5/1     6/5      -    102/34     -       -    113/40   1017/308 
12Z    -       -      3/0   175/7      -       -    178/7    1195/315 
13Z    -       -       -    165/5    19/17     -    184/22   1379/337 
14Z    -       -       -    163/6     8/9      -    171/15   1550/352 
15Z    -       -       -    138/6    11/14     -    149/20   1699/372 
16Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   96/4    21/14    3/2   120/20   1819/392 
17Z    -       -       -     84/10   14/8     4/4   102/22   1921/414 
18Z    -       -       -     38/27   13/8      -     51/35   1972/449 
19Z    -       -     26/3    13/10    8/2      -     47/15   2019/464 
20Z    -       -     75/3     2/2     8/2     1/2    86/9    2105/473 
21Z    -       -    103/2    18/13     -       -    121/15   2226/488 
22Z    -     14/0    14/0     9/3      -       -     37/3    2263/491 
23Z  10/2    20/6     1/1      -       -       -     31/9    2294/500 
00Z  --+--   --+--   11/2    --+--   --+--   --+--   11/2    2305/502    39
01Z    -     40/3    10/3      -       -       -     50/6    2355/508 
02Z    -     77/4     5/2      -       -       -     82/6    2437/514 
03Z  29/11    2/0      -       -       -       -     31/11   2468/525 
04Z    -     61/1      -       -       -       -     61/1    2529/526 
05Z  13/3    17/2      -       -       -       -     30/5    2559/531 
06Z   4/3    69/1      -       -       -       -     73/4    2632/535 
07Z    -     52/1    18/0      -       -       -     70/1    2702/536 
08Z   1/1    --+--   59/0    --+--   --+--   --+--   60/1    2762/537    22
09Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2762/537    60
10Z    -       -       -       -       -       -      0/0    2762/537    60
11Z    -      5/0    12/1    28/3      -       -     45/4    2807/541    21
12Z    -       -       -    128/2    10/5      -    138/7    2945/548 
13Z    -       -       -    150/2    18/9      -    168/11   3113/559 
14Z    -       -       -    121/2     4/2      -    125/4    3238/563 
15Z    -       -       -    113/3     4/0      -    117/3    3355/566 
16Z  --+--   --+--   --+--   95/5     4/0    --+--   99/5    3454/571 
17Z    -       -       -     45/5      -       -     45/5    3499/576 
18Z    -       -       -     49/2     2/0     4/1    55/3    3554/579 
19Z    -       -     44/2    11/0     5/3     2/1    62/6    3616/585 
20Z    -       -    122/0     5/2      -       -    127/2    3743/587 
21Z    -       -    102/2     5/2      -       -    107/4    3850/591 
22Z    -      8/0    57/0     2/1      -       -     67/1    3917/592 
23Z   1/0    57/2     3/1      -       -       -     61/3    3978/595 

Tot: 126/71 717/121 1217/144 1755/156 149/93  14/10 

Most worked countries

          160M    80M    40M    20M    15M    10M   Total

    DL       5    100    183    283      8            579
    UA       5     65     54    137                   261  << Wow!
    OK       6     43     72     95      5            221
     G       5     30     85    111      1            232
    UR       3     40     64     92      1            200
     I             16     53     89      6            164
    SP       4     33     54     63                   154
    VE      25     31     34     36     10            136
    PA       3     16     42     68                   129
     F             17     45     63      3            128
    EA       2     12     42     44      6            106

Only one 6 bander: HC8N

Audio – CQ WW CW 2008

Audio Archive – K5ZD CQ WW CW 2008  (K5ZD op)

Call: K5ZD
Operator: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 45
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  126    16       55
   80:  717    24       97
   40: 1217    32      112
   20: 1755    32      124
   15:  149    24       69
   10:   14     4        6
------------------------------
Total: 3978   132      463  Total Score = 6,800,255

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 30-minute segments.  Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.  View rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 30 minute mpeg file is 5.2Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones.  Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Note: There are audio problems on the recording when transmitting on some bands on the right hand radio.  They do not affect the received audio.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 63 search & pounce on 40m
Day 1 – 0030Z Listen Log 54 search & pounce on 40m
Day 1 – 0100Z Listen Log 37 search & pounce on 40m, 80m
Day 1 – 0130Z Listen Log 34 search & pounce on 80m
Day 1 – 0200Z Listen Log 33 S&P 80m, find 40m freq, SO2r on 80m
Day 1 – 0230Z Listen Log 55 run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 1 – 0300Z Listen Log 47 run on 40m, so2r on 80m
Day 1 – 0330Z Listen Log 52 run on 80m, so2r on 40m
Day 1 – 0400Z Listen Log 27 run on 80m, so2r on 40m, move to 160m
Day 1 – 0430Z Listen Log 22 search & pounce on 160m
Day 1 – 0500Z Listen Log 40 160m, to 80m, start run on 80m
Day 1 – 0530Z Listen Log 44 run on 80m, so2r on 160m
Day 1 – 0600Z Listen Log 32 search & pounce on 80m, 160m
Day 1 – 0630Z Listen Log 16 search & pounce on 160m, 80m
Day 1 – 0700Z Listen Log 36 run on 80m, so2r on 160m, then to 40m
Day 1 – 0730Z Listen Log 63 run on 40m
Day 1 – 0800Z Listen Log 66 run on 40m
Day 1 – 0830Z Listen Log 49 run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 1 – 0900Z Listen Log 49 run on 40m, second radio on 80m/160m
Day 1 – 0930Z Listen Log 43 run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 1 – 1000Z Listen Log 29 run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 1 – 1030Z Listen Log 16 search & pounce on 40m
Day 1 – 1100Z Listen Log 17 search & pounce on 160, 80m, start run on 20m
Day 1 – 1130Z Listen Log 96 run on 20m
Day 1 – 1200Z Listen Log 91 run on 20m, work JA on 40m
Day 1 – 1230Z Listen Log 87 run on 20m, work KH7 and UA9 on 40m
Day 1 – 1300Z Listen Log 95 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1330Z Listen Log 90 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1400Z Listen Log 95 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1430Z Listen Log 80 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1500Z Listen Log 78 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1530Z Listen Log 76 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1600Z Listen Log 61 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1630Z Listen Log 61 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1700Z Listen Log 60 run on 20m, second radio on 15m/10m
Day 1 – 1730Z Listen Log 44 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1800Z Listen Log 31 search and pounce on 15m, 20m
Day 1 – 1830Z Listen Log 22 search and pounce on 20m, 15m
Day 1 – 1900Z Listen Log 21 search and pounce on 20m/15m, start run on 40m
Day 1 – 1930Z Listen Log 26 run on 40m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 2000Z Listen Log 34 run on 40m, second radio on 15m/10m
Day 1 – 2030Z Listen Log 53 run on 40m, second radio on 15m/20m
Day 1 – 2100Z Listen Log 68 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2130Z Listen Log 54 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2200Z Listen Log 20 run/tune on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2230Z Listen Log 17 tune on 40m, tune on 20m
Day 1 – 2300Z Listen Log 22 search and pounce on 80m
Day 1 – 2330Z Listen Log 11 search and pounce on 160m
Day 2 – 0000Z 0 break for dinner
Day 2 – 0030Z Listen Log 11 search and pounce on 40m
Day 2 – 0100Z Listen Log 20 search and pounce on 40m, 80m
Day 2 – 0130Z Listen Log 31 run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 0200Z Listen Log 48 run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 0230Z Listen Log 34 run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 0300Z Listen Log 21 search and pounce on 160m
Day 2 – 0330Z Listen Log 10 search and pounce on 160m
Day 2 – 0400Z Listen Log 36 tune then run on 80m
Day 2 – 0430Z Listen Log 27 run on 80m
Day 2 – 0500Z Listen Log 11 search and pounce on 160m
Day 2 – 0530Z Listen Log 19 search and pounce on 160m, 80m
Day 2 – 0600Z Listen Log 39 run on 80m, second radio on 160m
Day 2 – 0630Z Listen Log 36 run on 80m, second radio on 160m
Day 2 – 0700Z Listen Log 38 run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 0730Z Listen Log 33 run on 80m, then run on 40m
Day 2 – 0800Z Listen Log 49 run on 40m
Day 2 – 0830Z Listen Log 14 run on 40m, sleep at 0845z
Day 2 – 0900Z 0 sleep
Day 2 – 0930Z 0 sleep
Day 2 – 1000Z 0 sleep
Day 2 – 1030Z 0 sleep
Day 2 – 1100Z Listen Log 6 on at 1115z, tune 40m, 80m (work JA on 80!)
Day 2 – 1130Z Listen Log 39 tune 80m, 40m, 20m
Day 2 – 1200Z Listen Log 62 tune then run on 20m
Day 2 – 1230Z Listen Log 88 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1300Z Listen Log 96 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1330Z Listen Log 80 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1400Z Listen Log 73 run on 20m
Day 2 – 1430Z Listen Log 60 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1500Z Listen Log 69 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1530Z Listen Log 55 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1600Z Listen Log 51 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1630Z Listen Log 51 run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1700Z Listen Log 27 end run on 20m, tune 20m
Day 2 – 1730Z Listen Log 19 tune 20m
Day 2 – 1800Z Listen Log 26 tune/run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1830Z Listen Log 32 run on 20m, second radio on 15m/10m
Day 2 – 1900Z Listen Log 23 tune 20m, 15m, 10m, then start run on 40m
Day 2 – 1930Z Listen Log 43 run on 40m
Day 2 – 2000Z Listen Log 62 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2030Z Listen Log 70 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2100Z Listen Log 59 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2130Z Listen Log 51 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2200Z Listen Log 38 run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2230Z Listen Log 33 run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 2 – 2300Z Listen Log 27 tune/run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 2330Z Listen Log 38 run on 80m

 

Audio – CQ WW SSB 2008

Audio Archive – K5ZD CQ WW Phone 2008

Call: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: W1
Operating Time (hrs): 44.5
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  112    14       55
   80:  412    21       86
   40:  771    27      100
   20: 1905    36      127
   15:  462    23       90
   10:   44     6       12
------------------------------
Total: 3706   127      470  Total Score = 6,303,126

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 30-minute segments. Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log. View rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 30 minute mpeg file is 5.2Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones. Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 57 Tuning on 40m and 20m
Day 1 – 0030Z Listen Log 34 Tuning on 20m then 40m
Day 1 – 0100Z Listen Log 35 Tuning on 40m, 20m, 160m
Day 1 – 0130Z Listen Log 38 Tuning on 75m
Day 1 – 0200Z Listen Log 36 Tuning on 75m then 40m
Day 1 – 0230Z Listen Log 30 Tuning 40m then 75m
Day 1 – 0300Z Listen Log 30 Tuning 75m then 160m
Day 1 – 0330Z Listen Log 24 Tuning 160m then 75m
Day 1 – 0400Z Listen Log 37 Tuning 75m with some short runs
Day 1 – 0430Z Listen Log 43 Run on 75m with SO2R on 40m
Day 1 – 0500Z Listen Log 45 Run on 75m with SO2R on 40m, then tune 160m
Day 1 – 0530Z Listen Log 26 Tune 160m then 75m
Day 1 – 0600Z Listen Log 33 Tune 75m, then 40m, run on 75m
Day 1 – 0630Z Listen Log 22 Tune 75m then 160m
Day 1 – 0700Z Listen Log 22 Tuning 75m and 40m
*Recording gap due to computer reboot. Remaining files are off by 7 minutes.*
Day 1 – 0737Z Listen Log 12 Tuning 75m
Day 1 – 0807Z Listen Log 7 Tuning 40m and 75m
Day 1 – 0900Z 1 hour sleep
Day 1 – 0956Z Listen Log 34 You can hear JH1OGC on 75m early in this session. Then tuning 80m and 40m.
Day 1 – 1037Z Listen Log 55 Running on 20m
Day 1 – 1107Z Listen Log 79 Running on 20m
Day 1 – 1137Z Listen Log 68 Running on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1207Z Listen Log 71 Running on 20m
Day 1 – 1237Z Listen Log 69 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1307Z Listen Log 55 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1337Z Listen Log 51 Try to run on 15m, then back to 20m
Day 1 – 1407Z Listen Log 53 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1437Z Listen Log 66 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1507Z Listen Log 64 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1537Z Listen Log 63 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1607Z Listen Log 74 Running on 20m
Day 1 – 1637Z Listen Log 63 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1707Z Listen Log 63 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1737Z Listen Log 52 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1807Z Listen Log 29 Tune for mults on 20m, find new run frequency
Day 1 – 1837Z Listen Log 53 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1907Z Listen Log 61 Running on 20, second radio on 15m, 10m
Day 1 – 1937Z Listen Log 51 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 2007Z Listen Log 53 Running on 20, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 2037Z Listen Log 40 Tuning on 20m, then 15m, then 40m
Day 1 – 2107Z Listen Log 60 Running on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2137Z Listen Log 50 Running on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2207Z Listen Log 54 Running on 40m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 2237Z Listen Log 40 Running on 40m, second radio on 15m, 10m, 75m
Day 1 – 2307Z Listen Log 52 Running on 40m, second radio on 75m, 20m
Day 1 – 2337Z Listen Log 21 Running on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 0007Z Listen Log 3 Dinner break from 0000z to 0030z.
Day 2 – 0037Z Listen Log 12 Tuning on 160m and 75m
Day 2 – 0107Z Listen Log 34 Tuning across 75m, then run on 75m
Day 2 – 0137Z Listen Log 25 Run on 75m, then tune 75m and 160m
Day 2 – 0207Z Listen Log 4 More off time, beginning of rain static
Day 2 – 0237Z Listen Log 11 Tuning 40m, 160m, 75m
Day 2 – 0307Z Listen Log 18 Tuning 75m and 160m
Day 2 – 0337Z Listen Log 11
Day 2 – 0407Z Listen Log 3
Day 2 – 0437Z Listen Log 12 Mostly tuning 160m
Day 2 – 0507Z Listen Log 6 Tuning on 75m
Day 2 – 0537Z Listen Log 11 75m, 160m, 40m
Day 2 – 0607Z Listen Log 30 Start Europe run on 40m
Day 2 – 0637Z Listen Log 51 Run on 40m
Day 2 – 0707Z Listen Log 57 Run on 40m, second radio on 75m
Day 2 – 0737Z Listen

Going past 10

At the Contest University I gave a talk on Contesting Ethics. During the section on obeying power limits, I made a reference to turning the knob past 10 to 11 as a metaphor for breaking the rules. Several people in the audience identified the movie this was from (Spinal Tap).

K1DG found a video clip from the movie that explains it all. Be sure to
watch all the way to the end.

http://youtu.be/4xgx4k83zzc

And just because the knob on your amplifier might let you go to 11 (or 12, or 13, or even more), please remember contesting is a game and it only works if everyone trusts each other to stay within the rules!

Randy Thompson, K5ZD

(This originally appeared on the cq-contest mail list, May 21, 2008)

Randy Thompson, K5ZD, Named WPX Contest Director

CQ Communications, Inc. / 25 Newbridge Rd. / Hicksville, NY 11801 / Phone: (516) 681-2922 / Fax: (516-681-2926) / e-mail: w2vu@cq-amateur-radio.com

NEWS RELEASE

For more information, contact:
Richard Moseson (W2VU)
Editor, CQ Amateur Radio
(516) 681-2922 / w2vu@cq-amateur-radio.com
Randy Thompson (K5ZD)
k5zd@cqwpx.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2008

Randy Thompson, K5ZD, Named Director of CQ WPX Contests

(Hicksville, NY) May 8, 2008 — Contesting luminary Randy Thompson, K5ZD, has been named Director of the CQ World Wide WPX Contests, effective immediately. Randy succeeds Steve Merchant, K6AW, who has been WPX Contest Director since 2002 and who needed to step aside due to business obligations.

Randy has been a contester for more than three decades and has multiple wins to his credit in the single-op, all-band categories of both the CQ World Wide DX Contest and the CQ WPX Contest, in both CW and SSB modes. Randy is also a past editor of the “National Contest Journal” (a post he has held three separate times) and a co-founder of the eHam.net website. He is a longtime member of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club and an instructor at K3LR’s Contest University. In the past year, Randy has been working with Steve Merchant behind the scenes on the WPX contests, so he is already familiar with the program from the administrative side.

Any questions regarding the 2008 WPX Contests (SSB weekend was held last March; CW weekend is coming up at the end of May) should be directed to Randy via e-mail to <k5zd@cqwpx.com>. We thank K6AW for his years of dedicated service to the WPX Contests and look forward to a seamless transition to K5ZD’s administration of the event.

####

Audio – NA Sprint CW February 2008

Audio Archive – K5ZD North American Sprint CW – Feburary 2008

Call: K5ZD

Class: Single Op HP
Operating Time (hrs): 4
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Op Time
---------------------
   80:  118        
   40:  125        
   20:   76        
---------------------
Total:  319    Mults = 46  Total Score = 14,674

Club: 

Team: YCCC #1

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 20m - 5-el @ 100', 40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 60-minute segments. Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.

QSO/Mult by hour and band

Hour       80M    40M     20M    Total    Cumm  

D1-0000Z  --+--   20/9   72/23   92/32    92/32 
D1-0100Z   11/2   66/8    4/0    81/10   173/42 
D1-0200Z   53/1   26/2     -     79/3    252/45 
D1-0300Z   54/1   13/0     -     67/1    319/46 

Total:    118/4  125/19  76/23

This was not one of the better Sprints. Conditions were difficult from New England with 20m closing early and 40/80m going long early. I was on 80m by 02z, which is much earlier than normal.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 30 minute mpeg file is 7.0Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones. Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
0000Z Listen Log 92 20/40
0100Z Listen Log 81 20/40
0200Z Listen Log 79 40/80
0300Z Listen Log 67 40/80

 

CQ WW CW 2007

Audio Archive – K5ZD CQ WW CW 2007

Call: K5ZD
Operator: K5ZD

Class: SOAB HP
Operating Time (hrs): 43
Radios: SO2R

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:  225    18       69
   80:  642    25      101
   40:  775    30      115
   20: 1301    31      118
   15:  506    24      100
   10:   29    11       20
------------------------------
Total: 3478   139      523  Total Score = 6,574,984

Club: Yankee Clipper Contest Club 

Equipment: FT-1000D + Alpha 76CA, FT-1000D + AL-1200

Antennas: 10m - 6-el @ 90', 15m - 5/5 @ 66'/33', 20m - 5/5 @ 100'/50'
40m - 2-el @ 110', 80m - 4 square, 160m - GP, shunt fed tower

Links to Audio Files

Click on the Audio link to listen to individual 30-minute segments.  Click on the Log link to view the corresponding section of the log.  View rate sheet to find the best hours.

Note: When you click on Listen, your browser will download the entire audio file before it begins to play. This could take some time depending on your Internet connection speed. (Typical 30 minute mpeg file is 5.2Mb.)

I recommend that you listen to the audio clips using headphones.  Listening from a speaker makes it difficult to hear the calls through the QRM and to hear the SO2R headphone switching.

Note: There are audio problems on the recording when transmitting on some bands on the right hand radio.  They do not affect the received audio.

Time Segment Audio Log QSOs Comments
Day 1 – 0000Z Listen Log 48 S&P across 40m
Day 1 – 0030Z Listen Log 39 S&P across 40m, then 80m
Day 1 – 0100Z Listen Log 37 S&P across 80m
Day 1 – 0130Z Listen Log 26 Mostly 40m, some 80/160
Day 1 – 0200Z Listen Log 26 Tuning 160m
Day 1 – 0230Z Listen Log 30 Tuning 80m
Day 1 – 0300Z Listen Log 18 Tuning, then start run on 80m
Day 1 – 0330Z Listen Log 22 80m, 160m, 20m
Day 1 – 0400Z Listen Log 19 Tuning 40m, 80m
Day 1 – 0430Z Listen Log 33 Tuning 80m, start run on 80m
Day 1 – 0500Z Listen Log 34 Run on 80m, tune 160m
Day 1 – 0530Z Listen Log 36 Nice run on 160m!
Day 1 – 0600Z Listen Log 54 Run on 160m
Day 1 – 0630Z Listen Log 36 Run on 160m, run on 80m
Day 1 – 0700Z Listen Log 33 Run on 80m, second radio on 160m
Day 1 – 0730Z Listen Log 49 Run on 80m, second radio on 160m/20m
Day 1 – 0800Z Listen Log 33 Run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 1 – 0830Z Listen Log 24 Run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 1 – 0900Z Listen Log 16 Tune 80m, 40m
Day 1 – 0930Z Listen Log 9 Tune 40m, 80m – sleep at 0945z
Day 1 – 1000Z 0 Sleep
Day 1 – 1030Z 0 Sleep
Day 1 – 1100Z Listen Log 2 On at 1126z, JH1OGC on 80m!
Day 1 – 1130Z Listen Log 22 Tune 80m, 160m, 40m, 20m
Day 1 – 1200Z Listen Log 64 Run Eu on 20m
Day 1 – 1230Z Listen Log 74 Run on 20m, some second radio on 40m
Day 1 – 1300Z Listen Log 90 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1330Z Listen Log 73 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1400Z Listen Log 70 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m, run on 15m
Day 1 – 1430Z Listen Log 70 Run on 15m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 1500Z Listen Log 76 Run on 15m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 1530Z Listen Log 81 Run on 15m, run on 20m
Day 1 – 1600Z Listen Log 100 Run on 20m
Day 1 – 1630Z Listen Log 83 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1700Z Listen Log 65 Run on 20m
Day 1 – 1730Z Listen Log 60 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1800Z Listen Log 43 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1830Z Listen Log 28 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 1 – 1900Z Listen Log 25 Tuning 20m
Day 1 – 1930Z Listen Log 40 Tune 20m, then start run on 40m
Day 1 – 2000Z Listen Log 77 Run on 40m
Day 1 – 2030Z Listen Log 73 Run on 40m, second radio on 15m/10m
Day 1 – 2100Z Listen Log 54 Run on 40m, second radio on 10m
Day 1 – 2130Z Listen Log 68 Run on 40m
Day 1 – 2200Z Listen Log 52 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2230Z Listen Log 46 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 1 – 2300Z Listen Log 39 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m, tune 80m
Day 1 – 2330Z Listen Log 28 Tune 80m, 40m
Day 2 – 0000Z Listen Log 32 Tune 80m
Day 2 – 0030Z Listen Log 26 Run on 80m, second radio on 40m
Day 2 – 0100Z Listen Log 7 Tune 160m, take break at 0110z
Day 2 – 0130Z Listen Log 17 Back at 0130z, tune 80m
Day 2 – 0200Z Listen Log 26 Tune 80m, 160m, 40m
Day 2 – 0230Z Listen Log 28 Tune 40, tune 160m, run on 80m
Day 2 – 0300Z Listen Log 30 Run on 80m
Day 2 – 0330Z Listen Log 14 Tune 80m, tune and run on 160m
Day 2 – 0400Z Listen Log 14 Tune 80m
Day 2 – 0430Z Listen Log 28 Run on 80m, second radio on 160m
Day 2 – 0500Z Listen Log 16 Tune 160m, 80m, 40m
Day 2 – 0530Z Listen Log 21 Run on 40m, second radio on 80m
Day 2 – 0600Z Listen Log 32 Run on 80m, second radio on 40m/160m
Day 2 – 0630Z Listen Log 33 Run on 80m
Day 2 – 0700Z Listen Log 18 Tune 80m, 160m
Day 2 – 0730Z Listen Log 13 Run on 160m, tune 80m
Day 2 – 0800Z Listen Log 6 Tune 80m, sleep at 0815z
Day 2 – 0830Z 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 0900Z 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 0930Z 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 1000Z 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 1030Z 0 Sleep
Day 2 – 1100Z Listen Log 4 On at 1122z, tune 80m
Day 2 – 1130Z Listen Log 9 Tune 40m
Day 2 – 1200Z Listen Log 55 Establish run on 20m
Day 2 – 1230Z Listen Log 73 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1300Z Listen Log 79 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1330Z Listen Log 78 Run on 20m, run on 15m
Day 2 – 1400Z Listen Log 68 Run on 15m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 1430Z Listen Log 65 Run on 15m, second radio on 10m
Day 2 – 1500Z Listen Log 42 Run on 15m, second radio on 10m
Day 2 – 1530Z Listen Log 31 Run on 15m, second radio on 10m
Day 2 – 1600Z Listen Log 55 Run on15m, mults on 10m, run on 20m
Day 2 – 1630Z Listen Log 77 Run on 20m
Day 2 – 1700Z Listen Log 47 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 1730Z Listen Log 39 Run on 20m, second radio on 15m, 10m
Day 2 – 1800Z Listen Log 28 Run on 20m, then tune 20m
Day 2 – 1830Z Listen Log 17 Tune 20m, 15m
Day 2 – 1900Z Listen Log 19 More tuning, then start run on 40m
Day 2 – 1930Z Listen Log 28 Run on 40m, then tune 40m
Day 2 – 2000Z Listen Log 24 Run on 40m, second radio on 15m
Day 2 – 2030Z Listen Log 19 Tune 40m, tune 20m
Day 2 – 2100Z Listen Log 19 Run on 40m
Day 2 – 2130Z Listen Log 27 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2200Z Listen Log 30 Tune 20m, start run on 40m
Day 2 – 2230Z Listen Log 28 Run on 40m, second radio on 20m
Day 2 – 2300Z Listen Log 17 Tune 80m, then run on 80m
Day 2 – 2330Z Listen Log 27 Run on 80m, second radio on 160m

 

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