Finally, here are the official results of the first running
of the GridLoc contest. Text writeup was composed by George
Fremin (WB5VZL) and myself. Note that there will be a second
running in April and conditions will be better. There's no way
conditions can be worse!
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The First Annual International
HF Grid Location Contest
Over the years the contesting community has had a
running discussion about how to improve the significance
of exchanged information during contests. In July of 1994
the cq-contest Internet reflector
started a discussion that created an idea of using
Maidenhead grid squares as multipliers in an HF contest.
Grid squares have been used for over 10 years in VHF
contesting with great success but no one had yet tried to
use grid squares on the HF bands.
As the current round of the disscusion was dying
down Robert Barron (KA5WSS) called me to help him
draw up a rough draft of rules for a new contest. We sent
that rough draft of rules off to several contesters and asked
for their input. We took their suggestions, decided on a
date and then announced the contest with a post to the CQ-
CONTEST mail reflector. We also sent the rules to CQ
and QST for their contest listings.
The rules were designed to be simple. The excange
would be operator name and grid square. Contacts would
count 1 point per valid QSO and grids count as multipliers
once per band. We assumed that a large number of people
would not know their grid square so we decided that valid
contacts would be allowed even if the station did not know
their grid square.
The contest was run the 2nd full weekend of April
1995 - this weekend was chosen because conditions are
usually pretty good during this time of year. The first
running of the contest was a success in that many positive
comments about the format were received. However the
name GridLoc fit the description of band conditions
suffered by most of the participants. According to Bud
(WA2BQI) the band conditions were the worst he had seen
in any contest for the last 38 years! Despite the horrible
conditions a total of 27 logs were received, although none
were received from outside of the U.S.
In spite of the very poor band conditions activity was
good. K4XU took the mixed mode category with an
impressive score that counted almost double the multipliers
of the second place effort. N3BB (WB5VZL, op) and
K6XO fought for second with N3BB taking second based
on fewer QSOs but a higher grid count.
The CW only category was a battle between WN3K
and N4OGW. The multiplier count was close but WN3K
managed to make 22 more contacts to pull out a win. Both
stations made more than 20 band changes in an effort to
drum up more contacts and multipliers. W3GOI took third.
The phone only category was won by KA5WSS who
used the brute force method by putting more hours in that
any other competitor. K2PS and KI4DC took second and
third, respectively, over a large group of stations that
fought their way to make over 120 QSOs.
The crew at KK5GJ (+KB5YVT) took top honors in
the multi-op category while KB0QVP made some of his
first radio contacts at WD0T on their way to taking second
place.
Tom (K5RC) submitted the only official Rover log for
this year's GridLoc. He visited 3 grid squares and gave
some much appreciated multipliers to the other GridLoc
stations.
Going into the contest many operators (including
Robert and I) feared that few Amateurs on HF would know
their grid square. While it was true that some did not,
most competitors' logs showed almost 80 percent of their
contacts included a grid square in the exchange. A
surprising number of comments indicated that individuals
who did not know their grid expressed an interest in
finding out. In one case a participant was called by a
station worked earlier specifially to exchange the grid
square he had just determined.
Based on the experiences of the competitors in this
year's event we decided to make one rule change. Stations
may now work one another on every band/mode.
Multipliers will remain by band only.
Plans are already underway to prepare for next year's
event. K8HVT wrote, "Perhaps a clever award (like the
CAL QSOParty) would bring out more activity next year."
The top stations of GridLoc 1996 will receive T-shirts and
jar of Texas salsa to celebrate their victories.
Several operators indicated that GridLoc presented a
unique contesting experience that was fun to boot. It can
only get better with more participation and better
conditions. We are sure that 1996 will bring both. Make
you plans for the 1996 GridLoc contest we look forward to
hearing you on the bands.
The 1996 contest will be held April 13-14.
Soapbox
All Q's were made on 20m except a short 10m opening for
about 18 Q's. 15m was DEAD here! Good Idea hope it
will have more support next year! (KB5YVT) For such
lousy condx, contest became a domestic affair which
wasn't all bad. Was fun seeing how different sections of
the coutnry came through at certain times, kind of like the
10 Meter contest. (K2PS) Good timing having it the same
day as the County Hunters Contest. Lots of contest-types
out there, and not too hard to convince `em to give name
and grid in exchange for county! (K2PS) I like the idea of
this contest...however, zippo activity on CW. (N4OGW)
The Grid Loc contest has the makings of being a lot of
fun... I hope the next time the band conditions are better
and we can get more ops on the air. (W3GOI) This was a
good start. 4 DX contacts, conditions sucked. (K4XU)
Most ops seemed to enjoy the contest. Many liked the
"easy" exchange. (KB1GW) The concept of this contest is
unique and fun. (K8HVT) I think everyone had given up by
the time I got on. The CW QSO was so weak, I think we
completed the QSO on ESP as much as anything else.
(NG0X) FUN contest format. Lets do this format/contest
again. (WD0T) terrible condx... looking forward to next
years running. (NA4M) Grid loco! Great idea, horrible
condx, surprised how few knew grid no. (WN3K) I really
like the idea of this contest. The use of grid squares gives
people like me a somewhat more unique contest location
and thus more interest on the part of other folks on the
bands. (K6ZCL) I like the concept of grid squares - no
country hassles. (WA8LLY) See you next contest.
(WA2BQI)
GridLoc 1995 Official Results
Band
Call QSOs Grids Score Grid Name Chgs. Grid %
Single Op Mixed Mode
K4XU 149 111 16539 EM49 Dick 12 94
N3BB 105 65 6825 EM10 George 10 78 (WB5VZL, op)
K6XO/7 115 58 6670 DN40 Alan 6 63
N7LOX 18 15 270 CN87 Brian 3 89
N2KJM 16 15 240 FN20 John 6 100
WA8LLY 13 10 130 CM88 Steve 2 85
K8HVT 8 8 64 FN31 Hal 1 100
Single Op CW Only
WN3K 136 80 10880 FM29 Bob 28 69
N4OGW 114 78 8892 EN50 Tor 23 86
W3GOI 41 32 1312 FM19 John 6 85
N0AT 6 6 36 EN34 Ron 3 100
K3WWP 6 5 30 FN00 John 3 100
WA2BQI 3 3 9 ???? Bud 0 100
WD5N 1 1 1 EM10 Dave 0 100
Single Op Phone Only
KA5WSS 413 154 63602 EM10 Robert 6 72
K2PS 175 120 21000 FM29 Pete 5 98
KI4DC 156 94 14664 EM78 Bo 7 91
NA4M 131 89 11659 EM10 Phil 3 100
KB1GW 137 68 9316 FN31 Glenn 0 60
K1PLX 122 75 9150 FN41 Dennis 6 94
K8OOK 5 5 25 EN73 Michael 1 100
K6ZCL 3 3 9 DM24 Ted 0 100
N1LFN 2 1 2 FN64 Wayne 0 100
N0CXF 1 1 1 ???? Michael 0 100
Multi Op
KK5GJ 290 113 32770 EM20 David 4 74 (+ KB5YVT)
WD0T 94 59 5546 DN94 Todd 8 75 (+ KB0QVP)
Rover
K5RC 49 43 2107 N/A Tom
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73,
Robert Barron, KA5WSS barron@liant.com
Liant Software Corporation Hook 'Em Horns!
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