Elf's NAQP phone results

Mon Jan 22 23:30:37 EST 1996

January 1996 NAQP SSB:  WB4iUX
Name:  Elf **
QTH:  South Carolina
Equipment:  Kenwood TS930SAT and 40 meter dipole at 30 ft

80:  3Q, 3 mults (congrats to those who copied me)
40:  31Q, 7 mults

I really wanted to stay and work N7AVK, AB6FO and AA6KX that I heard
CQ'ing on 15 meters at 1800 GMT, but the family was in the car waiting
for me..sri guys...  Whaddya say when you're out of town on business all
week,
every week?

73 and hope to see ya'll again soon...send more snow...the kids are going
to be in school 'til July if this global warming keeps up!  ;-))

Tom WBiUX
WB4iUX at AOL.COM

**My multi-annual domestic contesting laid back effort in honor of the
coolest 
laid back guy I've every known:  Edgar M. Huggins, 1955-1993 .... Rock on...

>From Steven Sample <aa9ax at iglou.com>  Tue Jan 23 03:54:21 1996
From: Steven Sample <aa9ax at iglou.com> (Steven Sample)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 22:54:21 -0500 (EST)
Subject: More Wind
Message-ID: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960122225000.27717C-100000 at iglou>

On Mon, 22 Jan 1996, David & Barbara Leeson wrote:

> Stan, W7NI, raises two questions that help clarify some issues of
> antenna survival.
> 
> 1.  Does an antenna, if left to rotate to any position it wants to,
> rotate to the position of least wind resistance?
> 
> The answer is no, it rotates to the position of zero net torque about
> its attachment point.  The torque is the sum of the forces on each of the 
> separate parts of the antenna operating through its lever arm to the 
> attachment point.  The whole antenna can have arbitrary behavior of wind area 
(Etc., etc.  -text deleted-)

Are these people smart, or what?  I got dizzy reading it!

It's nice to know that amateur radio has the support of people with this 
kind of intelligence.   

S.

>From David L. Thompson" <thompson at mindspring.com  Tue Jan 23 05:58:15 1996
From: David L. Thompson" <thompson at mindspring.com (David L. Thompson)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 00:58:15 -0500
Subject: Comments on 160 Contest Checking
Message-ID: <199601230551.AAA08414 at borg.mindspring.com>

The number of uniques removed in 1995 for both CW and SSB contests was 5.
2 of these were probably busted calls that a unique program would catch.
There was only 1 contact removed from a USA/VE log that was a toss-up.  I am
expanding my mailing to each station so listed to give to give the
contestant all benefit of the doubt!

All of us bring up rare DX to increase our score or get an opening that no
one else nearby catches due to antennas, receivers, or just plain luck.
There is no penalty for this in the CQ 160 Meter contests because 99.99% of
the time someone else works the station or its obvious that one of the
operators of a multi station jumps in to work a new one or help a friend.  I
would expect to be much more lenient on 10 or 20 meters as I expect many
more uniques there.

We bend over backward to help on busted calls as these are honest mistakes.
However we do remove well over 50% of the busted calls because another part
of the information is wrong or its a dup once corrected.   Busted
information is just prevalent.   K5NA could be listed as TX when until this
year he was in NY.  I see many USA or VE hams listed as K or US or VE for
the mult.  These are all corrected and mults removed if necessary.   The
last set of busted information is "computer busts."  This could be typos or
the program overrides the correct location (as with KH8AC or KG4W) and/or
plugs in the wrong points.  These are all corrected.  Each year I threaten
to penalize those who do not check thru the computer print-out and correct
these glaring errors.   One last area of incorrect info is WAE or latest
DXCC mult identification.  Karelia was dropped from WAE, but many EU hams
did not know or did not correct.  A few still don't count MM correctly or
still try to take a mult for MM calls.  My feeling is that removing points
or mults hurts enough unless it is obvious that a contestant is trying to
beat the system  and having checked logs for several years this becomes very
obvious!

The main area that I concern myself with is to make sure that there are not
calls in a log that are false!    The worst offenderI checked  was losing
well over 50% to non-matches before being disqualified.  Don gave me one log
that probably only had less than 30% of the claimed contacts as valid.

Once I let the computer do "all"  the checking then all human error will go
away!   What we don't know is what new problems this can create!

Good luck to every contestant in 1996 ...see you there.

73, Dave K4JRB
CQ 160 Meter Contests Director   

>From Richard Riley #7122" <RRILEY%ESA.bitnet at listserv.gmd.de  Tue Jan 23 14:00:38 1996
From: Richard Riley #7122" <RRILEY%ESA.bitnet at listserv.gmd.de (Richard Riley #7122)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 09:00:38 EST
Subject: REF French Phone Contest

Fellow contesters!

..here we go again.....

I appreciate this may not be on your "MUST-DO list" this coming
weekend, but if 160m gets dull...do listen up for us...slogging
away for the REF CW contest for 36 hours!

The rules (for stations outside: France, French overseas territories and
DA1/2) can be found somewhere in QST and RadCom.

For those without a copy...here are the basics:

Date/time:

      0600Z Jan 27 to 1800Z Jan 28

Mode: A1A  Bands: 80-10m

Categories:

      single-op single band

      single-op  all band

      multi-op all band

Valid QSOs:

      French stations, including overseas territories and DA1/DA2 (French
      military stations).

Exchange:

      RST and serial number.

Valid QSOs:

      1 point for QSOs within own continent

      3 points for QSOs outside own continent

Multipliers:

      (per band)

   -  French Metropolitan Departments
               (there are 96 including Corsica's 2A and 2B)

   -  DA1 and DA2
               (FFA: French Forces in Germany)

    - French Overseas Departments and Territories (within DXCC list):
              (DOM/TOM: FG,FH,FJ,FK,FM,FO,FP,FS,FT,FW,FY)

    - DXCC countries (excluding F,TK and DOM/TOM see above)

    - F6REF/00 (this REF station counts as an extra mult)

Scoring:

      Multiply the total QSO points by the sum of all multipliers.

Certificates:

      Europe:

             - top single-op (with atleast 100 QSOs)

             - top multi-op (with atleast 250 QSOs)

      and then for each other continent:

             - top single-op (with atleast 50 QSOs)

             - top multi-op (with atleast 100 QSOs)

........................................................................

I hope this is clear!

I do have a copy of the complete rules (including those for stations within
France, FFA and DOM/TOM)....they're in French...but if you'd like a copy..
drop me a note.

73 et a bientot!

Richard Riley
G0JFX/F5VCO(@F6KBF this weekend)

...................................
email:  rriley%esa.bitnet at vm.gmd.de
packet: G0JFX at F6KBF

>From David & Barbara Leeson <0005543629 at mcimail.com>  Tue Jan 23 03:28:00 1996
From: David & Barbara Leeson <0005543629 at mcimail.com> (David & Barbara Leeson)
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 96 22:28 EST
Subject: Weather Vane
Message-ID: <45960123032854/0005543629NA2EM at MCIMAIL.COM>

Charlie Harpole writes, "Why doesn't a weather vane turn itself some
screwy way in a wind but instead points to the wind direction?"

This is a very illuminating question.  Imagine a "one-element" beam
with a symmetrical boom and one element on one end (nothing on the
other).  If you put this in the wind, it will swing right around until
the element is away from the wind, right?

Well it doesn't!

And that's the point of all the hoohah about cylinders in yaw, etc.
Try this yourself.  Make a bearing from a scrap board with a hole in it.
Trap it is the sunroof of your car.  Make a mast, boom and single element
from PVC pipe.  Place the mast in the bearing, you holding the bottom
end (a right angle handle helps you feel the torque better).

Drive carefully and see what happens.  What I found is that this
unbalanced "antenna" is happy with the element at the front or at the
back, and even has stable points at the 90 degree points.

What's this all mean?  Well, a weather vane isn't made by putting
a crosswise cylinder at one end to make it point in the wind.  It
has a flat cross section, and it works as you would expect.

So the genius of the question is that it points out that the cylindrical
structure doesn't work as you'd expect.  It works the way the 
aerodynamic wizzards predict.  But the experiment has no calculations,
no assumptions, just points the way to learning that things aren't
always as simple as we'd like.

73 de Dave, W6QHS

>From w7ni at teleport.com (Stan Griffiths)  Tue Jan 23 10:56:01 1996
From: w7ni at teleport.com (Stan Griffiths) (Stan Griffiths)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 02:56:01 -0800
Subject: More Wind
Message-ID: <199601231056.CAA02177 at desiree.teleport.com>

>Hello fellow speculators,
>
>W6QHS and others on this channel show me why I intuitively am suspect of 
>engineering and math and statistics that tend to PROVE  something.  About 
>the wind on the beam question, I add by asking:
>
>"Why doesn't a weather vane turn itself some screwy way in a wind but 
>instead points to the wind direction?"
>
>Be sure to give me some math and convuluted additional stuff.  Tnx.
>
>73, K4VUD

I consulted the best research text I could find (Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary, copyright 1985) to come up with the following answer:

VANE -- a movable device attached to an elevated object (as a spire) for
showing the direction of the wind.

>From this, I conclude that if the device in question pointed some screwy way
other than in the direction of the wind, it would not, by definition, be a
weather vane.  It would be, perhaps, an antenna.

You are seeing only the tip of my convolution here. :-)

Stan  W7NI at teleport.com

>From ronklein at ix.netcom.com (Ron Klein )  Tue Jan 23 12:20:44 1996
From: ronklein at ix.netcom.com (Ron Klein ) (Ron Klein )
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 04:20:44 -0800
Subject: NAQP - WWW location for posting/reading scores?
Message-ID: <199601231220.EAA13894 at ix.ix.netcom.com>

I must have erased the post, but I thought I remembered an announcement 
of a WWW location to leave scores and read other's results?

Could someone repost the information - or (preferably for me) e-mail the 
WWW address to me?

Thanks.

73,

-- 
Ron Klein - W0OSK
-----------------
ronklein at ix.netcom.com

>From Dale  Jones, K5MM" <ddjones at nas.com  Tue Jan 23 12:44:00 1996
From: Dale  Jones, K5MM" <ddjones at nas.com (Dale  Jones, K5MM)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 04:44 PST
Subject: No subject
Message-ID: <m0tei5m-000217C at cleese.nas.com>

help

>From Bill Fisher  KM9P <km9p at akorn.net>  Tue Jan 23 14:14:52 1996
From: Bill Fisher  KM9P <km9p at akorn.net> (Bill Fisher KM9P)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 09:14:52 -0500 (EST)
Subject: NAQP - WWW location for posting/reading scores?
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD/.3.91.960123091355.21945A-100000 at paris.akorn.net>

Post scores to:  3830 at akorn.net

To get scores in your mailbox:  3830-request at akorn.net  (subscribe in 
body)

To read scores via WWW:  http://www.akorn.net/hamradio/3830

GL

Bill

>From Pete Smith <n4zr at ix.netcom.com>  Tue Jan 23 14:26:29 1996
From: Pete Smith <n4zr at ix.netcom.com> (Pete Smith)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 06:26:29 -0800
Subject: More Wind
Message-ID: <199601231426.GAA00769 at ix3.ix.netcom.com>

At 08:36 PM 1/22/96 -0500, K4VUD wrote:
>Hello fellow speculators,
>
>W6QHS and others on this channel show me why I intuitively am suspect of 
>engineering and math and statistics that tend to PROVE  something.  About 
>the wind on the beam question, I add by asking:
>
>"Why doesn't a weather vane turn itself some screwy way in a wind but 
>instead points to the wind direction?"
>
>Be sure to give me some math and convuluted additional stuff.  Tnx.
>
>73, K4VUD

Charlie, for what it's worth ($0.02), I far prefer Dave's engineering to the
bald, unchecked assertions that are often presented as fact here and
elsewhere.  As my favorite antenna guru says, "If you can't come up with a
physical explanation for why something happens, it probably doesn't."

73,

Pete N4ZR (n4zr at ix.netcom.com)

>From Pete Soper <psoper at encore.com>  Tue Jan 23 14:39:03 1996
From: Pete Soper <psoper at encore.com> (Pete Soper)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 09:39:03 EST
Subject: CVB & CT: the solution
Message-ID: <25624.9601231439 at earl.encore.com>

The reason my (genuine Creative Labs Soundblaster) worked fine with
LTA's Contest Voice Blaster at the DOS prompt or when other programs 
ran, but not while CT ran, was the lack of the "EMM386.SYS" driver. I 
had "HIMEM.SYS" but not the other and for some reason this interfered
with message playback while CT was running. Running the DOS program
"memmaker" and letting it rummage through my autoexec.bat and config.sys
files was the cure, although I didn't know this ahead of time!

Thanks for all the support, folks.

Pete
KS4XG

>From broz at csn.net (John Brosnahan)  Tue Jan 23 16:05:31 1996
From: broz at csn.net (John Brosnahan) (John Brosnahan)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 09:05:31 -0700
Subject: Comments on 160 Contest Checking
Message-ID: <199601231605.JAA16500 at lynx.csn.net>

>Once I let the computer do "all"  the checking then all human error will go
>away!   What we don't know is what new problems this can create!
>
>Good luck to every contestant in 1996 ...see you there.
>
>73, Dave K4JRB
>CQ 160 Meter Contests Director   
--------------------
Dave,

Gee, this scares me even more!  I think I like having a human involved as a
backup to the computer checking.  Seems harder to anticipate every possible
scenario for a unique or for a strange propagation path and write an
algorithm that anticipates it than it is to humanly view a qso and then
theorize why that may be a good qso or may be a bad qso.

Just for the record I hope you don't think I am picking on you, Dave.  As
far as I know you have been doing a fine job, although my last 160 contest
was in the N4IN era.  You just happened to have raised some issues that I
have thought about off and on for my many (36--although intermittent) years
of contesting.  Uniques are a worry especially in the world of multi-op
contesting since it is hard to know just how reliable all of the ops are and
most of my efforts have been as an operator at multi/multis.  

I hope to get my 160 4-square finished (radials) and repaired (lightning
took the phase box) and get serious about 160 efforts and the last thing I
would want to do is offend the guy who checks the logs!  HI!

A lot of the procedures about log checking have been somewhat mysterious,
especially in the past, but I find that there is a new era of trying to
explain it all with the article by Bob Cox on the CQWW checking in the CQ
Contest magazine and the articles in NCJ about how ARRL does it.  I
appreciate your comments about the 160 test and I hope the discussion that
it has generated has been useful to both you and the other competitors.

I have always taken the position that if our logs are clean and if the log
checkers are doing a good job, then we have a very good chance of winning in
a close race.  So I prefer intense log checking, I just don't want a good
qso to be thrown out because it might be bad.

Competent log checking is important and I can only guess at how much work
must go into the effort and how little appreciation is expressed to the log
checkers.  Keep up the good work, Dave, (and all the other log checkers) and
thanks very much for the insights your original letter provided.

73 John  W0UN

John Brosnahan  
La Salle Research Corp      24115 WCR 40     La Salle, CO 80645  USA
voice 970-284-6602            fax 970-284-0979           email broz at csn.net

>From btippett at ctc.net (Bill Tippett)  Tue Jan 23 18:12:27 1996
From: btippett at ctc.net (Bill Tippett) (Bill Tippett)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 14:12:27 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Comments on 160 Contest Checking
Message-ID: <01I0CPAWHNZ090QXDE at SUNBELT.NET>

Dave:

        Don't let all the whiners stop you from the excellent tradition of 160
log checking that N4IN began.  I believe Don was the very first to do any
serious computerized uniques analysis, etc LONG before anyone else.  I
had the pleasure to enter the 160 contest continuously from 1986 through
1993, and NEVER felt the scoring was unfair in the least.  This contest
became my alltime favorite in part because I knew there was someone
like Don who would weed out any of the imaginary contacts some less
than scrupulous competitors might be logging.  I think the tradition
Don started, just like other aspects of Top Band, separates the men from 
the boys and the whiners from the achievers.  Keep up Don's great
tradition of maintaining integrity in my favorite contest!  I think he would
be proud of what you're doing.

73,  Bill  W0ZV

P. S.  When do you need my check for the JA plaque?  The notice may
have gotten lost due to another move here.  See my new address below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Tippett, PO Box 37, New London, NC  28127-0037 USA
Phone/FAX:  +1 704-463-1445        E-mail:  btippett at ctc.net

>From George McCrary <geo at nando.net>  Tue Jan 23 22:21:02 1996
From: George McCrary <geo at nando.net> (George McCrary)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 96 17:21:02 EST
Subject: Material for vertical
Message-ID: <9601232221.AA10965 at merlin.nando.net>

Hello Folks,

        I'm planning on putting up a 40M 1/4 wave vertical in the woods
behind my house. I currently have a wire version hanging from a limb, but I
would like this one to be free-standing (or guyed if necessary).

        Does anyone have recommendations on material? I have looked at
aluminum tubing in 6 foot lengths. Since this could be nested with a fair
amount of overlap, it would seem to be pretty strong. What is the smallest
size I could start with?

        I also wonder about  TV mast, conduit or other hardware store
goodies. This antenna will subject to almost no wind (less than 20 mph), and
very little if any ice etc. 

        Any help on materials, or where to find some infromation would be
appreciated.

                                                73 DE KQ4QM (George)

>From n3rd at ix.netcom.com (Dave Hawes )  Wed Jan 24 01:30:49 1996
From: n3rd at ix.netcom.com (Dave Hawes ) (Dave Hawes )
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 17:30:49 -0800
Subject: VP9AD in CQ 160 CW
Message-ID: <199601240130.RAA03621 at ix5.ix.netcom.com>

VP9AD will be activated in a single operator effort by me, N3RD, from 
Paget Parish, Bermuda.  Anybody who still needs VP9AD's card can QSL to 
W3HNK.  N3RD/VP9 may be QRV sporatically before the CONTEST.

73 - Dave N3RD
n3rd at ix.netcom.com

>From Takao KUMAGAI <je1cka at dumpty.nal.go.jp>  Sat Jan 20 09:46:04 1996
From: Takao KUMAGAI <je1cka at dumpty.nal.go.jp> (Takao KUMAGAI)
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 18:46:04 +0900
Subject: QSL Cards for the JAs
Message-ID: <199601200946.SAA00941 at dumpty.nal.go.jp>

I received several comments on the QSL cards.
The recommended designators are;
Universal:CQ Zone, ITU Zone, ARRL DXCC country, Grid Locator
Germany	: DOK number(for DLD)
USA	: County (for USA-CA)
JA	: JCC/JCG number
Islander: IOTA number

So you'd better to show these identifier on your QSL.
	---------
	Tack Kumagai JE1CKA/KH0AM
	TEL:81-30-066-6408, FAX:81-423-93-4449
	Internet: je1cka at nal.go.jp

>From Hoeft, Roger V" <rvhoeft at ingr.com  Tue Jan 23 14:24:53 1996
From: Hoeft, Roger V" <rvhoeft at ingr.com (Hoeft, Roger V)
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 08:24:53 -0600
Subject: NAQP-SSB or WHHHACK ! Thank you Contest Master may I have another!!!
Message-ID: <c=US%a=_%p=INTERGRAPH%l=HQ1960123082455EE006E00 at hq13.pcmail.ingr.com>

Exchanged Information: KD4HA Steve Alabama  
     Hours of Operation: 06:21

     band      QSOs     points    mults
     ------------------------------------------------
     160         64        64       20
      80         76        76       31
      40          5         5        3
      20          1         1        1
      15          1         1        1
      10          0         0        0
     ------------------------------------------------
     TOTAL      147       147       56      SCORE: 8,232

KD4HA and KA9EKJ ops, KA9EKJ QTH.

By the summary, I guess you can tell when we finally joined the 'party.'

Y'know, I really look forward to  NAQP simply because it truly is a fun 
event, and it doesn't take a lot of hardware to be competitive.  Take my QTH 
for example.  I have an oxidized trap vertical and a 300 ft. horizontal 
loop.  

Let's start with the loop.

During a recent storm, one of the corner ropes had broken free of the loop 
and the corner of the wire was held up by a cedar tree.  Also knowing that 
the loop would not tune on 160 I wanted to put up an inverted L for 160. 
 Now was a great time to call bulls-eye Bob 'Sling shot' McKensie, K4MLR. 
Well, we got the corner of the loop back where it belongs; we had to give a 
number of strong pulls on the ropes for the wire to clear some branches. 

The L went up 'bout as good as one could hope, thanks to bulls-eye Bob. The 
vertical part went up a good 75 feet.  By the time I got the ground rod in 
and the radials run it was 2.5 hours into the test.  Time to run the coax to 
the house and start operating and maybe, just maybe running a frequency.

(Assume the position) 
WHHHACK ! Thank you contest master may I have another!!!!

Just like in the cartoons, the length of coax was about 2 feet short of the 
tuner!!  Oh, sure I had some other short lengths of coax, but no barrel 
connector! So I damn near herniate myself dragging the desk near the coax 
creating a heave in the rug for someone to trip over as well as still not 
having the coax laying flat on the floor.  I had visions of someone tripping 
over the coax and sending the tuner and rig through the air.  Having 
"solved" that problem, I was finally ready to operate ... more or less ...

I tuned the loop on 20 and heard N1PBT calling.  I replied. His response was 
something about a weak signal. Quick flip over to the oxidized trap 
vertical. His response, "that's much better." The exchange was completed.