[CQ-Contest] Yanks in domestic contests: Please learn a bit about your neighbours

[Tom Horton]

Dave,
   Actually, I appreciate you information.
I intend to study it and learn it.
  It does seem confusing to us at times, or at least to me...
but I'm old!
73, Tom K5IID




At 07:14 01/18/04, Dave wrote:
>"Americans are amiably ill-informed about Canada, while Canadians are
>irritably well-informed about the United States."
>
>This old chestnut is played out as truth every time I get on in a
>US-organised domestic contest.  I always run into people whose profound
>ignorance about us, their neighbours, irritates the bejeebers out of me:
>- Some whinge that their software does not recognise what multiplier I am (I
>can't fix your software from here)
>- Some ask me what "providence" I am in (the word is "province!")
>- Some try to tell me that they know better that I where I am located ("No,
>no, no - VO1 is New Brunswick!")
>- Some just guess wildly when they have trouble ("My software doesn't
>understand NL, so I'll just put in "NS.")
>And it makes it a drag for me to hand out a multiplier you want to work.
>
>Please commit the following to memory and make sure your various
>easily-edited multiplier files understand this information:
>
>Province: Newfoundland and Labrador
>Likely prefixes: VO1 and VO2 (not VØ1 or VØ2)
>Postal abbreviation: NL
>Possible other abbreviations: NF LB NFLD LAB
>Weird possibilities: While this is one province , for some unknown reason,
>the ARRL 10m contest and the CQ 160m contests count the two parts of this
>province as distinct multipliers. In those two contests, you are more likely
>to hear VOs send NF and LB, but they are the exceptions, not the rule.
>Newfoundland and Labrador have been a single political and administrative
>entity since 1800 - long before Hiram Percy Maxim was in short pants.  The
>only recent change has been to the official name of this province from
>"Newfoundland" to "Newfoundland and Labrador."  Anyone who tells you
>anything else should be regarded as a fool.
>
>Province: Nova Scotia
>Likely prefixes: VE1 VA1
>Postal abbreviation: NS
>Possible other abbreviations:
>Weird possibilities: In ARRL SS and ARRL 160m contests, RAC sections, not
>provinces, count as multipliers.  NS, NB and PEI together form the
>"Maritime" section.  In those two contests only, look for MAR to be the
>abbreviation sent.
>
>Province: Prince Edward Island
>Likely prefixes: VY2 ( very few VE1s)
>Postal abbreviation: PE
>Possible other abbreviations: PEI
>Weird possibilities: In ARRL SS and ARRL 160m contests, RAC sections, not
>provinces, count as multipliers.  NS, NB and PEI together form the
>"Maritime" section.  In those two contests only, look for MAR to be the
>abbreviation sent.
>
>Province: New Brunswick
>Likely prefixes: VE9 VA9 (few VE1s)
>Postal abbreviation: NB
>Possible other abbreviations:
>Weird possibilities: In ARRL SS and ARRL 160m contests, RAC sections, not
>provinces, count as multipliers.  NS, NB and PEI together form the
>"Maritime" section.  In those two contests only, look for MAR to be the
>abbreviation sent.
>
>Province: Quebec
>Likely prefixes: VE2 VA2
>Postal abbreviation: QC
>Possible other abbreviations: PQ QU
>
>Province: Ontario
>Likely prefixes: VE3 VA3
>Postal abbreviation: ON
>Possible other abbreviations: ONT
>
>Province: Manitoba
>Likely prefixes: VE4 VA4
>Postal abbreviation: MB
>Possible other abbreviations: MAN
>
>Province: Saskatchewan
>Likely prefixes: VE5 VA5
>Postal abbreviation: SK
>Possible other abbreviations: SASK
>
>Province: Alberta
>Likely prefixes: VE6 VA6
>Postal abbreviation: AB
>Possible other abbreviations: ALTA AT
>
>Province: British Columbia
>Likely prefixes: VE7 VA7
>Postal abbreviation: BC
>Possible other abbreviations:
>
>Territory: Nunavut
>Likely prefixes: VYØ
>Postal abbreviation: NU
>Possible other abbreviations:
>Weird possibilities: In ARRL SS and ARRL 160m contests, RAC sections, not
>provinces, count as multipliers.  There is no RAC field organisation in the
>territories.  Notwithstanding that, they collectively count as one
>multiplier, abbreviated "NT" for "northern territories."
>
>Territory: Northwest Territories
>Likely prefixes: VE8 VA8
>Postal abbreviation: NT
>Possible other abbreviations: NWT
>Weird possibilities: In ARRL SS and ARRL 160m contests, RAC sections, not
>provinces, count as multipliers.  There is no RAC field organisation in the
>territories.  Notwithstanding that, they collectively count as one
>multiplier, abbreviated "NT" for "northern territories."
>
>Territory: Yukon
>Likely prefixes: VY1
>Postal abbreviation: YT
>Possible other abbreviations: YU YUK
>Weird possibilities: In ARRL SS and ARRL 160m contests, RAC sections, not
>provinces, count as multipliers.  There is no RAC field organisation in the
>territories.  Notwithstanding that, they collectively count as one
>multiplier, abbreviated "NT" for "northern territories."
>
>If you write software or update multiplier files, please make sure you have
>this info right for the various contests you support.
>
>For that suspiciously large minority to whom this is all news, if you're
>going to make an effort in a domestic contest, take a few minutes to remind
>yourself of the Canadian multipliers you'll be chasing.  At least you'll
>know what you're trying to work, and you might prevent yourself from
>sounding like a boob, even if an amiable one.
>
>Irritably yours,
>
>Dave VO1AU
>VO1AU at rac.ca
>
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"E"  Sorter for the ARRL W5 QSL Bureau
Williamstown, WV