[CQ-Contest] New NS Ladder, NSL-9 - This Thursday.

[Bill Haddon]

A new NS Ladder competition  NSL-9,  begins this Thursday night.
 -- 10 weeks continuous Thursdays until Sept 24, 1 wk prior to our other
signature NCCC Event . . the CQP (www.cqp.org)

- Complete NSL Schedule: http://www.ncccsprint.com/next_ns.htm

-- Exchange: Ser #, Name, QTH (State , Prov,  NA Country, or "DX")

 -- Rules: :  http://www.ncccsprint.com/ladder.html and
http://www.ncccsprint.com/rules.html

     - Time: 0230-0300Z,  every Thursday night in NA
     - Low power, 100 watts.
      - NA Sprint format, with 1 KHz QSY Rule
      - Four Bands CW:  20, 40, 80 and 160
      - Work stations once per band.
      - Mults are per band. Score = Q's * Mults
      - Report scores to  http://hornucopia.com/3830score/
      - AWARDS: CA wine, courtesy of W0YK (Muns Vineyard,
www.munsvineyard.com) -- hand-crafted wines by an expert radio-contester.
Awards by weighted-random drawing, adjusted for participation (5 wk
minimum), score and place in division.

PVRC member?  Howie N4AF,offers an NCJ subscription this year to a new NSL
participant from PVRC .

New to NS?  Mike, W9RE of the SMC hosts the "Slow NS", SNS, at 0200Z with
slower CW speeds (18-25 wpm).

Note re Mults:
    -- We've added DC as a new NS multiplier.
    -- NSL Mults now include HI and Caribbean countries not considered by
others as NA:  9Y/Z, P4 and PJ2,4,0.

Note on S/W:  Software links on http://www.ncccsprint.com
        - Some loggers won't accept DC. . . we'll get it straightened out
shortly, but in the meantime, when you work KE3X you can enter a state with
currently no NS representation, say ND or AK, or "DX" and adjust the score
prior to submitting to hornucopia.com.  The N4AF NS calculator may be used:
www.ncccsprint.com/ns-score.html

      -- SO2R:
              -- SO2R in the NS/NSL is challenging.  For hints from N3BB and
N4OGW see:  "Advanced Strategy" at
http://www.ncccsprint.com/operating.html

NS Ladder is part of NCCC Thursday Night Contesting.  Our webmaster John,
K6MM, describes NS as "Contesting on the Edge."  We owe special thanks to
Bruce, WA7BNM and Dink, N7WA for providing essential score-compilation
services at www.hornucopia.com.

Post NS/NSL NCCC Contest net on 3610 usually hosted by Ken, N6RO who also
serves as contest director for the NS (the non-ladder weeks of the NCCC
Sprint.

nccc-blue is the (low-volume) reflector for NS/NSL.  Write n6zfo at arrl.net to
join.

Questions/comments re NSL: Advisory Group, W9RE, N4AF, K4BAI, K6UFO, N3BB,
W4NZ and W0BH.

Bob, W0BH, is the newest NS Ladder Avisory Group member. We're especially
pleased to have Bob's contesting wisdom available to us.

NSLproivdes a quick, fun Thurs night break. .  Most importantly the series
will hone your skills prior to the fall radio contest season.  Uniquely, NSL
provides a re-occuring constant format for testing station improvements and
new operator skills such as SO2R in a measurable way, averaging the
week-to-week variations in propagation.  Good way to test the performance of
that new 6-el rotatable 160 meter Yagi you've just installed!

73 Bill N6ZFO
Contest Director for NCCC Sprint Ladder, NSL.