[CQ-Contest] ARRL November Sweepstakes THIS weekend

[George Fremin III]

Contesters,

As many of you might be aware the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes is this weekend.

This is your reminder to get on the radio and have some fun in a contest that started in 1930. 

How amazing is that?

I love the Sweepstakes contest.  I find the longer exchange to be both a challenge and a nice departure from our usual 59 contests.  If you are a member of an amateur radio club - post a reminder on your club’s email list or discord/slack channel reminding folks of this weekends contest.  The exchange has its roots in ham radio message/traffic handling and could be a great way for those ENCOM folks gaining more radio skills beyond RST-QTH exchanges.   I have done the contest from several locations around the country and had a great time and a good results from each of those locations.  I even did the contest from a park running a vertical and made almost a 1000 contacts on CW - so you do not need a huge station to do well.  

Fire up your rigs at home or head out to your favorite POTA spot or wherever and get on the radio and celebrate this long running event and it’s long history.

An added bonus this year is that there is an  ‘extra’ weekend between the SS and the CQ WW CW contest and also the Thanksgiving holiday.  Usually the SS SSB is the weekend before Thanksgiving / CQ WW CW but this year you get an extra week between the two so your calendar should not be as busy.  

See you on the bands!

George Fremin III
K5TR