[SECC] This weekend's contests

[John Laney]

The best I can tell, these are the contests being sponsored this weekend 
that we might reasonable expect to be able to make some contacts in from 
this area of the country.

1.  CQ WW RTTY Contest, 48-hour period, 00 UTC Sat to 2359 UTC Sunday. 
80-10 M RTTY.  HP, LP, "Rookie."  No Tribander/Single Element as in the 
CW and SSB RTTY contests.  Exchange:  RST + serial no. 
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/RTTY%20Rules%202004122403.pdf.  All 
stations are permitted to use packet, but no self spotting.

2.  SARL Field Day Contest.  10 UTC Sat to 10 UTC Sun.  I have never 
heard any stations in this contest.  They will all be signing ZS#xx/P. 
ZS/P stations are permitted to work anyone in the world, so we can give 
them points by working them, but there is no award category except for 
ZS/P stations.  Exchange:  RS(T) + serial no.  Only 160, 80, 40, and 20 
M (no 15 and 10M) and both CW and SSB. 
http://www.sarl.org.za/public/contests/contestrules.asp.

3.  Dutch PACC Contest.  12 UTC Sat to 12 UTC Sun.  CW and SSB.  160 
through 10 M.  There are usually a lot of Dutch stations QRV in this 
one.  They have a lot of new callsigns over there now, pretty much 
anything between PA and PI might be found.  Exchange:  RS(T) + serial 
no.  Dutch stations send RS(T) + province abbreviation.  QSO each Dutch 
station once per band (not per band and mode).  Dutch provinces are: 
GR, FR, DR, OV, GD, UT, NH, ZH, FL, ZL, NB and LB.  Three winners 
possible for each call area in the US. 
http://www.veron.nl/pacc/rules2004.html.

4.  OMISS QSO Party.  The members of the OMISS SSB nets close down their 
nets for one 24-hour period and have a contest.  15 UTC Sat to 1459 UTC 
Sunday.  SSB only. 80 through 10 M.  Exchange: RS + s/p/c + OMISS # if 
you have one.  They encourage operation on or near their usual net 
frequencies:  3940.5, 7263.5, 14290, 21360, 28665.  Stations may be 
worked once per band.  Log sheets and summary sheets may be downloaded 
from their website.  http://www.omiss.net/qso-2004.htm.  It would be 
nice to hear these guys making some "real" contacts without the help of 
a net control station.

5.  RSGB 1.8 mhz contest, CW.  21 UTC Sat to 01 UTC Sunday.  160 M CW 
only.  Send RST + serial #.  UK stations send RST + district code. 
http://www.contesting.co.uk/hfcc/rules/r18mhz.shtml.

6.  Asia-Pacific Sprint, CW.  11 to 13 UTC Sat.  CW only and only on 40 
and 20 M.  Exchange RST + serial no.  I definitely need to get on for 
this one because it was my suggestion after the last one (for which I 
submitted a check log only) that resulted in a rules change that allows 
stations outside the AP area to run any legal power.  AP stations 
themselves are limited to 150 watts.  There is a one khz. QSY rule.  If 
you solicit a QSO, you must QSY at least 1 khz after completion of that 
QSO.  Frequencies suggested:  7015 - 7040; 14030-14050.  This could be a 
good chance to work some Asia Pacific stations on 40 and 20 CW.  The 
bands shoudl be open at these times (6 to 8 AM EST).  The rules set 
forth which countries qualify as AP countries. 
http://jsfc.org/apsprint/aprule.txt.

7.  FISTS Club Winter Sprint.  Saturday 17 to 21 UTC.  CW only.  80-10. 
  Note the usual frequencies center around 3558, 7058, 14058, 21058, and 
28058.  Exchange:  RST + s/p/c + first name + FISTS membership number 
(or your output power if not a FISTS member).   FISTS member vary from 
the very good to the fairly poor CW ops.  Speeds will not be 
overwhelming.  You can encourage some newer CW ops in contesting by 
contacting them in this Sprint.  They have a QSL bureau for members, so, 
if you like exchanging QSLs, but would like to avoid the postage cost 
involved with direct QSLing, you might want to join the FISTS club. 
K4UK and his club in Virginia administer the QSL bureau and do a very 
good job.  You just send them SASEs and they mail you cards as they 
accumulate.  (Note:  The 10-10 club has just initiated one to be run by 
K7QXG, but it is just in the beginning stage.  The MARAC (mobile county 
hunters) seem to have a QSL bureau also.)  I will try to participate in 
this one.  Anyone want to have a small stakes challenge?  Entry form 
should be downloaded from the website unless submitting by e-mail. 
http://www.fists.org/sprints.html.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and a lot of QSOs to warm up for ARRL 
DX CW the next weekend.

Try to get your claimed scores to me by early Wednesday and I'll 
summarize them for the reflector.

73,


John, K4BAI.