[SECC] This weekend's contests

[John Laney]

There are a lot of contests this weekend to make contacts in on HF and 
on most all modes.  Lined up in the order of their starting times 
(except for a bonus non-contest operating event listed last):

1.  Russian PSK WW Contest.  21 UTC Friday to 21 UTC Saturday.  It is 
about to start!  HF bands.  Send RST + serial no.  Russian stations send 
RST + two letter abbreviation for their oblast.  Maybe WA4ILO or someone 
else active on PSK can enter and give us a report? 
http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/russianpskww.txt.

2.  CQ WW 160 Meter SSB DX Contest.  24 hours.  00 UTC Sat to 2359 UTC 
Sunday.  Exchange RS and state/province/or country prefix or 
abbreviation.  DX stations do not work each other, just W/VE stations. 
KL7 and KH6 are not states, but are DX countries.  No multiplier, just 
QSO points for MM stations.  There is a club competition the covers both 
CW and SSB added together.  Our own K4JRB is the contest manager.  Let's 
get on and help the club score we started with on CW and support Dave 
and CQ Magazine's efforts.  SEDXC still sponsors a lot of the plaques.
Be sure to show your Cabrillo file shows your category as, for example, 
SINGLE-OP 160M HIGH and does not add SSB or PHONE in there.  The Name of 
the contest must be shown in the Cabrillo file as CQ-160-SSB.  Be sure 
to fill in the Club name line. 
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/160%20Contest%20Rules%202004jan232004.pdf.

3. REF (France) Contest SSB.  Starts 06 UTC Saturday - ends 18 UTC 
Sunday.  Exchange:  RS + serial no.  You will get RS + department number 
(two digits) (F, TK, TM stations)or prefix from overseas French 
stations.  80 through 10 M (in IARU contest subbands).  (I think that 
means no QSOs on 20M above 14300.)  The only place I can find the rules 
in English is an unofficial site: 
http://www.sk3bg.se/contest/text/refc.txt.

4.  UBA (Belgium) Contest CW.  13 UTC Sat to 13 UTC Sun.  80 through 10 
M.  3500 to 3510 may be used for only DX contacts and no on shall call 
CQ Contest in that segment).  Not sure how you make a contact there 
unless you work somebody calling CQ who isn't in the contest and talk 
him into giving you a serial number.  Exchange:  RST + serial number. 
Belgian stations aslo add the province abbreviation (two letters).  You 
can work everyone else, but you get most points (10) for Belgian 
stations and other European Union countries (3) and only 1 point for 
anyone else.  Multipliers are Belgian provinces and Belgian prefixes (so 
one QSO can give you two multipliers) plus European countries per band.
One log for the contest (not separate for each band).  Summary sheet 
required.  http://www.uba.be/hf_contests/rules/ubatestworld_en.html.

5.  Mississippi QSO Party.  This is the first one from Mississippi for 
years and W5XX and others are putting out a lot of publicity.  A number 
of portable and mobile operations are projected.  15 UTC Sat to 03 UTC 
Sun.  Suggested frequencies:  3545, 3862, 7045, 7238, 14045, 14275, 
21045, 21375, 28045, 28375.  Exchange:  RS(T) plus Miss county or s/p/c.
Work each station once on CW and once on SSB on each band and from each 
county.  1 pt per SSB QSO, 2 pts per CW QSO, multipliers are counties 
worked in entire contest (not per band or mode).   For certificates or 
results, you must send a 9 x 12" SASE. 
http://www.arrlmiss.org/AFTERA_/aftera_1.HTM.  W5XX is long time 
Mississippi ARRL SM and is original from SECC area as K4RIN in 
Chattanooga, TN.  I'm sure he will appreciate our support.

6.  North American QSO Party RTTY.  (I have seen a March date for this 
event, but I am sure this is the correct date since it comes from the 
current NCJ website.)  18 UTC Sat to 06 UTC Sunday.  Maximum opertion of 
10 of the 12 hours.  Very much like NAQP CW and SSB except no operation 
on 160 meters.  Exchange:  Name + s/p/c. 
http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php.

7.  HSC (High Speed Club) Contest.  Two periods:  09 to 11 UTC Sunday 
and 15 to 17 UTC Sun.  CW only.  Open to members and non-members of HSC. 
  Maximum power:  150 watts.  80 through 10 M.  Suggested frequencies 10 
to 30 khz above lower band edge.  Exchange:  RST + HSC member number. 
Non members send RST + NM (for non member).  Most of the members are in 
Europe.  The 09 to 11 UTC portion of the contest is usually very 
unproductive here.  Even if you can hear them, 150 watts won't allow you 
to get back to them on the only two bands that might be open (40 and 
20).  Probably not worth losing a minute's sleep over for the first 
session.  The second session, however, should allow for contacts on 20, 
15 and maybe even 10 M.  I plan to go to early church and get home in 
time for part of the second two-hour period.  My HSC number (#1761) 
doesn't get a lot of use since most of the members are in Europe. 
http://www.qsl.net/dl0hsc/en/contests.html.

8.  North Carolina QSO Party.  Our neighbors to the north and our member 
AA4S have been working hard on this one.  Hope the weather and road 
conditions won't hamper activity.  Ron, AA4S, was showing off his SO2R 
mobile installation at NQ4I last weekend.  17 UTC Sun to 03 UTC Mon. 
Exchange:  callsign, NC county or s/p/c.  Note no requirement of RS or 
RST.  Modules available for downloading for most major logging programs. 
  I use the one for NA.  Frequencies suggested:  3540, 3860, 7040, 7260, 
14040, 14260, 21040, 21360, 21040, 28360.  No 160 M or VHF.  All 
stations are limited to 100 watts!  This means that we can't make as 
many QSOs as we might like, since we are too close for the high bands 
without high power most of the time.  I still need 5 or 6 NC counties, 
but left the list at home.  Bonus points for working a station in 
Cherokee (mountian) County and/or Dare (coastal) County and for the club 
stations W4NC and W4WS.  2 points per phone QSO, 3 points per CW QSO, 3 
points per QSOs with NC mobiles regardless of mode.  Look for my former 
college roommate originally from Americus, GA, Jim Jordan, K4QPL, to be 
active from his Raleigh, NC QTH.  If the weather turns out nice, some of 
you close to NC may want to go up and put a few counties on portable or 
mobile.  http://www.w4nc.com/pages/1/index.htm.  There is a NC QSO Party 
reflector to exchange info on planned operations.

9.  GACW Key Day.  Sponsored by the GACW club from Argentia.  CW only. 
Only hand keys, bugs, sideswipers, etc. may be used.  No eletronic keys!
18 UTC Sat until 06 UTC Sunday.  Up from 3530, 7030, 14030, 21030, and 
18030 plus any WARC band CW frequencies.  Call CQ KD (Key Day) or CQ 
GACW KD.  Exchange:  "Greetings" + RST + GACW club number.  Non-members 
send "KD" instead of club number.  If you make more than 10 QSOs, you 
are requested to vote fro three different stations with special good 
sending.  This event is very much like SKN in the US.  I still have my 
hand key out from a few SKN QSOs I made on Jan 1.  I also have a 
Vibroplex bug, but can't seem to get it adjusted so that the dots come 
out cleanly with the modern rigs I am using these days.  So, it will be 
the old hand key for me if I hear any KD stations.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, a lot of contact, and fun.

73,


John, K4BAI.