[SECC] This weekend's contests

[John Laney]

Hello all:

There are only two contests scheduled for this weekend and they don't 
overlap, so you can work both if you like with no conflict.

1.  HF Islands on the Air (IOTA) Contest 2004

12 UTC Sat to 12 UTC Sunday.  Exchange:  RS(T) + serial No.  For island 
stations, RS(T) + serial no. + IOTA designator (example NA085). CW and 
SSB.  Multipliers on each mode and band are the island designators.  80 
- 10 M.  You can enter the 24 or the 12 hour competition.  12 hours need 
not be continuous, but off periods should be a minimum of 60 minutes.
This one can be a lot of fun.  Everyone can work everyone else, 
regardless of whether or not you are on an island.  So, it can be both a 
DX and a domestic type of contest.  There is a lot of interest in the 
IOTA program in Europe and a lot of Europeans and European islands will 
be active.  A list of proposed operations in the contest can be found on 
the NG3K website.  KT4ZB will be operating from a GA island as K4QDC/P 
(I hope I got that call right, Jere).  KU8E and I will be operating from 
St. George Island, FL as KU8E/P doing a FD type of operation from the 
State Park there.  Yes, this is the Florida island of the N4PN contest 
station, but Paul has advised us that there will be no activity from 
that station this weekend.  So, please get on, make a lot of contacts, 
and contact your SECC island expeditioners. 
http://www.contesting.co.uk/hfcc/rules/riota.shtml.

2.  Flight of the Bumblebees.

17 - 21 UTC Sunday.  5 watts maximum power.  CW only.  40 - 10 meters. 
Work each station once per band.  Usual QRP frequencies (7040, 14060, 
21060, 28060.  Exchange for home stations:  RST, SPC, power.  Portable 
stations may register for a Bumblebee number.  Stations so registered 
sent:  RST, SPC, Bumblee number.  One point per QSO x Number of 
different bumblebee contacts x three = final score.  That's the way the 
rules read, so each bumblebee apparently is a multiplier on each band 
worked on.  15 meters and even 10 meters have seen a lot of openings 
during the day lately, so don't neglect to check those bands.  It is 
possible that K4BAI/M or KU8E/M may be QRV on the way home from Florida 
in this contest.  Report your score via the automated scoring system 
reached from the website. 
http://www.arsqrp.com/ars/pages/bumblebees/bb_rules.html.  If anyone on 
the reflector is going to register as a bumblebee, you might post that 
information to the reflector.

Have a lot of fun and QSOs this weekend.  73, John, K4BAI.