[SECC] Reminder: NAQCC Sprint Tonight

Wed Sep 17 11:29:10 EDT 2014

A last-minute reminder of our NAQCC sprint coming up tonight. This email is
also a quick reference guide to our sprints in general. You might want to
save it or print it out. (Revised Sep 2014)
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REMEMBER: For our 10th Anniversary sprint in October we will be giving away
many great prizes. To be eligible for the drawing for the TOP THREE prizes,
you must do three things:
A. Participate in at least FOUR other sprints February through September and
report your results via the autologger.
B. Participate in at least THREE NAQCC challenges March through September
and report your results.
C. Participate in the October sprint, make at least one QSO and report your
results via the autologger.
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HERE IS THE DATE AND TIME FOR OUR CURRENT SPRINT IN BOTH LOCAL AND UTC
FORMATS:

Wednesday September 17, 2014 USA time  (Standard OR Savings):
Eastern 8:30PM to 10:30PM
Central 7:30PM to 9:30PM
Mountain 6:30PM to 8:30PM
Pacific 5:30PM to 7:30PM

Thursday September 18, 2014 UTC (Z) time:
0130Z to 0330Z (November through February)
0030Z to 0230Z (March through October)
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OVERVIEW:

If you've been hesitant to join in our sprints because you hear other
sprints running at breakneck speeds, have no fear. Our sprints are geared to
help newcomers to CW and/or contesting. Virtually everyone including the
many veteran contesters who regularly enter our sprints will slow down to
YOUR speed to help you make your contacts. This happens mainly because of
our emphasis on using a straight key to earn a doubling of the final score.

The MAIN object of our sprints is not to 'win' anything, but simply to
enter, have fun, and contact your fellow members. That, and not making high
scores is much more important. EVERYONE who enters is a WINNER because
participating helps to preserve the use of CW on the ham bands whether you
make 1 QSO or 100 QSOs. Not everyone has the great location and big antenna
farm to make the high scores, so keep that in mind and simply do the best
with the setup you have. Try to better your score from the previous month.
That way you're only competing against someone with an equal setup -
yourself.

In part due to that, we believe our NAQCC monthly sprints have become the
most successful 2-hour sprints in ham radio today. You can help us to
continue our growth, and help to promote CW and QRP as well. Just get in the
sprint, make QSO's, and send in a report via our autologger. That's all
there is to it. We regularly get well over 150 (record 269) participants in
each sprint, of whom well over 100 (record 194) will submit logs for
cross-checking. Our sprints make a powerful statement about the popularity
of CW and QRP to the ham radio world.

Remember when the sprint is over, you have another chore that will only take
you a couple minutes. Don't forget to send in your log. That doubles your
statement that you love CW and use it. When folks see the large number of
logs submitted, they think there must be something to this CW mode after
all, and they give it a try. They like it, and you've helped gain another CW
user on the ham bands to help in the mission of preserving and protecting
this wonderful mode of communications. That's another aspect of our sprints
that is more important than 'winning'.
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INFORMATION AND LINKS TO HELP ANYONE WHO MAY NEED IT:

1. General Sprint Rules that apply to all our sprints are at:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html

Keep in mind listed frequencies are only suggested frequencies, not written
in stone. Start there and spread out up and down to avoid congestion.
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2. Rules specific to this month's sprint are available via a link on this
page:

http://naqcc.info/contests.html
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3. Because we emphasize participation and not scoring, there is an HONOR
ROLL listing those who have participated in at least 50 of our sprints since
the first one in 2004 here:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_dates.html
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4. We hope you use the GenLog logging program for our sprints. It makes
logging very simple for you and log cross-checking simple for us. You can
get the program and instructions on how to use it HERE:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_rules.html
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5. There is a thorough tutorial on using GenLog that includes many screen
captures at:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_genlog_tutorial.html
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6. The latest data file (naqcc.dat) for GenLog is available in the NAQCC.zip
file here. Check the enclosed readme file to be sure it is the latest. If
not, try a little later in the day of the sprint:

http://naqcc.info/naqcc.zip
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7. Need help with zip files? There is an illustrated tutorial here:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_zip_tutorial.html
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8. How to check your log before submitting to have the best chance at
getting a SILVER LOG:

http://naqcc.info/GLCheckList.txt

One thing that immediately eliminates a log as SILVER is not having the
correct point value in the last column of a QSO. If someone gives you a
number, the last column should be a 2. If they give you a power, the last
column should be a 1. If you use an old GenLog data file, you may have to
correct this manually after the sprint. It doesn't matter if the number is
correct or not as far as a SILVER LOG is concerned. If it IS A NUMBER, the
last column should be 2.
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9. After the sprint, use our Autologger to make submitting your report and
log as easy as possible. Be sure to use the correct GenLog output file in
the log field of the autologger, i.e. (your call).log - for example
k3wwp.log in my case:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_submit_log.html
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10. Tips for successful sprinting can be found at:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_tips.html
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11. Curious about how you did in each of our past sprints or want to see the
results of a specific sprint? You can now do all of that at:

http://naqcc.info/contests.html
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12. For those who do emphasize making high scores, we award certificates for
each sprint as described in the General Rules. A maximum of 3 in each of the
10 USA call areas, Canada, DX, and Gain divisions and categories depending
on the amount of participation in that division or category. Another one
goes to the overall first-time member entrant with the highest score
(entering previously as a non-member disqualifies the member). We also award
a certificate to the highest overall score from a straight key user, to the
highest overall score from a bug user, and to the highest overall score from
a keyer/other user. See the FAQ page on the web site for definition of gain
and simple wire antennas:

http://naqcc.info/faqsinfo.html
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13. We also often award a prize of some sort donated by the club or one of
our members in a random drawing among all members who participate and send
in a report. Check the prizes page here:

http://naqcc.info/main_giveaways.html
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14. An alternative logging program can be found here:

http://cwfun.org/zip
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* John K3WWP - 100% CW / QRP - Proudly promoting Morse Code:
*
* On the air with my KX3 #2325, K2 #6418, KX-1 #02101
*
* As retired NAQCC VP - # 0002 FC # 1 - http://naqcc.info/
*
* As retired FISTS Keynote QRP Columnist - # 2002 - http://www.fists.org/
*
* With my CW-QRP site - http://home.windstream.net/johnshan/

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