[SESprint] Reminder: NAQCC Sprint Tonight

Tue Aug 11 10:33:16 EDT 2015

This one is a lot of fun as QRP sprints go because there is such a great 
turnout of participants.  Also, the speeds are generally slower than the 
big CW contests because there is a point reward for using a hand key or 
bug.  And it is only three bands, so those who participate are 
concentrated on those bands.  Activity usually starts on 20 and moves 
down to 40.  Some will start on 40.  Try to go to 80 for the last 30 
minutes or so even if it is a bit noisy.  73/72, John, K4BAI.

DO NOT reply to this email. Your reply will not be seen nor answered. For
questions or comments, email Paul N8XMS

IMPORTANT: If you operate the sprint away from home in a different state,
PLEASE notify us in a separate email to naqcc33 at windstream.net and tell us
the state you operated from. That prevents a lot of confusion in
cross-checking logs. Thank you.

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 monthly)

HERE IS THE DATE AND TIME FOR OUR CURRENT SPRINT IN BOTH UTC (Z) AND LOCAL
FORMATS:

UTC DATE/TIME
Wednesday August 12, 2015:
0030Z to 0230Z (March through October)

LOCAL (USA/CANADA) DATE/TIME
Tuesday August 11, 2015:
  Eastern 8:30PM to 10:30PM
Central 7:30PM to 9:30PM
Mountain 6:30PM to 8:30PM
Pacific 5:30PM to 7:30PM
------

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. Please QRS to the speed of the
station you are working.

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 reinforces your
statement that you love and use CW. 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'.
------

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.
------

2. Rules specific to this month's sprint are available via a link on this
page:

http://naqcc.info/contests.html
------

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

A nice prize is awarded to each ham when they participate in their 100th
sprint.
------

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
------

5. There is a thorough tutorial on using GenLog that includes many screen
captures here:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_genlog_tutorial.html
------

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
------

7. Need help with zip files? There is an illustrated tutorial here:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_zip_tutorial.html
------

8. How to check your log before submitting to have the best chance at
getting a SILVER LOG which is a log requiring no changes for the
cross-checking process:

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 member
number is correct or not as far as a SILVER LOG is concerned. If the station
sends A NUMBER, the last column should be 2.

A prize is awarded for the most SILVER LOGS in a year as described in the
General Rules.
------

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
------

10. Tips for successful sprinting can be found here:

http://naqcc.info/sprint_tips.html
------

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 here:

http://naqcc.info/contests.html
------

12. For those who do emphasize making high scores, we award certificates for
each sprint as described in the General Rules. To determine if your antenna
puts you in the GAIN or Simple Wire Antenna (SWA) section of the results,
see the FAQ page on the web site for the NAQCC definition of gain and simple
wire antennas here:

http://naqcc.info/faqsinfo.html
------

13. We also 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
------

14. An alternative logging program can be found here:

http://cwfun.org/zip
------

* John K3WWP - 100% CW / QRP - Proudly promoting Morse Code:
*
* On the air with my KX3 #2325, K2 #6418, KX-1 #02101
*
* With my CW-QRP site - http://k3wwp.com/ -or-
http://home.windstream.net/johnshan/
*
* As retired NAQCC VP - # 0002 FC # 1 - http://naqcc.info/
*
* As retired FISTS Keynote QRP Columnist - # 2002 - http://www.fistsna.org/

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