Topband: ARRL 160 Meter Contest

[Herbert Schoenbohm]

The ARRL has made a recent update on their website concerning the 160 meter contest which begins tonight.  After much confusion about what contest status (by even veteran contesters) the U.S. overseas territories have they have made it clear in their current announcement that all U.S. Territories are not DX for the purpose of this contest. Some contest logging programs which understandably treat DX as DX creates a problem for getting the call in the log. So frequently in this contest when I call DX stations (as they count for 5 points plus I like working topband DX) I get a terse reply "no DX no DX" as in this contest the rules say that DX to DX contacts are not valid.  I always wondered how any DX station would deliberately avoid working ARRL section multipliers such as KH6, KL7, KP4 etc. but that appears to be the case for some.  

Please if you hear me or any station in the U.S. territories let me get into the log....no matter what the indicator is on the logging program.  N1MM Logger works for this contest but some other software recognizes that I am a DX station and does not allow my call to be placed in the log.  I guess one could edit the country MDB (just for this contest) but that seems like a lot of needless work.  But the contest logging program software writers should eventually upgradethier software so the ARRL section multipliers from the overseas territories count.

Thanks for your understanding......and if you need the V.I. multiplier I'll be there for you.

73

Herb Schoenbohm, KV4FZ
St. Croix, U.S.V.I