Topband: The 18th Stew Perry TopBand Challenge

[Lew Sayre]

     Greetings to all TopBand Operators,
     The Boring Amateur Radio Club is happy to announce the 18th running of
the
Stew Perry TopBand Challenge. It will be held publicly starting 1500Z 28
December
to 1500Z December 29, 2013. This contest will utilize 160M only and
requires the
contestants to use CW or Morse Code. You have a bit over a month to learn
the code
if you'd like to participate. No semaphore, no SSB, no RTTY, no drones.
Just good old
fashioned dits and dahs floating through the cold darkness. 25 WPM is about
right.
     The exchange is simply your call and your operating position's grid
square. Signal reports
are optional. This contest utilizes your transmit power and distance based
mnemonic to arrive
 at your score. It is the fairest scored contest in the galaxy as you get
more points for working
another station very far away as compared to working somebody close. The
rules live at:
      http://www.kkn.net/stew/
      Amazing rules such as receiving 2X points for working a low power
station and 4X points for
working a QRP station are found here. So it does pay to turn up the hearing
aids and ask just
one more time for that weak whisper of a call that you might have heard. It
also helps to send in
your log even if you think it really doesn't amount to much as it helps the
overall scoring process.
     Another facet developed by The Boring Amateur Radio Club is that all
plaques awarded are
dreamed up and sponsored by the radio contestants. If you think a category
is important to
emphasize and it could be discussed at a church social, then for the paltry
sum of $60 you could
have your call listed below with these Stalwarts of Contesting.

KL7RA             Top # of QSOs
KL7RA              Top Score,S/O, North America
W2GD Team     Top # NA+SA QSOs by EU Station
TF4M                Longest QSO- both ends get a plaque-
TF4M                Top Score 160M mobile (station has to be able to move)
N0TT                 Top Score <21 years old with > 200 QSOs
N5IA                  Most Grids worked
N5IA                  Top Score Daylight only( use a second call)
KH6LC               VL/ZL Challenge- Top Score VK/ZL
K5WA                Top Score S/O, Low Power, Americas
K5WA                Top Score S/O, Low Power, Europe

     If I have omitted anyone, please email me directly and I'll rectify
things. If you have a category that
you would like to sponsor, then utilize the address at the bottom of this
note.
     Start now to obtain the time off from your usual duties. This year the
contest is cleverly timed
and just might be the needed tonic to get you through the grueling times
typically known as the "Happy
Holidays".
     The plaques for last year's Stew Perry TopBand Challenge sponsored by
The Boring Amateur Radio
Club, have been finished by the little old plaquemaker and will be sent out
this week to the winners.
     Further email epistles will be forthcoming as the list of plaque
donors grows and the categories that
can be created by the brilliant minds of 160M radio operators will be
displayed.
   73 and I remain,
   Lew Sayre   W7EW
The Boring Amateur Radio Club Plaque Monger
w7ew at arrl.net