Sitting in the back of the Class Again… Contest University – Dayton 2007

Did you every take Skiing Lessons, or have someone coach you on a piece of music, or do a clinic on shooting?

Most of us benefit from studying how our peers do things, specially if they seem to do them right!

Enter the Contest University

Contest University – Dayton 2007

Contest University will be held on Thursday May 17, 2007, from 8:30am to 5:30pm, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dayton, Ohio.

This is the day before the Dayton Hamvention officially opens. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to gain knowledge that may take you years of practice, trial and error or lost time to learn otherwise.

Get the edge to improve your scores and put your station in the winners circle today!
Registration Fee (see below) will include the following:
For both beginners and advanced contesters
Taught by “Veteran Contesters” (see below)
Breakfast and lunch included on site for your convenience
Full day of training and knowledge enhancement
Our Contest Professors:
Jim, K8MR
Dean, N6BV
Randy, K5ZD
Dick, N6AA
Dave, W9ZRX
Andy, N2NT
Jeff, N5TJ
Mark, N5OT
Doug, K1DG
Mark, M0DXR
Here are the topics that will be presented:
Two sessions will run for most of the time — Beginners topics and an Advanced topic. Some topics may change at the last moment depending on Professor issues.
QSO Parties – Strategy
SO Unassisted – Maximizing your CW and SSB skill set
Antennas for USA contests – Using wire antennas for best performance
RTTY contesting
Mobile contesting
Single Operator Assisted – WIth hints on part time efforts
Antennas for DX contests
Computers
Hints and Kinks to help you win – Maximizing a station on a budget
Chokes and Filters – Multi Operator considerations
Starting out in Contesting – What works
Software Logging Programs
DXpedition Contesting – Setting goals and total concentration on winning
LUNCH – Extreme Shack Makeover
Logging and Accuracy + Contest history and Records
SO2R – What the future of contesting could look like
Basic Contesting – How I got started – tracking improvements + getting better
Station Layout and Design
VHF Contesting
HFTA – How to use it and what you will learn from it
Sourcing your station needs on the Web
Propagation – Sunspots and what we have to look forward to
What your signal sounds like in Europe
Answers to Questions

No sign ups at the door!

Already signed up and will be looking forward to the event!

Hope to see you there too!

73

Steve
K9ZW

When Enough Voices Speak, They Will be Heard – ARRL Backs Off Pactor/ALE/RTTY Band Free-for-All

As I had discussed in a previous article – Delay Centrifugal Destruct Factors for as long as possible then push the button.’ – Proposals to Unlease Pactor and Robot Stations Full Bands – the ARRL had through revisions of a previously submitted docket and emergency meetings with the FCC proposed to allow Robot Stations basically anywhere on any band.

They have heard the voices of their members, the Amateur Radio community and the Amateur Radio Bloggers.

And they have recanted, dropping the proposed free-for-all in the HF bands excepting 10m & 6m bands.

It is easier to understand if you read the ARRL’s press release with the context that this was a revised position to their secret/emergency revision that landed the league in the midst of a fractionalized Amateur Community.

It is tremendous that the ARRL heard its members and so quickly responded, specially as it did mean backpedalling on a fairly radical position they had gone out on a limb to promote.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Ham not Scam Proof – Fake Spoof ARRL Emails

Went to the ARRL website to check on what is new and found an ARRL Alert about Worm/Trojan Installing Scam Emails faked to look like they came from the ARRL:

 Attention All Amateurs…

Do not follow instructions in bogus “arrl.net user support team” e-mails (Mar 30, 2007) — The ARRL is alerting members — and especially users of the ARRL E-Mail Forwarding Service — about bogus e-mails that claim to be from the “arrl.net user support team.” There is no such entity, and the messages do not originate with ARRL but appear to be coming from outside the US. Recipients should not follow the instructions in the e-mail, which reads, “We have received reports that your e-mail account has been used to send a large amount of unsolicited commercial email messages during this week. We suspect that your computer had been infected by a recent virus and now contains a hidden proxy server. We recommend you to follow our instructions in order to keep your computer safe.” Following the instructions will have the opposite effect, however, infecting your computer with the MyDoom Trojan worm and making it part of a spamming network. The League urges all members to invest in and use anti-virus software.

As always as internet users we all need to be alert for these relentless attempts to steal our identity information and take over our computers with malware!

73

Steve
K9ZW

Fifty Years of Big Box Amateur Radio Sales – AES Superfest

 

Today starts the 1-1/2 day long AES Superfest at AES Milwaukee.

Congratulations to AES on Fifty Years serving our hobby!

Family commitments will keep me from this year’s Superfest, but I am sure a good time will be had by all!

Wondering if the next 50 years will see as much change for AES and for our hobby?

73

Steve
K9ZW

DXpedition Videos – The DXpedition & Contesting DVDs by 9V1YC – Part II

Lets take a look at another set of the excellent 9V1YC DXpedition DVD’s

Again there seemed little point in repeating what is so well said on the DX Videos Website, so I’ve quoted from the “official copy.”

There is a 2-part series-inside-a-series titled “The Micro-Lite DXpedition.”

Part one is the 2002 visit to

South Sandwich

Described by Captain James Cook as the most horrible place on Earth, the South Sandwich Islands are also one of the most logistically difficult places for a DXpedition. Using only 100 watts and verticals, this experienced team took on the South Atlantic’s tough environmental challenge by heading to Southern Thule – the planet’s most southerly piece of land outside the Antarctic Treaty Zone.Operating within the remains of an old Argentine base, (and amongst 100,000 penguins!) this video documents how a super-lightweight expedition set out to bring back the fun of old-time DXpeditions!

And Part II continues to

South Georgia Islands

The Antarctic DX Oasis

In Part 2 of the “Micro-Lite” DXpedition, the team fires up the stations once again, this time from the beautiful Antarctic paradise of South Georgia!From the adventurous James Cook, to the unstoppable Earnest Shackelton, discover why South Georgia has been the Antarctic’s most famous – and most exploited island for over 200 years. Then go behind the scenes with the operators to learn all the secrets behind “Micro-Lite” DXpeditioning, and why this time the team decided to leave the heavy stuff at home!

A quarter of the series is not Island Hopping, and this next volume is a rare look at the sport of Radio Contesting at the

WRTC Finland 2002 – Amateur Radio’s Olympic Games

Amateur Radio’s Olympic Games

Continuing an idea that began in Seattle in 1990 with the first WRTC games, this “contest within a contest” was designed to determine the world’s best operators under near identical QTH, propagation and station conditions.This video includes colorful footage of Finland in summer, all the lead-up events, 3D animated graphics of quarterly top-ten listings, and extensive real-time contesting action shot on multiple cameras. Additional DVD features include post-contest score breakdowns, historical WRTC archive, and the full competitor rulebook.

Again exceptional production by Nine-V Post makes these desired additions to any Radio Amateur’s DVD collection.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Let the Machine do the Work – GlobalQSL QSL Printing Service

Being SO far behind doing QSL cards, with 700 plus cards in arrears, that it is either taking a break from operating to do QSL cards or looking for some other way to do real QSL cards.

While researching QSO direct printing onto preprinted QSL cards a solution appeared.

Custom printed QSL cards directly printed with the QSO information from my logs.

Enter GlobalQSL’s service

GlobalQSL also arranges the delivery of the cards! 

In the next few days GlobalQSL card designs will be done, the needed logs uploaded, and my 700-800 card backlog should be down to a handful I prefer to do as direct QSL cards.

Will also be sending several hundred KB9GPN cards out that I never did “way back when.”

While setting up my account GlobalQSL indicated I had inbound cards through their service, so a report on how that works should follow shortly!

 Edit - I’ve just completed designing and sending the first 554 cards.  I’ve had to ask how to handle my US Island operations within their system, which means holding back three hundred cards owed from WI-001L. Overall the process was quick and easy.  Now to see how well it works, but I can tell you I am relieved to halve my QSL card backlog in twenty minutes!!!!  I’ve reserved an additional 40 QSOs out of this first batch of 659 to do manually.  The final card count is lower as multiple QSOs with the same station can be printed on a single QSL card.

Edit - Sent another 105 cards for printing. Still working on sorting out the Island Operations issue. Received a very nice email with two strategies to handle the Island cards. Expect those will have to wait for a couple days. Having 659 cards done in less than an hour’s time, of which much was spent to designing the QSL cards for the first time, is awesome. Now to see if things turn out ok.

73

Steve
K9ZW