2013 CQWW RTTY Contest Results

I almost forgot! In less than an hour from now this BIG contest will be over. Please enter your results by posting a comment to this posting so that we can learn about your efforts as well as record them on the club champions competition leaderboard.

Thanks…

73, Ken K3IU, Keeper of the Leaderboard

Important Info for Oct, 2013 Meeting

Greetings, fellow CTRICG’ers,

The next club meeting is on October 19, 2013, at the house of John, W1XX .

During the meeting we will take up the issue of the club’s financial situation. Presently we do not have sufficient funds in our account to meet our commitments, which largely consist of plaque sponsorships. It is very likely that any discussion of finances will entail the question of membership dues. If this is an issue of importance to you, you may want to consider attending the meeting. It is vital that we decide on a plan to resolve this financial issue and get as much input from the membership as possible.

To that end I recommend that we begin the discussion here on the web site, below this post. This will give all members a chance to air their views, without time constraints and in a way that promotes thoughtful consideration and well-reasoned responses. We should be able to distill the issues into some major points upon which we can concentrate at the meeting, which will shorten discussion and allow us to advance to other issues of importance.

For your reference:

CTRICG Constitution: http://ctri.club/2010/06/15/constitution-as-amended-in-2007/

CTRICG By-Laws: http://ctri.club/2010/06/15/bylaws-as-updated-in-2007/

73,

Pat, NG1G

CTRI Contest Group Club Officers for 2013/2014

Club members,

At our September 2013 meeting at the Crandall House, we held electrons as required by the club bylaws.  Here are your new officers:

President:  Mike, K1DM

VP: James, K1SD

Secretary: Ed, W1PN

Treasurer: Chuck, KA1CQR

Contest Manager: Pat, NG1G

In addition, the Executive Committee includes all club officers AND the past president, who is John, W1AN.

We look forward to serving all club members as best we can for this coming year.  Also, Ken, K3IU, will continue to maintain the club contest competition spread sheet.

Also, we’d like to thank Bill, W1WBB and Ken, K3IU for their service these past two years as Contest Manager and VP respectively.

73, Mike, K1DM

September, 2013 Contest Manager’s Notes

Greetings, fellow CTRICG contesters! I have several items to cover in my first post as the club’s Contest Manager so please bear with me. First, a huge “Thank you!” goes out to Bill, W1WBB and the Keeper of the Spreadsheet, Ken, K3IU! Without their effort and enthusiasm the CTRICG Champions program couldn’t have continued. I hope to be able to follow in Bill’s footsteps in promoting contesting and informing the membership on contest-related news and events. Ken has graciously offered to keep maintaining the scores spreadsheet, which I am all too happy to accept. Another big “Thanks!” to John, W1XX for his retooling and revitalizing the club’s Intra-Club Competition. Through his efforts we’ve seen a significant increase in contesting activity, which is what we’re all about! And last but not least thank you CTRI members for all your hard work during the 2012-13 contest season. We finished with an aggregate score totaling almost 63,000,000 points!

Which brings me to my first item of business. In the tradition of setting goals for the coming contest season, I’d like to offer one that I think is obtainable – an aggregate club score of 70,000,000 points. We’ve seen a tremendous increase in our scoring, not just in the number of scores submitted but in their individual totals. There’s no doubt that it’s due in large part to some multi-op operations and significant single-op scores, but every score counts. This has to be a group effort, and with this season likely to be the beginning of the downhill slide toward the bottom of the sunspot cycle we’ll need everyone to pitch in. There are 21 CTRI Championship contests spread throughout the year, offering plenty of chances to participate. Whether you like HF, VHF, SSB, CW, or RTTY, domestic or DX contests, there’s something for everyone. You might even want to try a new mode, band, or category.

This month we get our first two chances to hit the ground running. This weekend is the ARRL September VHF Contest, which starts at 2 pm local time Saturday and ends at 10:59 pm (that’s right, NOT 11:00 pm) local time Sunday night. The rules can be found at http://www.arrl.org/september-vhf and I encourage everyone to review them prior to the contest. HELPFUL HINTS: you can enter in a single-band category (high or low power), single operators MAY NOT use spotting, and there is a Single-Operator, FM-only category that is restricted to the 6M, 2M, 1.25M, and 70cm bands. Log submissions must be sent not later than 11:00 pm local on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. If you don’t have a VHF antenna, you can always throw up a wire for 6M – when conditions are good you’d be surprised what you can work! The club had NO scores submitted for this contest last year, so we have a chance to do better right out of the gate!

Next is one of the “big ones” – the CQ WW RTTY Contest, taking place from 8 pm local time on Friday, September 27 through 8 pm local time on Sunday the 29th. The rules can be found at http://www.cqwwrtty.com/rules.htm Last year we had 11 stations enter, including a M2 at W1DX, and submitted combined scores of over 14 million points. Obviously this contest is a big factor in our club goal of 70 million points, so it’s critical that we get as much participation as possible! HELPFUL HINTS: The exchange is signal report, zone, AND state abbreviation (i.e. 599 05 RI). If you’re just out to have fun while maximizing your score, check out the Single-Op Assisted category. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can work stations by using spotting but make sure you verify the call sign before sending a report, as RTTY contesting is notorious for bad calls spotted. IMPORTANT! The log submission deadline for this contest is 7:59 pm local time, October 4, 2013. You only get 5 days to submit your log, so don’t forget!

One important reminder – when submitting your scores to the contest sponsor, please remember to post your score (including your category and power) to the club’s web site. We won’t chase members for their scores, but Ken makes it easy to post them by creating a place on the web site where you can do it. Posting scores there will make Ken’s job much easier and allow him to update the spreadsheet faster. You can also email scores to either Ken or me.

Here’s to a fun and successful 2013-2014 contest season!

73,
Pat, NG1G

CQ WW RTTY Preparation and Plans for W1DX (Sept 28 and 29th)

The 2013 CQ WW RTTY contest will be happening in two weeks. The date is September 28 and 29. The new CQ WW rules will be effect. It would be a good time to review the changes on the CQ website.

I will have the station here open for operation as W1DX Multi-2. Operators are much in need. Rick KI1G will have his station running as a multi also, so we may run a little thin on operators. Consider this post a plea. All help is appreciated. And you will have fun!

I have been busy with several house projects the last couple months. New drywall in the house and a new roof is on the barn. The work continues but is winding down. Attention to the station is the top priority until the contest. Just today, I have two 5B4AGN bandpass filters built and ready. They automatically switch using the K3 band data bits from the accessory connector. This should help minimize station to station QRM. I also have a 4EL 20M beam ready to raise. The plan is to do this when I return from vacation on the 24th or 25th. I will need a few hands for the antenna raising. It will be mounted on the 110 foot tower and be cabled to the Dunestar relay box at 85 feet. Choice of the 15 stack or 20M will be from the shack Dunestar control box. I also have the 15M stack rotor working remotely on the home network where it can be accessed from either station. It can be set from VK through JA north to EU. A 2 EL 40M beam could also be raised, but I doubt I will have it ready in time. I may see what I can get done this weekend, if the VHF contest doesn’t steal all my time and energy. I also put together an AM6155 400W amp for 432 but I won’t have all my antennas up for VHF/UHF until later this year.

Tomorrow, off to Gillette Stadium, and Friday the Big E. Monday I head to PEI for several days. Busy times.

73,
John, W1AN

New club Contest Manager – Pat NG1G

Congratulations to Pat NG1G who was elected Contest Manager for the CTRI CG at the most recent club meeting this month.  Pat will assume his duties immediately…just in time for CQWW RTTY late this month!  Good luck Pat.

I would like to very enthusiastically thank Ken K3IU for his wonderful work in accurately maintaining the CTRI CG Intra-club Competition contest scores for each active club member throughout my time as C/M.  In addition, Ken posted the scores spreadsheet to the website after the contests for updated viewing by the members.  Outstanding  job Ken  —  Bravo Zulu as we would say in the Navy!

Best of luck to all this new contest season…this may be the last best period for optimum HF condx this solar cycle.

73 and good contesting!

Bill  W1WBB

Meeting Notice, September 7, 2013

It’s that time again. If you are familiar with the interactive meeting notice skip down to “Topics“. This is an interactive meeting notice. What, you may ask, is an interactive meeting notice? As the phrase suggests, it is a meeting notice which requires interaction by the readers. For example: we need to have topics for presentation at the meeting; we need presenters; we need volunteers to provide lunch; we need to know who is coming to the meeting so the quantity of lunch portions may be determined, and so on. This post will be updated as interactions (comments) are appended.

Topics

  1. Contest Report
  2. Election of Officers
  3. Dues
  4. Matters Arising

Lunch provider:

Coffee and Drinks by:

Members who will attend: W1PN, K3IU, K1SD, W1XX, K1DM, NG1G

Venue: Crandall House, Ashaway, RI at 10:00 am