CTRI Field Day – 2012
(A preview of February 2013 – NP3U)

Here is the plan for “Field Day” 2012 for CTRI Contest Group: 

     At 1300 on Saturday, June 23, 2012, we will gather at the QTH of our past president, W1AN.
We will put together two RTTY stations using K3’s and RTTY Meister stations running N1MM Logger.
Our objective is to activate two RTTY stations with computers networked together running the N1MM
Logger.  We will be keeping track of problems and potential challenges while we throw contacts to
other Field Day stations.  We’re going to use commerical electric power, and we will use the
W1AN antenna farm as our pipeline to the ionosphere.

     K3’s will be supplied by K3IU and K1DM.  W1AN’s K3 will be “standing by” while serving as our
“multiplier seeker” station.  RTTY Meisters are being supplied by W1AN.

     What we need from members planning on traveling to KP4 land in February is your participation
in this and upcoming training/practice events.  This will be a team effort, and we’re holding try-outs
for the team by organizing these practice events that coincide with RTTY contests.

     We want this Saturday to be a time of perfecting of operator skills, practicing set-up, and
preparing to meet Murphy’s attempts to stall progress.  We’d also expect to have some fun playing
ham radio.

     So here’s the summary of the event:

                    Time:  1300 EDT
                    Place: QTH of W1AN
                    What to bring:  Your self
                                    some snacks

                   
     We look forward to seeing you at “Field Day 2012” for CTRI Contest Group.

Best 73 Mike, K1DM, President, CTRI Contest Group

If you are planning on attending Field Day with us, please post a comment below  Thanks

Just a few items in preparing for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest this weekend…   At contest start Friday eve at 0000Z the band may be pretty much closed down, except for local contesters — of which I put many into the log (all good mults – CT, RI, MA, NH, NY) the first night the past few years.

Check the band every so often during each evening as it may open to sporadic-E skip or even meteor scatter.   A nice opening to the Midwest/Southeast in last year’s contest the first night lasted over 2 hours and went past local midnite!  Some nice state mults were worked then that may not otherwise be available during the contest.

Speaking of multipliers, there are 97 available mults just among the U.S., Canada and Mexico — all 50 U.S. states + D.C.,  the individual 14 VE provinces and territories as well as the recently added 32 Mexican states.  Maritime mobiles may be worked also as a mult — giving out their region: R1, R2 or R3.

Adding in all the DXCC mults that will be available may allow some single mode ops to push the 200 multiplier envelope!  For mixed mode ops (where multipliers count per *mode*) 300 mults will likely be achievable.  Bottom line…lots of multipliers to be had in this contest.

But with all the frequency space available on 28 MHz, operators should try to ‘run’ a frequency by calling CQ when possible to increase their QSO rate and because many multipliers will come to them.  During the recent CQWW SSB ‘test Phone stations were found calling CQ in the contest above 29.1 MHz due to the great activity on the band!  Expect more of that this weekend, for sure.

With the crowded conditions and great popularity of the spotting networks worldwide, DX and rare multiplier stations have commented how difficult it is now to separate the dozens (hundreds?) of callers (esp. on CW) who are ALL zero-beat together after pointing and clicking on their DX ‘spot’.  As a caller of the DX *a small change in your TX freq of a few Hz* either side of his TX frequency will likely help you be heard and get thru the pile more quickly.  A number of DX ops went ‘split operation’ temporarily to manage the pileups during CQWW.  Be sure you know how to quickly ‘go split’ with your radio when needed to get the DX!

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest is a great way for folks to work on their WAS award as well as DXCC.  Many contesters are active on the ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) so credits for worked entities can come quickly.  I personally need 5 more states for 10M WAS (all close in to New England) and hope to snag a few of those this weekend.

Conditions remain good on the band this week…China and Hong Kong were worked via Long Path in the A.M. early this week and many African stations have been heard to be active.  Openings to Europe Saturday and Sunday mornings could be earlier than 7 A.M. EST so don’t forget to check the band by then.

Operation:  ARRL 10 Meter ‘Test is almost upon us — Enjoy the contest and go CTRI CG!

73,

Bill  W1WBB

 

 

Outstanding to see the total club claimed scores now at well north of 1 Meg.  A few of us have already submitted our scores electronically.  There is a “logs received” area at the NEQP website (click on “results” tab; then click on “logs received”) to verify your log indeed arrived.

Congrats to Jeff K1NEF who I heard on CW numerous times running stations very impressively, as well as Chris KA1GEU doing the same on SSB…great job guys.

…and Jack K2RS (aka KR1CW) — your wires were singing too.

Sorry to John ‘XX — reversed my 75m phone freqs and missed you.  Thanks for the many Q’s and motivation to stay in the chair.

Worked W1AN in the last minute Saturday night on CW;  found K1DM and W1FH on CW in last minutes Sunday eve…good timing fellas.

INCREDIBLE to see Rick’s (KI1G) score around *100k pts more* than the previous NEQP all-time HP record…and Jim KS1J in the vicinity of the LP record.  Amazing ops/stns/efforts!

It was fun to be a part of a great team effort for NEQP 2011.  Now time to ensure your log is properly received.

Correction to my CW QSO count provided in my original 3838 claimed score post…final total points remain correct:

New England QSO Party

Call: W1WBB
Operator(s): W1WBB
Station: W1WBB

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: NEWport cty, RI
Operating Time (hrs): 18.5

Summary:
Band  CW-Dig Qs  Ph Qs
————————
80:     99        1
40:    230       88
20:    220       37
15:     48        2
10:      2        2
————————
Total:    599      130  Mults = 74  Total Score = 98,198

Club: CT RI Contest Group

Comments:

Propagation conditions for high bands seemed somewhat below average for recent
months during the solar cycle upswing for my modest LP/wires station…my SSB
totals particularly show the story.  40m and 80m were relatively QRN quiet for
this time of year, especially Sunday.

S&P’d more on Saturday to work the 7QP and INQP folks who would not be around
on Sunday.  Exchanged 45+ serial #’s with ARI participants during weekend.
Worked 43 US states, 6 VE provinces and 25 DX.

Put in alot of chair-time along with many fellow CT/RI CG members in hopes of
establishing new club record score.

Thanks to all the in-region , out-of-region and DX participation this year.

Bill  W1WBB