Sweepstakes anyone?

[k9rzz]

Anyone planning on operating ARRL phone Sweepstakes this weekend? (2100 UTC Saturday, ends 0300 UTC Monday).

http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/novss.html

I'll be on from a friend's house, multi-op. Probably going for the sweep rather than all out. Call - either N9FH or W9YV.

Should be fun!

 

[nexus]

I may be working the contest for a little while on Saturday. Its going to be tough because I work Friday night and get off Saturday morning, and then I'm going to a hamfest. After the hamfest I may operate a little while.

If I am, KB5FSV is the call to be listening out for.

 

[elk2370bruce]

I'll be on 20 and 17 here and there. Depends on band conditions and who is out there.

 

[k9rzz]

Cool. I'll keep my ears open. Looks like I'll be starting the festivities and we'll be using W9YV so mention RadioReference if you work us. I'll probably do 4 or 5 hours before we switch ops. I'm guessing a 20 meter start followed by 40 then 75. Sunday could be anything up through 10 meters if the band is open.

Gear: Various towers, wires, beams +1.5 kw all bands. We should be heard well.

Hope to work EVERYONE.

 

[sprite1741]

I'll be on 20 and 17 here and there. Depends on band conditions and who is out there.

You don't contest on 17 meters, read the rules first please.

 

[k8mcn]

double post sorry

 

[nexus]

None of the WARC bands are allowed to be used for contesting.

10 meters, 15 meters, 20 meters, 40 meters, 75/80 meters, and 160 meters will be the only bands you can use.

K9RZZ, don't forget 15 meters, a couple of weekends ago during the CQWW 15 meters was wide open and active pretty much all of Saturday. The only thing about this contest is one contact only. On other contests you can usually work the same station once, on each band. But for the ARL Sweeps you can only work a station once, not on multiple bands.

 

[WA1CRZ]

If you want to have some fun, during the contest throw out an exotic callsign and watch them go crazy.

Usually a ZA or a BY prefix works best.

 

[902]

My son, a new general, was hopping around 40, 20 and 17m this afternoon before the sweepstakes. He actually got to work Portugal on 17, but he didn't seem to be up to the structure and pace of a contest just yet.

I might just sit back down by the rigs and give the lower portion of 80 or 160m a go after I read up on the rules.
===
Just got on and I'm being clobbered by all of the KW ops. Got one contact on 80 and two on 160. Called about a dozen stations. Maybe it'll cool down around 0300 local.

 

[k9rzz]

Well, I put in about 7 hours yesterday. ~ 375 contacts in 65 sections (80 possible). Not enough enthusiasm from the other guys to push much today although Fred says he'll try to finish the sweep of getting all the possible sections (Yeah, I get all the hard ones like Alaska, Hawaii, and Yukon, leaving him with Iowa and Michigan

)

The business end:

http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/W9YV/W9YV_SWEEPS_2.wav

Computers are an integral part with the logging software, "TR" in this case, and a digital voice recorder board (by W9XT):

Here's Doug (closest) and Fred:

who is the heckler in this clip:


http://hometown.aol.com/J999w/W9YV/W9YV_SWEEPS_1.wav

Contest runs until 9pm Sunday (today) ... still time to work someone!!

 

[902]

Not enough enthusiasm from the other guys to push much today although Fred says he'll try to finish the sweep of getting all the possible sections

Nice station. Who gets to keep the ARRL coffee mug?

My big one is the June VHF contest, preferably from a mountaintop. I took my section as a single-op 9 years ago.

 

[k9rzz]

Finally tally: 750 Q's x 80 mults.

SWEEEEEEP !!

Atta boy Fred.

It's okay Fred ... the contest is over ... you can chase DX again.

You can browse the scores at:

http://lists.contesting.com/_3830/2007-11/index.html

Every week or so there is a post with a compilation of all scores posted.

3's!

 

[CharlesDom]

I monitored some of this on the weekend with my new eton E1, I'm only a shortwave listener. I was surprised how far I was able to pick up stations, pretty much all over.

Anyway, I heard someone mention that there's an International Sweepstakes this weekend. Anyone know if this is true and if so when does it start - local time?

 

[nexus]

Yeah November 24th and 25th is the CQWW CW Contest.

CQ World Wide. It's morse code only. So unless you can copy 15 to 30 wpm code or have a PC with a digital interface you can go ahead and skip monitoring that one. Just for your information Charles, there is usually some sort of contest happening every weekend. Some of them are biggies, like the ARRL Sweepstakes, and the CQWW, and the NAQP being 3 of the big ones. But there usually is something each weekend. You can get contest dates etc at this page: http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/contestcal.html

The next phone contest will be the ARRL 160 meter Contest November 30th. The band is 160 meters SSB from 1.8 to 2.0 mHz. And the one after that is the ARRL 10 meter Contest on December 8th. That'll be from 28.1 to 29.7 mhz The sideband portion is 28.3 to 28.5

 

[CharlesDom]

Thanks for the info nexus.

 

[elk2370bruce]

You don't contest on 17 meters, read the rules first please.

I am well aware of the rules as I have read them. I have mentioned that my normal hangout is on 17. Lighten up.

 

[902]

I have mentioned that my normal hangout is on 17.

Not having to worry about contest disruption is a plus. I can actually get a respectable signal out with my 751A and DX Engineering modified 6BTV there. Gotta look for you!