Newsletter of the Northern California Contest Club
November 1997
George Daughters, K6GT, Editor
(N6NZ and FrontPage take the blame in equal measure for any formatting weirdness caused by conversion from George's original copy.)
NEXT NCCC MEETING! DATE: Monday, November 10
TIME: 6:30 P.M.
AT
HP-PALO ALTO
DIRECTIONS BELOW!
The program will be an NCCC "triple header" featuring Sweepstakes, an ARRL DX contest preview, and the CQWW antenna test results! That has to be enough to interest everyone!! Pizza will be at 6:30, with the meeting and program at 7:30. The meeting will at Hewlett-Packard, 3000 Hanover, in Palo Alto. It's right at the corner of Hanover and Page Mill Road.
NCCC OFFICERS
President .... Andy Faber, AE6Y .... ae6y@aol.com
Vice President/CC ....... Bob Wilson, N6TV ... n6tv@vnet.ibm.com
Secretary/Treasurer ... Ed Muns, W0YK ... w0yk@msn.com
Directors ....
Carl Cook, AI6V ... ai6v@aol.com
Bruce Sawyer, N6NT ... n6nt@worldnet.att.net
Ken Silverman, K2KW ... ken.silverman@airtouch.com
Jim Hollenback, WA6SDM ... jholly@cup.hp.com
JUG Editor .... George Daughters, K6GT ... gdaught6@leland.stanford.edu
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October Meeting
Well, if you weren't there, you missed a dynamite meeting. There are meeting notes elsewhere in this issue, but here are some of the highlights:
First, if you ever wondered about whether TV-Bob, N6TV, is a good programmer or not, all doubts were laid to rest by his unveiling of "SS Sim" (my name, not his), a simulated SS contest played by all the participants for 5 minutes at the meeting. In brief, the band was represented by long tables with 12 chairs for CQ'ers, with S&P'ers running from place to place to answer CQ's. The CQ's and exchanges were done by flashing index cards with a callsign and station info (for example, I was W3DA in DE section). Bob designed and printed out the cards, a complete set of typed rules, and log sheets. The amazing thing, and why I say Bob must be a terrific programmer, is that IT ALL WORKED. The whole magilla was essentially bug-free. Bob had thought of everything. He even had a rule that if you were CQ'ing low power and there were high power guys on either side, you had to leave the table!
Anyway, it was great fun, and definitely got our contesting competitive juices flowing. As Bob was explaining the rules, you could see Bruce, N6NT, and Tom, N6BT, inching towards the back to stake out the "low end" of the table -- though Bob, K6XX, claimed afterwards that they had inadvertently picked the "high" end, while he in fact had the low end.
There was instant log checking, though no checking for dupes or mults, and the results were announced on a QSO's basis.
The top finishers were:
B class (high power): K6XX (guess he really did have the low end after all) and K2KW with 13 Q's, N6NT and K7CO with 11.
A class (low power): N6BT with 12, N6NZ, W6OAT, AE0M with 11, AD6E, N6RO, W6ISQ, NR3Y, WA6SDM with 10.
Q class (QRP), AE6Y with 10.
Afterwards, there was a lively discussion, with many participants chipping in thoughts on how the simulation equated to real life operating strategies. Big kudoes to n6tv for designing and operating the simulation!!! [Suggestion to Bob: would you consider playing a phone version at the November meeting - same format except no index cards, just the usual phone cacophony?]
The SS Sim had a real point, though: WE WANT OUR CROWN BACK! Here's a pome about it:
"SS Sim as a Metaphor for Life"
We all played the SS game,
To help us get over the shame,
Of losing the test
To the East Coast's best.
This time we're headed for fame!!
New members:
Also at the meeting, we inducted five new members. Is this a record? I don't recall that many new members ever at a meeting. It's a sign of the new vitality of the club. Furthermore, they all paid their dues and ordered badges!
We welcome new members:
Pat Barthelow, AA6EG, who is also the trustee of the Ft. Ord station, N6IJ, located at 599 DX Drive (no kidding!) in Marina.
Dave Fifield, AD6AY, from San Jose, ex-G8INR.
Darrell Earnshaw, NR3Y, from Half Moon Bay, ex-G4MZF (are we leaning towards the UK or what?).
Al Burnham, K6RIM (ex-W4RIM), a founding member of the DX club and recent past-president, whom I couldn't believe wasn't already a member of the NCCC. Though traditionally not a contester, Al nearly broke the Marin County record in CQP 97!
Chuck Mahler, KN6WW, of San Jose. I was delighted to meet Chuck, as I had spent hours on the phone with him in the last year on WRTC business (I as pro bono general counsel, Chuck as pro bono accountant, for WRTC).
CQP Results
As my faithful reader is aware, missing CQP was a real low point of my year. After talking to guys and reading reports on the 3830 reflector (you can do so by accessing www.contesting.com/_3830), I realized that the contest was probably the best it's been in years.
Thanks to everybody for your hard work in putting it on, and as usual, special thanks to N6TV for once again getting all 58 counties on the air and to the county expeditioners who made that possible. There were a number of clean sweeps by out-of-state stations, some inspired by a last-minute new award cobbled together by N6TV and K6LA (ex-AB6FO, and a multiple recent winner): the "first to 58" award. Even Yukon stalwart Jay, VY1JA, managed his first ever sweep.
California stations exulted in much improved conditions on 15 meters, with European DX calling in for hours on end. Scores were way up, with apparent winner Arizona Dave, K6LL, operating from K6NA's mega-station, claiming over 320k points. Even without 10 meters, the group at N6O (N6RO) broke a long-time multi-multi record in a superb effort.
Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand Travelogue
Not really, because the JUG isn't long enough to let me get properly started on a description of my wife's and my recent excursion to the Himalayas. I will say, though, that in three weeks I didn't see anything looking like a ham antenna. I talked to several people about operating in Bhutan (A5), and finally found a travel agent who was very knowledgeable. He mentioned that one Jim Smith (obviously, VK9NS) had been trying for years to get operating permission, and that a Japanese group had operated for two days last year as a demonstration.
The government gets several hundred applications a year, and turns them all down. But, based on this visit, I'm convinced that the tide will soon turn. Bhutan has a curious, love-hate relationship with modern technology and Western ways. There is no TV or Internet, but English is taught to all school kids, and many are sent abroad for university education. They allow only restricted tourism, but are exceedingly friendly and gracious to visitors. Although we could direct dial a call to our daughter in Chile from our hotel room in the capital city of Thimpu, that same hotel does the laundry by hand and dries it all on the line! I predict that pretty soon they'll get a washer and dryer and allow ham radio operations.
SS Efforts.
Don't forget SS! The CW weekend is the first weekend in November, with phone the third weekend. We need everyone's logs to win once again. There's lots of enthusiasm in the club this year for SS, but we can only win with major participation from all our members. Get on both modes and operate high power if you can. Don't forget to send in your logs to the ARRL, with copies to N6TV of the summary sheets. Be sure to credit your score to the club.
Thanks and 73, Andy.
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Features are:
* Available now on JZAP & K6XX web sites:
and
http://www.jps.net/k6xx/sshb.htm
(a password is required--your password is on the JUG’s mailing label)
* 48 Pages of "all you need to know to KB in SS"
* Also available (hard copy) from Andy, AE6Y, if you don't have internet access
* Contents:
SS operating and Advanced Techniques
Station Equipment and accessories (antennas, computers, station layout, etc.)
NCCC's SS success and competition
Rules, forms, band planning, etc.
Plus the usual "miscellaneous"
73 de Bob, K6XX
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Pileup Research Project
CQ volunteers. It's an adventure, not a job! I am trying to put together a study of pileup dynamics, and want to use the November CQ WW CW operation at 6Y4A to supply the data. The goal of the study is to understand the dynamics of a pileup at multiple points.
I'm looking for a volunteer or two on the west coast to tape record 6Y4A, on 40m at 09:00z the first night of the contest (1 am local in CA) for 10-15 mins, search around for some other Caribbean stations for a signal comparison, and then record 6Y4A on 80m at 09:15z for 10-15mins. At the same time, we will also be tape recording the pileup in Japan, and at 6Y4A.
Some of the things I would be examining are:
- Operator skill and impact on pileup rhythm
- What level of signals does the 6Y operator work
(loud only, all levels?)
- How does the 6Y signal strength sound in JA,
and the halfway point in W6-land?
- Who gets through the pileup, and why?
- How many stations are really in the pileup, from
3 perspectives?
- How many weak mults call that are missed due
to the stronger stations calling?
- How many callers are there that simply cannot
be heard in 6Y?
- Lots of other things I haven't thought of yet (do
you have other ideas?)
Is there someone out there who would be willing to help me with this study? The results will be presented at an NCCC meeting, and will also be written up in CQ Contest magazine.
What do you need to record off the air? While a good cassette tape recorder would be desirable, you could even use your walkman! Probably the best place to get the audio from is the external speaker jack at the back of most radios. This should be simple to do for most people. For your assistance in the study, we will bring the 1 or 2 volunteers some fine Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee!
If you are willing to help me, please contact me at 510-210-0410 (H) or ken.silverman@airtouch.com
73, Kenny K2KW
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NCCC
N6TV 293-47-13,771
K6XX 243-45-11,178
N7NG 254-43-10,922
N6BT 233-46-10,718
N6RO 263-40-10,520
N6A (K6AW) 251-40-10,040
N6NT 227-43- 9,761
N6PN 180-38- 6,840
W6CT 152-38- 5,776 (low power, but not by choice!)
N6N (K2KW) 241-40- 9,640
Total 99,166
73, Scott, W6CT
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For CQP, N6NT did a county expedition to Glenn county this year. In fact, he operated from the same QTH that I used several times in the past as a M/S. Since I remembered that weekend was always the opening weekend of deer hunting season, I asked Bruce if he had any interesting ham/hunter interfaces. I've often referred to that area as the Beirut of northern California. Here’s his answer.
"There were two or three groups that came up to my road and got upset when they saw I had the road blocked. I was using a tree on the west side of the road as one of the anchor points for my guys, and there was no way to get around that guy. Both times I explained that they couldn't possibly drive more than 200' further on the road anyway and they calmed down.
"Sunday afternoon was where it got nerve racking. I guess the good ole boys hadn't bagged their deer for the weekend and just wanted to shoot some. There were bullets whizzing around and I did hear one plop to the ground near my campsite. As long as they just go "whiz" though, you don't have anything to worry about."
Al, AD6E
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Bob, N6TV, and I had lunch on Friday at Chef Wang's Chinese restaurant in Mountain View. We reserved it for our NCCC holiday banquet for Saturday night, 13 December. They have a room that can be closed off for our group that has 6 large round tables. Although they have 12 chairs per table, we recommended only 8 per table so that it is not as crowded. The menu is 7 appetizers followed by 8 main courses and ice cream for dessert ... if I understand the menu I received. The price is $20 per person plus tax and tip.
Mark it on your calendar, and get your reservation to me… 73, Ed - W0YK
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After a nice 13 hour nonstop night-drive on the European highways, I got home Wednesday morning to Hungary. Half sleeping but checked the pile of letters and found N6TV's invitation to CQP '97. I put it to the top of the pile and went sleeping...
On Thursday and Friday my father (HA1UF) and I spent most of the time at the new QTH putting a new antenna together. The place is a 350m (appr. 1150 ft) ASL hilltop overlooking a big plain (107-113m ASL) in NW Hungary. There is only one tower standing, a 25m self-supporting one, previously used and owned by the Government's Emergency Services. The antenna itself is a 5 element widespaced monobander. The design is based on that of the long Yagis used at HG1S.
On Friday the antenna was ready but due to the rain in the morning the "cherry picker" couldn't climb the hill so we had to wait. Finally a friend with his four-wheel drive Pajero pulled up the antenna to its final place.
Saturday was the day of tuning and retuning. At the end of the day the antenna seemed to be OK.
On Sunday afternoon I took the FT1000MP and my notebook and went to the hill. I set up the CQP software. I would like to thank AD6E for making this very fine software available. I was ready one hour before the W6 sunrise and started tuning the SSB band. When I switched on the rig I heard a very strong signal: K6LA's. Ken was stable S9 at 1409 GMT. Surprise... Tuned the SSB segment and found the big ones easily: W6GO, AC6T and K6NA. In 20 minutes the signals came up at least 6-10 dB. Asked for the signal reports and got S7 and S9. The antenna performed well - easy contacts. At 1426 Worked W6UC from Tulare county which was an all-time new one. At that time I didn't think of logging until four that afternoon!
That time 17-15-12-10m bands were wide open from EU and almost everybody was there chasing the African and Asian DX. Excellent! Except for some ragchewers around 14.280 the band was empty and quiet.
After 20 mins on SSB, I changed to CW and immediately worked Bob N6TV. In 40 minutes, I worked another 17 stations. I got W6KC from Mono County - I hope to get a QSL from him. Since 1987, I have worked 6 stations from Mono but none of them QSLed. AC6T was the first double mode QSO - with a note in the log: excellent CW op. Congratulations! The strongest station on CW was KF6T - he was constantly +25-30 dB over S9. I'm really curious to know what he was using... At 1459 got K6XV from Sutter as an other county which has been QSOed but not QSLed. I called K6EL from Butte a couple of times but he couldn't copy me - even when no one else was calling. (He was the only one whom I heard from CA but couldn't make a QSO.) Later I heard him on SSB but no QSO again. KB6JOX from Alameda county was the last in the S&P on CW.
At 1510 I called a friend on VHF and asked him to listen for W6 on 15 and 17m. He could copy plenty of West Coast stations on 17m and some on 15m. No 15m antenna yet - what a loss! At 1515 went back operating again. On SSB N6O got into the log. His signal was excellent, S9+30 dB. As I did earlier with W6GO and AC6T, told the op to listen to EU. While doing S&P on SSB, heard a lot of Europeans calling the Big Guns without any response on the W6 side. At first I thought it was due to the QRM level made by North Americans. Later I was told that the Europeans could be copied even when no one else was calling. Something else I observed: When the ops turned the antenna to EU, the signal improved another couple of dB's but very strong polar splatter occurred. When they turned back to USA, I lost those dB's but had much better readibility. The next one was N6TV again as the second double-mode contact. Finally found a pretty voice - AC6DQ (YL) on 14.292 from Amador county which was an all-time new one! It took a while to complete the QSO, but it was worth to try. At the end of my operation I heard her operating the same freq more smoothly - Congratulations again!
At 1540 went back to CW and found W6PH from Inyo! Wow!! I had a good rate again, one call, one QSO. The new antenna worked very well. I made some comparisons with my father's 5 element tribander down in the city; the difference was roughly 10 dB. The 250m effective antenna height (averaged for roughly 150 km) made a big difference! Found N6O on CW, too as the third double-mode QSO. At 1549 logged W6OA from Alpine county as another all-time new one. WX6V from Mariposa was another new mult. KI6AN gave me Butte County at 1559.
At 1607 I worked K5RC/M6 from Trinity County which was the third new-one! I knew Tom from other QSO parties and remembered his call well. The BEA - Best Ears Award goes for him this year! Working EU while roving in W6 with this type of solar activity is quite a challenge! Congratulations Tom!
I even tried to call CQ CQP but no one answered. That 70-80 watts output was not really enough to break through noise there. At 1624 - much after the local sunset! - went back to SSB and worked AF7Y/6 from Napa county. He gave me S9 + report for his 4 ele Yagi. Found KD6FW from Madera - I worked him in 94 too from this quite rare one and still waiting for his QSL - maybe this time.
After the sunset the signals started to fade out and the pace slowed down. At 1638 worked K6HTM another station from Butte County. At 1642 went back for the last CW S&P. Even then found some new ones - W6GO was logged on CW and as the last one, the 5th all-time new county Yuba got into the log (N6YEU).
At 1650 with 50 QSOs and 29 counties in the log, I decided to shut down. At this time my father can hardly copy any Californians down in the city and the 10-12 dB difference was even more. I was sitting on a dark hilltop, seeing the city's lights through the window.
Although it was an accident that the antenna tests and the CQP coincided, I was very happy that I could participate. I really enjoyed working Californian stations! At last, many thanks again for the exceptional organizing work and see you all next year!
73, Zoli HA1AG
[ In This Issue ] [ Back to Top ]
Nov 1-2 ARRL Sweepstakes, CW
Nov 15-16 ARRL Sweepstakes, Phone
Nov 29-30 CQ World-Wide CW
Dec 5-7 ARRL 160 meter
Dec 13-14 ARRL 10 meter
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THE TV GUIDE SWEEPSTAKES!
Well folks, it all comes down to this. Are you ready for Sweepstakes?! This is the big one. This is the one where it is really important to make as many points as you can for the NCCC. Remember we offer handsome awards for those who make 250, 500, 1000, or even 2000 total QSO's on each mode. The NCCC mouse pads are especially attractive.
Conditions were fabulous for the California QSO Party. Will they also be this good for Sweepstakes? Get on the air and find out!
Remember that there are 59 multipliers this year, up one from last year. The new one is
"Newfoundland/Labrador" (VO1/VO2),
abbreviated "NL". You can download the new CT SEC.DAT file and other useful utilities from:
http://www.contesting.com/ct/files/
If you have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can download a beautiful copy of the NCCC Sweepstakes handbook from
Many thanks to Bob Wolbert, K6XX, for putting together this fine publication.
Now, take my advice. Make sure everything is working well several hours before contest time, then get some rest and try to relax before the start of the contest. If you are operating 24 hours, I recommend taking 5.5 to 6 hours off time between about 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. local, depending on conditions. If you can only operate for a limited time, be sure to get on for the high rates at the beginning of the contest. Rates are always slower on Sunday, especially in the middle of the day, but things usually pick up nicely into the evening hours late Sunday. Saturday night would be the best time to call other NCCC members on the low bands. Remember that each QSO with a fellow NCCC members is two for us, none for them!
As a reminder to our newer members, the club motto is "KB" (Kick Butt). When you hear a fellow NCCC'er struggling along in the last few hours of the contest, calling CQ without answer, tap out a quick "KB" just to say hi. It's a real morale booster (but don't overdo it).
One last reminder: there is no such thing as the "Assisted" category in Sweepstakes, so if you use packet or a spotting net during Sweepstakes, you MUST enter in the Multioperator category. But if someone calls you to say "Hey Joe, the VY1 is up 1," that's cool -- unsolicited assistance doesn't make you multiop. Using a 2m net does.
73 & KB!, n6tv
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