In the log this week
* Contest Spotlight: ARRL Sweepstakes on CW This Weekend
* MVARC POTA Activation Recap
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What’s happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
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Contest Spotlight: ARRL Sweepstakes on CW This Weekend
Image Courtesy ARRL
This weekend brings one of the oldest and most unique contests on the air: the ARRL Sweepstakes on CW. The contest starts at 2100 UTC (5 PM EDT) on Saturday, November 1 and runs through 0259 UTC Monday (9:59 PM EST Sunday night - note the change from EDT to EST this weekend). The objective of November Sweepstakes is to encourage “self training in radiocommunications” with a focus on message passing. To that end, Sweepstakes has one of the most involved contest exchanges on the air. The exchange includes a serial number (starting with 1), a precedence, your Call Sign, and your ARRL/RAC Section, and a Check (consisting of the last 2 digits of the year the operator was first licensed). Those precedence values include “Q” for Single Operator QRP, “A” for Single Operator Low Power (5-100 Watts), “B” for Single Operator High Power (>100 Watts), “U” for any Single Operator Unlimited Power Category, “M” for Multioperator stations, and “S” for School Clubs. So as an example, for me my exchange for a 1 person 100 Watt station for my 25th contact would be “25 A N2EC 90 VA”.
As you can imagine, this really ups the challenge, especially on CW, and acts as more of a simulation of an actual emergency message passing operation than your average contest. Stations in the Sweepstakes can work no more than 24 of the 30 hours. If you work more than that time, only the first 24 hours of QSOs will be counted. Any “off time” needs to be at least 30 consecutive minutes without operating (and listening counts as operating in the rules). Logs need to be submitted within 7 days after the event is over and can be sent electronically in Cabrillo format (which is the preferred method) or via mail. Certificates for top operators will be issued for each ARRL/RAC section and division and all overall and division winners will get a plaque. Participation pins and coffee mugs are also available for purchase. This is a great test to test your mettle and operating skill, so give it a go this weekend and have some fun. Rules and more information can be found at https://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes. Good luck!
MVARC POTA Activation Recap
Image Courtesy Philip AK4KM
Last Saturday, the Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club had another successful activation for Parks on the Air. We had a nice turnout at Belle Haven Park and ended up with 70 QSOs in the log at a very sociable outing. Operators included Joseph WB9KMJ, Ed KJ4WJC, and Ed N2EC. Since the CQ World Wide SSB contest was in full effect that weekend, we decided to operate on the 17 meter band and conditions were quite good. We ran at 100 Watts using a Yaesu FT-897 into an N2EC VersaHex Antenna working SSB and CW.
Image Courtesy Philip AK4KM
We worked all over the United States and Canada as well as Germany, Austria, Norway, Scotland, Poland, France, and England with great signal reports all around. The weather held up for us and we had a beautiful morning down by the Potomac River. We were concerned that the park might have been closed due to the government shutdown, but while other park areas were closed along the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Belle Haven was open. Thanks to everyone who joined us on Saturday, both in-person and on-the-air. A map of our QSOs is below. We hope to see you at our next activation.
MVARC Nets on the Air
* 2 Meter FM Net: Tuesdays at 7 PM [146.655/- MHz (141.3 Hz PL Tone) ]
* 2 Meter Digital Net: Immediately Follows 2 Meter FM Net [146.655/- MHz C4FM]
* MVARC Slow Speed CW Roundtable: Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM [3.565 MHz CW]
* MVARC Cherry Tree Net: Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 AM [3.920 MHz LSB]
What’s Happening with DX
There will be a good amount of DX on the bands this week. Stations on the air include Madagascar (5R8IC, 5R8TT, 5R8XX), Sierra Leone (9L8MD), Burundi (9U1RU), Saint Vincent and Grenadines (J88PI), Gabon (TR8CR), Galapagos Islands (HD8R), Rodrigues Island (3B9KW, 3B9/M0CFW), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FW5K), Gambia (C5R), Tanzania (5H3MB), Colombia (HK3JCL), Cyprus (ZC4RH), Ogasawara Islands (JD1BMH), Chatham Islands (ZL7/LZ1GC), Marcus Island Minami Tori Shima Islands (JG8NQJ/JD1), Mali (TZ4AM), Solomon Islands (H44MS), and Antarctica (DP0GVN).
A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/
Solar Activity Update
As we go to press the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 120 and the estimated sunspot number was 68 with 5 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has decreased. Solar activity has been at very low levels recently. The geomagnetic field was at quiet levels and the Kp index reached 5 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 677 km/s. Solar activity is predicted to be low with geomagnetic activity at unsettled to active levels today and at quiet to unsettled levels over the weekend. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is low at 1% today through Sunday. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are unlikely in the near term with a predicted probability of 5% today and Saturday and 10% on Sunday. R3 or greater blackouts are unlikely with a 1% chance predicted today through Sunday. There is a chance of 6 meter propagation so keep an eye on the band and spotting clusters to be ready for the next time the magic band does its thing. It remains a fantastic time for amateurs to get on the air and work the world.
Good sources of real-time solar information include https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/ and https://solarham.com/. A good overview of conditions can be found at https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/. To see D-layer absorption data and associated radio blackouts, visit https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/d-region-absorption-predictions-d-rap. To see real-time Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) and Critical Frequency (foF2) information from radiosonde data, visit https://prop.kc2g.com/.
Upcoming Contests
On the contest calendar this weekend we will see the ARRL Sweepstakes we highlighted earlier as well as the YBDXPI FT8 Contest, the IPARC Contest on CW, the Silent Key Memorial Contest, the UK/EI DX Contest on SSB, the IPARC Contest on SSB, the EANET Sprint, the High Speed Club CW Contest, and the Classic Exchange Phone Contest. As always the K1USN SSTs, MSTs, and CWTs will also be on the air.
The full contest calendar with events and exchanges can be found at https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php
Interesting Online Radio Content
Dr. Tamitha Skov WX6SWW discusses recent solar conditions and her forecast -
Forrest KI7QCF looks at a 3D Printed case to make the QMX compete with a KX1 -
Michael KB9VBR takes a look at the CentyLab Pocket PD USB power supply -
Matt M0DQW builds a VLF receiver to listen to natural phenomena -
Di KO6BTM takes Ormoo the cat on a SOTA adventure -
Tim K5OHY takes a deep dive on doublet antennas and finds a lot to like -
Mike K8MRD operates remote from PJ2T in Curacao from a living room -
Valery RA1AOM shows one of his new paddles at QRQ -
Anton discusses solar cycles and recent discoveries -
Steve KM9G tests carbon fiber whips as antennas -
Jeff KF0MYB and Joe KF0MYJ talk about lighting on antenna towers -
Matt M0DQW revives an old satellite setup for QO-100 -
Callum M0MCX talks about numbers in the NATO phonetic alphabet -
Kevin KB9RLW shows us a new Fnirsi LCR Meter -
Craig KM6LYW announces the release of DigiPi 2.0 -
Mike K8MRD looks at the latest features in WSJT-X version 3 -
Nanofix goes over some basics of oscilloscopes -
Callum M0MCX shows how to get started with N1MM for contest logging -
That’s it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
