Category — DXpeditions

Most of us contesters are also more than a little interested in DXpeditions. Maybe not in chasing them, necessarily, but we all know what a tremendous effort goes into putting stations — especially rare ones — on the air for the deserving.

Steve, K9ZW, notes:

ZL8R Kermadec Island is an awesome nature preserve so remote that few groups ever get there. James 9V1YC’s DVD story about how “keeping it simple is sure a lot of fun” is captured filmed against the natural backdrop of what looks to be a fabulous place.

The BS7H Scarborough Reef filming in itself is as amazing of a feat as running radio operations in stunningly difficult conditions.

I’ll point you right to Steve’s, K9ZW, blog With Varying Frequency with the scoop on how to get these DVD’s.

Wow.

Scot

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This week I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of behind-the-scenes work on the blog. Essentially, the new theme here uses “CSS” for rendering pictures, but most of my pictures that accompany articles use “HTML” for how the picture is presented. If you used Internet Explorer, you didn’t notice. If you use Firefox or Safari, the picture moved right up to the text — not what I want to show.

Consequently, I spent most of yesterday going into each article I have written since the beginning of the blog — 131 of them — and updating the picture framing.

Interestingly, I also found a lot of missing in action items which I didn’t realize were gone from my conversion from Yahoo! to Bluehost hosting and transferring the articles over. So much of the day was replacing pictures and fixing up the content.

Here is some of what got updated:

TI Antenna Setup — it was missing the pictures of the antennas…

Searching for Salt Water and the pictures for the County and State Parks were missing pictures.

Icom 7700 You Tube Video — the link properly displays now on the blog…and this is one of my more popular articles on the blog! One could see the video OK if you clicked on the link over to You Tube, but this fixes it so you can see the video on the blog itself…like it should be…

General fixing of the pictures was also done. Plus, I updated the series of rotating pictures at the header of the theme. Hopefully, they will represent ham radio and contesting well.

I’ve also added in a “Similar Posts” plugin that will automatically bring up other posts relating to the one being viewed.

Scot, K9JY

A little reminder from one of the reflectors I belong to: E51 is up and working stations and will be in the CQ WW CW contest working the deserving.

While you’re at it, check out the preparations at the South Cook Island blog — George, K5KG, and Ron, KK9K, are great operators and I hope they are having a blast.

Scot, K9JY

In the ever-changing world of DX spotting networks and nodes, it’s nice to know someone is keeping track of all the sites. For those of us who travel the world to the next contesting DXpedition, having a resource for the closest node can be critical for achieving multi-operator nirvana.

So surf on over to DX Cluster. Take your drop down option right in the upper center of the home page and pick your country for the closest DX Cluster near you. You should be able to find one you like — there are 441 one of them listed.

Sweet!

Scot, K9JY

One of the good things to do before operating in a contest is to know what special operations will be on the air for your particular contest.

NG3K offers a great website resource that updates the latest announcements of contest expeditions (and planned DXpeditions) at his Amateur Radio Contesting Resources and Information page.

Check it out before your next contest and be ready to work those special contest stations.

Scot, K9JY

For September, I gave myself a challenge: post one ham radio contesting tip a day to kick off the fall contesting season. The subject matter was easy as I love contesting. The challenge was in writing thirty articles, as well as a few others, during the month instead of my normal 20-25.

What I didn’t want to do was have one article with a simple listing of 30-tips. I wanted to go into a little more depth with each of the tips so that some reasoning and explanation could take place.

But, it’s tough to scroll through the entire month of September to find those tips, so I’m consolidating them here.

Thanks for all of your comments and writing references to these articles; I really appreciate it.

30 Ham Radio Contesting Tips:

1. Schedule your Contests. The really great thing about contesting is they are regularly scheduled — regardless of great propagation, DXpeditions or the mood of the sun.
2. Create a contest goal. Goals are good and help motivate you while participating.
3. Contest on your terms. Contest for and be motivated by your reasons. Not everyone is out to win the contest; it could be you want to learn a new mode.
4. Have an operating plan. Having a plan provides you guidance for the contest and a baseline to compare against reality in the midst of battle.
5. Test equipment before the contest. You do want your stuff to work, right?
6. Update Multiplier Files. Downloading the latest ensures you won’t miss a juicy multiplier during the contest.
7. Read the contest rules. You’d be surprised how often this bites you — even experienced contesters.
8. Work a contest one month before the real contest. The sun rotates once a month (27 days)…so work a contest the month before to experience the propagation you will have before the one you really want to concentrate on later.
9. Test ergonomics. Sitting in a chair contesting a long while will test how well your station is laid out for operating.
10. Have a guest op checklist. What should you bring as a guest op?
11. Compete with a partner. Work a contest with someone in your club (together or at your individual stations). Discuss what worked and what didn’t about the contest.
12. Review Newsletter for Contest DXpeditions. Lots of people travel for contests. Make sure you take a look at the list from your favorite ham radio newsletter.
13. Have propagation plan. Propagation programs can suggest what will be open where. Having a propagation plan can give you a guide while contesting.
14. Filter your packet connection. If the contest allows packet, filter the connection to match up with your station.
15. Accurate logging. A contest is about working stations — and logging them accurately. If you don’t you get penalized.
16. Send in your log. Even if you didn’t work many stations, you can help the contest by sending in your log to help enable log checking.
17. Logbook of The World. Want to reduce your QSL’ing chores for contests? Submit your log to Logbook of The World for instant confirmations for you and the people you contact.
18. Review UBN’s. Uniques, Busted, and Not in the Log. It’s how your log is viewed for accuracy.
19. Have a QSL System. Even if you use Log of the World, contesters get a lot of QSL card requests. Have a system for processing them.
20. Use a grey line map. Grey line propagation is the cat’s meow. Having a visual representation of where the grey line is right now can help you point your antennas the right way.
21. Learn a single band. Want to learn propagation on a band fast? Do a contest on a single band. You’ll learn.
22. Challenge your operating skill with QRP. Get frustrated fast. Operate a contest QRP from your station. Then learn how to get through the mess for points. It will make you a better operator.
23. Do an After Action Review. Did we achieve our goal, what went right, what could be improved. Record the results for the next contest.
24. Join a contesting club. Amp up your contesting knowledge and motivation.
25. Learn from contesting pros. They are out there. They can teach you a lot.
26. Leverage your strengths. Great CW operator? Great antennas? Whatever your strength, leverage it for the contest.
27. Go on a contesting DXpedition. Even if it is to a different state. It’s a very different experience and will teach you a lot.
28. Practice CW before contests. Notice how much better you are at CW at the end of the contest compared to the start? You need to practice before the contest.
29. Participate on a contesting team. Many contests offer team (versus club) entries. Join a team to up your motivation for the contest.
30. Find joy in contesting. It’s there. You know it. Go find it.

There are many more contesting tips, of course. But thirty to start out the fall contesting season seemed like the right number for me.

I had great fun writing these. Enjoy the resource.

Scot, K9JY