2013 CQ WW RTTY Contest Aftermath ... One down, two to go !!

It'd been a while since I last put a full-time effort on this one, but this year's CQ WW RTTY contest had it all .. good condx, lots of traffic, disciplined stations and on top of all, FUN!

My choice of category entry was decided on Friday evening, few hours before the start. Several weekend obligations wouldn't have permitted a full-time daytime presence on the bands, so from the low bands, 40m was selected. I entered the contest in the SOSB(A)/40 LP category, which seems to have worked OK for me.

It is, indeed, a real torture trying to survive your signal on 40m with just 95W and an Inv-L, even worse to handle a pile-up. Still, I managed to pull through quite well, making a considerable score of almost 165k points.

Here is my QSO summary in brief:

Contest: 2013 CQ WW RTTY
Callsign: SV5DKL
Category: SOSB(A)/40 LP
Claimed Score: 164328 points
40m QSOs: 601 (606 w/ dupes)
40m DXCCs: 73
40m Zones: 21
40m States/Provinces: 29
Hours on-air: 19.5 / 48

Considering the official records list of CQ magazine here, a good placement is expected for this entry.

My contest log analysis can be browsed through by clicking here.

CU in the SSB part from my QTH and in the CW part from SZ1A Contest Station in western Greece, where almost all of the best Greek CW ops will gather to try and set a new M/S (or M/2) record.

2013 CQ WW RTTY contest next weekend ... contest season begins !!

Finally, after a hot summer with not so many DX thrills, nor even good 2m & up propagation in contrast with previous seasons, the famous fall contest season begins. And XZ1Z was a good DX warm-up ...

It all starts in coming weekend with the CQ WW RTTY Contest. Rules have changed (again!) and you if you intend to participate you should read them from the official site of CQ WW RTTY here.

Be careful !! From this year on, no 160m RTTY operation will be allowed, different country contacts within any continent (not just North America) get 2 points, Same-country contacts get 1 point and in M/S categories there will be a category discrimination between HP and LP stations. Also, the 10-minute rule for M/S entrants has transformed into a maximum allowable 8 band-changes per hour.

 



Rules are available in 13 different languages at http://www.cqwwrtty.com/ and in there you will also be able to see all empty record sheets for your DXCC entity under "Records" tab, so this may make you set a new target for your potential participation.

For my part of the world in SV5-land, there are plenty of such target-setting choices, due to very low RTTY activity. Of course, I will participate and give out the (rare in RTTY) SV5 mult from Zone 20, aiming for a good result. My category of participation will be decided literally hours before the start of the contest, mainly due to other obligations to be taken care of during the contest weekend.



As always, all my contest QSOs will be uploaded to LotW, eQSL and Clublog, on Monday, September 30th. So, if you do miss SV5 in RTTY, or it is an ATNO for you, here is your chance to fill in those slots in your DXCC sheets, with no fuss of QSL cards, GSs, IRCs, paypal donations, OQRS, etc.

Any contest QSO sked is welcome and will be accepted until Friday, September 27th at 1800z. 

Quite a few stations from SV and SV9 will participate as well, and I wish them all Good Luck.

Contest season will proceed with the other two major CQ WWs, SSB part at the end of October (will do SOABHP targetting to a new personal record) and CW at the end of November (I will travel to Western Greece, where almost all of the best Greek CW operators will gather to assist SZ1A contest station set a new record for Greece, and why not, for Zone 20).

73 and enjoy contesting.

SV5DKL

R.I.P. Panos ...

... Questions remaining unanswered forever ... a big WHY comes out of the lips as a plain reflex ... Why did HE want you near HIM, man? ... WHY ?? ...

A bright, brilliant and most promising young man and fellow amateur radio operator, Panos, is no longer in our vain world, due to a tragic accident.

My thoughts and prayers are with his father and the rest of his family.

 



Goodbye my friend. May our Lord have a better plan for you up there.

3rd GTC CW Cup Rules are announced

 

Rules and prerequisites of the 3rd Greek Telegraphy Club CW Cup have been announced on the official site of GTC here:

 

http://www.raag.org/displayITM1.asp?ITMID=631&LANG=EN

 

This year's rules have been updated, in order to give a more sophisticated and meritocratic character to the event.

 

It is worth mentioning that GTC's club station, SZ1SV, with member number GTC 1000, will be activated circularly from several territories of Greece. The activity of the club station from Attica region will use the callsign SZ1SV, while activities from other regions of Greece will use SZ1SV/SVx callsigns, where x=the number that corresponds to the respective Greek territory.

 

We will be present, of course, maintaining the good reputation this event has gained and giving out our membership number for a new mult to the participants.

 



2013 CQ WPX SSB Results published

These guys are getting better and better each year ... they have reduced the log-processing time of one of the major worldwide amateur radio contests in just under 5 months, while a few years before we were waiting impatiently for the CQ magazine to come out just before the respective contest, in order to find out our last year's participation ranking and final scores.

2013 CQ WPX SSB results are already published here: http://www.cqwpx.com/results.htm

Lots of interesting results this time for the 2013 CQ WPX SSB Contest. Many new Country records and great scores overall by experienced and non-experienced participants. The battle between WW & WPX still holds well, still my personal opinion is that WPX is much more demanding and needs much more sophisticated stragegy and planning. Moreover, the 36-hour limit for Single OPs is an added value for this contest, since the off-periods should always be well planned and depend on many factors, such as current score, current mult total, propagation parameters. I.e. you are more likely to achieve a better result when your off-periods allow for retaining your stamina during the 2nd half of the participation as well as they allow you to plan working S&P for far away mults, that are only going to be available for a very short period and maybe LP (for my case, specific Pacific station from z31 and z32, KL7 and West Coasters).

This year, I decided to devote to a low-band, mostly due to other important obligations during the daytime, so 80m sounded a great choice, both for testing my new low band antenna and also try to work a few new ones (I did !!).

I used my FT-2K barefoot at about 95w and the aerial was an Inv-L totalling 27,5m in length, fed by my antenna coupler and aided by 48 random length radials lying on the rooftop. Total participation time was 21,5 hours. With the help of DX Cluster and low noise due to low humidity, I got my best ever result on 80m in a major scale contest. Station performed flawlessly, Muprhy had a few days-off and all these led to a score reduction of just 3,9% and only 9 QSOs out of 719 were cancelled.

And here is the pay-off:

This was my first worldwide victory in any of the WW & WPX contests, so this certificate of merit made me very proud.

Current station setup is being re-tested, aligned and maintained so it will be ready for October's WW SSB contest. Category of participation will be decided literally before the start and will depend upon other matters to be taken care of.

CU there anyway !!

 

European CW Association Presidential Elections are over !!

In the middle of July, EUCW Association officials called for vote all ECMs (European Communication Managers) from EUCW club members, because the 3 year presidential period of former EUCW president, Ivan Ivanov, LZ1PJ had expired and according to EUCW statute, immediate actions should be taken to elect a new president after official elections.

Right to vote was given to all clubs that fulfilled specific requirements, such as number of members, presence in EUCW activities/events, etc.

As ECM of the Greek Telegraphy Club, I was called to vote for the new president, representing GTC vote.

Two courageous candidancies were proposed in time, one from G5VZ and the other from ON4LDL. Their bios were posted in EUCW official web site, in order for voting ECMs to evaluate their suitability for the presidential post.

Voting process was administered by Don Field, G3XTT as an Election Returns Officer and monitored by Martin, IK2RMZ. Votes were being accepted via e-mail to Don, during timeframe 1-31 August 2013.

16 EUCW member clubs' votes were received by Don during this timeframe and amongst them were votes from clubs that updated their membership numbers.



Yesterday, September 1st, 2013, the final results were reported by Don and the winner of the election process was G5VZ, Chris Pearson by 15 votes to 1 that went to ON4LDL, Robert Michaux.

G5VZ's role is quite demanding and vital in order to preserve CW activity among EUCW and its club members.

As ECM of GTC, I'd like to express my best wishes to Chris for the hard work he has taken over and my belief that he will pull through and stand up to the special requirements of the role of the President of the European CW Association.

73/55

Stathis, SV5DKL
E.C.M. - G.T.C.
G.T.C. #028
GTC CW Cup Contest Manager
 

11th World HST Championship - Borovets, Bulgaria - BULLETIN No. 3

Here is the official bulletin no. 3 we just received from BFRA, concerning latest details and infos on the 11th World Championship in High Speed Telegraphy to be held during 22-26 September 2013 in Borovets, Bulgaria:

International Amateur Radio Union Region 1

Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs

 

11^th World High Speed Telegraphy Championship

22-26 September 2013

Borovets, Bulgaria

 



Bulletin No 3

(1 September 2013)

 

IMPORTANT! Before the Championship starts the organizers need:

 

1. List of the participants & photos for ID bags

 

Please, send not later than 15 September list of all the participants from your society/country (competitors, team leaders, referees, visitors, etc.) with the names and call signs as well as their photos, needed for ID bags. Specify the category or position of everyone (competitors = A – I, team leaders = T, referees = R, the rest = V. Photos to be in jpg format. Send the above by e-mail to bfra_hq@hotmail.com or lz3nn@abv.bg

 

2. Arrival Information

 

If your team arrives by plane or train, which means you will need transfer to Borovets and back, please fulfill the table bellow and send it to bfra_hq@hotmail.com or lz3nn@abv.bg not later than 15 September.

  

Team of (society, country)	Arrival date	Arrival time	Flight No	From	Number of the persons that need transfer	Departure date	Departure time

 

How to get Hotel Rila?

From Sofia take the direction to Samokov (62 km) and after reaching Samokov continue to Borovets (8 km).

 

http://maps.yahoo.com/#/directions/?lat=42.4817825&lon=23.473319&bb=42.762137634093506%2C22.89481915234375%2C42.2014273659065%2C24.05181884765625&o=Sofia%2C%20Bulgaria&d=Borovec%2C%20Bulgaria

 

After entering Borovets take right on the first split and you will soon see Hotel Samokov on left side. Go round it (counterclockwise) and will reach Hotel Rila.

 

Time table of the Championship:

 

22 September (Sunday) Arrival, Accommodation, Opening

Till 18:00 Arrival and accommodation

18:00 – 19:00 Official opening

19:00 – 20:00 Dinner

20:30 – 22:00 Team Leaders meeting

22:00 – 22:30 Referees meeting;

 

23 September (Monday) Competition

07:30 – 09:00 Breakfast

                        09:00 – 13:00 Competition

                        13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

                        14:00 – 18:00 Competition

19:00 – 20:00 Dinner

                        20:30 Awarding

 

24 September (Tuesday) Competition

07:30 – 09:00 Breakfast

                        09:00 – 13:00 Competition

                        13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

                        14:00 – 18:00 Competition

19:00 – 20:00 Dinner

                        20:30 Awarding

 

25 September (Wednesday) Day-off, Hamfest

08:30 – 09:30 Breakfast

                        10:00 Busses start; Excursion to Sofia, Packet lunch

17:30 Busses arrive back in Borovets

19:00 Awarding

20:30 Dinner with Hamfest (banquet)

 

26 September (Thursday) Departure

08:30 – 09:30 Breakfast

                        Departure

 

BFRA is looking forward to meeting you soon.

It will be very interesting to see the participations in all categories and in particular, I am waiting to see the MorseRunner official results.
Sadly, I couldn't attend this year's event due to other more important obligations.
However, plans are being made to be present in next year's 2nd Balkan HST Championship in Romania.