AA8IA

Amateur Radio

WAE DX CW and QTCs — the sky is falling

Aug 16

Posted by Mike in Contesting | No Comments

I’ve been reading dialog on the CQ-Contest “reflector”. Reflector? Call it what it is, it’s a damned mailing list. The software running this list is the same software that has existed for ages [in internet years at least]. M A I L I N G L I S T

Ok, I’m done with that rant. Back to the topic. People — (a few NA contesters) are rambling on about exchanging QTCs, being requested to send QTCs by the EU guys, and possibly trialing a WAE CW whereby QTCs are both sent and received. You’d think the world was coming to the end. They are saying (1) that they don’t want to receive QTCs and (2) that they don’t want to be nagged to send QTCs. Some say they are in the contest just for fun and that being interrupted by an EU station who wants to know if they have QTCs is annoying and ruins their fun. Read the rules — the spirit of the contest involves QTCs. If you don’t want to send any, then don’t. But don’t bitch about being asked if you have any to send by an EU station.

To this I say:

  • If you don’t like sending and/or receiving QTCs or don’t like being nagged for them, don’t operate in the contest. There are 101 more productive ways to spend your weekend anyway.
  • NA isn’t putting on this contest — shouldn’t be our job to make up the rules, just to follow them.
  • Are you afraid that having to reliably copy QTCs would require you to up your skills? This must be it. There are some phenomenal NA contesters. Certainly they are a few who are up challenge, no?

I know what you’re thinking… Who the hell is this Mike guy? He’s running a low dipole and 100w and has been “contesting” for a few months — He sure has some nerve interjecting. Perhaps you’re right. But sit back and think about what I’m saying. I had enough difficulty figuring out how to send QTCs, especially when having to worry about whether the EU station would even be able to copy my weak station reliably enough. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to think about having to copy QTCs as well. You know, some of those guys are sending/receiving at 50+ wpm. I’d have to really up my game, and I’d be hard pressed to do it. BUT, I like the spirit of the contest — passing some sort of traffic instead of just the simple RST SERIAL.

Let’s not forget that sending/receiving QTCs is not a requirement. And if you are wanting to up your score, you certainly benefit from sending/receiving QTCs. If you’re in it just for fun and don’t care about a score, then simply don’t send/receive. But don’t complain about being asked for QTCs by an EU station.

I really liked the idea that by sending QTCs I could increase my points while at the same time I could help, in some small way, the EU stations to do the same. If they are game for receiving them [by far the more difficult of the two], then certainly I’m glad to oblige them. I am at the bottom of the pack as far as score. I’m competing against only myself. I operate in these contests to have fun, improve my code copy, and possibly get some additional LOTW confirmations.

The vast majority of contests require only a minimal exchange, no additional traffic to pass. If you don’t like the thought of sending/receiving QTCs, spend the WAE weekends with your family and have some fun outside of ham radio.

UPDATE: I just read a post on the CQ-Contest mailing list that sums it all up quite nicely. I won’t quote it. Read it here: http://lists.contesting.com/pipermail/cq-contest/2010-August/091329.html . I agree with this contester wholeheartedly.

Tags: , , ,

Worked All Europe DX Contest – CW (Aug 2010)

Aug 15

Posted by Mike in Contesting | No Comments

I first heard of this contest within the past month. I had no intention of working it. At the last minute I decided I would jump on and see what’s up. I had read about the passing of QTC traffic, but I didn’t plan on doing that. I was bored and figured it was a good chance to work some more Europeans.

From my perspective, this is a very active contest. I noticed that a large number of the EU participants were asking “QTC?” I’d just tell them no or nil. I then decided I’d check out the documentation for N1MM to see if I could figure out how to send some QTCs. I didn’t find anything useful. Then I was reading the eham.net forums and saw somebody post a question about sending QTCs using N1MM. KB3LIX gave a detailed rundown of how to send the QTCs. I did a few tests and then started tuning around listening for stations who were likely to ask for QTCs along with the basic QSO.

It was at this point that I realized that I just wasn’t getting good signals into EU for some reason. I don’t know if it was propogation in general or my soggy antennas (from storms this weekend). I was certainly hearing a lot of EU stations well enough to make a contact, but I just didn’t think they would be hearing me well enough to want me to send them any QTCs. Surprisingly, a lot of them were asking.

I still have plenty of QTCs to pass to EUs. But I really don’t want to send 10 QTCs to some EU station and then force them to have to ask for re-sends because of my weak signal. And, in the off chance that they need a re-send, I’m likely to freeze up. In fact, this happened more than once. The last time I had said I was sending 5 QTCs. After the first one the EU station asked for a re-send. I sat there staring at the keyboard, my mind racing with thoughts of what keystrokes I was supposed to hit in order to re-send the current QTC. My mind went blank. (it was ALT-ENTER for the record). Eventually I sent back to the EU station “sri sri nil”. He sent a “tu 73,” which was very gracious considering I made him go through all of that with no gain. What an idiot I am.

I had been sticking to sending only 2 or 3, even though I had plenty in my queue to send 10. I did this because I figured the less I have to send, the less likely there will be a problem.

Sunday comes along. I fire up the radio. I look for stations. All the ones I am hearing are either too weak and they aren’t asking for QTCs, or they are stations I’ve already worked who asked for QTCs the first time I worked them and I declined.

I read where it is perfectly fine to re-establish contact with the station to send QTCs later. One person said to simply make another QSO (a dupe) and then send the QTCs. One of the EU guys on the forum responded indicating that you could just simply establish contact and state that you have QTCs from the onset…. no need to have another dupe. No? Not sure of an easy way around that, at least with N1MM.

Still some confusion here, as well as my cold feet when it comes to trying to send QTCs. I’d really feel much more confident if I knew that I had a good signal. That’s silly, I know. But it definitely affects my performance when my weak signal is always in the back of my mind.

I really like the idea of QTCs… passing additional traffic during a QSO. This is much more difficult for the receiving station in my opinion. In this case that would be the EU guys. I’m thoroughly impressed that the vast majority of the time they don’t ask for repeats, even with 10 QTCs at a time being sent to them. I have to wonder how many of the American ops could perform equally as well if they were accepting QTCs. I know I’d be asking for a lot of repeats. The EU guys are simply very talented and very efficient. They obviously don’t have a problem trying to pass as much traffic as possible even under marginal conditions. My hats off to them.

I’m hoping to jump back on very shortly to try and give away a few more QTCs.

My apologies to IR2C, who had to deal with my inability to pass QTCs under pressure. I said I’d send 5, and after the first one he asked for a repeat and I gave up and said sri. Also my apologies to DL1IAO – I said I’d send 2, accidentally hit CTRL-Z after the first one instead of just hitting enter, and everything stopped. I stumbled. I said sri. He sent back confirmation of 1/1 and moved on. Thanks to S59ABC, who accepted multiple QTCs from me on 40m and 20m with no requests for repeats. I was impressed. I should have sent them 10 and be done with it, but I sent a few each time. OQ5M was weak to me, and I figured I must have been much weaker to him. Nevertheless, OQ5M asked for QTCs – I sent 5, and he required no repeats.

I need a 20m beam for this contest… or at least something directional. I suppose even a vertical for 20m would improve things over my low-slung dipole.

I’ll append my score to this post once I’m finished and have a summary. Great contest. Great ops. My hats off to all of the EU ops. Very professional and courteous exchanges.

ADDENDUM: I got on the air for the last 2-3 hours. I was glad I did. I made a few more Qs and got the nerve to start unloading my QTCs. I got to send two batches of 10 and then a few smaller batches. I also got to reconnect with IR2C and was able to give him 10 QTCs that I had initially tried to do [but failed] yesterday.

20m seemed to be in much better shape this afternoon. Much more fun.

My Results

WAE DX Contest, CW

Call: AA8IA
Operator(s): AA8IA
Station: AA8IA

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Toronto Ohio
Operating Time (hrs): 7.5

Summary:
Band QSOs QTCs Mults
-------------------------
80: 0 0 0
40: 5 3 12
20: 77 84 48
15: 5 0 6
10: 0 0 0
-------------------------
Total: 87 87 66 Total Score = 11,484

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Comments:

First time working WAE. The QTC thing is an interesting concept. Knowing how poor my sig is compared to a contest station's sig, those EU ops did a fantastic job copying my QTCs. Took me a while to figure out what to do with N1MM and sending QTCs -- I found some help on the eham.net forums.

I was skeptical about offering QTCs to the EUs because I figured they'd end up having to ask for many repeats, get frustrated with me, and then nil the whole event. I guess I didn't give them enough credit. They were all patient and courteous during all of my exchanges, and I appreciate their efforts. In the
end I was able to unload nearly all my QTCs and was happy to do so. I wasn't even going to get back on in the last three hours except I felt I needed to try and overcome my fear of going through the QTC process - and I felt I had to seek out those EU guys who I initially tried to give QTCs to and then froze up. I
actually found IR2C and one other one near the end and passed a full ten to each. That made me feel better about my previous tries with them. Really strange how I'm so afraid of failure when it comes to contesting.

Thanks to the EU guys for some great fun. I really enjoyed myself. Hopefully next year I'll have a little more gain and directivity towards EU.

Tags: , , ,

NAQP CW August 2010 Summary

Aug 9

Posted by Mike in Contesting, QSO Parties | No Comments

Wow, what a great contest. All NA stations, no high power. This is my best chance to compete since I’m using low-slung dipoles and no amp.

10/15m were not what I would consider “open”, although there were certain some contacts to be made. For whatever reason I didn’t rack up nearly as many Qs on 20m as I thought I would. Either I didn’t spend enough time on 20m, operated on 20m at the wrong time, or there just wasn’t good propogation on 20m. I’ll have to look into that some more. 40m was alright, but again not all that I thought it would be. The highlight was 80m. Had I known 80m was going to be so productive, I would have thought to allot enough time on 80m to nab everything available to me. 160m was nice and quiet and I heard a lot of strong stations — unfortunately I could not tune up on 160m. If I could have, I probably would have had 1w ERP.

Thanks to W0BH and K0RF for providing me with a 5-band sweep. I am betting that if I had a 160m dipole up I would have at least been able to work W0BH on 160m, not sure about K0RF. I got K5CM, W0ZA and K0OU on 4 bands.

It was great to finally work some of the fellow MRRC crowd such as W1NN, WB8JUI, W8TM, N8SS, K8MM and K8DD as well as many NCC guys, a few close PA stations including KB3LIX, a few WV stations, and of course K4BAI, who I always look forward to working in a contest.

I think this is a great contest for people just starting out in contesting and/or those with very modest antenna setups (wires and no amps).

As usual, I was gun-shy about CQing. I ended up CQing on 10/15 since I figured there was not much of a chance of a response. As it turns out, I did get a few Qs on those bands by CQing. Probabaly not worth the time I put into doing it though. Once it was time for 80m, I took the plunge and set up shop on a frequency and started CQing well before the masses arrived. I was hoping to slowly be introduced to a pileup. It worked out good. I had my best personal rate, which was about 58/hr over the course of an hour and a half. In any real contester’s mind this rate is mediocre at best. But for me it was great since I never CQ. There were many times when I had multiple stations calling, reminiscent of what I would hear on Morse Runner. It was great to know that while I was working a Q there was another couple waiting for me.

Eventually everyone was migrating to 80m and I could hear other CQing stations very close by me as well as the ops they were working. I figured I may get passed over if the stations were strong enough and close enough on either side of me. It seemed like most stations were never bothering to zero beat [and I always try to when I'm S&Ping]. Because of this I was afraid to tighten up the filters for fear of not hearing some potentially workable stations. So I persisted until I had enough. It was a great introduction to CQing on a larger scale.

Working the NAQP made me realize that I have a long way to go as far as increasing my efficiency and operating skills in a contesting environment…. I didn’t run out of Qs in the NAQP, I ran out of skill and time. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s more fun and easier to improve myself than to improve my antenna situation.

My Results

Call: AA8IA
Operator(s): AA8IA
Station: AA8IA

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Toronto OH
Operating Time (hrs): 10

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160:
80: 119 29
40: 90 34
20: 82 26
15: 36 14
10: 30 11
-------------------
Total: 357 114 Total Score = 40,698

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Team: MRRC/NCC Team #2

Breakdown

44 states (not AK HI IA OR RI VT WY) – all bands combined

80 meters – 28 states
(AL CO CT DE FL GA IL IN KS KY OH LA MA MD MI MO NC NH NJ NY OK PA SC TN TX VA WI WV)

40 meters – 31 states
(AL AR AZ CA CO CT DE FL GA IL IN KS KY LA MA ME MN MO MS MT NC ND NJ NM NY OK TN TX WA WI WV)

20 meters – 23 states
(AL AR AZ CA CO FL GA ID IL KS LA ME MN MO MS MT ND NM OK TX UT WA WI)

15 meters – 11 states
(AZ CA CO FL GA KS MN NV SD TX WA)

10 meters – 10 states
(CO FL GA KS MN MO NE OK PA TX)

These results do not surprise me. 80/40 by default is going to be best for me east of the Mississippi. But, I should have been able to make more 40m contacts farther out. I think it was a combination of the antenna being too low and maybe not working 40m at the best time.

My 40-10m antenna was a flattop with one end at 25-30′ and the other end at about 13′, with E/W ends and the sides facing N/S. Of course at this low height I suspect it really didnt’ favor any particular direction. If I could get the 40-10m antenna up around 35 feet, then I may have a little more gain broadside — and I should also be able to get some more Qs out farther west.

For the 80m wire, if I could get it into a flattop configuration at 35′ average [and away from the house] I should be able to get some more gain locally. Because of the height limitation, I’m likely not going to improve much as far distance on 80m. I don’t think I’d see a decent improvement in 80m distance unless I was able to increase the height to 60′+.

Operating Times / Bands

20M 2:00 PM – 2:31 PM (17 Qs)
15M 2:34 PM – 3:11 PM (22 Qs)
20M 3:19 PM – 3:42 PM (17 Qs)
15M 3:53 PM – 4:41 PM (8 Qs)
10M 4:43 PM (1 Q)
20M 4:49 PM – 5:23 PM (23 Qs)
10M 5:28 PM – 6:21 PM (29Qs)
– CQ 5:40 PM – 5:50 PM (5/29)
– CQ 6:12 PM – 6:21 PM (6/29)
15M 6:26 PM – 6:34 PM (5 Qs)
20M 6:36 PM – 7:03 PM (16 Qs)
40M 7:06 PM – 7:41 PM (36 Qs)
20M 7:43 PM – 7:53 PM (9 Qs)
40M 7:55 PM – 8:15 PM (19 Qs)
80M 8:17 PM – 11:16 PM (116 Qs)
– CQ 8:38 PM – 9:35 PM (49/116)
40M 11:29 PM – 12:19 PM (35 Qs)
80M 12:22 PM – 12:27 PM (4 Qs)

I have no idea if I was working the right bands at the right times. I’m also unsure whether the time spent on 10m / 15m was worth it given the # of Qs and mults.

What is blatantly clear is that I need to do more CQing. Obviously when the bands are packed, and if I can be heard the first time, S&P is effective. But I suspect that in quite a few cases I may have been better off finding and parking on a frequency to CQ rather than S&P.

Prior to this contest I never had a full size 80m wire up. In fact, this current 80m dipole wasn’t even full size — it was 110 feet, still long enough to be an efficient radiator on 80m and hear well. It is an inverted V with a 38′ apex and the ends just inches from the ground. It is 12 feet away from the back side of a 2-story house. Definitely not the best place for an antenna. But it seemed to work great. Unlike in the past on 80m, this time I rarely had to repeat myself and usually was heard the first time I threw my call out. I realized a few things… (1) 80m is more than doable here, (2) i like 80m with a decent antenna, (3) depending upon the contest 80m is _the_band to be on.

For the OHQP in a few weeks I plan on having the 80m dipole up again on the 38-foot fiberglass Max Gain Systems mast, weather permitting. If I’m able to do this, I’m hoping to significantly improve upon my old OHQP scores. I’m hoping for some great fun then.

My plan, once Fall gets here, is to put an Alpha Delta DX-LB up. This is a 160/80/40m shortened trap dipole – 100′ in length. I plan to have it up as a flattop with center support at 38′ and the sides at about 35′ and 25′. That’s close enough to a flattop to call it one. Plus, it will be much more “in the clear” than the current 80m vee. I’m hoping my 80m performance will be better than with the current 80m dipole by virtue of it being a little more in the clear. I’m also hoping that it will allow me to make a few Qs on 160 during the stateside contests and local QSO parties that allow 160m (like PA). At that time I also plan on moving my current Alpha Delta DX-EE 40-10m shortened parallel dipole so that its more parallel with the ground and up another 15 feet in the air.

Tags:

North American QSO Party – August 2010

Aug 2

Posted by Mike in Contesting, QSO Parties | No Comments

The North American QSO Party CW and SSB contests are happening this month.

CW: 1800Z August 7 to 0600Z August 8, 2010 (First full weekend in August)

SSB: 1800Z August 21 to 0600Z August 22, 2010 (Third full weekend in August)

Details and rules can be found at http://www.ncjweb.com/naqprules.php

I’m anticipating a lot of activity in both the CW and SSB contests, and I plan to be active in both. Hope to see you on!

DXing

Jul 28

Posted by Mike in DX | No Comments

For some reason I’ve actually started to seek out DX. I’m not sure why. It must have something to do with the FT-950. I find it so much more pleasurable to listen to CW on the FT-950 and find it so much easier to establish an SSB contact on the FT-950. Purchasing this radio has opened up a whole new world for me.

I find myself reading more about greylines and being more interested in propogation in general. I have been turning on the radio and tuning around in the evenings about an hour before sunset to an hour after sunset and then tuning around again, if I’m awake, during EU sunrise.

I also check DXSummit and ReverseBeacon.Net to see what DX is out there. Oftentimes you’ll see DX listed on one that isn’t on the other. And, just because it isn’t spotted on the packet cluster doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Many times I’ve just tuned around and heard DX and spotted it for others.

Some recent catches that are significant for me are:

9X0TL – Rwanda
5N50K – Nigeria
JW/OZ1AA – Svalbard

I’m sure that back in the 90s sometime I made contacts with Africa, but I have no logs or QSL confirmations to back that up. And since I’ve been back in the hobby I hadn’t been hearing anything from Africa. I figured I just don’t have much of a chance. As it turns out, it’s doable even on my mediocre station. You just have to pay attention for when the stations are active and try to listen for them. You’ve got to know what times of the day or night you are most likely to hear Africa, what band they would be on, etc.

Svalbard is just cool… it isn’t in Africa, but check it out on Google Maps.

I’m amazed at some of the operators that end up responding to my call. I may be hearing them S0 [under the noise] but if i hear them I try to reach them. And since I’m using a simple low wire, I know I’m not putting out a big signal. So obviously the DX is skilled at picking stations out of the mud [and the pileup]. There is no reason for me to expect that my signal is going to make it when 30 stations from various parts of the world with a kilowatt and multielement yagis are part of the pileup. But sure enough, even I can often get through with perseverence and an idea of how to garner the attention of the DX when other stronger stations are calling them.

Tags:

RSGB IOTA 2010 – my take

Jul 25

Posted by Mike in Contesting | No Comments

I was hoping for one or more contests to work before the Ohio QSO Party. I had looked at the WA7BNM Contest Calendar and saw the IOTA contest. For some reason or another I dismissed this as a “limited audience” contest and thus did not plan for it. I had other obligations this weekend.

Yesterday, out of curiosity, I actually went and read the rules of this contest and realized that it is open to everyone and that you get points for ANY station, island or not, that you can work — with actual registered IOTA-registered islands providing increased points and acting as multipliers. I was kicking myself. I knew I couldn’t operate 24 hours or even 12 hours, but I decided I was going to get on.

I’m glad I did. I worked about 4.7 hours of this contest off and on, on 15/20/40 with 100w and the 40-10m wire. Mostly 20m activity with a smattering of 15m and some 40m. Worked a handful or two of new DXCC entities (if they happen to decide to confirm via LOTW).

If I had read the rules and realized that the IOTA contest would have been as active as it was, I may have planned to spend more time. It’ll be on my list of contests to work next year. Definitely a fun time and worth the planning.

IOTA Contest 2010

Call: AA8IA
Operator(s): AA8IA
Station: AA8IA

Class: SO(A)12Mixed LP
QTH: Toronto OH
Operating Time (hrs): 4.7

Summary:
Band CW Qs CW Mults Ph Qs Ph Mults
—————————————-
80:
40: 23 12
20: 41 14 20 10
15: 2 1
10:
—————————————-
Total: 66 27 20 10 Total Score = 29,082

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Tags: ,

Ham Radio via Internet remote — what a character

Jul 25

Posted by Mike in Posts | No Comments

I was monitoring 20m today, and lo and behold an interesting character was talking to another ham. When that ham signed to thank the interesting character for the QSO, the interesting character (we’ll call him neB) mentioned that he doesn’t consider it a QSO unless he’s talked to the person for at least an hour. What the hell? Strike #1.

Then when he signs he gives his KC9 call and indicates he is talking by way of an HB9 remote station. Strike #2. I can see how it would be cool to do this, given my own background in internet technologies. But, when the communication cannot be established via a direct radio link on both ends, it is my feeling that it is no longer considered an amateur radio contact. Call me old school.

Strike #3 was when another ham called him and before the actual QSO even commenced the interesting character felt the need to lay out the guidelines for the QSO.

I guess it takes all kinds, but “neB” appears to be one of a kind.

My [almost] new Yaesu FT-950

Jul 14

Posted by Mike in Radios | No Comments

I was reading QRZ and saw an FT-950 for sale, $1000. Better yet, it was for sale by a local ham (from PGH area). Even better, he would actually deliver the radio. Ok, how could I not bite on that? The radio is still under warranty [was purchased in new in January].

I called Gary up, arranged a time, and collected the necessary funds. Gary K3WOW and Jerry K3FKI showed up with the FT-950 in tow. Wow, what a beautiful rig. I hadn’t seen one close up and personal before. Much larger than the tiny FT-100 that I have been used to for the past 10+ years.

Gary offered to stick around and hook it up so that he could demonstrate that it would work. Well, I was in a hurry to play so I declined and told them I’m confident it would work just fine. They left. I proceeded to re-arrange my desk and hook up the FT-950.

Except for the fact that I couldn’t hook up headphones or keyers [because the FT-950 takes 1/4" jacks and my headphones/keyers were using 1/4" and I didn't have adapters] and I couldn’t hook up the CAT interface (didn’t have a straight-thru serial cable, only a few null modem cables), I got everything else hooked up.

I fired this sucker up and the first thing I noticed is how quiet the bands were. This thing has a lot of buttons and a ton of menu options, very few which I knew what to do with. But after messing around a while and realizing the signals were strong when I tuned around, I came to the realization that the receiver on this radio is a magnitude quieter in my location.

Today I got the needed 3.5mm-to-1/4″ adapters and a serial cable, and now the FT-950 is completely controllable via HRD and also is working just fine with N1MM [for contesting].

Last night, with the QRN from the storms coming through, the SSB signals on 20/40/80/160 were amazingly copyable. On my FT-100 I never bothered to listen to SSB on 160m or even 80m because I just couldn’t pull out a voice from the noise. On the FT-950, using the same antenna, I had absolutely no trouble hearing beautiful SSB audio from stations on 160/80/40m. My antenna is a shortened 40m antenna and is extremely poor for 160 reception and not very good for 80 either. But with this radio there were stations all over the place, easily copied on SSB. I love it. I may actually want to work SSB now, whereas before I had no desire because of the poor performance on the FT-100.

I’m sure that comparing the FT-100 to the FT-950 is apples to oranges, and I’m sure that those of you owning $3000+ radios will say that an FT-950 can’t compare to one of them. You may very well be right. But I have only worked with two radios to make a comparison, and this FT-950 opens up a whole new world for me.

Between the multiple IPO and ATT settings, it seems to be very easy to limit the typical band noise, leaving just the signals popping out. I haven’t even delved into the notch, contour, and width functions, or anything else in the menus. I’m just using it as it was configured when I received it and am extremely happy with it thus far.

I’ll try to give a proper review after a few weeks.

Tags:

DL-DX RTTY Contest 2010

Jul 4

Posted by Mike in Contesting | No Comments

It wasn’t until after half of the contest was over that I realized it was going on. It was then that I decided I’d give it a try. Wanted to use N1MM (my favorite logger) but was used to using HRD for RTTY. Ended up downloading, installing and figuring out the config for MTTY so that it works in conjunction with N1MM. Integration seemed pretty good, but the RTTY decoding in MTTY leaves a lot to be desired compared to HRD (HRD seems to decode much better).

I really am bummed that I didn’t work 24 hours of this contest. Instead I worked 6 hours. I only made a few contacts on 80m, and the rest on 40m and 20m. I really would have liked to work some RTTY on other bands, and more of it to Europe. Hopefully next year I’ll be on top of things, will be prepared, and will be able to operate all 24 hours.

This RTTY contest was extremely fun, with a lot of activity. Id’ encourage others to give it a try next year.

I’ll say thanks to the sponsors and to the stations that worked me. I really enjoyed it.

Below is my summary:


DL-DX RTTY Contest

Call: AA8IA
Operator(s): AA8IA
Station: AA8IA

Class: SOAB-6-Dipole LP
QTH: Toronto OH
Operating Time (hrs): 6

Summary:
Band QSOs Pts Mults
------------------------
80: 4 20 1
40: 27 220 3
20: 28 255 9
15:
10:
------------------------
Total: 59 495 13 Total Score = 14,850

Club: Mad River Radio Club

Tags: , , , , ,

Electronic QSLing

Jul 1

Posted by Mike in Posts | No Comments

Electronic QSLing is becoming more popular by the day. You’ve got ARRL’s Logbook of the World (aka LOTW); you’ve got eQSL; and, for Ham Radio Deluxe nuts you’ve got HRDLog — which doesn’t appear to have any following among many other than users of HRD working digital modes. And, now there is a new kid on the block — QRZ’s Logbook.

I’ve used LOTW for years. I’m also using eQSL. Enough is enough though. There has to be a defacto that everyone logs to, rather than everyone logging to a different place.

It used to be that the ARRL and CQ were the only places issuing awards, and you would get these awards by having both participants in a QSO send in the QSLs they have received for verification in order to obtain the awards. This still happens, albeit to a lesser extent now.

Now, instead of just ARRL and CQ standard methods, you’ve got LOTW, eQSL and QRZ’s Logbook version. This is an amazing amount of confusion. There are those will never participate in electronic QSLing, either because they do not have a computer or they just believe that the time-tested way is the only valid way. There are those who will only use electronic QSLing methods, out of convenience, thrift, or as a middle-finger protest to the old school paperchasers. Out of those who use e-qsling they have to pick and choose which options they want to use.

I personally haven’t had any QSL cards made up since I got back into the hobby again. I intend to, but it just hasn’t been a priority. It’s not that I’m cheap; I’m just lazy and not really looking for awards. However, I do respect those who want a contact verified via an actual QSL card, and I intend on accomodating them.

E-qsling can be a real pain if you are torn between the options. I use LOTW and eQSL. I use HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) for my master log storage. Regardless of what program I actually use for logging (I use N1MM Logger for competitions and HRD for casual contacts), my HRD always has a copy of that contact. Then, I use HRD to upload my contacts to HRDLog and eQSL. I then manually export logs periodically to ADIF, sign them with TrustedQSL, and upload them to LOTW. It’s a helluva lot of work, and I’m just a small potatoes operator. Serious DXers and contesters just don’t have the time to be pulling logs from different sources and uploading them to 3 our four different sites.

In addition, the only way any of the electronic QSL entities become any good is if the majority of people use them.

LOTW is trusted, by virtue of it being operated by the ARRL. The problem is that everyone bitches about LOTW being too difficult. You can’t just take an ADIF and upload it to LOTW. You first have to get a certificate issued by the ARRL in order to become trusted. Then you have to sign your log submissions with the trusted certificate. None of this is automated in any general logging program that i know of. Thus you must export the logs to ADIF format, sign it with TrustedQSL, and then upload it to LOTW. I dont find it particularly cumbersome, but there are a lot of dumbasses in the world who can’t handle this. If I had my way, LOTW and the ARRL would be the only place to send your logs.

eQSL is trusted by many. It has been around a while now and has a large number of people using eQSL for confirmations / awards. Of course eQSL confirmations do not count for ARRL awards and LOTW confirmations do not count for eQSL awards. Apparently CQ is allowing some of its awards to be garnered via eQSL confirmations though. eQSL is very easy to upload to, and many logging programs have integration built in whereby you can upload your QSOs with a click of a button to eQSL.

HRDLog is not a serious endeavor. It’s pretty. It has a lot of features. But it seems like only people using HRD use it. I doubt it would become a contender, and in fact I hope it does not.

QRZ is last on the list, and the most recent place to role out Logging with the idea that you will be able to garner awards from QRZ down the road [I believe]. However, I think they are too late in teh game and are trying to re-invent the wheel. I’ll never upload to QRZ. I draw the line here. QRZ already offfers great forums and the extremely popular QRZ.Com callsign lookup and integration. They should just strive to improve upon that rather than dealing with the QSL bullshit.

Paper QSLing is not gone. I hope it never dies. I will always be glad for those QSL cards that I receive, and I’ll save them up. I’ll never attempt to turn them in for an award at the ARRL or anywhere else, but this is a tradition that should be maintained.

Everyone who has access to a computer should strive to at least establish an account at LOTW and upload their. Then, if they are feeling froggy they could upload to eQSL. There is no reason not to do this if you have a computer and internet access. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that if you use a computer regularly and have internet access, you are doing others a disservice [if not yourself as well] by not uploading logs to LOTW [and optionally eQSL].

Stop holding your grudges against the ARRL or EQSL and instead establish accounts at both and upload your logs. You may actually find that you enjoy having those logs online and that you enjoy having the ability to work for a lot of awards without having to specifically exchange QSL cards and send them in. Yes, I know QSLing is a time-honored tradition, and I’m not proposing that you let it go. But why not broaden your minds and make the hobby a little more enjoyable for yourself and everyone else :)

Tags: , , , , ,