POTOMAC VALLEY RADIO CLUB NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 1998
PVRC MEETINGS CALENDAR
weekly Wed BWI Regional weekly breakfast. Wednesdays 7:30 am,
Basil's Deli, Elkridge Landing Rd near BWI
Feb 5 Thu PVRC/NC meeting at Luna's Restaurant in Raleigh at 6p
Feb 9 Mon Central meeting at the Library in Vienna, VA at 7:30 pm
Feb 13 Fri South West Virginia (PVRC/SWVA),
Denny's in West Salem, VA at 6:00 pm.
Feb 17 Tue North-west meeting, Legends Restr, Frederick, MD at 8pm
Feb 17 Tue Tidewater Colony meeting with VA-DXCC,
D&M Seafood, Newton/Va Beach Rds.
Feb 21/22 ARRL CW, PVRC club competition. Pse work VP2EEI
Mar 5 Thu PVRC/NC meeting at Luna's Restaurant in Raleigh, NC
Mar 9 Mon Central meeting at the Church of the Nativity
(Episcopal), Route 5, Temple Hills, MD at 7:30 pm
PVRC Contest Calendar for February by Tyler Stewart K3MM
Log Deadlines:
Please report all PVRC scores to N3II. All scores must be complete and
accurate, including a list of operators for multi's. Scores not reported
to N3II will not be eligible for 5 million award points!
February 10th NAQP CW Email call.log, call.sum to
[email protected]
February 17th NAQP Phone Email call.log, call.sum to
bhorn@hornucopia
February 18th ARRL VHF SS Email call.log, call.sum, call.dup to
[email protected]
February 28th CQWW 160 CW Email call.log, call.sum, call.dup to
[email protected]
March 1st NA Sprint SSB Email call.log, call.sum, call.dup to
[email protected]
February 7-8
Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Kansas, and Delaware QSO Parties
Feb 7 0000Z to Feb 8 2400Z
Exchange: RST and QTH (county or state)
A whole mess of QSO parties held concurrently. Help out our Delaware
members with a QSO!
North American Sprint - CW
Feb 8 0000Z to 0400Z
Frequencies: 3540, 7040, 14040 (80/40/20 meters only)
(see phone rules and tips from last month)
Official rules available at the NCJ web page: http://www.waterw.com/~ncj/
February 14-15
WW RTTY WPX Contest
Feb 14 0000Z to Feb 15 2400Z
Exchange: RST and QSO Number
Frequencies: 3580 and up, DX 7025-7045 & 7080 and up, +/- 14080, +/-
21080, +/- 28080
One of the larger RTTY contests with lots of DX participation and efforts
from PVRC RTTYers. As with all RTTY contests, any QSO counts for points
and keeping with the WPX tradition, QSO's on 40 and 80 are worth double!
Spotting is allowed for all classes. Complete rules are available at
http://home.sol.no/~janalme/htmlrules/wpxrtty.html .
Asia-Pacific Sprint Contest - CW
Feb 14 1230-1430Z
Exchange: RST and QSO number
Frequencies: 14030-14050, 7015-7040 (20/40 meters only)
Similar to the NA sprint with 150watt limit and a QSY rule. Work only
Asia-Pacific stations. Work once per band and score is QSO's times
Prefixes worked. Complete rules at
http://home.sol.no/~janalme/rules/sprintoc.txt
Dutch PACC Contest (Mixed Mode)
Feb 14 1200Z to Feb 15 1200Z
Exchange: RS(T) + QSO Number (+ Dutch Province)
Frequencies: 160 through 10 meters (no 160 SSB allowed)
Work only Dutch stations (PA/PB/PI) once per band regardless of mode.
Mults counted once per band. Complete rules at the PACC web page:
http://home.wxs.nl/~pa3ebt/
February 21-22
ARRL International DX Contest - CW
Feb 21 0000Z to Feb 22 2400Z *Club Competition* - 5 Million Award
Exchange: RST + State/Province or TX Power for DX
Frequencies: 160 through 10 meters
US/VE works DX only and DX only works US/VE. Work each station once per
band. Mults for US/VE are DXCC countries per band so good coverage of all
the bands is important for a big score. New Club Competition rules allow
Dxpeditions to count for PVRC as long as they meet the normal criteria
that 2/3rds of the operators are PVRC members from the PVRC area.
Remember that ARRL requires club members to attend 2 meetings in the
previous year, so make sure you have met your quota! New members within
the past 12 months automatically qualify. Multi-Singles and Multi-Twos
should note that the 10 minute rule has been dropped in favor of a 6 band
change per hour rule. Contest rules available at
http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/98/intldx.html .
Be sure and follow the links to the General and HF rules as well. Let's
kick some butt!
February 27 - March 1
CQWW 160 Meter Contest - SSB
Feb 27 2200Z to Mar 1 1600Z *Club Competition* - 5 Million Award
Exchange: RST and QTH (State/Province/Country Prefix)
With DX heavily weighted, it's important to do well into Europe, as well
as collecting multipliers. QSO's outside your own continent are worth 10
points versus only 2 for you own country and 5 for the same continent.
Rules available at http://home.sol.no/~janalme/htmlrules/cqww160.html .
North Carolina QSO Party
Feb 28 1200-2359Z and Mar 1 1200-2359Z
Exchange: Callsign, QSO Number, and QTH (county or state/etc.)
Frequencies:
CW - 3450, 3740, 7040, 7140, 14040, 21040, 21140, 28040, 28140
SSB - 3860, 7260, 14260, 21360, 28360
VHF and UHF simplex QSO's also allowed.
Work stations on each band/mode/county combination. Look for possible
PVRC member activity. Complete rules and forms at:
http://www.netpath.net/~n4mio/qsoparty.htm
March 7-8
ARRL International DX Contest - SSB
Mar 7 0000Z to Mar 8 2400Z
*Club Competition* - 5 Million Award
(See CW listing above)^�then kick some more butt!
Contest Tip of the Month
Preparation is key to a successful effort. Read the rules well in advance
of the contest to help formulate strategies and insure compliance. If you
are new to a contest, ask someone who has done well in it before for keys
to success. Make sure your station is ready to go well in advance of the
start of the contest, including the radios, computers loaded and running
with fully configured software and keyers, antennas tested and tuned, and
operators fully scheduled for a multi. Get lots of sleep for several days
before the contest and, if possible, a nap prior to the start. Food and
drink is all important. Many operators tout "carbo-loading" before a
contest, choosing pasta etc., as a pre-contest dinner. Most recommend
staying away from caffeine and sugar as much as possible, saving them for
late in the contest if at all. I find I do best by eating and drinking as
lightly as possible during a contest. I try to avoid drinking more than
necessary (which means avoiding the bathroom trip in the middle of a hot
run!) and usually have a box of low fat crackers or pretzels at hand and
reserved mostly for slow times. Dry-roasted peanuts are also one of my
favorites. Keep a cooler nearby if you like or your favorite hot drink,
but keep in mind that tea and diet drinks with Nutrasweet are known
diuretics, which may mean a lot of extra trips to the bathroom. Whatever
you do, don't eat any large or heavy meals or you'll never make it through
to the end.
MINUTES OF 12/8/97 CHRISTMAS MEETING by Rich Boyd, KE3Q
The annual PVRC Christmas dinner was held Monday, December 8, 1997 at the
Olive Garden Restaurant, Route 7, Tyson's Corner, Virginia. 80 contesters
and spouses were present. The food was good and inexpensive. Some of us
had the conveniently timed coupons from the Sunday newspaper. After
dinner, KE3Q presented an abbreviated version of the A6/A4 slide show and
K3ZO gave installment two of his tales of international ham radio
adventure, focusing on the time he was shot and kidnapped by terrorists in
Argentina. We're fortunate to have Fred still with us! Amy says he needs
to write a book! See you at next year's annual dinner!
Attendees were: W3LEO, K1DQV/3, WB2BZR, N3HIH, W3GN, K3WX, W3X E, KA3QPG,
WI2T, W3GNQ, W3ZZ, ND3F, N3OC, W3YD, W3DAD, W3XY, N9IIC, W3MC, NJ4F, NB1B,
K4VV, K7MPP, KT4W, W3EMH, W3CQH, AA3LE, AA3KY, K3RV, N3TG, W4VC, KB4EDU,
KT3Y, K3NA, K3DI & N3FZB, K3ZO, K2UOP/8, K8OQL, N4RV, K3OSX, K1HTV,
EX-KN1WSN, W3HVQ & YL, W3AZ, W3UJ, KD3VK, W3DQ, ND3A, WR3L, W8ZA, N3PZV,
W1HIR, K4IQ, W3LPL, K3SW, N3DMJ, K3SA, W3GG, K3KY, N3AM, W0CN, W0QED, K3MM
& XY3L, K3ZJ, W4LIP, N3RR & XYL, K3LP, KC3VO, W3YOZ, W3EKT, KE3Q, N3MIL
(now W3AMY), and 5 others who did not sign the book.
A few quick words from the Prez^�Ty, K3MM
This month we are publishing the complete rules for the 5 Million Award.
Please read them carefully! I want to point out a few things about this
award for emphasis.
First, it is based on claimed scores designated for PVRC. In order for
you to get credit, you must make a complete and accurate report to N3II.
This means that Multi's must submit their list of operators to insure
proper credit and you must list your category. Please do not submit
estimated numbers. If you make a change to your numbers as submitted to
the sponsor, please update them with N3II. If you guest op a station,
please make it clear who's station it was so they can also receive proper
credit. Your score must be submitted to the sponsor for PVRC and must
qualify for PVRC under their club competition rules. For ARRL multi's
this also means that 2/3rds of the operators must be PVRC members or it
will not count toward PVRC or the award.
Secondly, the scoring may seem confusing at first. However, I'm fairly
confident that it will become clearer after we get the first listings out.
I'm quite certain that this was the most equitable way to handle scoring.
In addition, we can always make adjustments on an annual basis if we
discover particular problems with either the schedule or weighting of
scores. N4ZR will have complete listings available shortly, which will be
posted on the PVRC web page and email reflectors. Regional chairmen will
also have listings available at meetings.
One other thing that needs to be addressed is the accuracy of the
membership list. Email addresses and regional selections need to be
selected and/or updated for a lot of members. All officers and regional
chairmen were recently sent a copy of the membership list. Please make
sure your data is correct and kept up to date. If you make a change,
please inform W2GG or your regional chairman about the change
PVRC 5-MILLION AWARD
Purpose: To recognize outstanding and ongoing support by members of the
Club in significant amateur radio contests which sponsor club competition.
Eligibility: Any member of PVRC is eligible for this award. Eligible
contests will be those listed for that season in the PVRC Club Competition
Calendar. Scores must meet the contest sponsor's criteria for club
competition in order to be counted for the 5 Million Award. Complete
contest entries must be submitted to the contest sponsor within the
sponsor's deadline for that contest and summary sheets must identify the
Potomac Valley Radio Club to receive the club points.
Period: All qualified contest scores after July 1, 1997 will count
towards the award. Initial awards and endorsements will be processed once
a year based on Award Points as of June 30th. All Award points are
cumulative and do not expire.
Scoring: The claimed scores actually submitted to the contest sponsor
will be the basis for the 5 Million Award Points. Normalizing will be
used on all claimed scores to calculate points for the 5 Million Award.
The process for normalizing will be to take the highest domestic PVRC
single operator claimed score for a contest, known as the Reference
Score, and assign it a value of 1 million points. All other scores will
be calculated as a fraction of this Reference score using the formula:
Contest Score/Reference Score) x 1,000,000 = Award Points
Each operator of an eligible Multi-operator entry may claim a share of
that score for his Award total using the formula:
Normalized Multi Score / number of operators = 1 Share Award Points
In addition, any multi-op entry with two or more operators will be awarded
double their Share Award Points for each operator. (No bonus for
single-op plus packet)
To encourage station owners to host PVRC operators, we are offering owners
Matching Award Points. Any station owner who hosts PVRC operator(s) who
generate(s) an eligible score, will receive Matching Award Points equal to
that operator(s) Award Points (double points apply for hosts of multi's as
well).
Under no circumstances will anyone receive Award Points for more than one
operation during a particular contest. If more than one Award Points
score is generated to a single member, they will receive the single
highest score of the group only.
Note that each eligible contest will be scored separately using the
Reference Score unique to that contest.
All 5 Million Award points are cumulative for the duration of the program.
Reporting: Unless otherwise specified, each claimed score must be
reported to the designated PVRC Club Score Recorder (currently Dave, N3II)
within 45 days of the end of the contest. Claimed scores reported should
exactly represent the score you submit to the contest sponsor for credit.
If you make a correction to your original claimed score, please send the
updated information to the Score Recorder. All submissions must contain a
complete list of operators callsigns and the station host callsign if
different.
Awards: The 5 Million Award will be an endorseable plaque earned after
reaching a total of at least 5 million Award Points and will be presented
within 6 months of the anniversary date of the program. Additional
endorsements will be available for higher levels. Achievement
certificates may also be issued.
Disclaimers: All rules, scores, results, and awards are subject to the
scrutiny and decision of the Club officers and their determinations will
be final. (Rev 012498)
CENTRAL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 12TH by Rich Boyd, KE3Q, Secretary
The January 12, 1998 meeting in Temple Hills, Maryland attracted 18
attendees plus one additional one at the dinner beforehand at Topolino's
making 19 contesters in all: W0CN, K3MM, KE3Q, WR3L, N3KTV, N3NT, W3CP,
N3AFT, W3MC, WR3Z, N3WZR, W3LPL, W3AZ, K3ZO, W3TOM, WK3I, K3MLA, W3HVQ,
and K3HH. New calls: W3TOM was formerly WA3TAI, and K3MLA was formerly
WB6VGI (and still is KG4ML/Guantanamo Bay, Cuba). N3WZR was our only
guest, one of the users on the KE3QZ Southern Maryland packetcluster node.
The new President, K3MM, presided. Members reported on their individual
activities as follows: W3HVQ, 1.07M points in CQWW CW, first time
breaking a million points. His 4-1000 homebrew amp breaks down once in a
while but is a lot of fun.
K3ZO was in the low band JA test, made 65 QSOs, is looking forward to the
VHF test, praying for rain to kill his line noise. W3TOM noted his new
call sign (with his name in it, in case you didn't notice).
WR3Z, no activity lately because of work (at Patuxent River NAS). Gave
ND3F an FM rig, so he can't get on in the VHF test. ND3F also borrowed
one of K3MM's radios. (ND3F seems to be our most avid VHF contest rover
at present.)
WK3I made about the same QRP score in the ARRL 160 contest as the year
before and hopes for #1 World QRP. In the 10M contest he went low power
mixed mode and bettered his score over the previous year by 98K. Rich
noted the upcoming CQ 160, where the scoring is skewed towards Europe.
N3WZR noted he's a first time attendee, uses the KE3QZ packetcluster node.
Nice to have some southern Marylanders joining in our activities!
N3AFT says he played around in the RTTY test. I think Mike has attended a
northwest regional meeting. W3TOM noted his new call sign (with his name
in it, in case you didn't notice).
W3AZ was in the ARRL 160 part time, 330 QSOs and in CQWW CW. He had NB1B
over guest operating in SS phone and they both enjoyed the experience.
W3MC made 750 QSOs in the ARRL 160. Also operated CQWW and SS from his
new two-tower station.
K3MLA spoke about the possibilities of going to Guantanamo to operate. He
can help you make arrangements...air fare is about $700 round trip.
K3HH will be taking his daughter to West Virginia and then hopes to
operate the VHF contest as part of the K3IVO team.
WR3L, was joined by the other remaining "Washington Redskins" (call sign
prefix) station, WR3Z (WR3E became W3UR last year) for CQWW, one of the
weekends anyway, for 1.7M points, the best score from his station yet.
N3KTV, our out-going treasurer (WR3L is the new one for '98) enjoyed the
September VHF contest as part of the K3MQH team (220 op I think).
Treasurer's duties and family obligations have kept him off the air.
He'll be with K3MQH again for the January VHF contest. Jim is active in
JOTA and other scout activities.
N3NT was in the 10M contest from K3VOA, giving out the D.C. mult. Craig
now has a 160 antenna so did the ARRL 160. He did NAQP using two radios
for the first time, says 15% of the QSOs were on the second one, "I
definitely think it's worth it." He says it was "a stress producer the
first few times" he tried to do it, though.
W3CP was in the 160 test, did as well as last year. I noticed Jim's
previous call, W3CPB, in the Sweepstakes results from 40 years ago! Jim
says his first Sweepstakes was actually about 1933. Wow!
W3LPL noted K8GP ("the grid pirates") would be operating from "the
Glenwood mountain top" this time for the VHF contest, a first. They set
up several towers in Frank's side yard (about three acres of ground) the
previous weekend. I believe KA3EJJ's plans to join them with a trailer
mounted 100' crankup were changed, due to the soggy ground. Frank
expected disaster on the packetcluster network with the several 1500 watt
VHF stations on the air there, but everything seemed to be perfectly
normal after all.
K3MM said "I've been doing way too much operating lately and no antenna
work." Ty put up a full wave loop for 80 meters on his new tower that had
no antennas on it, the apex at 175'! (tower is presently 180'). The
antenna is in a diamond configuration, the top at 175', the bottom at
100'. He put it up right before CQWW, finished on Friday and it worked
fairly well he says, and better than his inverted vee at100'. Ran Europe
for about an hour during CQWW on 80. But...he fell asleep at the wrong
time, 7 AM Saturday. Ty noted 10M was in good shape. In SS he noted his
2-el 40M wire beam at 70' fixed west worked well...his 125' high 2-el
Cushcraft 40 always seemed "a little long" (too high to work close in
stuff well) for SS. Low dipole at 45' was definitely the best during
the day, but it could use a reflector (below it). At 70' a wire beam
fixed NE didn't do anything.
KE3Q noted the upcoming contests, VHF and CQ 160. K3MM thanked KE3Q for
being president the previous 3 years. KE3Q thanked PVRC for the honor.
K3MM spoke of his priorities, as president, for '98: intra-club awards
and communication and coordination with the regions, getting regions to
talk to each other more, finding a key person in each new region to get
things going. The five million award is being resurrected, new and
refurbished. Ty says a low priority is rewriting the bylaws but it needs
to be done.
W2GG was named membership secretary. He's already done a lot of work
gleaning logs for recruits within the region.
N4ZR will be awards coordinator, is making spread sheets, etc. to keep
track of people's progress toward the five million award (and beyond it
for endorsements). Pete will work with N3II, who has been collecting
scores after contests.
N3KTV applauds WR3L's election as treasurer. Jim (N3KTV) gave a report on
the blackboard on the club finances. There was $2,200 of income in '97, a
$100 surplus. We think there were no QSL or tee shirt orders in '97,
which kept the revenues down a little. And, we have not been pushing
members for donations. K3MM notes the anticipated expense of 5 million
award plaques, when we begin awarding them sometime late in '98 and on
into '99. We will be encouraging donations at appropriate times.
WR3L noted he plans a booth at the Baltimore Hamfest with W2GG, to
introduce PVRC and the packetcluster to folks.
K3MM fielded questions on the 5 million award. There had been some
complaints from multiops that their portions would be too low. Revisions
will be done in response.
N3NT noted a QSL order will be put in soon, with a January 15 target date.
The new logo is being cleaned up for embroidery purposes. At the time of
the meeting there were 27,000 cards ordered. (By the time I'm writing up
these minutes, N3NT reports the order is in, with 38,000 cards for 34
different call signs).
K3IXD resigned as cap/shirt salesman for the club. We need a new
volunteer.
KE3Q discussed the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee topics. PVRC may want
to petition the CAC on out of area and/or DXpeditions counting for the
club in SS (noting K4MA's KP2 and/or KP4 operations, W3LPL at KH7R,
WV3B/Arkansas, K4VV/Alabama), multi-multi score allocation when members of
different clubs are operating, and 6 band change per hour multi-single
rules).
K3MM seeks input for the 50-year PVRC book being handled by W3LEO. W3LEO
is following the format of the 25-year book as a starting point, with
appropriate updates, additions, enhancements as they occur to us. K3MM
noted the two-hour PVRC 50-year QSO party New Year's Eve was a lot of fun,
with sufficient activity to increase it to four hours in the future.
KE3Q showed the A6/A4 slide show, emphasizing in this showing the tower
and antenna part of things, and the meeting adjourned at about 9:30 PM.
CLUB DONATIONS REPORT by Dave Baugher, WR3L, Treasurer
We would like to thank the following for the donation to PVRC in January:
K1HTV, K1DQU, W0SS, WB4FDT, W4LIP, K3NA, AA4KD, K3OSX, W3YOZ, W4HM, K1GG,
W4JLS, W8ZA, K4ZW, K3ZO, W8BOZ, N3NT, W3LPL, WR3Z, KE3Q, KK4WQ, W3HVQ,
W4DM, K4UX, W4YE, AJ3M, W4ZYT, W3CP, NW3K, K3SO, ND3A, W4DR, and W4IF. The
donation/dues are most appreciated and needed, keep them coming.
PVRC/NC MEETING MINUTES 1/7/98 by Pete Soper, KS4XG, [email protected]
Site. The meeting was held (this month only) at the Fox and Hound in Cary
18:00-20:45. A half dozen carried on outside the restaurant until 21:30.
Attendees. AA4NC/W4MR, Will; K2AV, Guy; K4HA, Bob; K4MA, Jim; K4QPL, Jim;
K7GM, Rick Niswander; KF4ARS, Kemp Brinson; KF4MOK, Dave; KS4XG, Pete
(secretary); N3QYE, Jim; N4CW, Bert (chairman); N4TL, Tom; NT4D, Jay;
W2CS, Gary; and WB4HFL, Henry
Membership. This was the second meeting of Tom Lewis, N4TL, sponsored by
N4CW. Welcome to PVRC Tom! This was the first meeting of general class
amateur Kemp Brinson, a student at NCSU and enthusiastic member of recent
contesting efforts at the school club station. Welcome Kemp! This was
also the first meeting of amateur extra Rick Niswander, K7GM who's
reputation proceeds him. Rumors of VOA antenna usage (he lives in
Greenville) and plans for superstations with N4AF were rampant. Welcome
Rick! Chapter membership is now 22.
Club business and announcements. N4CW announced that as this was a
special celebration meeting we'd minimize the regular format. December
minutes were approved. (Special note: As almost everything in the meeting
was covered by handouts, minutes are abbreviated this month. Copies of the
handouts are in the mail to chapter members who couldn't attend. KS4XG
actually noticed what he was eating at this meeting). There was a brief
discussion of publishing a chapter directory with mixed feelings about the
value of this (strong negative about putting anything on the web site).
Presentations. KS4XG gave a brief synopsis of N4AF's organization of the
chapter in mid '96 and the subsequent growth in membership and contesting
activity (handouts).
When the 6/96 W3LPL visit was mentioned there was interest in repeating
this and other visits to the "PVRC homeland" this year. KS4XG explained
that the impending birth of his daughter kept him from W3LPL last year but
he won't have that excuse and can carry three passengers in June.
KS4XG and N4CW went over K3MM's rules and schedule for the PVRC "5 Million
Award". It was agreed that Bert will forward questions and comments about
this program to K3MM. Key points mentioned are the normalizing of points
based on a top score and that endorsements for multiple "5 millions" will
be provided.
N4CW distributed info about upcoming contests, stressing the importance of
participation no matter how serious an effort may be and K4MA solicited
for NAQP teams (handouts).
K4MA talked about his recent contesting accomplishments, focusing on SS
and the ARRL 10m test. He thanked AA4NC, K4HA and others for the use of
their stations and support as all his '97 efforts were as a guest op. Jim
shared a number of photos from his SS effort at WP2Z and described
antennas and other details of his preparation. Jim predicts a new SS all
time record score will be set by a Carib station in the near future.
(handouts)
Member activities. We just had time for members to identify themselves
this month. K2AV described his unexpected receipt of a Texas Towers amp
and solicited buyers.
Next Meeting. The next PVRC/NC meeting will be 6pm Thursday February 5th
at Luna's Pizza in Raleigh. Directions to Luna's Pizza (3227 Avent Ferry
Rd, 919 854 9600):
>From the Raleigh Beltline coming South past Crabtree, pass the
Hillsborough St exit and then take the second Western Blvd exit toward NC
State and Downtown (East). Proceed 0.8 Miles East to a right at the second
onto Gorman Street. 1.3 miles later take a right at the light onto Avent
Ferry. Take the next left to the strip mall with Lunas. From East
Raleigh, taking Beltline along south side to the Gorman st exit and go
right. At the first light the strip mall and Luna's is on the left.
NW MEETING MINUTES - January 20, 1998 by Tyler Stewart K3MM
([email protected])
In attendance were members K3MM, W3ZZ, NE3H, WA3IKK, K3IXD, WD3A, W8ZA,
K3SX, N3HBX, WI2T, KA3QPG, K3DNE (ex-WB2DNE), N3KTV, and N5OKR.
K3DNE (ex-WB2DNE), Ed, was active in the past weekends January VHF SS
contest on 6 through 1296 with an approximate score of 100k points. Ed
has a new tiltover tower planned for 98!
NE3H, Joe, gave out some points in the VHF contest.
K3IXD, Ed, borrowed K3DNE's 6 meter beam and W3EKT's 432 beam and made
182Q's and 34 Grids for 6970 points.
WD3A, Tom, will be on for the CQWW 160 CW contest and is putting up an
Inverted L for the occasion.
W8ZA, Bob, also has plans to be active during the 160M contest.
K3SX, Sid, was please to work both Dakotas on 6 meters in the VHF contest
and will, of course, be active in the 160M contest coming up.
N3HBX, John, is still off VHF and up, having technical problems with his
FT736.
WI2T, Jeff, blew fuses all weekend attempting to run his VHF gear from a
cigarette lighter adapter! He made 270k points in the 10 meter contest
from W3GNQ's station, and will operate from W3ZZ's QTH for the 160
contest.
KA3QPF, Joel, was busy blowing fuses with Jeff during the VHF contest.
Joel requests that we have a contest software seminar at a future meeting.
N3KTV, Jim, did his usual 220Mhz thing from K3MQH in the ice and snow. He
noted that everything looked fine Saturday morning until he drove up the
final hill to the contest site. About 100 feet from the top, all of a
sudden everything was covered in a thick layer of ice! Friday, during
setup of 432, there was a loud bang as Jim was tuning up the 432 amp
again! Apparently a tube had arced over to the screen, taking out the
screen supply. After replacing a bunch of components and new tubes on
Saturday morning, the amp played FB all weekend.
N5OKR, Greg, was in an accident with his truck in September just one week
before getting married. He reported that the driver of the other vehicle
who pulled out in front of him and was killed had a blood alcohol level of
.24! He just recently replaced his 2 meter rig which was a casualty in
the accident. He operated at W3LPL during CQWW phone and will do it again
for ARRL phone. He is currently wrangling for position to locate a new
tower on their new property in Union Bridge, MD.
K3MM, Ty, has been way too busy operating contests and taking care of PVRC
business for much antenna work. He operated the VHF contest on 2 meters
at K3MQH as usual. Ice on the antennas made things very difficult,
especially on the microwave bands. Even with the ice, the South Mountain
Contest Team came up with another record score, though not by much.
K3MM reports from the regular meeting that Bob, W2GG, has been appointed
Membership Secretary and has been doing great things to further recruiting
efforts with KE3Q. He briefly discussed recent decisions for the 5
million award program, including doubling of award points for operators
and station owners for multi-op efforts, excluding the "single-op plus
packet". No questions were raised from the group.
The search for a new NW Regional Chairman continues.
NW meetings are always held on the third Tuesday of the month at 8PM, with
dinner beforehand. Meetings are currently being held at Legend's
Restaurant in the Hampton Inn, located at the intersection of I270 and Rt
85 in south Frederick, MD.
PVRC NE REGIONAL MEETING by Dave Baugher, WR3L
The NE regional meeting was held on Wednesday, January 21st at 7:00 PM at
the 1998 BARC Minifest at the Exhibition Hall, Timonium State Fairgrounds.
A discussion was held concerning the list that was made by W2GG of the
contesting logs that were sent to him. The NE region will be looking for
operators in the region that don't have stations, due to restrictions or
other reasons, to operate with active contest stations. Also, to be sure
that the few stations that operate in the region are members and send the
logs in for PVRC. Attending: WR3L, W2GG, K3MM, ND3F and N3OZD (first
meeting).
PVRC DELMARVA REGIONAL MEETING by Dallas Carter, W3PP
The Eastern Shore Regional PVRC met on January 25th at 11:00 am at W3pp's.
Attending were members: N3OC, NV3V, K3KZ, W3PP, W3BY, & W3DA and guests:
K33Z, N3KNT, K23Z, W3KQ, & N3HUV.
After a review of the last meeting topics, Brian N3OC gave an update on
the status of equipment available for a proposed new cluster node for this
area. A discussion ensued, with several implementation options. Of
these, the most interesting seemed to be the possibility of bringing the
backbone from WR3L to St. Michaels on 220, and then from St. Michaels to
Seaford on 440. We have access to secure sites at both locations. Dallas
had done link analysis showing that both links would provide solid
communications with adequate margins.
Brian collected applications from several attendees that have made two
meetings, and will be submitted for membership. Recruiting efforts are
going well, and interest in contesting from the shore is very encouraging.
It was great to get some of the older PVRC members like W3BY K3KZ and W3DA
together to share their contest experiences with newer members and guests.
There was discussion of the, just over, 160 contest, and the upcoming
Delaware QSO party. K3FT indicated that he may mobile over to put rare
Kent county on for the affair, the first weekend of Feb. Our local radio
club always has a field outing, and plans by the FD chairman KE3ZR, were
discussed which would provide two stations primarily for contest type
operations, with the third HF station, a VHF station and novice station
for the more casual FD operation.
It looks as though contest participation from the shore will be increasing
dramatically, and bringing in some new blood will be not only good for
contesting, but good for PVRC. There will be a lot of help for the W3PP
m/m efforts, and the additional input from individual sweepstakes efforts
will also help bolster the club aggregate. There will be an informal
meeting at the end of February during the DX contest at W3PP.
THE FIRST EASTERN SHORE MEETING by Brian McGinness, N3OC, Vice Pres
The first Eastern Shore region meeting was held at W3PP on Sunday,
12/28/97 at 12 noon (just after the Stew Perry contest). In attendance
were: W3PP, N3OC, WB4FDT, W3BY, NV3V, N3WDL, W3KQ, W3OR, N3HUV, KE3ZR,
NW3Y and KE3ZZ.
Dallas gave a brief tour of his new station and towers. In fact, the
meeting was held in his just-completed building housing the new station,
bathroom, kitchen and bunkroom.
N3OC gave a presentation on PVRC and it's regions, it's membership
requirements, and club competition. The other purpose of the organization
of the eastern shore contesters is to assist Dallas in staffing W3PP for
the various contests.
A general discussion on how to improve the packetcluster situation on the
shore was held. Since AA1K will go QRT in the future, it was agreed by
Chick that the beam at the Seaford (SFD) site would be redirected toward
WR3L, and the rig would be QSYd to Dave's 2-meter user frequency. At the
same time OCMD would be QSYd (it uses crystals that have to be ordered) to
the same freq, essentially moving the whole region to Dave's user freq.
This is a temporary fix until a real backbone can be built on whatever
towers we have available. There is a tower in St. Michaels we may be able
to use, and Tinsley is going to be putting up a 500 foot tower somewhere
near Seaford in the future.
W3PP adds: Next eastern shore meeting is Sunday, 1/25/98 at 12 noon at
W3PP in Laurel, Delaware.
PVRC DINNER ROVERS (aka CENTRAL SUBREGION MEETING) by Jack Hammett, K4VV
Info: [email protected], 703-281-1308 or cluster
On December 17th, an informal dinner meeting was held at Michaelangelo's
Restaraunt in Annapolis, MD. The location was picked to make possible the
attendance of friends from the Eastern shore and from New Jersey. PVRC
members attending were Marty/W3YOZ (who served as host--making
arrangements), John/K4IQ, Bill/N3RR with wife Barbara, K3LYW/Norm with
wife Harriet, Ike/W3IKE, and Jack/K4VV. The visitors included Tinsley
Meekins/K3RUQ, John Williams/K8JW, Ron Grandmaison/W4VR, and Charlie
Gyurina/K2BU (FRC member from New Jersey). Themes of discussion were 160m
activity (as most of the participants meet on 160m), towers, antennas, and
the upcoming contests. We had a great meal and some fine fellowship.
(Article received by editor in December. Sorry. Editor.)
On January 21st, an Informal dinner meeting was held at La Bergerie in Old
Town Alexandria. Attending were Marty/W3YOZ (host), John/K4IQ, John
Wick/W1HIR, and Jack/K4VV. We enjoyed a great meal and discussed W1HIR's
experiences at Collins Radio during '63 - ''70, and several antenna
projects.
PVRC/SWVA MEETING MINUTES, 12/12/97 by John Mitchell, K4IQ
The second formal meeting for SWVA was held on January 12th at Denny's
Restaurant in Salem, VA 1800-2100. It was attended by K4IQ, John; W4YE,
Buddy; K1GG, Gordon; and N4GU, Mike.
Meeting Agenda: The meeting began after dinner and small talk with
another show and tell by Buddy W4YE (ex-W4YZC), of memorabilia from the
PVRC of twenty-five years ago, including an interesting photograph showing
a gathering of PVRC members taken in Washington in 1951, which Buddy had
received from W4KFC. We proceeded to discussions of the meetings schedule
for the SWVA Chapter. The group decided to stay with monthly meetings
from September through May, with cookouts planned during the summer at
members' homes to socialize and get to see each others' stations. We also
discussed having a meeting at Virginia Tech so Mike, N4GU, could give us a
tour of the University antenna range and state of the art satellite
tracking facility. We also discussed the special summer meetings in the
DC area, agreed to try to car pool up for them, and concluded we should
extend the invitation for any PVRC'ers from outside this area to stop in
on our meetings, if possible.
We discussed recruiting efforts, and Mike reported that 5B4AFM, a noted
contester, was currently at Tech, and he would try to contact him
regarding possible participation in upcoming events from SWVA. Gordon,
K1GG, included a nice plug for the new chapter in his monthly newsletter
for the Southwest Virginia Wireless Association, over which he presides.
One possible recruit (Novice to Extra in one year) was invited to
tonight's meeting but was unable to attend. We decided that we could best
grow our Chapter's membership ranks by selectively inviting potential
contesters to participate in meetings and contests at our established
stations.
We discussed our participation in the ARRL 160M contest, with some good
efforts this year by several chapter members. We also agreed to pursue
forming a SWVA team for the upcoming NA QSO Party tests in January. K4IQ
brought along PVRC QSL card samples and encouraged those interested to get
their order in asap. Mike, N4GU, related his incredible trip to Dayton
last year, with two hams, a rig, and a hamstick - going up and back from
Blacksburg, VA in the same day! They worked CW/Mobile on 40 meters to try
to stay awake/alive on the long ride home.
We set the next meeting for January 9th, at 6:00 PM at the Texas
Steakhouse on Rte 419 in SW Roanoke county.
1/9/98 PVRC/SWVA MEETING MINUTES, by John Mitchell, K4IQ
Site: Texas Steakhouse in SW Roanoke County, VA, 1800-2100
Attendees: K4IQ, John; W4YE, Buddy; K1GG, Gordon; N4GU, Mike, K3GX
(ex-WA4RDI), Dave; WA4BKW, Bill; N4BTO, Nat; and KF4JFG, Philip.
Meeting Agenda: This was the best attended SWVA Chapter meeting to date,
with all five charter members, and three guests present. After reading
the minutes of the last meeting, we welcomed the three guests to their
first PVRC meeting: Bill, WA4BKW operates many contests but his job
requires he interrupt the longer contests (Bill is an announcer for the
local National Public Radio station) Great voice for SSB, Bill! Nat,
N4BTO, is an EE professor at Virginia Tech, and got the cw bug bad after
coaching his children to get their licenses. Philip, KF4JFG, who just
upgraded to Extra, helped out with Mike, N4GU's, effort in 160 M ARRL from
the top of the engineering building at Tech a few weeks ago, and is eyeing
an unused ridge line above his "down in the hole" qth.
We discussed recruiting efforts with several more good leads emerging in
the SWVA area. Discussion then turned to the NAQP-CW which starts
Saturday. Mike, N4GU took the lead in organizing and registering our five
member team as the Southwest Virginia Contest Conspiracy. K1GG, K4IQ,
W4YE, N4GU, and K3GX all plan to put in a full effort. We will also plan
to be active during the SSB NAQP in two weeks. K4IQ, and W4YE were also
pretty definite for the CQWW 160-CW test, and K1GG is going to try to get
a beverage up before then, as N4GU contemplates mounting another assault
on the roof of the engineering building with KF4JFG.
Gordon, K1GG, presented an idea to have a 2M roundtable net following the
regular weekly net for his local club, the Southwestern Virginia Wireless
Association. The purpose would be to get local PVRC members together and
exchange recent information, plus act as a beacon for prospective
contesters that there is organized contest activity in the area. We
adopted this idea enthusiastically, and plan to evaluate the first month's
"PVRC SWVA Beacon" at the next Chapter meeting.
Buddy, W4YE, closed out the formal meeting with some more snapshot "blasts
from the past," with extra credit to those who successfully identified
famous dx'ers and contesters from his seemingly inexhaustible supply of
vintage snapshots. We decided to hold the next Chapter meeting at 6PM on
Friday the 13th of February, at Denny's in West Salem, VA.
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR
This issue catches up on some meeting minutes that I missed as the result
of Christmas travel (and my messing up). I hope this will not affect my
annual evaluation and salary review.
I expect that the March issue will be out late and you may not receive it
until after the March 9th central meeting due to my two Caribbean
operations. (1) I will make a serious effort as VP2EEI in the ARRL CW
contest from the VP2EE site probably using 100 Watts instead of the usual
QRP. I will be handicapped a bit by using only one radio but expect to
generate plenty of PVRC points. PLEASE SPOT ME OFTEN! (2) The following
weekend will be a casual effort as FS/K3DI at a non-ham condo. I'll try to
get up suitable antennas and operate the French REF during the day and
CQWW 160M WPX at night.
Attention VHF contesters. Please alert me UP TO THREE MONTHS IN ADVANCE
of coming VHF contests. I would like to highlight VHF contests in our
Autocall contest column and perhaps the publicity may get some of the
3000+ readers to try contesting for the first time. I think that the
casual operator needs to know the exchange format and which FM channels to
check for activity.
W2GG has successfully gotten the latest data up and running on his PC and
now maintains the PVRC data base. Please forward your new vanity calls
(or any other corrections or changes) to W2GG so he can update the
database. Also, Bob is collecting members' email addresses. Send via the
packet cluster or internet to [email protected].
Howie, N4AF is getting pounded by members asking to be added or removed
from the reflector. One of the ideas behind getting a standard majordomo
reflector was that people could control their own subscribes &
unsubscribes without waiting for human response. You control you
subscription by sending an email to [email protected] with either
subscribe pvrc or unsubscribe pvrc in the body of the email. An excellent
writeup on usage of our reflector resides at www.qth.net.
John, N4MM, received two nice certificates from the UBA for the 1997 UBA
Contest. He was first place winner for 20 meters in the USA for both
phone and cw. His phone score was 7074 and CW was 5019.
Don, W4ZYT, [email protected], advises that the Tidewater Colony area
code has changed to (757). A new meeting location is D&M Seafood, corner
of Newtown Road and Virginia Beach Blvd. Take I-64 to Newtown Road exit
NORTH. Cross over Virginia Beach Blvd - restaurant is on right just past
the intersection. Meetings are 3d Tuesday with dinner at 1830 and meeting
at 1930 in conjunction with monthly Virginia DXCC meeting.
The PVRC REFERENCE PAGE has been squeezed out of this issue. I had said
that the reference page would be included at the end of every issue which
goes to show that nothing is forever. Let's say that I will drop the
reference page if space is needed but not drop it on two conseqetive
months.
SCORES by Dave Blanchard, N3II [email protected]
Please send your scores to N3II and the required results to the contest
sponsor.
ARRL VHF SS RESULTS 1/28/98 #3
CALL BND QSO MULTS TOTAL
** SINGLE OPERATOR
K3DNE 5 527 133 100,548
K2UOP 384 136 85,816
K3ZO 2 457 88 40,216
K3IXD 3 182 34 6,970
W3GN 2 62 23 1,426
W2YE 3 47 25 1,325
N3UN 3 101 11 1,221
W2GG 2 53 18 1,098
W3EMH 3 55 16 896
N4TL 1 27 17 459
N4MM 1 30 9 270
N3II 1 48 4 192
** ROVER
ND3F 775 143 270,000
W3EKT/4 363 115 50,370*
*zero for PVRC
14 LOGS TOTAL 510,437
LAST YEAR - 1997
--1997 Totals----Entries---Total-
UNLIMITED CATEGORY
MT AIRY VHF R C 57 2,893,897
NORTHERN LIGHTS RS 56 498,443
ROCHESTER (MN) ARC 55 17,685
MEDIUM CATEGORY
NORTHEAST WEAK SG 46 2,212,377
ROCHESTER VHF GRP 46 1,576,455
POTOMAC VALLEY RC 7 280,106
CQ 160M CW RESULTS 1/28/98 #2
CALL QSO ST DX SCORE
** SINGLE OP HIGH POWER
W3AO 1200 58 56 500,000
W4MYA 960 57 41 296,058
K2AV 786 55 43 227,458
N4RV 688 56 36 197,432
K3SV 673 54 28 150,470
K4ZW 612 53 28 137,295
N4CW 430 0 0 68,835
N3II 409 50 17 66,598
W3AZ 302 48 15 46,557
K4VV 237 45 9 30,024
W3GN 214 41 4 21,915
W2YE 152 38 8 17,664
N4MM 116 39 6 13,725
W3KN 69 25 2 4,347
** SINGLE OP LOW POWER
K1HTV 816 57 28 178,670
W4RM 512 50 6 63,000
W3CP 256 44 4 27,072
WA4DAI 205 44 4 21,888
N3UN 174 37 1 14,592
WR3L 153 36 3 13,416
W4VC 109 33 2 7,820
W4SD 118 26 0 6,370
** SINGLE OP QRP
WK3I 471 45 11 67,095
WD3P 162 29 0 10,179
** MULTI OPERATOR
N3OC 807 52 39 208,000
W2GG 422 54 31 105,995
N3NT 344 52 22 66,896
W3HVQ 217 45 17 38,006
WA4QDM 223 43 7 26,000
29 LOGS TOTAL 2,633,377
Operators:
N3OC N3OC WV3B
W3AO KE3Q AT W3LPL
PVRC 50TH ANNIVERSARY QSO PARTY SCORES
[Ran from 2300 31Dec97 to 0100 1 Jan98]
So far, the overall high score in PVRC is ND3F; and each of the seven
non-PVRCers qualify for a certificate. Anyone else out these with a score?
Send any and all scores to W3LEO: either at [email protected], via the
PacketCluster, or to Leo Boberschmidt, 3928 Denfeld Court, Kensington, MD
20895.
Call CW SSB W3GRF Score
PVRC Members:
ND3F 66 1 4 173
K3MM 64 12 3 170
N3RR 49 30 3 158
W3GRF * 79 - - 152
W4YE 52 - 3 134
K1HTV 54 14 1 132
W3ZZ 52 - 3 128
W6UM 48 4 1 110
W3TMZ 37 - 3 104
K3TM 28 - 2 76
W3UJ 29 - 1 68
K4QPL 24 - 1 58
K3ZO 22 - 1 54
WR3L 19 - - 38
N4AF 16 - - 32
W3LEO - 30 - 30
N4S * 4 4 1 22
N4QQ 5 2 1 22
Non PVRC Members:
W4MLA [FL] 33 - 2 86
NA2Q [NY] 24 - 3 78
K2NJ [NJ] 15 - 4 70
OE2BZL [OE]*14 - 2 48
W1SKZ [MA] 10 - 1 30
JA0DAI [JA]*9 - 1 28
K4BAI [GA] 5 - - 10
*
W3GRF - operated by W3MC [ALL calls were W3GRF, maybe points are 790].
N4S operated by N4MM.
JA0DAI - was with XW operation; sent log via e-mail before going to XW.
OE2BZL was Knut/DK5AD, operating from his holiday QTH.