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QSOs. It always pays to send in a log, no matter what size the effort. Operating in the mobile, QRP or rover categories also offers a chance to compete and be recognized. The National Contest Journal North American QSO Party and Sprint events offer great competition that tends to emphasize operator prowess over station capability. An excellent place to start competing is right in your own area. Study the contest results and identify the operators who do well in your area. Compare your scores with other similarly equipped stations in your part of the world. If they did better than you, try to fi nd out why. Did they operate more hours? Perhaps they chose different times to be on the air than you did. Maybe their station is more effective on one or more bands, or they have better receiving antennas. Joining a contesting club can be very helpful when trying to measure your success. Seasoned operators from your area can enlighten you regarding local propagation patterns. Old timers can help you to understand the possibilities and help you to form reasonable expectations. The advent of more regional reporting has helped a lot toward recognizing great efforts from less-advantaged areas. Some contests also offer rookie categories or categories for stations with limited antennas, such as the CQ WPX contests’ “Tri-Bander and Single-Wire” category. Finally, don’t forget the multi-operator categories. Competing as part of a multi-op team is a great way to experience the thrill of competition and learn some valuable skills at the same time. Is Competing Still Fun? For many of us, throwing everything we have at something like a radio contest is beyond fun. It’s a full-blown escape. It’s blood-pumping, eye-bugging exhilaration and an exhausting rush that lasts from the starting bell to the fi nish. While there are surely tough times of grinding it out in any full-time effort, operating an entire contest can be a very gratifying experience. Competition can be very fun, indeed. It Really Only Matters to You Winning is great and is certainly the goal of most top competitors. Something even more valuable than winning, however, is earning the respect of other contesters. There are ways to gain other contesters’ respect besides winning contests. Of prime importance is how we handle ourselves on the air. Effi cient and accurate operating technique is the best way to earn the respect of top contesters. I personally respect the operators with very low error rates, regardless of their scores. They are the ones I would want handling my emergency traffi c. Ultimately it comes down to finding 36 November/December 2008 NCJ satisfaction in the pursuit itself, regardless of score. We get out of this game exactly what we put into it. I’ll close this installment with some thoughts from two operators who have seen the view from the top more than once. N6TJ writes: “At the end of the day, only you will rejoice if you met any of your goals. As my dear friend Ville, OH2MM, opined to me when we were together in Brazil at PT5A [several] years ago, ‘Jim, only you will remember your number ones. Realize that, have fun and only take yourself seriously.’ Great thoughts to absorb from one of our forever-best operators.” Share your questions or comments, whether you’re a newcomer or an old timer. Contact me via e-mail, k4ro@k4ro. net, or via my “call book” address. 73, Kirk, K4RO. RT-21 UNIVERSAL DIGITAL ROTOR CONTROLLER NEW! NOW WITH USB NEW FEATURES: USB and EIA232 interfaces Computer command accuracy to 1 /10 th degree Variable display intensity Improved ramp control and flexibility Enhanced computer interface and setup AMATEUR NET - $ 559 .00 G REEN HERON ENGINEERING LLC www.greenheronengineering.com K1FZ Receive Antenna Transformers High efficiency wound ferrite toroid transformers with isolated 50 ohm windings for minimum noise transfer. Color coded binding post for Beverage wire(s) and ground connections. Teflon and silver SO-239 coax connectors used. Each unit is individually calibrated to eliminate variations found in mass production. KB-1 Single wire Beverage transformer. (Variations available for EWE) $59.95 KB-2 Two wire, two direction Beverage transformer. $129.95 KB-3 Two wire end termination transformer. (For two wire switchable systems). $79.95 KB-5 Pennant, flag and delta antennas. $69.95 We accept Don’t you wish . . . Your rotor had Point-and-Shoot? Your rotor had a large, accurate, bright, adjustable LCD display? Your rotors could be slaved together for the ultimate in stacked array versatility? Your rotor had PWM speed control and would ramp up/down when turning large arrays? The RT-21 gives you all of this and it works with your existing rotors. Also Available RT-21D with VFD display IP networking with GH Everyware Satellite tracking with GH Tracker (585) 217-9093 info@greenheronengineering.com Clark Electronics 65 Patterson Hill Rd., Belfast, ME <strong>04</strong>915 USA Tel (207) 338-<strong>04</strong>74 k1fz@verizon.net
Contesting on a Budget That Very First 3 dB What will it take to get that next dB? Will it be cost effective? Will it make things better or worse? I weigh my wanderlust and need to take an occasional DXpedition, saving for retirement, working longer or investing more in a business venture. I’ve been fortunate to have been able to build a nice medium-gun station that once was competitive and have enjoyed contesting immensely over the years. Yet, I’m still thinking about how I can improve my station. At this point, the law of diminishing returns starts kicking in, and I have constraints. The towers are pretty much at their limit, and there’s not much room for additional wires. Large, long-boom antennas and stacks just won’t fi t. It would take an awful lot to improve my signal. I can add more automation and fl exibility in the shack, but in the end it comes down to my perennial problem of being loud to non-populated parts of the world and running out of signal strength. You just can’t work Tibet from an average QTH in the Midwest on 80 meters using an inverted V at 70 feet. To signifi cantly improve the station at my existing location just isn’t realistic at this time. For 40 meters I use an inverted V at 70 feet. It’s okay, but I never dominate and can’t hold a frequency when the band is crowded. There are a couple of low-cost options I could try. A low dipole at about 20 feet would work great as a mid-day high-angle radiator. I could also try some phased slopers off the top of the tower to get a bit of directivity. Either or both options would cost virtually nothing. I’ve got coax and wire. These modifi cations would pretty much complete my medium-gun station. Let’s consider the operators who dabble in contesting. We’ve all worked these folks. Perhaps he or she is from the local club Figure 1 — K9NN’s nearly invisible end-fed wire, which runs just below the eaves of the house. and stumbled upon your big signal during a weekend contest. You encouraged this individual to exchange information and to scan the bands and work a few more stations. Perhaps it was the op on 80 meters fi nishing up a rag chew when sprint started, and you discovered he or she was in an uncommon state, so you worked the station, quickly explained the contest and encouraged the op to pass out a few more QSOs. This person is not “in the contest” but is happy to hand out a few contacts. Perhaps this operator is in the contest club or on the club refl ector and has joined a team and is just looking to contact other club members. As I’ve started to collect ideas for this column I noticed that there are a lot of these folks. They’re typically using low wires or perhaps a vertical and a transceiver without an amplifi er. Serious contesters rely on these operators to build their scores, however. If you’re one of these people, let’s look at your station and see what improvements you can make to get that fi rst 3 dB of real improvement — and do it cheaply. Initially, I would guess that you operate below the basic entry level for a contester. This might mean an inverted V plus a tribander at 45 feet. Perhaps you’re limited to erecting only some wire antennas or a vertical. You don’t make too many contacts, and you’re not loud. You don’t have much luck calling CQ and occasionally get covered up, necessitating many repeats. But you hang in there, call a lot and give out contacts. In the end, it’s operators like these who contribute signifi cantly to a club’s score by consistently working 100 stations or so. These are the people who can really beef up a club’s aggregate score, and I’d guess that they’re always trying to improve upon their own previous scores. Let’s keep in mind the constraints an operator like this might face, however. This individual may have recently moved, have children in college, been off the air for a while or live in a neighborhood governed by deed covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) that limit or altogether prohibit outdoor antennas. Identifying some low-cost improvements can make this operator’s station more effective and bring more fun and activity. An e-mail from Dale Hammer, K9NN, got me thinking about what cost-effective changes might result in some improvement. He writes: “I live in an antenna restricted neighborhood and have to be very sneaky with the antennas. My antennas are a 67foot end-fed wire [see Figure 1] under the eaves of the fi rst story of the house (8-foot height) and a Hustler 4BTV vertical [see Figure 2] hidden between the house (a foot Ralph Bellas, K9ZO Figure 2 — A very well-hidden Hustler 4BTV vertical at K9NN. away) and a tree (a foot away with limbs trimmed at strategic locations) at the back corner of the house.” Dale’s got a good stealth antenna system. Obviously that bit of wire his neighbors see under the eaves is for his shortwave listening pleasure. This is a great initial setup because Dale recognizes the constraints of his situation and still has managed to put together a station that will allow him to get on 80 through 10 meters. For now at least, 10 meters is largely dead, and it’s pretty hard to work anyone with a vertical tucked in the trees. One contest tip, however, is to make sure you work at least one of the locals to catch the multiplier. Above all he’ll get some enjoyment and relaxation! As Dale gets on the air more often, he’ll recognize the limitations of his station. He may not be too effective on 80, but he will learn to show up early before the band gets crowded and work the loud stations. Later he’ll return and try to snag the next layer of loud ones. At some point perhaps he’ll try a low inverted V under the eaves to see if it works as a mid-day high-angle radiator. I’d recommend he put up a second vertical to get some directivity and gain, perhaps using a large fl ag pole in the front yard. It’s time to plant that second tree as camoufl age for that next vertical. Whatever your initial setup, you have to aim for some antenna system improvements to reach that basic level where your signal is loud enough to work both coasts and have one band where you can do pretty well. There’s always something more you can try. Your efforts will reward you with satisfaction and contribute to your club’s score. NCJ November/December 2008 37
Page 1 and 2: ■ Contest University 2008 at Dayt
Page 3 and 4: “I was struck by how clean, natur
Page 5 and 6: Editorial Our “Better Halves” T
Page 7 and 8: the presenters are entertaining —
Page 9 and 10: adio no longer budges when you’re
Page 11 and 12: The Birth of the Louisiana Contest
Page 13 and 14: Solving the Long Rotator Cable Prob
Page 15 and 16: connecters to the chassis. Replacem
Page 17 and 18: their sunrise enhancement using the
Page 19 and 20: Simplifying the Four-Square The fou
Page 21 and 22: optimum phase angles for the curren
Page 23 and 24: Tips for Tuning a Full-Size 160 Met
Page 25 and 26: Figure 5 — The sidebands show abo
Page 27 and 28: Figure 10 — The VSWR = 1.03 at 18
Page 29 and 30: NCJ November/December 2008 27
Page 31 and 32: NCJ Profi le: Bob Naumann, W5OV Tis
Page 33 and 34: Workshop Chronicles As Plato and ot
Page 35 and 36: mostly runs stations at these times
Page 37: Contesting 101 Welcome back to Cont
Page 41 and 42: RTTY Contesting Just two years ago,
Page 43 and 44: Results: 2008 West Coast Regional R
Page 45 and 46: Results: July 2008 North American Q
Page 47 and 48: Call Sign Score QSOs Mults QTH Team
Page 49 and 50: Shortwave Listeners (SWL-ers) have
Page 51: MORE DEALS THAN YOU CAN SHAKE A STI

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