Gearing Up For Contest Season

While we’re still wringing out the water left by Irene and patching the cracks in the drywall from the earthquake, a hint of autumn floats through the air in recent mornings. For ordinary folk that means football season. They’re gathering their tailgate accouterments and digging out their favorite team jersey in preparation for the Big Game.

As a Big Gun Contester or DXer, fall means the start of the contest and DX season. Time is running short for completing those antenna and shack improvements. Have you got your required multi-radio lockout rigged yet?

There is still time to order the Big Gun equivalent of a team jersey. Proudly proclaim your proclivity for the Lost Island DX Society. At some level, we’re all LIDS, so order your LIDS wear today from the official LIDS store on Cafepress. You can also get Dr. DX’s Antenna Wax wear for the antenna farmer looking to coax that last 0.01 dB out of his antenna system. And there’s even items for those who’ll work phone when they pry the J-38 from their cold, dead hand.

Perpetual Energy

While the grammar police were combing our previous reports, the Lost Island DX Society was sending a group of representatives to Washington, DC to see if we could help break the impasse on the debt ceiling. Or barring that, see if while distracted by budget issues we could sneak a request for permission to land on Navassa Island (KP1) past the Fish and Wildlife folks. Sadly, the answer is still 'no' on both accounts.

While attempting to find the back entrance into the Capital building, where we hear their cafeteria has a dynamite Francis Scott Key Lime pie, we came upon a sight which set us back on our collective heels for a moment. On the grounds of the Botanical Gardens at the foot of the Capital building sits a windmill that never stops turning. Despite the lack of any wind, this windmill turns continuously. We stopped and observed it for quite some time, and it continued to turn, again, without any evidence of natural wind.



Our delegation sought out one of the groundskeepers of the Botanical Gardens to ask about this miraculous windmill, thinking it must be motorized. Nope, we were informed, the windmill runs off of wind only. The secret is its location. Being at the foot of Capital Hill, it has an inexhaustible supply of hot air to power it, day and night.

Once informed of this, the answer was obvious. So, what does this have to do with Big Gun DX'ers and Contesters? Easy. Every Big Gun station has a similar, though smaller, supply of hot air available. If windmills could be installed at these stations in the proper location, it should be possible to generate enough power to supply at least one Alpha for the contest weekend. Green technology - it's not just for Al Gore anymore.

Big Gun Secrets #42

(Part of an irregular series revealing secrets of Big Gun Contesting and DXing)

The goal of every Big Gun Contester is find a run frequency in order to allow the radio minions the opportunity to go in their log. Every contest.

With the inevitable crowding due to an excess supply of Big Guns and a shortage of run frequencies, the finding (and holding) of a run frequency is one of those skills that separates the wheat from the (little gun) chaff. Determining if a frequency is clear (enough) to run on is one of those tricks of the trade.

Outside the pressure cooker of a contest, the appropriate procedure to determine if a frequency is available is to send QRL? (on cw) or ask “Is the frequency in use?” I'm sure this is codified somewhere among the AR-Double-L's operating manual or on it's website, if you could find it. Although, opinions are divided, a significant number of Big Guns consider this the namby-pamby approach to establishing if the frequency is clear, at least during a contest. Their preferred technique is to simply call CQ Contest, on the assumption that if the frequency IS previously occupied, someone will speak up to defend it. Unfortunately, some of these Big Guns suffer from selective hearing.

The QRL vs. CQ devide appears to have a regional bias. In a recent unscientific survey, there was a distinct preference for the CQ approach by Big Guns north of the Mason-Dixon line while the QRL technique was preferred by those south of it. This bias toward politeness may explain the lesser prevalence of Big Gun contesters in the Southern regions of the USA.

The latest, cutting edge operating technique to establish if a frequency is available for running is to blend the two previous techniques. The new approach is to call “CQRL” to simultaneously inquire if the frequency is in use and to call CQ. This technique combines the politeness and consideration of the QRL query with the more aggressive CQ to attempt to establish a run frequency. In the case where the frequency is already in use, the Big Gun can legitimately claim they QRL'd to ask of the frequency was in use. Otherwise, they have started their run by calling CQ.

So remember, next time you're looking for a clear run frequency, drop in a short CQRL. If no one chews you out, start running!

A Meeting of the Big Guns

Word has reached the Fi-Ni Report of an unprecedented meeting of the minds among the contestcenti. Several months ago the heads of the Five Families of American contest clubs met in a top-secret location identified only by the code name Aytonday to discuss a dire threat to amateur radio-sport, aka contesting. The Dons and Capos of the five largest contest clubs gathered in secret to address the sluggish Cycle 24 and potential remedies. In attendance were the heads of the Yankee Candle Contest Club (YCCC), the Primarily Virginia Radio Contesters (PVRC), the Funky Radio Contesters (FRC), the Sorta-inda Middle Contesters (SMC), and the No Chance Contest Club (NCCC).

News of the secret meeting was smuggled out via carrier pigeon and NTS traffic nets. The cabal discussed ways to address the sputtering performance of the current Cycle 24 solar cycle in an effort to increase contest activity and scores.

Suggestions ranged from asking for a federal bailout for Big Gun stations to a proposal to inquire of the Louisiana family, uh, contest club if they had connections with the New Orleans voodoo community who might be able to do something to address the problem. It was suggested that the residents of 14.230 would be suitable for human sacrifice if needed. A suggestion to move all the contest stations to the Caribbean was deemed impractical, at least at this point.

The most promising proposal presented was to attempt to resurrect the Palos Verde Sundancers to see if they can breath some life in a asthmatic sun spot cycle. However, last seen, the Sundancers were doing an afternoon review show in a Reno casino for the seniors catching the Early Bird special at the buffet. Its uncertain if they can be coaxed back to their old dancing grounds, especially since it now resides in a gated community that probably won't look kindly on such shenanigans.

Unable to reach a consensus, the heads of the Five Families departed and went in search of amplifier tubes with handles.

LIDS in Dayton

The annual Dayton foofarall has passed, and all of the pundits have pronounced it a smashing success/total failure. Regardless of the final judgment, like most of life, we can all agree it wasn't what it used to be. Not that it ever was.

It had been quite a spell since Cousin QRM had haunted the halls of Hara. Despite rumors to the contrary, the reason had nothing to do with an event resembling a famous scene from the movie "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou" that ended with the catchphrase, "… and STAY out of the Woolsworth." Why, there haven't been Woolsworth's around since Cousin was a knock-kneed Novice learning which end of the soldering iron to hold.

Despite having depleted the rig and DXing funds visiting the Mouse House just a week earlier, Cousin QRM and Rusty Key made the trek to Dayton representing the Lost Island DX Society. Besides the dazzling array of rigs and toys displayed by the manufacturers, our primary goal was to try and blend in with the Big Gun DX and contesting crowd over at the Crown Plaza and hopefully learn some of the hallowed Secrets of The Big Guns. There were rumors that Macho Cueso might make an appearance, but alas, border security is much tighter these days.

Our pilgrimage began properly Friday morning with the flea market. Right off the bat, we ran into a tremendous deal for the budding Big Gun - a 5kW amplifier. It was a beauty of construction and reasonably priced at a little over a $1/watt. Rusty was tempted, but decided that he didn't need another driver amp for the shack, so he passed. If some contester or DX'er did not pick it up, I'm sure we'll hear it on 75m SSB one day.

At the inside exhibits, Cousin and Rusty made their way to the booths of the radio manufacturers to ogle radios they could not afford. Cousin QRM made the observation that visits to the Icom and Yaesu booths were a little like a visit to the local topless club. You can eyeball and drool over the goodies all you like, and you might even get to tweak a knob or two, but you know there's no way you can afford to take one home. Strangely enough, the cover charge to get in is about the same.

The highlight of the weekend was getting to spend time with Dash the Dog Faced Ham, or at least his human counterpart, Jeff, K1NSS. Jeff and Dash graciously allowed the LIDS to hang around their booth where he was premiering the second of Dash's books. If you missed getting yours at Dayton, you can order them online, but you won't get them signed by the author.

Cousin spent some time at the Antenna and Contesting forums. The crowd was inspired by NR5M's story of what you can accomplish on a small urban lot and with no budget. It gave us all hope. Rusty Key sat through a talk on how to become a 50 wpm cw wizard and then turned to Cousin and said, "A is dit-dah, right?"

In the evenings, the LIDS snuck over to the Contest Super Suite at the Crown Plaza and waited for someone to spot them as intruders and toss them out (see second paragraph above). But amazingly, no one spotted the Peanut Pistol s and allowed them to stay.

Saturday night the LIDS and Dash snuck into the Contest Dinner and tossed bon mots at the speakers from a far corner while chewing on Not-Quite-Ready-For-Primetime Rib. Dash seemed humored by Cousin's color commentary as they played Spot-the-Big-Gun, which was as easy as shooting monkeys in a barrel, and about as organized.

It was rumored that Rusty Key accidentally got in the line for the pileup contest at the Kansas City DX Club's suite, thinking it was the drink line. The next day, Rusty showed up with a gift certificate, claiming he won it in the pileup contest despite being a no-code Extra. The rest of the LIDS remain dubious and are still on the lookout for reports of a mugging at the Crown Plaza Saturday night. So far, there is nothing to pin on Rusty. Maybe he did get something out of that 50 wpm talk.

Returning ,inspired from the mere proximity to Big Gun greatness, the LIDS are itching for the next big contest. Even if they can't afford the latest DX Machine or a climbable tower, Dayton always serves as a salve for the soul of the DX'ers and Contesters. See you in the pileups. We'll be part of that rumble you can't quite copy.

Rookie Rumblings

The ARRL's new Rookie Roundup Contest won't be run for another eight weeks, but it is already stirring up consternation among the contesteratti. The Rookie Roundup, aimed at enticing newcomers to the wonderful world of radio sports, is also an experiment in dragging the collective heels of the contesting community into the 21st century.

One of the innovative aspects of the Rookie Roundup is the requirement for pseudo-real time logging. Although the details are a bit murky on how it is supposed to work, all log entries are due at the ARRL score server within ten minutes of the end of the contest.

The Luddite contingent of the contesting peanut gallery has been in full attack mode over the quick reporting requirement. Using the straw-man argument of the dyslexic, back-woods rookie with Parkinson's disease and only a 300 baud dial-up internet connection, the Luddite's are decrying the discrimination of this fictitious rookie who will never be able to make the League's ten minute deadline.

There are, however, additional rules in the inaugural Rookie Roundup that have escaped the attention of the armchair contest lawyers.

The exchange for the contest includes the year licensed, referred to the as the "check" in the rules. This exactly parallels the ARRL November Sweepstakes exchange. In the Rookie Roundup, the focus group are the rookie competitors, defined as those licensed within the last three years, so obviously their "check" should either be 08, 09, or 10. However, the question of whether non-rookie participants are as free to be creative with their "checks" as they are in Sweepstakes has not been addressed by the armchair lawyers. For those wishing to argue either for or against a strict interpretation of the "check" definition, there are large numbers of messages on the CQ-Contest reflector from the October time frame that can be cut and pasted with little editing.

The definition of rookie may even be problematic. The rules only define a rookie as having a "check" from the current or preceding two calendar years, where "check" is defined as the "two-digit number of the year first licensed ".

The Contest Litigation branch of Howe, Dewy, Cheatham, and Wynn, LLC, is rumored to be investigating the possibility that the rookie class definition could be extended to a club station licensed within the defined time frame. If so, it is rumored that a contingent of Type-A Big Gun contesters may be preparing to apply for new club licenses.

Law Firm Announces Radio Sport Division

The law firm of Howe, Dewey, Cheatham and Wynn, LLP has announced a new practice in the area of radio-sport contest rule regulation. The new radio-sport division will be led by Arthur Phil Dodger. Art has been a partner in Howe, Dewey, Cheatham and Wynn since 1998 when he pioneered the legal defense strategy of "depends on what the meaning of 'is' is".

The radio-sport rules division will bring their expertise in contract and tort law to assist top tier (i.e. Big Gun) single-op and multi-op contest stations in developing technology and operating strategies to implement cutting edge approaches to winning radio-sport contests while maintaining adherence to the current rules.

With increasing scrutiny of top competitors by contesting committees and evolving rule changes to meet perceived inadequacies, Howe, Dewey, Cheatham and Wynn can provide the level of legal analysis necessary to insure a priori adherence to the contest rules and also provide capable defense afterwards in the event of accusations of impropriety.

At the time of the announcement, no clients of the new radio-sport division of Howe, Dewy, Cheatham and Wynn were publicly identified, but anonymous sources indicate that Xtreme contesters Macho Cuesew and Leche Dinero have signed as clients.

Big Gun Contesting and DXing - A Look Forward

This is the start of not just a new year, but the start of new decade. We thought this would be a good time to take a look forward to see what the future of Big Gun DXing and Contesting will look like. To get an idea of the future, we went to the most advanced Big Gun we know - Macho Cuesew, the king of Xtreme contesters. Below is Macho's essay in his own words. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Lost Island DX Society, the Fi-Ni Report, or Major League Baseball.

The future Big Gun and his station will be modeled on NASCAR. Radios, antennas, towers, they're all expensive and sponsorship is the way to get to the big time, unless you're independently wealthy or a successful gambler.

In exchange for the sponsor's help, naturally I'll help advertise their products - all off the air of course. I've already ordered myself one of those jumpsuits like the NASCAR drivers wear. Across the chest and back I'll have the major sponsor's logos emblazoned, and have smaller patches on the arms and legs for minor sponsors. I'll wear the jumpsuit at every 'appearance' I make, like hamfests and club meetings. So don't be surprised if in April you see me at Dayton with my jumpsuit on, Icom across the chest, Force-12 across the back, Vibroplex on the right arm, Dunestar on the left. Of course this is all pending getting those sponsors on boards.

But the real key to promoting myself as a Big Gun and getting those sponsors is the web. Several Big Gun stations have started streaming live audio during contests from their stations. A few are even doing live video as well. This is a great way to get and keep little guns and beginners interested in big-time contesting. But all those eyeballs and ears are also potential customers for my sponsors.

I'll equip the shack with live video and audio, in HD and stereo, to broadcast every contest. It'll be just like the NASCAR in-car cameras, except full-time. That also means arranging the shack to insure that sponsor's products are prominently displayed for all to see. Of course, I'll also wear my jumpsuit to operate every contest.

Now, this is where we make the jump to the real big time. Once we have those viewers watching during the contest, we can expand beyond traditional radio equipment suppliers. Just like NASCAR went beyond car and parts manufacturers to sign up sponsors like Tide and Viagra, we can do the same thing in contesting.

Just like in the movies, the key will be product placement. So, for example, I can have a Red Bull energy drink sitting there on the operating desk that I can sip from, or a Starbucks coffee mug with my coffee in it. The key is finding products that would interest contesters and DXers, or even hams in general.

You can even slip in an occasional endorsement since there will be live audio. For example, you might casually comment, "Boy, that Alpha Big Boy amp sure busts the pileups easily", or " That Red Fulla-Bull energy drink sure wakes me up!".

There's a non-radio product that is ideal to pitch to both serious contesters as well the generally graying ham radio population, but I'm having trouble convincing the manufacturer. That product is Depends. My best idea so far to during the contest let out a big sigh and comment, "Depends lets me keep running." Shoot, that could make a YouTube video ad by itself.

We can also stick in plugs for our sponsors in our soapbox comments, not unlike the post-race interviews with the NASCAR drivers. For example, the soapbox for the next big contest might read like this: "I tell ya', the Yaesu/Ameritron/Cushcraft/Depends super station was just awesome this weekend. We were a little slow there at the start due to some local power line QRM, but once that cleared up we had some great runs to Europe in large part thanks to those heavy duty Depends which help keep us in the chair. Toward the end of the contest we got a little drowsy, but a double shot of Stahbucks espresso gave me the jolt I needed to make it to the end. "

The future Big Gun may very well be named Ricky Bobby.