CONTESTING
The majority of our readers reside in the U.S. and may appreciate that 2019 is one of those rare years in which the CW weekend of CQ World Wide Contest does not occur during the traditional Thanksgiving weekend. If you sometimes have had to skip the contest, or restrict operation to non-family holiday time, this is your year. Last year, 8,125 logs were received and an astounding 4.6 million QSOs were completed. Let’s push participation to the next level.
ARRL Sweepstakes is the other big contest of November, with both CW and Phone weekends leading up to the CQ World Wide DX CW weekend. Sweepstakes often draws in beginners and “little pistols” who operate “barefoot with a wire” (or vertical). Over the years, I have observed casual competitors being drawn into serious contesting through their participation in Sweepstakes. Whether that is you or someone you know, consider participating in Sweepstakes on CW weekend, SSB weekend, or both weekends.
The ARRL announced its annual general changes to its contest rules, including a new 7-day deadline after each event for log submissions. Details on this and some other ARRL contest-related notes are below.
Many lament the relative paucity of youngsters (age 26 or less) operating in contests. Young people are not present.). And an annual contest-like activity is “YOTA month.” See below and make some QSOs in December with the stations that sport “YOTA” as their suffix or appended to their regular callsigns. Learning to make QSOs on the air and generating a pile-up is a big step forward for someone who may just be discovering ham radio and contesting.
