11/20/2020

TheÿARRL November Sweepstakes[1]ÿ(SS) phone weekend is upon us, and this year, participants will have to search out an additional Section. The SSB event is from November 20 - 22 (UTC), getting under way at 2100 UTC on Saturday and continuing through 0259 UTC on Monday. Stations may operate 24 of the available 30 hours. The SSÿOperating Guideÿpackage, available forÿdownload[2], includes all rules and examples of log formatting. The deadline to submit SS phone entries is November 29.

The number ofÿARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC)[3]ÿsections rose to 84 earlier this year with the addition of Prince Edward Island (PE) as a separate entity. The objective of SS - or "sweeps" - is to work as many stations in as many of the 84 sections as possible within 24 hours of operating. The number of sections worked is a score multiplier, and working all of them is a "clean sweep."

The SS contest exchange has deep roots in message-handling protocol and replicates a radiogram preamble. In SS, stations exchange:

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ A consecutive Serial Number. Operators do not have to add zeros ahead of numbers less than 100.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Operating category (Precedence) -ÿQÿfor Single Op, QRP;ÿAÿfor Single Op, Low Power (up to 150 W output);ÿBÿfor Single Op, High Power (greater than 150 W output);ÿUÿfor Single Op, Unlimited, regardless of power;ÿMÿfor Multioperator, regardless of power, andÿSÿfor School Club.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Your call sign.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Check - the last two digits of the year of first license for either operator or station.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Section -ÿARRL/RAC Section[4].

Direct[5]ÿquestions to the ARRL Contest Program.


[1] http://arrl.org/sweepstakes
[2] http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes
[3] https://contests.arrl.org/contestmultipliers.php
[4] http://www.arrl.org/contest-sections-list
[5] mailto:contests@arrl.org

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þ Synchronet þ Whiskey Lover's Amateur Radio BBS

11/02/2021

Gerry Hull, W1VE/VE1RM, reports that he is still hoping to be able to operate remotely as VY1AAA from Northern Territories (NT), a rare multiplier in the ARRL November Sweepstakes (SS) event.

Hull said that a family health emergency had kept "J" Allen, VY1JA, from working on getting his station up and running again, but the situation has brightened somewhat, and Allen is back at it.

Hull has operated Allen's station in Whitehorse, Yukon, remotely from the US to make the multiplier available. Allen dismantled his station and antennas last year, but recently decided to make the station usable again. Allen reported that work is being done to repair a vertical antenna and expand its radial set to include 20 and 80 meters. He told Hull that he would go over the station computer setup to make sure that AnyDesk can operate the stations remotely from the VY1JA computer.

Allen is also working on primary and secondary wire antennas for the two SS events. Hull told Allen that for him, 80 meters is a lower priority for SS and that 40 and 20 are the "meat and potatoes" bands.

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þ Synchronet þ Whiskey Lover's Amateur Radio BBS