It is with great sadness that we report the passing of long time SCCC member Chip Margelli, K7JA and also a long time employee of Yaesu. He passed away on May 25 and leaves a legacy of many, many contest entries (and wins!) over his many years in amateur radio. According to his QRZ.com page, he was a twelve time national winner of ARRL November Sweepstakes, a World winner of CQ World-Wide DX Contest (Phone), National Winner of the ARRL DX Contest, both Phone and CW, and a five-time world champion in the All-Asian DX Contest. He was also a Silver Medalist at the 1990 World Radiosport Team Championship with partner Mike Wetzel, W9RE. He was in the First-Class CW Operators' Club (FOC) #2123. He was also a 2008 inductee into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame. In 2005, he and Ken, K6CTW faced off against a pair of young text messaging whippersnappers on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Old guys versus young guys. Who would win? Which technology was faster, CW or text messaging? Well, Chip and Ken beat the young whippersnappers and he professed, "Old guys rule!" Read the full story here. Also of interest is the fact that Chip had written a chapter about the New Digital Mode Revolution in CQ's 2nd Edition of the book "VHF Propagation". He had also appeared on several podcasts over the years (check your favorite seach engine).

The ARRL June VHF Contest is this month on the weekend of the 10th through the 12th. If you haven't dipped your toe into one of these VHF contests, you should give it a try. They are a lot of fun, especially if propagation blesses us with Sporadic-E! And not that it always does, or does for more than short periods, but being June, it often does give us some great prop on 6 meters. While you will find most people on 6, and even some very serious ones on 6 only, others are on 2 meters and up as well. I know that years ago, Marty, N6VI was very active from his home QTH in these VHF contests and operated on many of the VHF and UHF bands. Nowadays, it's true you will find most of the activity on FT8. When 6 meters opens up via Sporadic E, you'll also find many contacts on CW (usually 50.090 to 50.100) and SSB (usually 50.125 to 50.200), and on those modes, the guys are really rattling off the contacts. FT8 on the other hand lets you work signals as low as -25 dB signal to noise or so! Let me say that again. You can work signals that are 25 dB below the noise while using FT8! I know that many SCCC members are averse to FT8. What you will find is that during a healthy band opening (HF or VHF!), it is every bit as challenging as CW. Action is fast and furious and it's more than just click and let your computer work someone. You'd be amazed. And FT4 should not be forgotten either. QSOs are much, much quicker than on FT8, albeit at a 4 dB hit in S/N capability. MSK144 meteor scatter will often yield contacts in the morning just before sunrise and into the morning. Also, don't forget FM simplex. Activity has bounced back there in recent years. Check the usual simplex freqs, or you could even enter the newer FM Only category! Point being, if you haven't already, give this contest a try. No 6 or 2 meter antenna? Note that antenna size is much smaller than even 10 meter antennas! Use horizontal if you can only do one or the other unless you are going FM Only. Then, do vertical. Also, antenna height does not need to be 50, 80 or 100 feet as we often think for HF. 10 foot off the ground will actually get you started. 20 ft is better of course and if you can get to 50, you're golden but there is no need to write it off if you can't do more than 10 foot. I can tell you first hand! Most rigs manufactured in the past decade or so include 6 meters, so unless you are using an old Heathkit or Swan, you're probably halfway there! Do you need a KW? It's nice to have but 100 watts will work pretty darn well on 6m! Even less on 2m. Here is a little podcast by ARRL about this contest. Hope to see you on the air that weekend! Rules can be found here on the ARRL website.

Two weeks later is Field Day. While officially, it's not a contest, many approach it as such. In fact, more than forty years ago, the SCCC produced some mammoth scores and was featured on the cover of QST one year. You can read all about it on Wayne, N6NB's website! I know many of you will be out with your local clubs this year helping out. Have fun!

The final 2022 CQWW DX SSB and CW contest results and write ups have been published. In the case of SSB, the summary report says that the days of 1,000+ QSO 10 meter logs have returned! While log totals were down 10% from 2021, CQ still received 9004 logs. Bill, W8QZA operated as W6QU again and cracked the top ten in the QRP Single Op All Band category (2nd place USA). Dave, W6ZL finished 5th USA on 28 MHz USA LP Assisted. Alex, W6AFA was 2nd place USA HP Assisted on 21 MHz. On the CW side, Ken, K6LA piloted VY2TT to 6th place in the World SO HP All Band. Mr. Jim Neiger, N6TJ was at KH6YY using the callsign KH7Q and took 1st place SO HP 21 MHz! Axel, KI6RRN used the NO6T call while operating remote at WA6TQT and took 4th place USA SO All Band HP. Jim, W6YA was 4th USA SO HP 21 MHz. Bruce, WA7BNM was 4th place USA SO LP on 21 MHz. In the Club scores, SCCC's 71 entries were enough for 9th place overall. With Cycle 25 still on the up swing, the October and November CQWW contests should bring even more high scores! Start making your plans now!

Changes to ARRL VHF+ Contest Rules Announced

The ARRL Programs and Services Committee has approved rule changes to the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest, and the January, June, and September VHF contests, effective with the 2023 10 GHz and Up Contest, and the 2023 September VHF contest. In the 10 GHz and Up event, distance point multipliers have been added for each band as follows: 10 GHz 1x; 24 GHz 2x; 47 GHz 3x; 75 GHz 4x; 122 GHz and above 5x. For example, an 80 km contact made on 10 GHz would be worth 80 points while the same contact made on 47 GHz would be worth 240 points.

Starting in September, in the January, June, and September VHF contests, contacts made on 902 Mhz and 1.2 GHz will be allowed for participants in the FM-Only category. Currently, the category only allows contacts on 50, 144, 222 and 432 MHz. Additionally, there will be changes to the Affiliated Club Competition scoring for entrants in the Rover categories. For a Rover's score to be included in their club's score, the entrant must make contacts from somewhere within the club's territory during the course of the contest.

Contact the ARRL Contest Program at contests@arrl.org for more information regarding these changes.

Are you updating your countries file regularly? What about your Super Check Partial file? The country files are often updated a couple of times a month (or even more). If you are using N1MM+ as your contest logging software, you will want to manually click on Tools, "Download and install latest country file" prior to each contest. Not doing so won't affect your final score as calculated by the associated contest committe but WILL affect your scoring and multiplier count on the N1MM+ summary window, which may be of importance to you, especially if you are using the multiplier window. I can't speak to other contest logging softwares but this is likely true there too. If you are using a general logging software outside of contesting as I am, you may or may not need to update the country file manually. I use N3FJP's ACLog and it updates automatically upon boot up if a new file is available. Your mileage may vary. Now, if you are a user of Super Check Partial for contesting, and you are using N1MM+, you will want to again manually update via Tools, "Download and install latest Check Partial File" prior to each contest. If using another contest logging software, be sure to check if this is automatic or manual. If you need to manually download the latest country file, as in download and place it in a folder yourself (no option to do it in the software menu), go here to find your required file. For Super Check Partial files, go here. Nudge to the N1MM+ guys...perhaps in a future software rev, your software could check for a new update to the country and Super Check Partial files automatically and download / install it or at least prompt to do so.

Strange but true...
People don't sneeze in their sleep due to their brain shutting down the reflex. (Wouldn't it be great if our brains would also do that during a contest?!)

73 for now,
--Dennis NE6I

less

Our May, 2023 poll was "My ham shack computer is a:"
  67% said a desktop and 33% said a laptop.

Our April, 2023 poll was "My first amplifier was a:"
  27% said it was a Heathkit. Another 27% said Other (I wonder what those were?). 13% said VHF/UHF os some
  flavor. 

Our March, 2023 poll was "My first transmitter/transceiver when I received my license was a"
 A whopping 42% said Heathkit! 11% said homebrew, 8% (each) said Yaesu, Kenwood and Hallicrafters, 4% said 
 Johnson and 19% said Other. 

OurFebruary, 2023 poll was "My first antenna when I received my license was a:"
 64% said it was a dipole. 6% said it was a doublet and another 6% said it was a longwire. Another 6% said it 
 was a G5RV and another 6% said it was something else. 12% started with a vertical. The rest was split between
 Alpha, Henry, Yaesu, Ameritron and "I have never owned an amplifier."

Our January, 2023 poll was "My first amateur radio license was a(n):"
 80% said Novice. 13% said Technician and 7% said Conditional.

Our December, 2022 poll was "Of the amateur radio magazines to which I subscribe, I read one or more of
 them online rather than the printed version."

 20% said all to which they subscribe. 27% said one or more and 53% said none.

Our November,2022 poll was "I subscribe to one or more amateur radio magazines."

 28% subscribe to one, 33% subscribe to two, 17% subscribe to three, 17% subscribe to more than three and 5%
 don't subscribe to any.

Our October, 2022 poll was "My ham shack computer is:"

 72% said shared with other tasks (I.E., email, web browsing, spreadsheets, documents, etc.). 24% said it was
 dedicated to their ham radio activities. 6% said they don't have a computer in the ham shack. 

Our September, 2022 poll was another two parter. "When the FCC discontinued the Morse Code requirement for 
 amateur radio licensees, I:" and part two was "Now that it has been many years without the Morse Code 
 requirement,"

44% of respondents didn't care either way. 38% disagreed with the decision. 13% were worried that amateur 
radio would become like the CB channels. To the second question, 63% have no opinion either way. The other
37% think it was a good decision.

Our August, 2022 poll was a two parter. "Do you have/own an HF amplifier? If so, which brand. And, is it 
 a tube or solid state amp?"

50% of respondents said they have an Alpha amplifier. 30% said Elecraft. 11% said OM Power. 5% said Heathkit 
and another 5% said Acom.  56% said their amp uses tubes and 33% said their amp is solid state. 11% do not have 
an amplifier. 

Our July, 2022 poll was "A must do contest for me is"

A whopping 30% said CQWW DX CW! 14% said Sweepstakes CW. The balance was divided equally amont the rest 
of the contests lin the poll.

Our June, 2022 poll was "I will be operating Field Day this year"

39% said with a club at a park or other location away from home. Another 39% said from home said from home.
22% said they wouldn't be participating this year.

Our May, 2022 poll was "My first contest was:"

22% said the Novice Roundup. 17% each said ARRL Sweepstakes, a state QSO Party, CQWW DX, or another contest. 
 10% said the ARRL International DX Contest. 

Our April, 2022 poll was "Your top QSOs per hour rate over a full 60 minutes is:"

47% said 61-70. 18% said 41-50 and another 18% said 81-90. 17% said 41-50. 

Our March, 2022 poll was "In a single contest weekend, you have worked 100 DXCC entities."

36% said yes and 64% said no.

Our February, 2022 poll was "You are only allowed to contest on one band, the band of your choice. Which one 
would it be?"

42% said 40 meters, 27% said 20 meters, 15% said 15 meters, 8% said 10 and 4% said 160. 4% said 2 meters or 
above.

Our January, 2022 poll was"Continuing with last month's typing subject, for those of you that touch type, 
did you learn to do so in a class, on the internet (including a typing app or program), or are you self 
taught?"

50% said in a class. 19% said self taught and 31% said they use hunt and peck instead.

Our December, 2021 poll was"When using contest software, do you touch type or hunt and peck?"

61% said hunt and peck. 39% said touch type.

Our November, 2021 poll was "Have you ever owned a Heathkit Radio transmitter, receiver or transceiver?"

70% said yes, in the past. 18% said they own one or more now and 12% said no.

Our October, 2021 poll was "Have you ever owned a Collins Radio transmitter, receiver or transceiver?"

11% said yes, in the past. 17% said they own one or more now and 72% have never owned one. 

Our September, 2021 poll was "I plan on purchasing at least one new station accessory in the 
coming year."

80% said yes and 20% said no. Are you listening, vendors?

Our August, 2021 poll was "I plan on installing at least one new antenna in the coming year."

64% said yes and 36% said no.

Our July, 2021 poll was "The last time I visited a brick and mortar ham radio store was"

47% said in the past two to four years. 37% said in the past year. 16% said five or more years ago.

Our June, 2021 poll was "My career (or former career if retired) is/was in the electronics or 
telecommunications industry."

53% said yes and 47% said no. 

Our May, 2021 poll was "I have a family member who is also a licensed amateur radio operator."

44% said yes and 56% said no. 

Our April, 2021 poll was "My significant other_____in contests."

60% said tolerates me participating. 15% said encourages me to participate. 10% said doesn't care if I 
participate and another 10% said sometimes participates with me. 5% said they don't have a significant 
other.

Our March, 2021 poll was "Keeping with the theme of last month's poll, my favorite 
type of contest is:"

47% said DX. 33% said stateside. And 20% said both.

Our February, 2021 poll was "My favorite contests are (those in duration):"

28% said 48 hour contests, 11% said 30 hour contests, 5% said 24 hour contests, 17% said 
10 hour contests, 5% said 4 hour contests and 5% said 1 hour contests. 22% said all of
the above! One respondent said all of the above with the exception of Field Day and 
those with other complicated exchanges. 

Our January, 2021 poll was "Do you prefer hard copy QSLs or electronic ones?"

19% said they prefer hard copy (paper) QSLs, 50% said they prefer electronic QSLs (IE, LOTW, 
eQSL, QRZ, etc.), 25% said they had no preference, and 6% said they do not QSL at all. 

Our December, 2020 poll was "I sometimes have conflicts between contest events and
 family events on holiday weekends preventing me from as much participation in one or
 both of them as I'd like.

17% said often, 56% said occasionally, 22% said contesting always wins out, and 5% said
 family events always win out. 

Our November, 2020 poll asked "Is your antenna system mostly:"

42% answered less than 5 years old. 16% each answered 5-10 years old, 11-15 years old 
 or 16-20 years old. 10% answered more than 20 years old.

Our October, 2020 poll asked "Is your current primary transciever:"

43% answered 5-10 years old. 30% said less than 5 years old. 17% said 11-15 years old and
 10% said more than 20 years old.

Our September, 2020 poll was two parts. "Are you an ARRL member?"

87% said yes and 13% said no.

Are you a paid member of any other club other than ARRL?

73% said yes and 27% said no.

Our July, 2020 poll was "Where do you typically operate Field Day from?

23% said from home, 6% said portable by themselves, 59% said with a club and 12% said they
 don't typically operate Field Day.

Our June, 2020 poll was "Did you discover amateur radio on your own?

35% said yes, 35% said that they discovered it via a family member and 30% said that they
 discovered it via a friend.

Our May, 2020 poll was "Have you ever built and/or used Heathkit amateur radio equipment?"

65% said they have both built and used Heathkits. 20% said they have used but not built them
 and 15% have neither built nor used a Heathkit.

Our April, 2020 poll was "Did you participate in the National Traffic System (NTS)?"

25% said yes and 75% said no.

Our February, 2020 poll was "What is your thought on the new digital modes as it pertains
 to contesting?"

27% said great! And another 27% said "not for me." 21% said "they are poisoning amateur radio
 contesting." Wow, brutal. 14% said they haven't tried them. 8% said "not bad" and 3% said
 "unsure / too early to day."

Our January, 2020 poll was "Have you ever operated in a RTTY contest?"

86% said yes and 14% said no. 

Our December, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated in a VHF contest?"

86% said yes and 14% said no. 

Our November, 2019 poll was "Do you operate in very many contests just to have some
 fun / hand out some contacts?"

86% said yes and 14% said a few.

Our October, 2019 poll was "LOTW has revolutionized QSLing. How do you respond to
 hard copy QSLs that you receive after a contest?

87% said they send a return QSL the same way the incoming card was received (direct or via
 the Bureau). 13% said they send electronic QSLs only (IE, LOTW, eQSL, QRZ and/or other).

Our September, 2019 poll was "If you could go or are going on a Contest Dxpedition
 next year, where would you go?"

75% said to the Caribbean! 25% said somewhere in the Pacific.

Our August, 2019 poll was a two parter. "Do you miss (or wish we had) SCCC pizza meetings?"

20% said Yes, I really miss them. Another 20% said Yes, I hear they were a good time.
 10% said I could take them or leave them. Another 10% said No, I'm not that interested in
 attending meetings at this time. 60% said I probably wouldn't be able to attend many of them
 due to distance or other reason.

The second question was "If we had SCCC meetings, I would..."

10% said Attend as many as possible. 20% said Attend them if they were less than an hour's
 drive. 40% said Attend now and then. 20% said Might attend some of them, and 10% said Probably
 wouldn't attend any of them.

Our July, 2019 poll was "When was your first contest?"

16% said 2010 or later. 5% said 2000-2009 and another 5% said 1990-1999. 32% said 1970-1979.
 26% said 160-1969 and 16% said 1950-1959.

Our June, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated a Dxpedition in a contest?"

25% said yes, as part of a multi-op DXpedition. 25% said no. 20% said yes, as a single op.
 Another 20% said no, but I would like to! And 10% said yes, both as a multi-op and as a single-op.

Our May, 2019 poll was "Have you ever operated mobile or portable in a contest
 (not a DXpedition)?

35% said both, 35% said no, 20% said portable and 10% said mobile.

Our April, 2019 poll was "For manual CW sending, what do you use?"

65% of our respondents said a keyer. 35% said contest software. 12% said a straight key and
 5% said a bug. 8% said other.

Our March, 2019 poll was "What logging software do you use in contests?"

75% of our respondents said N1MM+. 10% said Writelog and another 10% said N3FJP. 5% each said
 TRLog/TR4W, Win-test or other.

Our February, 2019 poll was "Do you use high, low or QRP power in contests?"

56% of our respondents said high power. 21% said low power and 13% said QRP.

Our January, 2019 poll was "What brand of radio to you use primarily in contests?"

25% of our respondents said Yaesu. 18.75% said Kenwood. 12.5% said Icom. 6.25% said Flex, and
 43.75% said Other. We should have included Elecraft! 

Our December, 2018 poll was "Have you ever hosted a guest operator at your station?"

11% of our respondents said yes. 89% said no.

Our November, 2018 poll was "Have you ever operated multi-op in a contest (home or away)?"

80% of our respondents said yes. 20% said no.

Our October, 2018 poll was "What is your favorite contest mode?"

76% of our respondents favored CW. 12% favored SSB and 6% favored RTTY. 6% had no favorite mode.

Our September, 2018 poll was "What is your favorite contest?"

CQP took the top spot. CQWW DX, WPX, NA Sprint and Sweepstakes all tied for second.

less

FOR SALE: Yaesu FT-950 with mic and power cable. Also has an added BNC IF output to connect a band scope or monitor. Located in Torrance $650 Contact: Tim, K6TW E-mail: tim [at] timgoodrich [dot] com Posted 1 Nov 2022 FOR SALE: Elecraft K3/100 Transceiver 100 watts, 2.7 kHz SSB filter KXV3 I/O transverter KIO3 RS232 Great entry level radio Power cord and manual $1295 Same as above with a built in tuner $1495. If you want custom options, please email. I have many options available that are not being made by Elecraft. Filters KSYN3A upgraded SYN board. DVR's Sub Receivers P3 Panadapter $795.00 Add VGA $1050 Contact Larry, K6RO Lashap at cox.net 310-710-2869 Posted 20 Oct 2021 WANTED: Johnson Invader 2000 Power Supply. I recently acquired an Invader 2000 but without the power supply and missing all the cabinet-mounting hardware, including the two long bolts from the back to the front panel common to most Johnson rigs. WANTED: Kaar KE-23A or KE-23AT communications receiver. Contact Steve, K0XP k0xp (at) k0xp dot com Posted 19 June 2020, renewed 6 July 2021 FOR SALE: I have a two year-old SteppIR DB36 with 80 M dipole option for sale. The stepper motors, controller, etc all work perfectly, and the boom and trombones/straight fiberglass poles are in good shape. You will likely need to replace some of the small parts (some bolts and Nylock nuts), but can have a working DB-36 for less than half of what it cost new. I'm selling the antenna because the trees near the antenna became so large that tilting it over was becoming impossible, and I purchased a DB-18E to replace it. I have some extra fiberglass poles that I will include, and I guarantee that the antenna will work (motors, etc.). Due to the weight and size, I'm thinking it's going to have to be a pickup in the San Diego area. I might be willing to remove the heat shrink couplings and try to box it if the buyer covers the shipping charges (FedEx ground). Asking $3500 for everything. Seller: Eric, NC6K egruff [at] cox[dot]net Posted 9 Oct 2018, renewed 6 July 2021

close

Close

Close

Close