Announcing:
2001 North American High Speed
Meteor Scatter (HSMS)
Purpose: To promote
the development of skilled HSCW operators in North America.
Objective: Work as many
North American stations as possible via meteor scatter during the contest period
using HSCW on the amateur radio bands above 50 MHz. HSCW for the purpose of
this contest is any speed no less than 495 LPM (99 WPM).
Contest
Period:
0000Z, 1 May 2001 through 2359Z, 9 May 2001 (Monday night through Wednesday
night of following week local time). You may operate up to 48 hours during this
time period. An operating period begins with your first TRANSMISSION and
includes time spent listening between transmissions. Operating time must be
taken in 30 minute blocks. Time spent listening outside of your operating
periods does not count towards your operating time. Multi-ham households--Each
licensed ham is eligible to operate 48 hours under their own callsign.
Contest
Operation:
Random and scheduled QSOs count for contest credit. The use of the letter
system for CQing is REQUIRED, ie. CQF, CQX. Report is your four digit grid
square. Real-time skeds, spotting assistance, DX-alerting nets, etc. are
permitted for the purpose of arranging contact attempts. Refer to the Region II
HSCW standard operating procedures http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/hscw-sop22.html
for suggested HSCW techniques and meteor scatter calling frequencies. The use
of HSCW on VHF SSB calling frequencies is poor operating technique. A station
may only be worked once per band during the contest period unless one of the
stations has changed grid squares. A separate log is required for each grid
activated. Each grid activated will be scored separately.
QSO
Requirements: To log a completed contact you must copy: both calls,
report, rogers. Any form of liaison communication between the parties involved
in a contact in progress is prohibited. Any interruption of a contact in
progress requires both stations restart the QSO attempt from the beginning. All
information required for a complete contact must be exchanged using meteor
scatter and no other propagation mode.
Classes:
Single
Operator Limited--2 meters only
Single
Operator Limited--Multi-band
Single
Operator Unlimited--2 meters only
Single
Operator Unimited--Multi-band
Limited:
Station ERP is restricted to less than or equal to 5kw. Unlimited: Station ERP
is greater than 5kw. Multi-band stations must enter in the class corresponding
to the highest ERP used. A station may only enter in ONE class.
Multipliers: The sum of
each unique four digit grid square worked on each band.
Scoring
(QSO points):
BAND ASSISTED
RANDOM
6m 1 1
2m 3 6
1.25m 9
18
0.7m 9 18
The
final score is the sum of all QSO points from each band times the multiplier.
Awards: Certificates
will be awarded to the top three overall, and to the highest scoring station in
each USA/VE call district and each North American DXCC country for each
category. In addition, a certificate will be awarded to the highest scoring
portable station activating two or more grids (based on the sum of their scores
from each grid activated). A minimum of 2 QSOs are required to qualify for any
award. Additional certificates may be awarded where activity warrants.
Participants can only enter in one class for contest credit.
Reporting: The following
information must be contained on the summary sheet which must accompany the
log: Callsign used, Grid Square(s) activated, Maximum ERP used, Name, Address,
and Email Address (if available). Log information must contain the following
data: Callsign of station worked, starting and ending times/dates of contact
(and operating periods), Frequency, Reports, and sked or random.
Miscellaneous: Station
equipment can only be used under one callsign, with the exception of multi-ham
households. Single Band Entrants, time spent working stations on bands other
than 2 meters does not count against your 48 hour operating time. Single band
entrants are requested to send in check logs for all contacts made on other
bands. The decisions of the awards committee are final. All logs must be
postmarked or email dated no later than May 31st. Email logs must be sent in
ASCII format to: hscw@contesting.com.
Postal mail logs may be mailed to: HSCW Contest, C/O Steve Harrison K0XP, 7
Well Avenue, Danbury, Connecticut 06810.
Sample
blank log page/summary sheets are available from http://www.vhfdx.com
or a reasonable facsimile may be used. A printed copy of the rules and sample
log/summary sheet can be obtained by sending an SASE to the above address.
Please enclose an SASE if you would like to receive a printed copy of the
results via postal mail.
Note: The radiant
of the Eta Aquarids shower is projected to provide the best conditions during
the contest (in North America) from approximately one hour before sunrise local
time for approximately eight hours daily. This is the suggested best operating
time each day. Remember though, HSCW contacts can be completed at any time of
the day.
Further
Information about HSMS: The following Internet web sites contain a wealth of
information about High-Speed-Meteor-Scatter. Please note that there are several
minor operating practice differences between North America and European
techniques; for example, in North America, the northern- or eastern-most
station normally transmits during the odd minutes (those minutes beginning with
odd numbers: 1231Z, 1415Z; etc.). Also, North American sked speeds (and
sometimes CQ speeds) tend to be somewhat higher than in Europe because most
North American HSMSers are using computers to record and playback recorded
reflections. Suggested HSMS operating practices are described in HSCW
Procedures (v. 7), available at http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/hscw-sop22.html.
Information regarding calculating station ERP can be obtained from W5UN's website
http://web.wt.net/~w5un/. Other
information, including hardware modification tips, software, and HSMS articles
may be found at these URLs:
http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/ws1_15.html
http://www.cannon.net/~mattmc/kb0vuk/hsms/hsms.html
Many
more links covering other HSMS topics may be found on most of the above web
sites.
73,
Robert KR7O/YB2ARO, DM07ba/OI52ee
(ex. N7STU)
kr7o@vhfdx.com
http://www.vhfdx.com/wswss/psnw.html
(Norcal WSWSS activities & KR7O/YB2ARO homepages)
http://www.vhfdx.com/hscw.html (N.
American High Speed CW Meteorscatter Contest Info.)