Counting down the final few weeks!

The 2017 OCDX contest runs from 08:00z on October 7th to 08:00z on the 8th on phone, and on CW at the same times the next weekend (October 14th and 15th).  Please read the 2017 rules.

We have just a few short weeks left before the contest to build, erect and check out our DX antennas, sort out computer logging and station ergonomics, and become familiar with HF propagation.

In addition to regular DXing, other contests (such as the CW leg of the Scandinavian Activity Contest on 16-17th September) are a great way to test our stations and practice contesting before OCDX itself, working friends on the far side and fine-tuning our skills.

They may say ‘points make prizes’ but multipliers are the key to winning radio contests. In OCDX contest, Oceania prefixes count as multipliers the first time you work them on each band, where ‘prefix’ includes the number e.g. ZL1, ZM1, ZL2 and ZM2 are four multipliers. Try not to miss the rarer Oceania stations spotted on DXcluster, provided there is propagation to your part of the world at the time. Don’t forget to tune around searching for multipliers, especially in the phone section where DXcluster is less helpful. Knowing whether to change bands or check the long path in the hope of catching valuable multipliers is part of the skill. There’s more to contesting than just CQing, running and clicking spots!

Talking of rare multipliers, listen out for Tony VK3TZ and Lee VK3GK on Christmas Island for OCDX Phone as VK9XI and the following weekend on Cocos Keeling Island for OCDX CW as VK9CI.

If you intend to enter OCDX contest, please let us know about any special plans, especially if you will be activating rarer entities or entering as a club.

Thanks to our generous sponsors, numerous trophies and plaques are up for grabs again this year, including the new Ken Jewell VK3AKK Memorial Plaque for the leading CW single-operator 15m entrant from Oceania.  In addition, category winners in each continent and country earn winners’ certificates. We are offering participation certificates to encourage everyone to make at least a few QSOs: to qualify, simply enter with as little as one valid contest QSO!

Here are last year’s plaques being mailed to winners:

For clues about what to expect during the contest and who your rivals might be, catch up with results, soapbox comments and records from previous OCDX events on the website.  Most importantly, take a moment this month to study the OCDX rules.  Have you decided which section to enter yet?

Any questions? Send an email to info@oceaniadxcontest.com .

73

Oceania DX Contest Committee (ZL2IFB, ZL3GA, VK3GK, VK3MI/ZL1AZE, VK3TZ, VK4FH, VK7GN)

2017 TRANS TASMAN LOW BAND CHALLENGE

Summary of Cabrillo Results

Call  Score Category
——————————————————–

Single Operator – High Power All Modes All Bands

VK4QH 4869 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
VK4SN 1368 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
VK3GK 1315 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
VK4HG 867 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
VK2KJJ 860 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
VK7BO 468 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
Single Operator – Low Power (100 watts)

VK6TV/P2 4484 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK5PAS/P 2247 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK2MT 2010 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK2QN 2010 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
ZL1PC 1708 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
ZL4RMF 1367 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK4ADC 1367 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK3YE 896 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK4RJ 884 SINGLE-OP SSB LOW
VK2CDG 860 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK5DT 859 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK2KDP 793 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK3SOT 731 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
ZL3VZ 702 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK4TMZ 687 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK7JGD 577 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK6ADI 421 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW *
VK3LM 513 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK2ZK 450 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK3AVV 444 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK4NA 404 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK6QM 383 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK6POP 382 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK5CV 215 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
ZL1YE 212 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK5DP 40 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK2SVN 20 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK2YJS 7 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW
VK8HPB 5 SINGLE-OP ALL LOW

Single Operator – QRP

VK3EV 1714 SINGLE-OP ALL QRP
VK7VH 505 SINGLE-OP ALL QRP
VK2FENG 405 SINGLE-OP ALL QRP
VK3CAB 24 SINGLE-OP ALL QRP

Multi-Operator – Single Transmitter

VK2AOJ 1201 MULTI-ONE ALL HIGH

VK2MB   735  MULTI-ONE ALL HIGH
VK2MA   712  MULTI-ONE ALL HIGH
VK3ER   558  MULTI-ONE ALL HIGH

Multi-Operator – Multi Transmitter (One per band)

VK4HH 4524 MULTI-MULTI ALL
VK5ARG 3466 MULTI-MULTI ALL

VK2ATZ 3266 MULTI MULTI ALL
VK4WIS 1306 MULTI-MULTI ALL

2017 VK-TT All SoapBox

vk2aoj portable trans tasman 2017.log
SOAPBOX: 40MTRS WAS BAD NO ONEON IT

vk2atztt log.txt
SOAPBOX: 40 METRES A DEAD LOSS. CW AND SSB PRODUCED A HANDFULL OF CONTACTS.
SOAPBOX: 80 METRES WAS THE MONEY BAND Continue reading →

VK Shires 2017 results Tables

SOAP BOX COMMENTS VK Shires 2017

VK SHIRES 2017 RESULTS

Contest has been and gone again and the logs all came in – This year we have several new champions in many categories Continue reading →

Trans Tasman Low Bands Challenge 2017 July 15th

1. Contest Introduction

This contest is to encourage Low Band Activity in Australia and New Zealand – The applicable bands are 160, 80 and 40M. The modes are SSB CW and Digital (RTTY and PSK only) 

2. Objective

Amateurs in VK and ZL will endeavour to contact other amateurs in VK and ZL.

* VK and ZL, means any station operating within Australia or New Zealand and their external territories.

* Points are only awarded for valid contacts between VK and ZL stations.

The contest is made up of 3 individual two hour blocks – you are able to work another station once per band and mode in every block. Every different Prefix used by VK or ZL stations is a valid multiplier and credit can be claimed once per band per block.

3. Contest Date & Time

The contest is held on the Saturday night of the third full weekend of July  Start Time is 08:00 UTC and finish time is 14:00 UTC 15th July 2017

4. Categories

A. Single Operator – High Power All Modes All Bands
B. Single Operator – Low Power (100 watts)
C. Single Operator – QRP
E. Multi-Operator – Single Transmitter
F. Multi-Operator – Multi Transmitter (One per band)
This contest is managed by Trent Sampson VK4TS – email vk4ts@outlook.com

You will need to download the latest version of VKCL as the scoring is slightly different to past years.

http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/

After completion of the contest you need to email your log to vk4ts@outlook.com

The ZL Winter Sprint series starts on Tuesday 13 June 2017 at 8pm NZ Time.  The format is to work as many other ZLs as you can in an hour, with the first half hour being CW and the second half hour SSB.  The exchange is signal report and outside temperature (if it is below zero then record the number with an “M” in front of it e.g. M1 is minus 1).  Each QSO is worth one point and there are no multipliers.

The Sprint runs for six consecutive Tuesdays, the first three on 40m and the last three on 80m.

Logs must be sent to me within 24 hours of each round to be counted and scores will be posted weekly.

Recommended frequencies are:

40m:  CW 7015-7035  SSB 7100-7150
80m:  CW  3520-3550 SSB 3600-3650

The full rules can be found here http://zl3x.com/zl-winter-sprint/.

Australian Contesting Technical College – Friday 19th May 3-5pm
Posted on February 28, 2017 by VK5GR

Have you ever wanted to learn about contesting but didn’t know where to start? Did you ever want to learn the secrets of how the big stations earn their scores? Well now is your chance!In May, AREG will be hosting a special event immediately prior to the WIA AGM in Adelaide. On Friday 19th at 3:00pm, the club proudly invites you to attend the “Australian Contesting Technical College”, presented by Trent Sampson VK4TS. The venue will be the clubrooms, located at the Reedbeds Community Hall, in Fulham (5 minutes from the airport for those around Australia flying in who would like to attend). This once in a lifetime event is open to anyone with an interest in Amateur Radio Contesting.

Trent Sampson VK4TS is the Contest Columnist for AR magazine and a member of the Lambda Contest Group who operate under the Callsign VK4KW and holds many records in Multi Operator categories in SSB RTTY and CW.

During the 2 hour session, Trent will discuss setting up a modern contest station for SO2R (SIngle Operator 2 Radios) operation as well as Multi operator station considerations, including equipment selection, interfacing, and antenna selection.

The Antenna selection part will include a real life appraisal of a contest location (likely to be one of the AREG sites) and how well it will work using High-Frequency Terrain propagation analysis.

When considering software, Trent will discuss examples of how to use the most popular software and the lessons learned from it.

Topics Covered will include:

• Multi Operator Stations,
• SO2R Operation
• Filtering; Bandpass and Coax Stub,
• Antenna selection Software usage,
• N1MM with examples of SSB RTTY and CW.

So organise your Rostered Day Off now, or arrange to get into Adelaide a little bit earlier that day if travelling from interstate and make your way to the Amateur Radio Experimenters Group clubrooms for this once off special event!

AREG Members note: this is in addition to the May Meeting, the hall will close between 5:30 and 7:30 then reopen for the normal monthly meeting. As always visitors are welcome.

  

   

VK SHIRES QSO PARTY

Contest Manager

VK Shires Contest Committee

VK4FW Bill Horner
VK4TS Trent Sampson
and an awesome backup team.

Contest Introduction

ALL HF Bands available to Standard licencees –
Modes are SSB and CW and stations can be worked once on each mode.

vk shires 2017 version12

ROVER stations as well as portable entries make up part of the character of the VK Shires as well as the timing to take place over an East Coast Long Weekend.(Queens Birthday)

NOTE:THE NAME CHANGE IS TO ENCOURAGE INTERNATIONAL STATIONS

Continue reading →