Trans-Tasman Low-Band Contest
Trans Tasman Low Bands Challenge 21st July 2018
Contest Manager
Alan Shannon VK4SN
From 2018 this contest is an official WIA Contest and will count towards the Peter Brown Contest Champion Awards.
Certificates for 2017 are now ready for download at the bottom of the page.
Contest Introduction
21st July 2018
The contest has an aim to encourage Low Band activity Trans-Tasman that is between VK and ZL
Only contest bands 160 80 and 40M are allowed SSB, CW and Digital (RTTY OR PSK) – No CROSS MODE OR CROSS BAND
From 2018 the Trans Tasman is an official WIA Contest and will count towards the Peter Brown Contest Champion Awards.
Aim Of The Contest
Work as many VK and ZL Prefixes and as many different stations on 160 80 and 40M in a short evening contest..
This Years Winners
T.B.A.
Previous Years Winners
Summary of Cabrillo Results
Call Score Category
——————————————————–
Single Operator – High Power All Modes All Bands
VK4QH 4869 SINGLE-OP ALL HIGH
VK3FRC 2378 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
VK2EMU 836 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 531 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 1204 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
2016 Trans Tasman Low Band Challenge Results
Contest History
The Trans Tasman Low Band evolved from a Multi-Mode series of contests that were conducted over several winters evenings. As interest waned a series of managers took over the roles.
Upcoming 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
21st July 2018
Contest Rules
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
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)
* QRP stations are limited to 5 Watts average (CW/RTTY/PSK) or PEP (SSB) at the transmitter output.
Each category will have High Scores for SSB, CW and Digital awards.
Any station in Single or Multi Op may win the Single Mode awards – BUT Multi ops will not be eligible for single op categories.
NOTE: The Mode scores are purely on the highest score and may be from a partial log. You do not enter SSB only – rather the log is determined as having the highest SSB score.
5. Permitted Bands
Contacts may be made on 160M 80M 40M in SSB, CW and Digital (PSK or RTTY Modes)
NB. PSK and RTTY are the only allowed digital modes and are combined, not counted separately.
6. Multi-operator Stations
A. Multi-operator single transmitter stations are only allowed one transmitted signal on air at any time.
If you are using three transceivers to scan the bands, simultaneous transmission will reclassify you as
Multi Transmitter(Category F.) – your responsibility to stop multiple transmitters operating.
B. Multi-operator Multi Transmitter stations
a. Are only allowed maximum one transmitted signal per band,
b. Simultaneous transmissions on different bands are permitted.
* Multi-operator stations are mixed mode only.
7. Contacts
A. Suggested Call: “CQ TT”, “CQ Contest”, or “CQ Test”
B. Exchange: A valid exchange consists of RS(T) followed by a three figure serial number starting at 001 for each band.
C. No cross band contacts are allowed.
D. Exchange of contact information via satellites, telephones, repeaters, Echolink, IRLP, or the internet is not in the spirit of the contest and is banned.
8. Scoring
All contacts are worth one point – Add the number of contacts made in the two hours and multiply by the different prefixes worked on each band in that two hours.
NB external territories count as one prefix – eg VK0 counts as VK0 and not the separate DXCC same as for VK9
e.g. 160 80 40 total contacts 50 X 35 prefixes (total of each band added) = 1750 points.
Final Score is the addition of the scores from the three two hour blocks starting at 08:00; 10:00 & 12:00 UTC
9. Logs
Logs are due in within one week of closure of the contest.
Logs MUST be in Cabrillo format – this is the submission file produced by VKCL and N1MM
BOTH ARE FREE
http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/
https://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php
* The User Defined Contest (UDC)for N1MM is available for download from: vk4sn.com/downloads/VKTTRTTY.zip
10. JUDGING:
The Contest Committee is responsible for checking and adjudicating the contest entries. Entrants are expected to follow the rules and best amateur radio practices. Violation of the rules of the contest or unsportsmanlike conduct may lead to disciplinary action by the Committee.
Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Examples of unsportsmanlike conduct include, but are not limited to:
Arranging or confirming any contacts during or after the contest by use of ANY non-amateur radio means such as telephones, Internet, instant messaging, chat rooms, VoIP, email, social media or web sites.
Transmissions by the entrant on frequencies outside of license limitations.
Changing times in the log to meet band change or off time rules.
Taking credit for excessive unverifiable QSOs or unverifiable multipliers.
Signals with excessive bandwidth (e.g., splatter, clicks) or harmonics on other bands.
Running stations not identifying in a timely manner (i.e., 1 minute).
Use of Tag along operation where a restricted number of stations are contacted.
11. Disciplinary Actions: In the event of a violation, the entrant is subject to disqualification at the discretion of the Committee.
Disqualified entries will be listed at the end of the published results and are not eligible for an award.
Notification of Committee actions will be sent by email to the address provided with the log submission. The entrant has five days to appeal the decision to the Contest Director. After that time the decision is final.
The Committee reserves the right to change the category of any entry based on its examination of the log or other information.
Contest Scoring
All contacts are worth one point – Add the number of contacts made in the two hours and multiply by the different prefixes worked on each band in that two hours.
Submitting Your Log
After completion of the contest you need to email your cabrillo log to
1. ttlogs@wia.org.au where an acknowledgement may take 48 hours, or
2. upload to the log checking website
https://contester.azurewebsites.net/ Putting EMAIL: followed by your email address in the cabrillo header will get you an automated reply.
LOGS ARE DUE WITHIN 7 DAYS OF CONTEST COMPLETION.
Contest Results
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 WITH THE BULK OF OUR CONTACTS FROM THERE
SOAPBOX: 160 WAS SPASMODIC BUT PROVIDED GOOD COPY AND GOOD OPPS.
SOAPBOX: ALL IN ALL WAS AN ENTERTAINING NIGHT.
vk2feng.log
SOAPBOX: TRANSMITTER: TS480HX @ 5W PEP OUTPUT
SOAPBOX: ANTENNA: 80M OCF DIPOLE (80 & 40M)
vk2mb.log
SOAPBOX: WE OPERATED THE TRANS TASMAN CONTEST PORTABLE WHILST CAMPING AT THE
SOAPBOX: SUGEE BAG CREEK – SCOUT CAMPING GROUND AT CENTRAL MANGROVE.
SOAPBOX: – GREAT TIME HAD BY ALL. GREAT RADIO, FOOD AND COMPANY.
vk2mt.log
SOAPBOX: 6 HOUR COMPETITIONS ARE ALWAYS ENJOYABLE.
SOAPBOX: HAD ONLY JUST FLOWN BACK FROM NEW ZEALAND LAST NIGHT, SO A GOOD COINCIDENCE!
SOAPBOX: RADIO: ICOM IC-7600 ANTENNA: RANDOM LENGTH LONG WIRE WITH REMOTE ATU.
SOAPBOX: ONLY OPERATED ON 80M AS ANTENNA WON’T TUNE FOR 160M & 40M SEEMED RATHER DEAD FOR VK/ZL.
SOAPBOX: BAND CONDITIONS WERE REASONABLE, STRENGTH 2-3 OF NOISE.
SOAPBOX: STATIC CRASHES INCREASED, THEN HALFWAY THRU STRONG HETRODYNE-TYPE NOISES SPREAD AROUND 3.6MHZ.
SOAPBOX: THE BAND NOISE & STATIC CRASHES ABATED FOR THE LAST HOUR.
vk2qn.log
SOAPBOX: TRANS-TASMAN LOW BANDS CONTEST LOG
SOAPBOX: !!! ALL CONTACTS WERE MADE USING SSB !!!
vk2ttl-ttlb2017.log
SOAPBOX: THANKS FOR THE CONTEST.
SOAPBOX: THERE WAS REASONABLE STORM STACTIC THIS EVENING FROM NEARBY THUNDERSTORMS
SOAPBOX: TRIED 160M , COULD HEAR SEVERAL STATIONS, BUT THE 80M DIPOLE NOT GOOD
SOAPBOX: ENOUGH FOR OTHERS TO HEAR ME OVER THEIR NOISE.
SOAPBOX: IC7300 100W ALONG 60M COAX TO A FAN DI-POLE BETWEEN GUMS. 73S
SOAPBOX: LOCATOR QG60NR
vk2zk.log
SOAPBOX: TRANS TASMAN 2017 LOG
vk3cab.log
SOAPBOX: VERY CHARACTER BUILDING AS THE TEMPERATURE IN THE SHACK WAS AROUND 12C
SOAPBOX: I NOTICE THAT THE LOG FILE FOR THIS CONTEST IS SHOWING UP AS ‘VKTTRTTY’ – IS THA
vk3frctranstas log.txt
SOAPBOX: HI TRENT & ALAN. THANK YOU FOR A MOST ENJOYABLE CONTEST. THE BANDS
SOAPBOX: APPEARED TO BE IN REASONABLE CONDITION, UNTIL THE 40 METRE BAND CLOSED,
SOAPBOX: THE ACTIVITY THOUGHOUT THE EVENING WAS ABOVE AVERAGE AND FEEL SURE
SOAPBOX: EVERYONE ENJOYED THE CONTEST. THANKS AGAIN. ROY.
SOAPBOX: PS THANKS ALAN FOR BEING THE FIRST IN MY LOG.
vk4adc.log
SOAPBOX: HINDERED BY POWER LINE NOISE AT S9 ON 80M, PRESENT ONLY WITH THE ARRIVAL OF A RA
SOAPBOX: SURPRISED AT THE LACK OF STATIONS RETURNING TO 40M IN 2ND AND 3RD BLOCKS DESPITE
SOAPBOX: TRIED HARD BUT THE QRN WON.
vk4hh.log
SOAPBOX: ACTIVITY WAS NOTICEABLY REDUCED IN THE 2ND HALF OF EACH 2HR SESSION.
SOAPBOX: 40M ACTIVITY WAS NON-EXISTANT AFTER THE 1ST 2 HR SESSION.
vk4na.log
SOAPBOX: HOME STATION
vk5pas.log
SOAPBOX: OPERATED PORTABLE FROM TOTNESS RECREATION PARK.
vk6qm.log
SOAPBOX: GREAT CONTEST CONDITONS A BIT ON THE LOW SIDE HOPEFULLY BETTER NEXT YEAR
SOAPBOX: THANKS GERARD VK6QM
vk6tv.log
SOAPBOX: OPERATING FROM YOUNG NSW
vk7jgd.log
SOAPBOX: THANKS FOR ANOTHER TT CONTEST
SOAPBOX: A BIT ON THE NOISY QRN SIDE BUT STILL FUN
SOAPBOX: I HEARD A LOT MORE STATIONS THAN COULD HEAR ME
SOAPBOX: PARTICULARLY ZLS AND VK6S CHEERS GARRYVK7JGD
vk7vh.log
SOAPBOX: BAND CONDITIONS WERE VERY POOR, STILL HAD A GOOD TIME.
SOAPBOX: GREAT TO WORK SOME OF THE CONTEST STALLWARTS!!
SOAPBOX: I WOULD SUGGEST A FORMAT CHANGE FOR NEXT YEAR.
SOAPBOX: 40M IS ALWAYS DEAD AFTER 7.00PM LOCAL TIME.
SOAPBOX: CONSIDER AN 80M ONLY CONTEST, JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS!!
vk8hpb.log
SOAPBOX: HIGH NOISE LEVEL WITH JA IND YB ONLY STATIONS HEARD. BUT PERCERVERERED
SOAPBOX: TO GET THE ULTIMATE HIGH SCORE. BE BACK NEXT YEAR.
zl1ye.log
SOAPBOX: NOT MUCH TIME AVAILABLE THIS YEAR SO CAME ON WITH PLAN TO HAND OUT POINTS.
SOAPBOX: HOPE EVERYONE HAD FUN. RUNNING WITH TS570D AND SEVERAL DIPOLES FOR
SOAPBOX: 80 AND 40 METRES
zl3vz.log
SOAPBOX: OPERATED PORTABLE FROM A PLATEAU AT ST ARNAUD (LAKE ROTOITI), RE68JF.
zl4rmf.log
SOAPBOX: 40M DISAPEARED EARLY, 80 & 160 PICKED UP AS THE NIGHT CONTINUED.
SOAPBOX: GREAT FUN!
Contest Award
Logging Software
VKCL
N1MM
Both Cater for the Trans Tasman Contest
Logs MUST be in Cabrillo format – this is the submission file produced by VKCL and N1MM
BOTH ARE FREE
http://www.mnds.com.au/vkcl/
https://n1mm.hamdocs.com/tiki-index.php
(* The User Defined Contest (UDC)for N1MM is available for download from: vk4sn.com/downloads/VKTTRTTY.zip)