DELARANEWS

Contesting

The DELARA Contest team

7 Mar - 20 Mar 2019 Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section March 7 • CWops Mini-CWT Test • NRAU 10m Activity Contest • SKCC Sprint Europe March 8 • NCCC RTTY Sprint • QRP Fox Hunt • NCCC Sprint March 9 • YB DX RTTY Contest • RSGB Commonwealth Contest • SARL VHF/UHF Analogue Contest • South America 10 Meter Contest • F9AA Cup, SSB • SKCC Weekend Sprintathon • AGCW QRP Contest • Oklahoma QSO Party • Stew Perry Topband Challenge • EA PSK63 Contest • TESLA Memorial HF CW Contest • QCWA QSO Party • Idaho QSO Party • QRP ARCI Spring Thaw SSB Shootout March 10 • Oklahoma QSO Party • North American Sprint, RTTY • UBA Spring Contest, 2m • WAB 3.5 MHz Phone/CW • Wisconsin QSO Party March 11 • 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint March 13 • QRP Fox Hunt • Phone Fray • CWops Mini-CWT Test • RSGB 80m Club Championship, CW • AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest March 14 • CWops Mini-CWT Test March 15 • QRP Fox Hunt • NCCC RTTY Sprint • NCCC Sprint March 16 • AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest • BARTG HF RTTY Contest • Russian DX Contest • Virginia QSO Party • Louisiana QSO Party • AGCW VHF/UHF Contest • Feld Hell Sprint March 17 • Virginia QSO Party • UBA Spring Contest, SSB March 18 • Run for the Bacon QRP Contest • Bucharest Contest March 19 • CLARA Chatter Party March 20 • QRP Fox Hunt • Phone Fray • CWops Mini-CWT Test -ARRL Contest Letter

Falling Derrick

A means of raising a tower using a (usually shorter) mast attached to the tower at a 90- degree angle, and guyed to the top of the tower, forming a triangle. Both can pivot about an anchored attachment point. Starting with the tower on the ground and the mast vertical, the mast is pivoted towards ground, pulling up the tower with the guy.

Ohio Courthouses on the Air

Special Event

(Editor’s note: This activity is scheduled for the same day as the Ohio QSO Party. Is there a way to integrate both? Not sure…) Are you interested in participating in the Ohio Courthouses on the Air Special Event? John Levo, W8KIW the Highland ARA and Michael Love, WB8YKS the Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association (SOARA) are in the preliminary stages of organizing the event. As of now (subject to change) we are looking at Saturday, August 24, 2019 from 10:00 to about 4:00. The time will be determined by the different clubs. Modes and frequencies are being reviewed including statewide DMR. This will be a rain or shine event. I have reached out to the Administrator of the Lawrence County Commissioners to arrange for me to be added to their meeting agenda to discuss our request. SOARA wants to setup on the lawn of the courthouse if possible. We envision this to be a really FUN event while prompting Amateur Radio across the state and across the country and will be an historical event celebrating the history of each county’s courthouse. I will be working with the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library, Historical Society, EMA, Sheriff’s Office, EMS, government officials, news media, Chamber of Commerce to promote this public event in Lawrence County. We will keep you advised as to details and locking in the August 24th date via the Monday Morning Memo, Ohio Section PostScript and Ohio Section Journal. We are looking forward to hearing you on the air during the Special Event! Thank you again! Contacts for the events are: John Levo, W8KIW, Editor of the Monday Morning Memo

Macros

While setting up a new computer for the ARRL RTTY Roundup last month, I took the opportunity to examine the message macros we were using in greater detail. My logger of choice for this contest was N1MM Logger+, but other loggers have similar capabilities in their macros for controlling both the outgoing message and the logging process. The N1MM Logger+ documentation wiki has two cases of good example messages, but curiously enough the ones that are installed by default with N1MM Logger+ are different, and in my opinion not as good since they have extra filler words like "de" that aren't necessary for the contest exchange. I edited the message file to have the CQ, exchange, and TU messages that I wanted, and then went back to documentation to explore some of the more advanced macros. One feature that I've wanted for a while but only just discovered is already built in is the ability to vary a particular macro message. A practical example would be to change my RTTY Roundup 'TU' message every now and then from "TU N9ADG CQ" to "TU N9ADG RU" just to keep things interesting. I found that capability in the VARYMSG1 macro. The list of N1MM Logger+ macros is extensive and reflective of the rich history and broad range of contesting needs, everything from specific contest requirements to packet spot lookups to multiple radio control to multi-operator communication. The chances are that if I have a need for particular macro capability, somebody else has too, and it's already possible and included. But here's one that doesn't exist. Maybe we'll see in the future: {LOGTHENTWEET BRAGS:xxxx} - Log the current contact, then sends a brag message via Twitter using the specified brags file. Substitutes QSO information into the brag message using the macro message syntax. That's all for this time. Remember to send contesting related stories, book reviews, tips, techniques, press releases, errata, schematics, club information, pictures, stories, blog links, and predictions to contest-update@arrl.org - Brian N9ADG

DELARANews

Contesting

The DELARA Contest team

Falling Derrick

A means of raising a tower using a (usually shorter) mast attached to the tower at a 90-degree angle, and guyed to the top of the tower, forming a triangle. Both can pivot about an anchored attachment point. Starting with the tower on the ground and the mast vertical, the mast is pivoted towards ground, pulling up the tower with the guy.