The SET in Ohio, grid-down power outage, involved a lot of simplex work. In order to
capitalize on that activity, Ohio ARES has launched the first annual “ARES VHF
Simplex Contest”. It’s simple, direct,
and follows a civilized time frame.
Even something as simple as a temporary loss of power
could necessitate using 2-meter/70-centimeter simplex as the main mode of local
communication. We hope to both stimulate interest in the simplex modes along
with data, and to create a fun atmosphere in which antenna performance and
coverage can be determined – very helpful for a real communications emergency!
The contest is open to all, and we hope to stir up a lot
of simplex activity on January 9, 2016.
Now for the Rules..
Announcing!
The Ohio ARES VHF
Contest
January 9, 2016
Purpose
ARES is tasked with being able to provide communications
“When all else fails.” Local
communication is critical and typically takes place on the VHF or UHF amateur
band. In order to improve our ability to perform on these bands, Ohio Section
ARES is sponsoring the ARES VHF Contest (Yeah, we know, but calling it the Ohio
VHF / UHF Contest got a little long-winded).
Participants in the contest are encouraged to make as many contacts as
possible within the time frame of the contest, with as many different geographical
locations as the bands permit. The contest is open to all amateur operators,
ARES members are strongly encouraged to participate. How else are you going to
win the ‘bragging rights’ session of your next ARES meeting?
When did you say it was?
The contest is January 9, 2016. The start time is (for those of us who sleep
in) 10 AM through 6 PM Eastern. Yeah, a civilized time frame that doesn’t rob
sleep, and allows time with the family. Why, you can even watch a few cartoons
in the morning!
Where you gonna be?
You may operate this contest from anywhere. There are
certain benefits for venturing out from your warm, comfortable home station.
EOC stations can gain extra points. Portable stations can gain even MORE extra
points – that is, if your frozen fingers will still be able to operate a
keyboard. Portable stations MUST use portable antennas, nothing permanently
attached…kind of like Field Day on ice.
We are not going with any mobile operation this time. The image of a
bunch of vehicles running around with portable towers, 150 pounds of antenna
hardware and an occasional grounding anchor is best left to the ARRL
contesters.
Da Bands – a la’ Mode
Because local emergency communication takes place
primarily on the two meter and 70 centimeter bands, the contest is limited to
those two bands. Within each band, we will have these modes: FM Simplex, “Everything else” Simplex;
DIGITAL simplex contacts will make up a third mode on each band. Contacts with a station count once per mode-
if you can talk the other guy into abandoning “his frequency” and meeting you
on SSB or CW, more power to ya! NO
REPEATER CONTACTS WILL COUNT. If you get
bored, you certainly are welcome to chat amongst yourselves on repeaters, or
simplex, or cell phones, or smoke signals.
Da Contacts
The goal is to contact as many different stations in as
many different counties as possible. You can make as many overall contacts as
you like, they will then be multiplied by the number of counties you’ve
reached. Extra points will be available
for contacting an EC, AEC, DEC or ADEC or SEC.
Pretty simple- any more complex and we’ll confuse the scorekeepers.
Da Score
Each FM Simplex contact counts as 1 point.
Each non- FM simplex contact counts as 1 point.
Each digital simplex contact counts as 1 point. (Detect a pattern
here?)
Contact with EC, AEC, DEC, ADEC, or SEC adds 5 points.
Contact with an EOC or with a portable station adds 5
points.
Operation from an EOC add 50 points to your total contact
score.
Operation from a portable location add 100 points to your
total contact score.
Total contact score (all bands/modes added together) will
be multiplied by the total number of counties you contacted.
Da Logs
Please use any of the appropriate computer logging
programs, paper dupe sheets, a well worn slide rule or rusty abacus. Just keep all that to yourself, we can’t find
anyone with the time to go through all the detail contacts. Submit an email to contest@delares.org with the following:
Your name:
Group name:
Location: (City,
county)
FM Simplex Contacts:
“Everything else” Simplex Contacts:
Digital Simplex Contacts:
EOC bonus:
Portable bonus:
Total Contact Score (Add above together, but you figured
that out already):
Multiply by total number of counties contacted (include
your own!):
Bask in the glory of a well thought out, well executed
effort!
**********
From the Incoming QSL Manager for the 8th Call District..
All QSL's have been forwarded to the letter managers last
week (November 23), except the letter H. W8HC i is still out of the country on
the VK9WA trip.
If possible send your SASE's directly to the letter
manager. This will prevent delays. Check with your letter manager to see if
they are on a credit system or want you to send SASE's. Anything smaller than a 5x7 is pretty
worthless for sending more than a couple of cards.
**********
And with this all said.. I want to remind all of you
there are just 25 more days until you find yourselves overwhelmed, stuffed to
the gills with food and sleeping on the couch while watching that silly game..
Have a Merry Christmas one and all..
-eof-
