Hello all:
In a conversation this morning, one of the top European contest
enthusiasts, Gedas, LY3BA (contest call LY9A), told me he was undecided
which contest to work this weekend. Since the ARRL scheduled the 10M
contest on what others thought was the third weekend in December,
instead of the second weekend as others figured it, these two contests
are on the same weekend. The Croatian contest has had a lot of interest
and participation in recent years, particularly from Europe.
The ARRL 10M contest runs the full 48 hours (maximium of 36 hours for
all stations) and the Croatian contest is 24 hours, from 14Z to 14Z
Saturday to Sunday. The ARRL contest requires states (or DC) and
provinces for W/VE stations and a serial number for others. The
Croatian contest requires a serial number for all stations, I think.
Everyone can work everyone else in both contests.
Therefore, my first suggestion for those of us who will be working the
ARRL 10M contest on CW this weekend is to give a serial number in
addition to state/province to anyone who specifically asks for one
during the period of overlap of the Croatian contest. I think all
contest software programs give a running QSO number readout even when
serial numbers are not being used. So, I plan (as guest op at W4AN) to
give out that number from the computer to anyone who asks during that
period.
My other suggestion is that we be even more willing than usual to work
and log duplicate contacts after the end of the Croatian contest at 14Z
on Sunday. The arguments have often been stated for working and logging
all dupes anyway and I won't repeat these here, but there may be
operators, particularly from Europe, who will give out some QSOs in the
ARRL 10M contest and give new serial numbers, who, if they send in a
log, will not include those contacts they made on 10 M while in the
Croatian contest. So, log these guys again and your log should match up
and you should get credit for the second QSO if the first is not
reported.
I hope the European guys will, in fact, work some of the 10M contest
after the Croatian contest is over, even if they have been full-time in
the Croatian contest. We should still have several hours of good
propagation on 10M from Europe and a lot of fun can be had by all.
Hope everyone has a good week and look forward to many 28 mhz CW QSOs
this weekend. Of course, I wish the SSB and mixed mode guys luck and
fun too.
73,
John, K4BAI/8P9HT/8P9Z.
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