If you can tear yourself away from the arrival of Posh and Becks for 24
hours, this weekend is great opportunity to get some HF experience and
add countries to your log.



The 2007 IARU HF World Championship starts at 7:00AM Saturday and runs
through 7:00AM Sunday.



To get a feel for the exchange listen to the contest for a while. If
you are in Texas, your report the other station is, "5-9, Zone
7". You always report 5-9 in a contest. The other station will
give you, "5-9, Zone XX", with XX being the other stations zone.
The other station does not want to know your name or how nice the
weather is, just exchange reports and find another station calling, "CQ
Contest". Do not ask for QSL information during the contest. Check
qrz.com <http://qrz.com/> for QSL info or contact me after the contest
if you are having trouble finding someone's address.



If you need a good log program that will check for dupes, check out
N3FJP's International Log at: http://www.n3fjp.com/
<http://www.n3fjp.com/> . Download it for free to play with it; PayPal
him $6.00 to use it in the contest.



The important parts of the rules are:



3. Date and Contest Period: The second full weekend of July, beginning
1200 UTC Saturday and ending 1200 UTC Sunday (July 14-15 2007). Both
Single and Multi operator stations may operate the entire 24-hour
period.

4. Entry Categories:
4.1. Single Operator
4.1.1. Categories
4.1.1.1. Phone only – High, Low and QRP power levels
4.1.1.2. CW only – High, Low, and QRP Power levels
4.1.1.3. Mixed mode – High, Low and QRP Power levels
4.1.2. One person performs all operating and logging functions.
4.1.3. Use of spotting nets or packet is not permitted.
4.1.4. All operators must observe the amateur radio regulations of
their country at all times.
4.1.5. Single operator stations are allowed only one transmitted
signal at any given time.

4.2. Multi Operator, Single Transmitter, Mixed Mode only
4.2.1. Must remain on a band and mode for at least 10 minutes before
changing bands or modes.
4.2.2. Only one transmitted signal is allowed at any given time.
4.2.2.1. You are not allowed a second radio that works only
multipliers.
4.2.3. All operators must observe the amateur radio regulations of
their country at all times.
4.2.4. Violation of the band change rules will reclassify the entry as
a checklog.

4.3. IARU Member Society HQ Station
4.3.1. May have only one transmitted signal per band mode (160 CW, 160
Phone, 80 CW, 80 Phone, 40 CW, 40 Phone, 20 CW, 20 Phone, 15 CW, 15
Phone, 10 CW, 10 Phone) at the same time.
4.3.2. All stations involved in an HQ operation must be in a single
ITU zone.
4.3.3. Only one HQ station callsign per member society per frequency
band is permitted.
4.3.4. All operators must observe the amateur radio regulations of
their country at all times.

5. Contest Exchange:
5.1. IARU member society HQ stations send signal report and official
IARU member society abbreviation. IARU International Secretariat club
station NU1AW counts as a HQ station. Members of the IARU
Administrative Council and the three IARU regional Executive committees
send "AC," "R1,""R2," and "R3" as
appropriate.

5.2. All others send signal report and ITU zone.

5.3 A complete exchange must be logged for each valid QSO.

6. Valid Contact:
6.1. The same station may be worked once per mode per band for QSO
credit.
6.1.1. Mixed-mode entries may work a station once per mode per band.

6.2. A station may only be worked for credit in the portion of the band
that is generally accepted for the mode used.
6.2.1. On any band, a station may be worked once on Phone (in the
Phone segment) and once on CW (in the CW segment).
6.2.2. Cross mode, cross band and repeater contacts are not valid
QSOs.

How to get started in a DX contest:

* Check the bands and move to the highest frequency open to your
location. Don't forget to check 10 and 15 Meters. 15 Meters is a
great DX band when it is open.
* Tune across the section of the band open to you for the mode you
are working, CW or SSB. Listen for stations calling, "CQ Contest,
CQ Contest".
* Answer the station with only your Call.
* He will come back acknowledging your call and give you your report.
* Give him your report which is, "5-9 Zone 7", if you are in
Texas.
* Move on through the band, "Searching and Pouncing" for
other DX stations.
* Remember that you can't work the same station twice on the same
band/mode. That is why dupe checking is a real plus. See the note at
the beginning about N3FJP's software.
* When you use up that band, move down to the next contest band and
do the same. Remember that WARC bands (17 and 12 Meters) are NOT
contest bands.
* You can call CQ too. Find a vacant spot on a band that is open and
call, "CO Contest, CQ Contest, this is K5OLE calling CQ
Contest", and then wait for a response. Calling CQ by a low power
US station is sometimes hard work in an international contest. But it
can be productive, especially in the middle of the night.
* After the contest, please submit your log even if you only make a
few contacts. Details for submission are in the rules.



Call me or email me if you have problems or questions during the
contest, don't wait until it is over to resolve a problem.



David

K5OLE

davidftx@... <mailto:davidftx@...>

210-710-8721



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Here is a map of the ITU Zones:
http://www4.plala.or.jp/nomrax/ITU/index.html

Click on any zone in the index to get a detailed map.

K5OLE

--- In W5SC@..., "davidftx" <davidftx@...> wrote:

If you can tear yourself away from the arrival of Posh and Becks

for 24

hours, this weekend is great opportunity to get some HF experience

and

add countries to your log.



The 2007 IARU HF World Championship starts at 7:00AM Saturday and

runs

through 7:00AM Sunday.

The correct N3FJP program is the "IARU HF Log" at n3fjp.com.

DX is tough today but SA and the Carribean are there on 15 and 20.
There are US stations everywhere including a few on 10 Meters.


--- In W5SC@..., "davidftx" <davidftx@...> wrote:

If you can tear yourself away from the arrival of Posh and Becks

for 24

hours, this weekend is great opportunity to get some HF experience

and

add countries to your log.



The 2007 IARU HF World Championship starts at 7:00AM Saturday and

runs

through 7:00AM Sunday.