This is a great opportunity for new upgrades or anyone wanting to pick
up some countries in their log. Here are some hints if you have never
participated in an ARRL DX Contest.

See the rules here: http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/intldx.html
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2007/intldx.html>

Most important: Listen for awhile before you jump in.

* Get yourself on GMT because all log entries are in GMT. The
contest starts Saturday, March 3rd at 0000 GMT. That's dinner time
Friday night in Texas.
* The contest ends at 2400 GMT on Sunday. That's dinner time
Sunday evening, Texas Standard Time (6:00pm ). The whole thing runs
for 48 hours but try to participate even if you only have a few hours
over the weekend.
* W/VE amateurs work as many amateur stations in as many DXCC
countries of the world as possible on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter
bands. Don't work other US stations, they don't count. Alaska and
Hawaii count as DX for this contest. Canada is NOT DX for this contest.
* Report Sent. You report "59 (say five nine, not fifty-nine) TX".
That's it. Don't be honest about signal strength; everyone is "59" in a
contest.
* Report Received. "59 <transmitter power>. The DX station will
give a report something like "59 100" or "59 1000" for a 100 watt
station or a 1000 watt station. The DX station will not give you his
country because you already know that from printing off the DXCC Country
list at http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/dxcclist.txt
<http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/dxcclist.txt> .
* Only work a station once per band. If you work a station on 15
Meters you should not answer that station's CQ again on 15. But if you
hear him on 20 Meters you can work him (or her) again.
* Look at the rules and see what kind of station you want to be.
Most first timers will be Single Operator/Low Power. That would be one
operator at 100 watts. Or you can double up to be
multioperator/QRP/Low/or High Power. See the rules.

A great logging program for this contest is from N3FJP at
http://n3fjp.com/ <http://n3fjp.com/> . Click on the "International DX
Log" for a demo. It is $6 for the full program and can be paid by
credit card through PayPal. You don't have to have a PayPal account to
do this. See the features on his website. One big deal is that the log
program alerts you to Dupes if you have worked the station before. The
program also totals your score and prepares your submission log.

Even if you don't play to be the big winner, this is still a great
chance to pick up some DX countries for everyone with HF privileges.

Email me at davidftx@... <mailto:davidftx@...> if you
have questions.

David

K5OLE