K5ZD Commentary

A few tips for CQ WW CW

A few pieces of advice for those operating in CQ WW CW this weekend.

Make sure you know who you are working. With the short exchange, it is easy for two running stations near the same frequency to get in synch. Both reply to a caller. The caller is only working one of them. Someone gets a Not-In-Log (NIL) with the +2x penalty. If something doesn’t sound right, ask for a repeat.

This is especially true if you are chasing spots. With stations close together, you may click on a spot and actually be working a station that is near the spot frequency, but not the station you think it is. We also see many cases where a spotted station leaves a frequency and is replaced by someone new. People click on the spot and log the station that was there before.

Pay attention to callsigns with lots of dots. KH6ND often becomes K5BND! S50A becomes SH0A. (Watch out for calls like BI4SSB.) With the busted call penalty, these can be expensive errors.

Please enter the correct category in your log. If you use the Cluster, CW Skimmer or RBN, you are in the Assisted category.

If you want to enter single band and also work stations on other bands, put all QSOs into one log and then mark the CATEGORY-BAND in the header. DO NOT SEND MULTIPLE ENTRIES FOR THE SAME CALLSIGN! Each log will overwrite the previous one.

Use the web page to upload your log. http://www.cqww.com/logcheck/ This page will give immediate feedback on the format of your log. Once you go through the checking, your log is NOT submitted until you enter your email address and press submit. When you receive the email confirmation OR see your log on the logs received page (http://www.cqww.com/logs_received_cw.htm) then you know your log has been received.

If you notice someone breaking the rules or that has a bad signal, make a note of the call, time, and frequency, contact us at : https://cqww.com/contact after the contest.

Be considerate and enjoy the magic of radio. Most of all – have fun!

 

K5ZD Commentary, SSB

How close to the band edge can you go?

We always get a number of emails after the contest complaining about how close USA stations get to the bottom of the US phone allocation on 20, 15, and 10 meters. Doug, K1DG, had done some research into this topic and arrived at the following conclusion.

Quoting from the FCC rules regarding signal bandwidth (in Part 2, not Part 97):

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PART 2–FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS AND RADIO TREATY MATTERS; GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS–Table of Contents

Subpart C–Emissions

Sec. 2.202  Bandwidths.

(a) Occupied bandwidth. The frequency bandwidth such that, below its lower and above its upper frequency limits, the mean powers radiated are each equal to 0.5 percent of the total mean power radiated by a given emission.

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In a few other places, the FCC falls back on that “0.5 percent” standard. Or, if you prefer, -23 dB. In part 97, (97.3 (a) (8)) to be exact, amateur service signal bandwidths are defined at the 26 dB points. (I believe that is an error, where the FCC guy who wrote it did the 1% part in power terms, then did the .5 part in voltage terms).

My conclusion from this is that on USB, you are OK at 500 Hz inside the band. 600 Hz is real safe. Closer than 500 Hz is hard to justify, due to the compromised third-order distortion performance of most ham “linear” amps.

How to measure.  Record the mean S-meter reading right there on 21200.6 USB, then switch to LSB and set the dial on the radio to 21200.0 and record the mean S-meter reading there. If the difference is 26 dB the transmission is legal according to FCC rules in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Part 2, Section 2.202 paragraph (a), and the tighter rules for hams at 47CFR97.3(a)(8).

The above applies only to those operating under the jurisdiction of the USA Federal Communications Commission.  Other governments may have their own interpretation to what is in the band or not.

K5ZD Announcements

2014 SSB Contest Raw Scores Now Available

The raw scores for the 2014 CQ WW DX Contest SSB are now available at
http://www.cqww.com/claimed.htm

These are the scores as calculated by our log checking software BEFORE any checking or score reductions have been done. These scores provide quick feedback on who might be the winners, but there is a lot of log checking still to go. It is not unusual for scores to drop 3-8% (or more) so we will have to wait until the checking is completed to know who the winners will be.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest.

You may still submit your log using the web upload at http://www.cqww.com/logcheck/
While not eligible for any awards, late logs are shown in the results and do help us greatly with the log checking.

Any questions about the raw scores or other matters relating to CQWW should be sent at: https://cqww.com/contact.