NORTH COAST CONTESTERS
Supporting Ham Radio Contesting Since 1989

Supporting Ham Radio Contesting Since 1989

NORTH COAST CONTESTERS

NCC News

K3LR Adds 11th Straight Win in 2015 CQ WW SSB

Once again, the ops at K3LR captured the top prize in the Multi-op Multi-transmitter category in the 2015 CQ WW DX SSB contest, registering their 11th straight NA win in the top SSB contesting event of the year.

Tim’s crew managed 12,458 contacts and 31.6 million points, some 8 million points ahead of second-place W3LPL.  Their 2015 score was nearly 6 million points behind the all-time North American record of 37.4 million points they set in 2013, a clear indication that conditions have declined considerably over the last two years.  The 2015 score was their fifth best score ever, trailing their scores in 2013, 2011, 2012 and 2014.

K3LR’s 2015 score placed them second in the world behind only the Russian crew operating at CN2AA and ahead of HK1NA, PJ2T, DF0HQ and 9A1A.

Over at K8AZ, Tom’s crew put in a heroic effort in the Multi-One category but was edged out by the ops at K6ND/1 to place second with a score of 8,447,173, just a hair behind the ‘ND score of 8,571,050.  The K8AZ ops actually found more zones than the guys in New England (166 vs 157) but were about 200 contacts and 11 countries behind.  A great performance from Ohio to be sure.  The W2FU ops managed to place fourth in the same Multi-One category just behind NV9L.

In the single op category, Alex LZ4AX operating again from K3CR managed to place first in North America in the non-assisted low power category with a score of 3.6 million points.  Alex put 42.5 hours in the chair in his winning effort.

Finally, in the SOAB QRP category, K8ZT overpowered (that’s a joke) his competitors to place first in the United States with 424 contacts.  Anthony’s score put him in second place in North America and sixth worldwide!

Congratulations to all the ops at K3LR, K8AZ and W2FU and to LZ4AX and K8ZT!

 

N8AA to Participate in CY9 DXpedition

NCC founding member John Comella will be joining the August 19-29 DXpedition to St. Paul Island, CY9. This rare DX entity is an uninhabited island located in the Cabot Straights about 15 miles from the Northern tip of Nova Scotia. Due to its inaccessibility, a helicopter will be needed to reach the operating site. More details at http://www.cy9dxpedition.com/. We wish John and the other members of the expedition a safe and interesting journey.

 

February Sprint Results

The preliminary results for the February 2016 NA CW Sprint are in. NCC members participated in two teams organized by K3LR. The teams included several members of the Mad River Radio Club plus a few of our friends from around the country. Congratulations to Eric, NO3M for coming in first among the 19 team members who submitted scores.

The next CW Sprint is scheduled for September 10 (September 11 UCT).

NCC/MRRC Friends East

NO3M 15,620
K3LR 14,168
N2NC 13,995
K8MR 13,596
NP2X 12,600 op K9VV
NW2K 11,550
K3UA 11,295 LP
W2RQ 7,040 LP
N3SD 5,240 LP
K2UA 3,780

NCC/MRRC Friends West

K9NW 14,398
KW8N 13,771
N8EA 11,130 LP
W1NN 10,980 LP
W8WTS 10,332 LP
ND8L 7,568
W9PA 7,434
N5OT 6,513
N8XX 384 QRP

Report on January Annual NCC Meeting

Here is Ray, ND8L’s report from the January 16 meeting at the QTH of Tom Lee, K8AZ.

Thanks to K8AZ for hosting another great NCC winter get-together. Those of you who couldn’t join us missed a great time, capped off byW8WWV’s amazing video of the building of the 96, count ’em 96 element 10 meter array at NO8D. Greg shared with the group that the array also works nicely SWR-wise all the way down 27 Mhz. Breaker Breaker one-nine, indeed! Tim…I’d like to order one. When will it be in the DX Engineering catalog?

The Treasurer’s Report indicates: NCC’s treasury balance as of 1/1/15 was $2,444.51.  Total dues collected in 2015 (normal dues and voluntary contributions) were$1240.00.  Our disbursements in 2015 were $930.95, of which two items, totaling $450.00, were an extraordinary, one-time spend.  We paid K3LR for a seriously past due bill of $150.00 for the *2014 *DaytonSuper Suite and Scott Neider, KA9FOX, at QTH.COM $300.00 for his invaluable assistance to Senior Web Guru W1NN that brought NorthCoastContesters.COM into the new century.  If you haven’t already, check out your club’s web site from your computer, tablet or Smart Phone…yep, it’s that good.

The other $480.95 of normal disbursements included payments for the *2015*Super Suite, CQ World Wide Plaques and also to QTH.COM for the 2015 web site hosting fees. The NCC Treasury has $2753.56 in the bank as of 12/31/2015.  We have one outstanding bill from QTH.COM for $11.50 which will be paid this month.

Your treasurer’s analysis was that even with $450.00 in one-time payments and no projected extraordinary payments for 2016…our treasury still grew by about $310.00 in 2015.  To that end, we voted to have a holiday for the 2016 NCC dues of $20.00.

However, it was also agreed that those of you who wish to make a completely voluntary and anonymous donation, are welcome to do so. You may mail a check payable to Ray Fallen (uh, that would be me) to: 504East Liberty St. Hubbard, Ohio 44425-2136. Please do *NOT *make your check payable to NCC or ND8L as I’m unable to deposit them.

Contrary to my accountant’s training and nature, I will *not* be keeping alist of voluntary donors…or checking it twice. I will report TOTAL voluntary donations to the NCC reflector in a couple of months.

Your NCC officers for 2016 are:

K8AZ – President,

K3LR – Vice President,

ND8L – Secretary/Treasurer

W1NN – Senior Web Guru.

I’m sure you’ll be hearing from your Contest Whips and apologize that my notes aren’t complete…but my recollection is that they were the same as last 2015, except that Jamie, WW3S was volunteered to be RTTY Contest Whip for 2016.

Congrats and welcome to our three new NCC Warriors. Would those of you who sponsored those folks, please send their names, calls and e-mail addresses to W1NN so that they may be added to the NCC Web Roster and the NCC reflector distribution list? Also, please forward a copy of this e-mail to those gentlemen for me.

The rest of us should also e-mail Hal, W1NN and give him an extremely well deserved atta-boy for his outstanding work on the web site.

73,Ray – ND8L

2015 CQWW Phone Claimed Scores

NCC’s multi-op powerhouses – K3LR, K8AZ and W2FU – once again produced some amazing scores in this year’s CQWW Phone contest.

The top US M/M station of K3LR produced what will surely be their 11th straight USA win in this contest with 12,593 contacts and a claimed score of 32.5 million points.  Handicapped by poorer 10 meter conditions that resulted in a decrease of 900 contacts from 2014, the ‘LR ops nearly made up for this deficit by large increases in 20, 40 and 160 totals to come up only 96 QSOs behind their 2014 claimed QSO total of 12,689.  Their score of 32.5 million was just a hair below last year’s claimed score of 32.8 million.  Log checking will determine whether this year’s score will edge out last year’s score of 32.0 million.

Over at K8AZ’s M/S operation, the summer antenna work paid off with over 4,000 Q’s and a claimed score of 8.8 million points.  This was 0.5 million points short of the 9.3 million score produced by the team at K6ND, located about 500 miles closer to Europe.  The ops at W2FU with a claimed score of 7.1 million and 3,231 contacts, were close behind the amazing K8AZ totals.

Congratulations to all.  We’re looking forward to seeing what these stations do in the CW weekend.

 

We Place Third in September CW Sprint!

According to preliminary scores announced by the NCJ, the NCC + MRRC East team, consisting of N2NT, K3LR, N2NC, KW8N, KU8E, W1NN, NW2K, K3UA, and K1AR, came in third among 12 registered teams.   Our other team, NCC + MRRC West, had scores from only four stations, and placed 11th.  Scores may be seen at http://ncjweb.com/sprint-scores/preliminary/sprintcwsep2015prelim.txt

NCC/MRRC Team Places Fifth

August NAQP scores were published in the November/December issue of NCJ and the combined NCC/MRRC team came in fifth in a field of 81 teams.  Congratulations to NP2X, NO3M, NA8V, KU8E and K8ND for a fine finish competing against very strong ops at some of the best stations in the country.   In all NCC/MRRC fielded five teams which placed fifth, 346th, 42nd, 53rd and 70th.

NCC/MRRC Teams Place High in February CW Sprint

The July/August issue of NCJ carries the results of the February 2015 Sprint showing that the two NCC teams organized by K3LR placed fourth and fifth out of 17 teams.  The NCC/MRRC East team, consisting of NO3M, K3LR, K1AR, NW2K, KU8E, K3UA, ND8L, W8WTS and NP4G, ended up with 95,4530 points, behind third-place DFW #1 with 121,401 points.  Just behind the East team was NCC/MRRC West with 88,121 points.  The West team was made up of KW8N, K9NW, K8MM, W1NN (operating remote from Japan), W8CAR, NA8V, N8SS, KL8RA and N8XX.  It is worth noting that the East team only had nine members.  NO3M achieved the top score for the East team with 16,200 points, while KW8N with 13,717 points headed up the West team.  NO3M placed fourth in the country in this event!  Well done Eric.

The next CW Sprint is scheduled for September 13 UTC (Saturday night September 12).  Mark your calendars!

NCC Shines in 2014 CQ WW DX Contests

It seems like the final results for the CQ WW DX contests are announced earlier and earlier each year. For the 2014 contests, NCC again showed its multi-op prowess with a number of top and near-top finishes. Here is a brief summary of the final results for our club:

SSB

Fantastic high band conditions and near-record participation (8,283 logs submitted) combined to produce another year of great SSB scores in 2014. In the MM competition, for the 10th consecutive year, K3LR placed first in the USA, achieving the second highest score in the world behind only HK1NA. In the multi-single category, K8AZ’s crew achieved another good score from Ohio while the VE3EJ team produced the top Canadian MS score.

CW

Great conditions and record activity helped NCC multi-operator stations K3LR, W2FU and K8AZ produce some fantastic scores. K3LR bested its winning 2013 score to set a new USA record in the MM category. The K3LR gang’s score was not only the top US score but fourth in the world and not far from second place in the world. Close behind was the W2FU team at third place in the US and seventh in the world.  Jeff’s ops are doing better each year and no doubt are gearing up to give K3LR some real competition.  The guys at K8AZ again triumphed in the MS category.

In the combined CW + SSB USA club competition, NCC, with only 26 scores, came in sixth, competing against the likes of YCCC whose score included logs from 270 stations.  Well done!

NCC President K3LR Recognized

Tim Duffy, K3LR, president of NCC, has been honored as the 2015 Dayton Hamvention Amateur of the Year. The award was presented at the Dayton Hamvention in May. This award has been given to individuals that have made great contributions to our hobby and Tim joins a list of award winners that goes back over half a century. Here is what the Hamvention press release said about Tim:

Tim Duffy, K3LR, of West Middlesex, PA, has a long history of giving back to Amateur Radio. He is founder, promoter and chairman of the successful Contest University (CTU) which has helped to teach radio sport contest operating with excellent volunteer professors. The first CTU was held in Dayton in 2007. Since then more 3,700 radio radio sport enthusiasts have attended 25 CTU’s held in eight different countries under his watchful guidance.

Since 1984 K3LR has moderated the Dayton Hamvention antenna forum, coordinating the presentation of more than 100 papers about antennas. He is also involved in scheduling many contesting activities during Hamvention including the Contest Super Suite, the Contest Dinner and recently the annual Top Band Dinner.

Duffy serves as an officer of several radio clubs and was recently elected to the position of ARRL Section Manager for Western Pennsylvania. He became a ham at age 12 in 1972 and lives in Pennsylvania on 11 acres with over 50 antennas.

Congratulations, Tim! We’re very proud of you!

Solar Data
K8ZT Useful Links
NCC member K8ZT has a website full of useful links and resources. See the following: http://www.k8zt.com/contesting http://www.k8zt.com/dx http://www.k8zt.com/propagation http://www.k8zt.com/maps