After a terrible year of hermit-life existence, the United States is getting back to normal. The annual summer picnic at K3LR had to be cancelled in 2020 but it’s making a comeback in 2021 and a big turnout is expected. Things begin at 1200 and at 1230 Tim will conduct a walk-around tour of the antenna farm and the radio room. Then at 2 PM, one of those great K3LR catered lunches will start and at 4 PM there will be a business meeting. All members welcome. It will be a great chance to renew friendships after a lapse of nearly two years without meetings.

The annual summer picnic at the K3LR superstation in West Middlesex, PA has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.  For the past several years, Tim has hosted this annual event which became a combined NCC meeting/K3LR station tour/catered picnic and this event has become a very popular must-attend event for the club membership.  We pray that the pandemic will subside and that we can resume these great annual events at K3LR in 2021.  Tim is planning a Zoom meeting, the details of which will be announced on the club reflector.

Sadly, the 2020 Dayton Hamvention and all of the associated activities including the Contest University has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.   We all hope that this terrible virus will be eliminated so that the world we know will return.

Due to the efforts of many folks, the 2020 Contest University was provided free of charge to the public over the Internet.  All 10 hours of the CTU sessions have been put online and may be accessed by anyone.  The url is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEEUpsWUtAA

The 28th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Dayton, Ohio

2020 Contest Dinner tickets are on sale now exclusively via our web site.

HUGE thanks to Scott, KA9FOX and QTH.com for designing, building, donating and running the Contest Dinner web site.

http://contestdinner.com

Master of Ceremonies for the 2020 Dayton Contest Dinner is Contest Hall of Fame member and CQ WorlWide Contest Director, John Dorr, K1AR.

Our dinner speaker is Bryant, KG5HVO – his bio is here:

Thanks to Teri, K8MNJ for coordinating and organizing the 2020 Contest Dinner.

The 2020 Contest Hall of Fame inductees will be announced during the 2020 Dayton Contest Dinner by Dave. K3ZJ.

Thanks to Icom America N9JA – the MAIN prize is a Icom IC-7610

The Dayton Contest Dinner will be held on Saturday night, May 16, 2020 at 6:30 PM Cash bar opens at 5:30 PM.

Located at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (Official Contester Hotel) 5th and Jefferson Streets (Next to the Dayton Convention Center) Dayton (Downtown), Ohio in the PRESIDENTIAL BALLROOM on the second floor.

Seating is random. Tables are set in rounds of 10 and rectangles of 12. You can purchase an entire table for your group (purchased group tables are set for round 10 or rectangle 12). Full Table purchases are reserved seating.

Tickets are only available on http://contestdinner.com
There are no tickets for sale at the door.

The 32st annual Contest Super Suite (all FOUR nights during Dayton) details are here: http://contestsupersuite.com

And the 14th Annual Dayton Contest University seats are filling up fast http://contestuniversity.com

The 31th annual Dayton Top Band Dinner tickets are available at http://topbanddinner.com

We expect another sold out event for the 2020 Dayton Contest dinner. Get your tickets early! http://contestdinner.com

2020 Dayton Contest University Professors and the 2020 Course Outline have been posted.

https://www.contestuniversity.com/course-outline/

2020 Dayton TopBand Dinner speaker is Glenn Johnson, W0GJ

https://www.topbanddinner.com/

Info about the Glenn’s talk is here: https://www.topbanddinner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/VP6R-pg1-3.pdf

Save the date!  Tom Lee, NCC vice president and owner of the K8AZ Superstation has announced the date for the 2020 Annual K8AZ Open House and NCC Meeting.  The date is Saturday, January 4.  This will be the 32nd such meeting at Tom’s place in Chesterland, Ohio!  This meeting will be especially important in view of the fact that last year’s Open House was cancelled due to inclement weather.  More details will be provided on the NCC mailing list.

Mark your calendar for July 27, 2019 for the regular summer picnic and NCC business meeting at the K3LR superstation in West Middlesex, PA.  The festivities get underway at 11 AM with Flavia morning coffee and donuts and conversation with fellow members.  At 1230 Tim’s caterers will deliver a delicious smoked chicken and hamburger lunch.  (These lunches are always very good!)  At 1:30, Tim will conduct a guided tour of the antenna farm and shack, followed by a short NCC business meeting at around 2:30.  This meeting will be more important than usual because the January meeting at K8AZ had to be cancelled due to a bad snowstorm.  YLs and XYLs are welcome!  You don’t want to miss this fun summer gathering where you have one of the few chances during the year to actually meet and chat with your fellow members.  See you there!

Spring is coming and to North American contesters that means Dayton and the Contest Dinner!

Hosted by the North Coast Contesters, the contest dinner this year will take place on Saturday, May 18 at 6:30 PM with a cash bar opening an hour earlier. As always, the venue is the Crown Plaza Hotel, the official contester’s hotel at Dayton.

This year’s speaker will be N9NB, Ted Rappaport.  Read Ted’s bio, learn more about the dinner and buy your tickets at www.contestdinner.com. 

And don’t forget that the Contest University will be held on Thursday, May 16, also at the Crown Plaza.  This event takes up the whole day from 7 AM to 5 PM and is well worth the $85.00 price tag.  May 16 is the day before the Dayton Hamvention opens up on Friday, May 17.  See the entire course outline and register at www.contestuniversity.com. 

Important announcement:

The 31st Annual K8AZ Open House will be Saturday January 19, starting at 4 pm at Tom’s QTH. Due to the fact that the popular NAQP CW contest is scheduled for the previous weekend, Tom chose this date to accommodate as many members as possible. 

The K8AZ Open House is always one of the highlights of the year for NCC and you don’t want to miss it.  This one will be especially interesting to many because Tom will be showing off his upgraded shack, a project that Tom and friends have spent months working on this year. 

See you there!

Friday, July 27 is the date for one of the club’s best events of the year – the summer picnic at the QTH of K3LR.  This year’s event will celebrate the 31st anniversary of the founding of our club.  You don’t want to miss this event!  There is always a big turnout and it’s a great chance to leisurely chat with your fellow members.  You can also find out what’s new at the best ham station in the world, and enjoy Tim’s excellent catered meal.  Last year attendees went home with NCC coffee mugs engraved with “30th Anniversary July 21, 2017” – a real collector’s item.  Tim’s bash begins at 6PM and Tim would like you to RSVP so he knows how much food to prepare.  Keep and eye on the NCC email reflector for updates and instructions.  See you there!

What do the following Dayton Hamvention contester activities have in common?

Contester Dinner

Contest University

Contest Supersuite

Answer:  They are all sponsored by the North Coast Contesters  (with a lot of help from our friends at the Mad River Radio Club and the Frankford Radio Club)!

Here are some details about these events, which are all taking place just before or during the annual Dayton Hamvention from May 18 through May 20, 2018.

Contest Dinner

The contest dinner always takes place on Saturday night, which this year is May 19, at the official contester hotel, the Crowne Plaza.  Doors open at 5:30 PM when the cash bar will be available.  The dinner commences at 6:30. 

Master of Ceremonies for the Dayton Contest Dinner is Contest Hall of Fame member and World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) Chairman, John Dorr, K1AR.

To celebrate our 26th Anniversary the featured speaker will be Chris, DL1MGB, the Chairman of WRTC2018 that will be held this July in Germany.

Tickets are only available on http://contestdinner.com There are no tickets for sale at the door.

Contest University

Contest University will be held on Thursday May 17, 2018, from 7:00am to 5:00pm, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. This is the day before the Dayton Hamvention officially opens. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to gain knowledge that may take you years of practice, trial and error or lost time to learn otherwise. Get the edge to improve your scores and put your station in the winners’ circle today!

Contest University chairman (and NCC president) Tim Duffy, K3LR, recently posted the course outline for this year’s CTU:

2018 Dayton Contest University “CTU” – COURSE OUTLINE – 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM

7:00 ALL SALONS ABCD – Student Registration and Contest Buffet Breakfast – ALL – 60 minutes
8:00 ALL SALONS ABCD – Welcome to CTU 2018 – K3LR – ALL – 10 minutes
8:10 ALL SALONS ABCD – Radio Contesting – Having Fun is Easy – K1DG – ALL – 40 minutes

9:00 CONTEST TOPIC SESSION #1 – attend ONE of 4 sessions – 60 minutes

SALON A – How to Improve your Transmitting Antennas for Low Solar Activity – W3LPL
SALON B – Grounding and Bonding for Contest Stations – N0AX
SALON C/D – CW and RTTY Skimmers and the Reverse Beacon Network – N6TV
HARDING – Utilizing Digital Modes FT8 and MSK144 for Competitive Advantage in VHF Contests – W5ZN

10:00 ALL – *CONTEST SNACK* – 15 minutes

10:15 CONTEST TOPIC SESSION #2 – attend ONE of 4 sessions – 60 minutes

SALON A – Easy to Build Low Band Receiving Antennas for Small and Large Lots – W3LPL
SALON B – RadioSport Contesting Hinks and Kinks – N0AX
SALON C/D – How to Read and Learn from your Log-Checking Report – K1DG
HARDING– Having Fun with RTTY Contesting – W0YK

11:20 CONTEST TOPIC SESSION #3 – attend ONE of 4 sessions – 55 minutes

SALON A – How to Adapt your DX Contest Strategies for Low Solar Activity – W3LPL
SALON B – Contest Operating Best Practices – K2YWE
SALON C/D – The Advantages of Waterfall Displays for Contesting and DXing – N6TV
HARDING – Pursuing RTTY Contesting to the Limit – W0YK

12:15 ALL SALONS ABCD – *CONTEST LUNCH* – ALL – 35 minutes

12:50 ALL SALONS ABCD – 2018 Eye Ball Sprint Contest “LIVE” – ALL – 10 minutes – K1DG
1:00-1:35 ALL SALONS ABCD – Some Thoughts About Contesting & Optimization – K3LR

*1:45 CONTEST TOPIC SESSION by REQUEST to RERUN – 50 minutes

*SALON A –    As determined by *vote 1
*SALON B –    As determined by *vote 2
*SALON C/D – As determined by *vote 3
*HARDING –    As determined by *vote 4

2:40 CONTEST OPEN DISCUSSION Q&A GROUPs Attend ONE of 4 sessions – 30 minutes

SALON A – Antennas and Propagation – W3LPL
SALON B – Waterfalls, Recordings and Reverse Beacon Network – N6TV
SALON C/D – Contest Shack Design Ideas – N0AX
HARDING – Antenna/Tower Reliability – W3YQ

3:15 CONTEST OPEN DISCUSSION Q&A GROUPs Attend ONE of 4 sessions – 30 minutes

SALON A – Receiving Antenna Ideas – W3LPL
SALON B – Small Stations With Big Ideas – K2YWE
SALON C/D – Grounding and Bonding – N0AX
HARDING – RTTY Contesting Discussion – W0YK

 3:45 ALL – *CONTEST SNACK* – 15 minutes

4:00 ALL SALONS ABCD – 2018 Contest Radio Review – NC0B – ALL – 50 minutes
4:50 ALL SALONS ABCD – 2018 CTU Survey – K3LR – ALL – 10 minutes

 * 1:45 PM CONTEST SESSION by REQUEST vote to RERUN
CTU students will vote for 4 topics/classes that they missed and would like to have presented again – the top 4 WANTED by vote – will RERUN in this time slot.

If you are under the impression that CTU is for beginners and that you, as an experienced contester, won’t benefit from attendance, a glance at the above course offerings should convince you otherwise.  This is a great opportunity to hear some of contesting’s most experienced operators and station builders give up some of their valuable secrets!  And this only costs $85!

More details can be found at:  www.contestuniversity.com

Contest Supersuite

Unbelievable as it may sound, 2018 will be the 30^th anniversary of the Contest Supersuite.  The main details:

Wed. May 16 thru Sat. May 19, 2018
Approximately 7pm – 2am Each Night
Crowne Plaza 2nd floor – Harding, McKinley, Garfield and Harrison Rooms

Here is the detailed schedule:

May 16, 2018 – Wednesday Night

7 PM: Contest Super Suite in the Harding, McKinley, Garfield and Harrison Rooms, sponsored by the Mad River Radio Club (MRRC),North Coast Contesters (NCC) and the Frankford Radio Club (FRC).
8 PM to 10 PM: Contest University Registration
10:30 PM: Pizza Party sponsored by Contest University.

May 17, 2018 – Thursday Night

7 PM: Contest Super Suite in the Harding, McKinley, Garfield and Harrison Rooms, hosted by the Mad River Radio Club (MRRC), North Coast Contesters (NCC) and the Frankford Radio Club (FRC).
10:30 PM: Wings and Pizza Party in the Harding, McKinley, Garfield and Harrison Rooms, sponsored by K3WW, K3LR and the Society of Midwest Contesters (SMC).

May 18, 2018 – Friday Night

7 PM: Contest Super Suite in the Harding, McKinley, Garfield and Harrison Rooms, hosted by the Mad River Radio Club (MRRC),North Coast Contesters (NCC) and the Frankford Radio Club (FRC).
11 PM: Pizza Party sponsored by the sponsored by the Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC).

May 19, 2018 – Saturday Night

7 PM: Contest Super Suite in the Harding, McKinley, Garfield and Harrison Rooms, hosted by the Mad River Radio Club (MRRC),North Coast Contesters (NCC) and the Frankford Radio Club (FRC).
11 PM: Pizza Party sponsored by the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC).

For additional information, visit www.contestsupersuite.com