June 2007

A few years back I started QRP contesting in the Spartan Sprints. I was a contest rookie. Contests were high speed and I made few contacts. But, with experience I learned a few things as I went along. I offer a couple of tips that may make the your next Sprint more enjoyable.

FREQUENCY - The Sprinters tend to hang around the common QRP frequencies. Expect to hear them at 3.560 mHz., 7.040 mHz., 14.060 mHz., 21.060 mHz. and 28.060 mHz.

A look at the sunspots and recent Sprint results will show you not to waste your time on 15 and 10 meters. As this is being written, I no longer start my Sprints on 20 meters as I had when conditions opened the band here in the East during hours of darkness. That will change in the summer as days lengthen and 20 stays open later.

When I say the folks hang around the QRP frequencies, I really mean they bunch up there. Pleas to spread out are made from time to time, but habits are hard to break. Knowing this, I use a pretty narrow receive filter to try and make sense of the chaos. Those using a sideband filter 3 kHz. wide can probably hear the whole Sprint at once.
Once I have found the Sprinters, I need to concentrate on the contest information to be exchanged. I used to put it on a little card near my key so that I would be sure to send what was needed when I made a contact.

THE EXCHANGE - Following is a sample of information that needs to be exchanged between contest operators to qualify as an SP contact. The sample is followed by its translation in plain English.

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The contact:

K1ESE transmitting
"CQ SP CQ SP K1ESE K1ESE SP"

K3TW transmitting
"K1ESE de K3TW" - or just "K3TW"

K1ESE transmitting
"K3TW TU 55N ME 5W BK" or if you're weak "K3TW TU 55N 55N ME ME 5W 5W BK"

K3TW transmitting
"TU 55N MD 5W BK" or "BK TU 55N MD 5W BK" (most folks answer a break with a break)

K1ESE transmitting
"TU 72 ES GL"

The translation:

K1ESE
CQ Spartan Sprint from K1ESE

K3TW
K3TW calling you

K1ESE
K3TW thank you for the call you are 559 in Maine at 5 watts break (55N is short for 559)

K3TW
Thank you, got it all, you are 559 in Maryland at 5 watts

K1ESE
Thank you, got it all, and best QRP wishes and good luck

"TU" stands for thank you and means "thanks, I received it all OK". Some folks use "QSL" and some use "R". They all mean the same, but "TU" is also saying thanks. You don't repeat back any of the other station's exchange.

If you miss something you don't say "TU", but instead say "AGN" for again if you want it all repeated or "RST" or "STATE" or "PWR" if you just need part repeated. If signals are weak, "AGN" is easiest.

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THE CHALLENGES - This is QRP, so straining your ears is par for the course. With practice you will be able to read signals that are just below the noise level. This is called ESP copy for obvious reasons.

Some folks send real RST reports, but most send 559. In a QRO contest everyone sends 599. But, this is QRP so many use 559. It's better to send real signal reports since some folks judge how their set-up is working by the reports. But, with so many folks sending 559 it really doesnÕt work out that way.

SPEED - If you can rag chew at 15-18 wpm, you can contest at 20+ wpm. Here's how I did it. First, if the guy is CQing time after time you have a chance to listen a couple of times to get his call. If he makes some contacts, you also get to listen a couple of times to his exchange. That way you don't have to worry about copying all he's sending when he comes back to you.

Guys want to slow down if they hear a slower call come back to them. But, on many rigs, it means choosing a menu, and a sub-menu, and changing the setting, and backing out of the menus. That's too much trouble and too time consuming in a contest. So what they do is to lengthen the pauses between letters. It's kind of like the Farnsworth method - fast characters and slow pauses.

As for sending, my K1 had two CW message memories. I set one to my call and one to the exchange. That way my nerves didn't get in the way and I could send my side of the contact as fast as I wanted just by pushing a button. Many radios or keyers have these CW message memories. While each radio or keyer has its own set of commands, they allow you to send a message to the radio or keyer at a speed that is comfortable to you. Once it's stored, the radio or keyer lets you recall that string of code at whatever speed the keyer is set. It took me a couple of tries to get the stored message just right. But, after that I knew perfect CW would be sent. For the Sprint, one CW memory was set to "K1ESE" and the other was set to "ME 5W". That way I only had to send manually the "TU" and a report. You can have the keyer send as much as "TU 55N ME 5W DE K1ESE" if you don't want to send real reports. That way you don't have to send anything manually.

The thing that makes contest exchanges faster than general rag-chewing is that you know what's coming next. It's easier to copy RST, state, and power when you know the order and what to expect.

TIMING - Contests have a rhythm. To catch on I would listen to one station work through a bunch of calls in order to get a feel for the timing. That way I knew when to drop in my call with that station or any other in the contest. But, I had to be quick. I needed to send my call immediately when his CQ ended.

If I waited more than a second or two, he was back to CQing. But, since I had my call in one of the keyer memories, it was a snap. I didn't send his call DE my call. I just sent my call. If he didn't come right back (about 1 second) or didn't start CQing again, I knew he was listening and sent my call a second time. I continued sending my call, with very short breaks between calls, until he started sending again. As in most things, timing is everything.

ZERO BEAT - But, if I was still not getting replies, it may be that I'm not zero-beat with the caller. If I was sending where they weren't listening, they would never hear me. In contests there is much more activity than when the bands have a few rag-chews. To minimize the interference contesters use narrow filters. Even the little ATS-3 has a very narrow filter that guys select for contesting. I needed to be within 100 hz of where they were listening.
But, that's not enough. I could get right dead solid on their frequency and still a few stations (not most) wouldn't hear me. Then I tried moving around their frequency just a bit. I'd call a little high or a little low until I found where they could hear me. With RIT and passband tuning and such, some stations don't realize they are not listening exactly on their own frequency.

These are just a few tips to make the next Spartan Sprint your best.

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John Huffman, K1ESE, Adventure Radio Society contest manager, is a longtime QRPer and contester living in Waterford, ME.