Saturday, December 5, 2015

Oklahoma FM Simplex contest announced

On Saturday December 12, 2015 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM the  Edmond Amateur Radio Society will host a 2 Meter FM simplex Sprint!

 This contest is open to all amateur radio operators and is intended to promote the sport of amateur radio competition and to simulate a repeater outage during an emergency.  This is a great exercise to test how far one can reach with a handheld, mobile, or base station.  The focus of this contest is to introduce everyone to amateur radio contesting and invite them to attend our free General license class beginning March 8, 2016.

The contest instructions and rules are:

Edmond Amateur Radio Society

2 Meter FM Simplex Sprint

A Contest for Everyone

Welcome to the second Edmond Amateur Radio Club 2 Meter FM simplex Sprint. This contest is open to

all amateur radio operators and is intended to promote the sport of amateur radio competition and to

simulate a repeater outage during an emergency. Furthermore this is an exercise for all to test how far

one can reach with a handheld, mobile, or base station on 2 Meters. Simplex is also the common mode

of voice communications for SSB HF when contesting, operating digital modes, and for general

conversing. Local events such as the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in April utilizes both 2m FM

simplex and repeaters. The goal of this contest however is to introduce newly licensed Technicians to

amateur radio contesting and invite them to attend our free General license class beginning March 8,

2016. For more information tune-in to our weekly information net, see our club website, Facebook

page, or e-mail our class coordinator, cqN5ZY@GMAIL.COM.

For amateurs in the Central Oklahoma area to work as many fellow amateur stations as possible using

our list of simplex frequencies, raise awareness of effective ranges of antennas and wattages, and to

Saturday, December 12, 6:30 to 8:30 PM CST

Consider operating from a remote location, high point or perhaps a roving mobile; Mobile stations can

re-work and be re-worked when they have relocated to a different zip code.

The use of the national simplex frequency of 146.52 is not permitted for contesting. The contest will

take place solely on the 2 meter band using simplex mode; (e.g. no repeater contacts). According to the

ARRL band plan, these frequencies (between 146.40-146.58 & 147.42-147.57) are for simplex use. For

this contest, we will use only these 8 frequencies with a convenient 20 kHz separation.

Valid Contest Frequencies

147.420 147.440 147.460 147.480

147.500 147.520 147.540 147.560

Callsign, Name, EARS Member and 5-digit zip code. Rover stations should use the zip code of their

current location at the time. Record EARS membership status as “--” for no, “M” for member, “B” for

board member and “O” for officer. Use a zip code map to plan your strategy, such as:

http://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/

Examples of common contest operating practice:

In this example we have one station who has decided to stay on one frequency and call CQ while

another operator has decided to constantly scan each of the valid contest frequencies and respond to

Example of a Stationary Exchange:

Station calling CQ: “CQ CQ AE5MT Contest”

Station responding: “AE5MT from KM5GZ, please copy Bob, a Board member, from 73013”

Reply from AE5MT: “KM5GZ please copy Brian, a Member, from 74834”

Closing comment from KM5GZ: “QSL, 73”

Station resumes calling CQ: “CQ CQ AE5MT Contest”

Example Mobile/Rover Exchange:

Station calling CQ: “CQ CQ AE5MT Mobile Contest”

Station responding: “AE5MT/M from KM5GZ, please copy Bob, a Board member, from 73013”

Reply from AE5MT: “KM5GZ please copy Brian, a Member, mobile from 73012”

Closing comment from KM5GZ: “QSL, 73”

Station resumes calling CQ: “CQ CQ AE5MT Mobile Contest”

Work as many different calls and locations as possible exchanging information as presented above.

Work each station once per ZIP Code — i.e. Mobiles can be re-worked whenever they change locations.

Use the log scoring sheet that will be available in MS Excel or Adobe Reader or Google Docs.

Each non-EARS member contact is worth 1 point

Each EARS member contact is worth 5 points

Each EARS board member is worth 10 points

Each EARS officer is worth 20 points.

Mobile operators operating from more than one zip code are awarded 200 bonus points!

a. The number of unique 5-digit zip codes

b. Stations running <= 10 watts power: multiply score by 3

Stations running => 11 watts power <=50 watts power: multiply score by 2

Stations running => 51 watts power <= 100 watts to the antenna: multiply score by 1 (e.g.

Final Score: # QSO points X zip code multiplier X power multiplier

Logging and Log Submission Deadline

Contest log sheets can be downloaded in MS Excel or Adobe or Google Docs format. Logs must be

submitted on paper at our board meeting, by U.S. mail, or e-mail. The score section must be completed

when you submit your log; we will not calculate each score.

Hand-deliver paper logs January 12 to the EARS Board Meeting which begins at 7:00 PM at the

Edmond Downtown Community Center, 28 E. Main St. Someone will be there at 6:30 PM to

Others must be postmarked no later than December 31st. Mail logs to EARS 2M SPRINT, P.O.

Box 48, Edmond, OK 73083-0048

E-Mail logs may be scanned to PDF and submitted to cqN5ZY@gmail.com no later than

Certificates will be awarded in the following categories:

Low Power operator of 10 watts or less

Medium Power operator of 11 watts to 50 watts

High Power operator of 51 watts to 100 watts (please stay below 100 watts)

Edmond Amateur Radio Society weekly information net, open to all: K5EOK repeaters Mondays at

8:00pm on 147.135+ and 443.425+ (2m and 70cm repeaters are linked during the net). A PL tone is not

Edmond Amateur Radio Society Monthly Elmer net, open to all: K5EOK repeaters at 7:15pm on the first

Facebook: Search for “Edmond Amateur Radio Society - EARS”

General Class Coordinator: N5ZY, or cqN5ZY@gmail.com

2016 Spring General Class will be Tuesdays 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM March 8 – May 3.

All exams are offered the first Saturday of every month, RSVP only.

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