[LCC] IARU CONTEST 1200Z JULY 11 TO 1159Z JULY 12

[w5wz at w5wz.com]

*                     IARU CONTEST 1200Z JULY 11 TO 1159Z JULY 12*

The IARU contest, one of the major and most interesting radio sporting
events in the year is active this coming weekend.

The rules are summarized here:

http://www.arrl.org/iaru-hf-world-championship

This is a contest for SSB and/or CW: take you pick, either or both. The
IARU is the International Amateur Radio Union, and of course the US is a
member. Many, if not all countries, have an IARU organization: in the US
it?s the ARRL.

Basically, everyone works everyone in the IARU contest. Multipliers 
count
separately on all six major HF bands. In this contest, the Mults are
three-fold: The ITU geographic zones; the IARU HQ stations for each 
member
country, and IARU officials (AC, R1, R2, and R3) on each of the six 
bands.

Europe has many countries, many ITU HQ stations, and the most active ham
radio contesters, thus the best strategy for scoring is to maximize 
Europe
contacts for their plethora of both operators and HQ stations. An 
example
is the RSGB for Radio Society of Great Britain. In the US we have two 
?HQ?
stations: W1AW for the ARRL, and NU1AW for the IARU. Both usually 
operate
from a ?portable? location; look for W1AW/4 this weekend. Due to the
COVID-19, NU1AW will be operating entirely remotely.

A list of IARU Headquarter Stations sorted by calls and HQ organizations 
is
attached as a pdf document. If you print this document, you will find it
useful as the IARU organization names are confusing.  If you want a 
prefill
file for HQ stations, they are available for most of the contest logging
programs here:

https://bit.ly/itudtb

Scoring equals (points per QSO) X (total Mults). Mults count separately 
on
each band (but only once, not for each mode).  You can work stations on
both modes for points however.

See here for an ITU zone chart:
https://www.mapability.com/ei8ic/maps/ituzone.php

The ?Lower 48 USA? has three zones (6-7-8 from West to East ? we are in
Zone 7).  Contacts with ?normal stations,? not HQ stations) are worth 
five
points for stations on other continents, three points for the same
continent for different zones, and one point for one?s own zone. This is 
an
advantage for us since working into the populous eastern and western
coasts, we get 3 points. HQ stations count for only one QSO point
regardless of location.

The key is to have fun -- focus on what you want to do: from working new
DXCC entities, running up a score or whatever.

The contest begins at 12Z, which is 7 am CDT, a wonderful time for us to
begin. It runs for 24 hours and so it is quite possible for both iron
men/ladies and semi-normal peeps to make it all the way through the day 
and
night and stop at 7 am Sunday for a well-earned day of rest.

Be sure to check all the six bands.  On 160 meters, most everyone should 
be
able to work ITU zones in the US and parts of Canada, plus XE and the
Caribbean. The US and Canadian ITU HQ stations usually are easily 
workable
as well.

It is similar and easier on 75/80 meters.

Forty and Twenty meters are going to be the meat and potatoes bands.
Maximize Europe when possible because of the extremely high number of 
both
active contesters and ITU HQ stations. Forty should have excellent
conditions to JA/Asia before and during morning sunrise as well as to EU 
in
the evening. This time of year, 20 meters is best to Asia from sunrise 
to
mid-morning while Europe is strongest in our afternoon and early 
evening.
Later in the evening signals over the pole (UA9, UN, etc.) can be 
strong.

Fifteen may open to EU but at this point in the sunspot cycle that is 
not a
given. It is worth checking as there is only one ?shot? in the 
twenty-four
hours. South America and the Caribbean should be in most of the daylight
hours on 15 and possibly ten. Sporadic E is a good possibility this time 
of
year. There was a lot of E skip on 10 and 15 Field Day. It is even 
possible
to get E skip to Europe. The HQ stations usually have high power and 
good
antennas and will be workable if the bands are open.

*Note that the deadline for uploading your log is only 5 days after the
contest ends or 7 AM CDT Friday July 17. Upload your Cabrillo file
here: http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org/
<http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org/>. Be sure to assign your score 
to
the Louisiana Contest Club!*

No solar disturbances are forecast for the weekend. The weather forecast 
is
for hot and dry, so conditions inside an air-conditioned shack should be
good.