Contesting is one of the most popular activities in amateur radio. While the rules differ from contest to contest, in general, the goal is to make as many contacts as possible in a given time period.
To enter a contest and be considered for awards, you must submit a log of your contacts. The contest organizers will check the log to make sure that you actually made the contacts that you claim. To make this easier to do, most contest organizers now request that you send in a digital file that lists your contacts in the Cabrillo format.
QUESTION: What is the Cabrillo format? (E2C07)
ANSWER: A standard for submission of electronic contest log
There are some operating practices that are either prohibited or highly discouraged when operating a contest. On the HF bands, for example, operating on the “WARC bands,” is normally prohibited. The “WARC bands” include 30 meters, 17 meters and 12 meters.
QUESTION: From which of the following bands is amateur radio contesting generally excluded? (E2C03)
ANSWER: 30 meters
Another prohibited practice is “self-spotting,” which is posting your own call sign and frequency on a call sign spotting network. The reason this is prohibited is that gives those that do it an advantage over other operators.
QUESTION: Which of the following best describes the term self-spotting? in connection with HF contest operating? (E2C02)
ANSWER: The often-prohibited practice of posting one’s own call sign and frequency on a spotting network
VHF/UHF contests rarely include FM operation. During a VHF/UHF contest, you would, therefore, expect to find the highest level of activity in the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency.
QUESTION: During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of SSB or CW activity? (E2C06)
ANSWER: In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency
“Working” DX
“Working DX,” or contacting stations in far-off places, is one of the most popular amateur radio activities. To be successful at working DX you need to know the protocol or etiquette involved in doing so. Because many stations may be calling a DX station working a pileup or a contest, send your call sign only once or twice and let the DX station pick you out of the pileup.
QUESTION: How should you generally identify your station when attempting to contact a DX station during a contest or in a pileup? (E2C11)
ANSWER: Send your full call sign once or twice
When many stations want to contact a DX station, it becomes almost impossible for the DX station to hear anyone calling him if they are all calling him on the frequency he’s transmitting on. Instead, what usually happens is that the DX station will listen for calls on another frequency, usually above the frequency on which he is transmitting. We call this “split operation.” Split operation separates the calling stations from the DX station and reduces interference, thereby improving operator efficiency. It also allows the DX station to transmit on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations, while allowing responding stations to call on frequencies on which they have privileges.
QUESTION: Why might a DX station state that they are listening on another frequency? (E2C10)
ANSWER: All these choices are correct
- Because the DX station may be transmitting on a frequency that is prohibited to some responding stations
- To separate the calling stations from the DX station
- To improve operating efficiency by reducing interference
QSLing
After you’ve made contact with a DX station, you may want to receive confirmation of that contact. You’ll need confirmation, for example, to qualify for awards, such as Worked All Continents or the DX Century Club. An economical way to do this is to use the QSL bureau. Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system.
QUESTION: Which of the following contacts may be confirmed through the U.S. QSL bureau system? (E2C08)
ANSWER: Contacts between a U.S. station and a non-U.S. station
What the bureau does is group QSL cards to be sent to a particular country and sends hundreds or thousands of them in a single shipment to the QSL bureau in that country. The DX QSL bureau then sorts the cards and sends them to individual amateurs. This makes sending and receiving QSL cards from DX station much cheaper, but it may take a year or more to receive a reply from a DX station.
Some DX stations have QSL managers handle the sometimes arduous task of QSLing for them. The function of a DX QSL Manager is to handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station. The nice thing about sending QSL cards to and receiving QSL cards from a QSL manager is that the process is often much faster than going through a bureau.
QUESTION: What is the function of a DX QSL Manager? (E2C05)
ANSWER: To handle the receiving and sending of confirmation cards for a DX station
Mesh networks and remote operation
Because the amateur radio band at 2.4 GHZ overlaps with some WiFi channels, some amateurs are using those frequencies to set up digital networks called mesh networks. The cool thing about this is that you can use an off-the-shelf wireless router running custom firmware implement to set up a node on a mesh network. These nodes use discovery and link establishment protocols to form the network. Because amateur radio is a licensed service, and WiFi is an unlicensed service, amateur radio applications actually take priority over WiFi.
QUESTION: What type of equipment is commonly used to implement an amateur radio mesh network? (E2C09)
ANSWER: A wireless router running custom firmware
QUESTION: Which of the following frequencies are sometimes used for amateur radio mesh networks? (E2C04)
ANSWER: Frequencies shared with various unlicensed wireless data services
QUESTION: What technique do individual nodes use to form a mesh network? (E2C12)
ANSWER: Discovery and link establishment protocols
Connecting to amateur radio stations over the Internet has made remote operation easier than ever before. A frequently asked question about remote operation is whether or not a special indicator is required when operating a remote station. No additional indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control where the transmitter is located in the U.S.
QUESTION: What indicator is required to be used by U.S.-licensed operators when operating a station via remote control and the remote transmitter is located in the U.S.? (E2C01)
ANSWER: No additional indicator is required
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