Patriotic Special Event: 13 Colonies

cockpitbob

cockpitbob

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Runs 5 days: 7/1 - 7/5
Special event stations in each of the 13 colonies. Any band & mode including satellites.
The certificate is very cool: Dadsden flag. Says "Freedom is not free". I want one, and you only have to hit 1 colonie to qualify, but they are $4.
13Colony2011Cert.jpg

http://www.13colonies.info/

I'm very new to special events, so I think I'll make this a learning experience and try for the clean sweep endorsment (all 13). Besides, the cert will be good wallpaper for the shack.
 
I've hit 2 states so far and found but couldn't break into a 3rd. They were all on 40M.

This is actually the first time using my HF rig (FT-857 W/tuner and 100' long wire up 50') and I'm learning a lot. I'm down in a hole and and I'm not being heard very well. My best report was 57. I'm already starting to think about stringing a couple of dipoles.
 
This is very cool. I'm going to try to make a few Q's tonight and maybe over the weekend in-between cookouts, etc.
How are they calling CQ ("CQ 13 Colonies")?

W1NJC
 
The 3 stations I found this a.m. (all on 40M) were in the middle of mild pile-ups, but "13 Colonies" and their 1X1 calls starting with "K2_" were prominent in their operation. They were a little conversational (not stepping through the callers quickly) and they all were wishing people a happy 4th of July. The overall tone was nicely patriotic.

Good luck.
Bob ab1lt
 
My 12YO son and I are making this a competition. We are tied up at 7 colonies each. Of course, I have the advantage and stayed up until 12:30 last night while he slept.
 
I'm at 6. Picked up 4 more tonight amid some nasty pileups. I'm just running 100W on a multiband trap dipole. Mostly 40 and some 20m.
Just picked up K2E in DE as I'm writing this so it looks like all three of us are tied up now!

Looking forward to that certificate!
 
My boy and I are tied up at 9ea. We also found and got the WM3PEN special Philadelphia station (very cool Independence Hall QSL card). I've found 2 on 80M but everything else is on 40 & 20. 10 & 6 have been silent.

Some of the event station operators have been great - true to ham principles of making the contact. My son and I had the same experience with different stations were we've been down in the noise and the guy asked about 8 times for our information. I was surpised he didn't give up and move on to easier stations in the pile-up.

Oh, yeah....WHERE'S GA and RI???? I haven'e heard either one even once. How about you?
 
Nice about WM3PEN! I didn't hear him. I'm still at 7, didn't do much yesterday. I'm going to try a little today since I'm off of work but right now I don't hear jack on any band. I would think 20m would be open to the South in the daytime. My 7 are NY/NJ/DE/NH/SC/MD/PA. Have not even heard GA/RI/ME/MA/VT. I saw that MA was on PSK31 via the spotter network but I didn't fire that up at all.

Yeah some of the non-pileups were really nice. Had a 4-5 minute QSO with the guy from NY I talked to and one other place too, maybe DE. Some of the pileups were particularly crazy but as soon as they went by the numbers I was in. The most energetic I found was NH: "God bless what Bob???"

I'll try for a few more today but It's too nice out today to stay in the shack for too long though... :)
 
What spotter network do you use? I'm new to HF and just discovered dxscape.com this morning. Knowing about it Friday would have saved me and my son hours of spinning the knob. We have 12 and just need GA. What I saw on dxscape makes it look like GA is spending time in the Advance/Extra portion of the bands. I didn't think anyone would do that for an event like this so I never spent any time hunting there.

Yeah, Richie in NH has a unique style, but I like it. High speed and gets a lot of people through. "....k2k, GO!"

Good luck with the other 6!

Bob
 
I'm new to the spotter network (DX Cluster they call it). I use Ham Radio Deluxe as a logging/control app and it has it built in. I'm connected to the HB9DRV-9 network and it's been useful. I don't see the GA station on there and I would agree that they shouldn't be in the limited bands. If I see him on and manage to Q him I'll mention that.
You gotta get it - 12/13!! I don't hear much of anything right now though.
 
sixer said:
Also, do you fly? I'm asking because of your username...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.

I used to fly a lot just for fun. I had a 1946 Stinson-108 'Voyager'. I used to camp under the wing all over North America. Took it to Oshkosh twice and Fairbanks, AK once. Then the kids came along and the discretionary time and $ went away. cockpitbob is part of my email address that I've had since 1993 so I can't shake it. Now, about all the aviation I get is navagating for a friend in an air rally (navigation, time and fuel burn accuracy) www.hwdairrally.org.
 
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patio said:
Glad to see people getting into this contest. I packed up everything to mountain top for this contest but the weather on Saturday kept the antennas on the ground so unfortunately the weekend was a wash. Regarding spotting, here are a few of the resources I use regularly:

2M:
http://aprs.mountainlake.k12.mn.us/map

6M:
http://www.on4kst.com/chat/start.php
http://dxworld.com/50prop.html

All:
http://www.dxsummit.fi/CustomFilter.aspx
Click to expand...

Excellent! I just signed up for dxsummit.fi. It looks good.

73,
Bob
 
sixer and patio, thanks for the help. The dxspotter sites made all the difference. We just needed Georgia and had them very weak on 40M waiting/hoping for conditions to improve, then they seemd to have faded. We checked the dxspotter sites and found them on 20M. 15 minutes later we had our last colonie. If I had known about them at the start I would have been done a day or 2 ago.
 
Glad to pass on something useful. In most contests spotting is a no-no but I think had I made an attempt at the 13 Colonies I likely would have. I mostly use those sites when just looking to fire up the radio for the evening to see if there is any enhancement or skip, and if so in which direction. It is a double edged sword though, late last week while at work with no hopes of getting near a radio stations all over the East coast were working into Japan.

Congratulations to you and your son for getting all 13 stations as well as the Penn endorsement!
 
I didn't know that either. I have 12 now and all I need is - you guessed it - GA!
Nice job getting all 13 + the Penn.
I don't fly but I work for David Clark and I've been to Oshkosh three times and it's a lot of fun.
 
sixer said:
I didn't know that either.
Click to expand...
To clarify, each contest has their own rules. Most ARRL contests do not allow for spotting unless you are in the assisted category, CQ Wordwide however has changed their contesting rules to allow passive spotting for contesting, and active spotting for certain digital modes and EME. On HF self-spotting is almost always a no-no. At the end of the day, each contest has their own rules so read them closely. That said, the 13 colonies really had no rules so you were all set.

Congratulations to everyone who even tried at this contest!
 
patio said:
To clarify, each contest has their own rules. Most ARRL contests do not allow for spotting unless you are in the assisted category, CQ Wordwide however has changed their contesting rules to allow passive spotting for contesting, and active spotting for certain digital modes and EME. On HF self-spotting is almost always a no-no. At the end of the day, each contest has their own rules so read them closely. That said, the 13 colonies really had no rules so you were all set.

Congratulations to everyone who even tried at this contest!
Click to expand...

OK, teach me more. What's the difference between active, passive and self-spotting?
 
sixer said:
I have 12 now and all I need is - you guessed it - GA!
Click to expand...

Well........did you get GA?

We had a tough time with it. We had him on 40M very weak and were listening to him fade in and out hopeing conditions would become more favorable. Then we quit hearing him. We checket the spotter sites and he had moved to 20M. 15 minutes later my son and I had our clean sweeps.
 
cockpitbob said:
OK, teach me more. What's the difference between active, passive and self-spotting?
Click to expand...
That probably would have been smart of me to include the first time huh? [grin]

CQ Contest Rules said:
There are three types of QSO alerting assistance:
(1) Passive is defined as any technology that provides callsign and frequency information of potential new contacts to the operator, not initiated by the entrant. It includes, but is not limited to: The DX Cluster, spotting nets, packet and web clusters, Skimmer, and the like.
(2) Active involves the direct initiation of QSO alerting information by—and with the direct participation of—the entrant to benefit the entrant’s score. It includes, but is not limited to, self-spotting or by stealth (such as asking other stations to spot you).
(3) Interactive includes any two- way conversation (or variation thereof) between stations to effect a QSO. This includes use of the telephone, and website posts providing information beyond that of callsign, frequency, and sequence.
Click to expand...
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_...ontest_rules/2011_cq_ww_vhf_contest_rules.pdf

Wikipedia said:
Self-spotting
The most controversial use of the system is in self-spotting, where a competitive station sends a spot advertising its own operation on the air. Almost all contest sponsors explicitly prohibit this activity in their contest rules, so finding stations that self-spot in a blatant manner is uncommon. Most stations that engage in self-spotting do so by hiding or masquerading their identity as the source of the spot. Because of its easy accessibility and lack of user authentication, identifying such abuse on the packet cluster system is difficult, and may lead to false-positives. Enforcement in cases where self-spotting is suspected can be variable. Peer pressure remains the most effective means of curbing this undesirable behavior.
Click to expand...
 
Original 13 Colonies Special Event - Main Page

It's that time of year again [grin]!

From noon 7/1 until midnight 7/7 each of the original 13 colonies will have special event stations logging contacts on the HF bands. Even if you just get 1 you can get the certificate. Get all 13 and you get the "Clean Sweep" mark on the cert. Last year's certificate had such a good picture of Old Ironsides that I framed it.

It's a great hunting trip from your shack. OK to use spotter sites since this isn't a contest but just a fun event to get people on the air.

Take a look at each colonie's QSL link. Each has a QSL card. Some are really nice.


2013CertificateSample_zps18868792.jpg
 
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It's day 2 and I've got 11 of the 13 Colonies in my spare time. If you don't feel like working the stations just give a listen. It's a good education on how pile-ups are handled.

And as many of the people in the special event are saying, 73 and God bless America.
 
cockpitbob said:
It's day 2 and I've got 11 of the 13 Colonies in my spare time. If you don't feel like working the stations just give a listen. It's a good education on how pile-ups are handled.

And as many of the people in the special event are saying, 73 and God bless America.
Click to expand...

Damn you must have a lot of spare time. I have been on a few hours the last two nights and work 5/13. I have made 3 on 40m and 2 on 20m. It would be nice if I could fill some states. What time are you jumping on for these contacts?
 
DG, I work from home so I got in some time at lunch, then my commute is down the stairs into the shack in the basement.

Are you using DXsummit.fi for spotting them? The first year I did this I didn't know about spotter sites and I wore my finger out scanning up and down the bands hunting. The one draw back to the spotter sites is that within minutes of someone posting a 13 Colonies station, that station has a pile-up.

I've also gotten 5 stations with CW. The pile-ups are much much smaller. The stations are usually are frigg'n speed demons but they slow down a little when they hear my feeble 13wpm reply. About all I need to be sure i heard is that they got my call and a signal report so I just listen for that if they are going too fast.
 
cockpitbob said:
DG, I work from home so I got in some time at lunch, then my commute is down the stairs into the shack in the basement.

Are you using DXsummit.fi for spotting them? The first year I did this I didn't know about spotter sites and I wore my finger out scanning up and down the bands hunting. The one draw back to the spotter sites is that within minutes of someone posting a 13 Colonies station, that station has a pile-up.

I've also gotten 5 stations with CW. The pile-ups are much much smaller. The stations are usually are frigg'n speed demons but they slow down a little when they hear my feeble 13wpm reply. About all I need to be sure i heard is that they got my call and a signal report so I just listen for that if they are going too fast.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great Job!! Sign me up. I have not been using the spotter sites. I did not know they existed. I have 7 right now and I thought it was easy to find them. CPB we will need to try to get on 40 Meters some time soon. Last time I tried to talk to you was 2 Meters before I got HF.
 
I'm pretty lucky with the job situation though cabin fever or family distractions can be a problem.

I've got everything but CT now. This is where the spotter sites really help. I could spend days listening to the other 12 pile-ups looking for CT. I'm just going to sit and wait for CT to show up on dxsummit.fi and then grind the pile-up.

Yes, let's try 40M some night. I'm no propagation expert but I think there's a chance we'll be shooting over each other's heads. If so, can you do 80M?
 

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