Don’t forget about the March ARRL International DX Contest, coming up this weekend, March 5th, where amateurs work as many amateur stations in as many DXCC countries of the world as possible on the 160-, 80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, and 10-meter bands. This year, the entry categories have changed. They are as follows:

Single Operator Assisted, High Power

Single Operator Assisted, Low Power

Multioperator, Single Transmitter, High Power

Multioperator, Single Transmitter, Low Power

Low power constitutes 150 watts or less. There are lots of little details to look over before deciding which category you want to fit in to, including whether you want to work a single band or multiple bands of radio, where your callsign indicates you are from (I’m operating portable 4, and so during the contest, my callsign must reflect that), and whether you will have assistance or operate alone.

Further, there are awards available (as usual), and they are categorized as follows:

1. Top W/VE scorer in each entry category; Single Operator, All-Band QRP; Single Operator, All Band Low Power; Single Operator, All-Band High Power; Single Operator, Single Band (160-10 Meters); Single Operator Unlimited; Multioperator, Single Transmitter; Multioperator, Two Transmitter; Multioperator, Multi Transmitter.

2. Top scorer in the Single Operator, All Band category worldwide and on each continent. In addition, worldwide leaders in the Single Operator, All-Band QRP; Single Operator, All Band Low Power; Single Operator, All-Band High Power; Single Operator, Single Band (160-10 Meters); Single Operator Unlimited; Multioperator, Single Transmitter; Multioperator, Two Transmitter; Multioperator, Multi Transmitter categories will receive plaques.

3. Additional special plaques will be awarded as sponsored.

Please see the ARRL Website for more detailed information, including a link to the official Contest Rules.

Even if you don’t have a HF transceiver, get in touch with someone who does and see if they wouldn’t mind if you observed or helped out. You don’t have to be licensed to help, either, so long as the station licensee is allowing you to.

73 & good luck!

Added a new page to the Projects Page. It’s about my portable 1-wire Weather Station. Check that out!

Some pretty good severe Wx late this afternoon in Eastern TN, AL, northern GA, SC, and Western NC; still going on at this time. Check my Weather Page to see what’s happening. On the full North America radar loop map, you can click where you want to view closer detail, and it links to the closest radar site. From there, you can view Storm Relative Motion to get a good idea of any rotation or vortices, and you can check the Composite loop to see the stronger areas. Further, you can click to zoom in and you can change the options for viewing, such as whether you want to see the NWS warnings illustrated or not (they can get in the way of seeing details sometimes). Check it out.

Did some chatting this afternoon with a Boy Scout troop over in Valdese, NC. They had an amateur call and then ask to do third party QSO, so I jumped in and did some chatting. What a great idea! W4JNH was the station who was allowing the third party communications for the troop. It sure can be a lot of fun to use radio, especially when you have a friend to use it with! I would imagine that in Boy Scouts, radio could be used all of the time, during their normal activities and events. Hopefully some of those guys were inspired to study and get their license! Good luck!

73,
K8JSM