UBA Candlelight Challenge 2003-2004    

Aim
The aim of this challenge is to promote (very) low power and narrowband techniques on HF. For this purpose a series of low power transmission sessions will be held in the period November 2003 - April 2004. Each session will be on a Sunday from 17-18 UTC and the callsign followed by a 5 character codeword will be transmitted at very slow CW speed. The challenge for all participating radioamateurs is to copy the codeword.

About narrowband techniques
In order to increase the signal to noise ratio the receiver bandwidth is reduced to less than 1 Hz. This is done by connecting the audio output of the receiver to the soundcard input of a PC, where special FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) software reduces the bandwidth to the sub-Herz level.
More information about narrowband techniques and the available software can be found at : http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/136narro.htm

Transmit hours
17:00 to 18:00 UTC

Transmit frequencies
80 m band : 3.585,0 kHz
40 m band : 7.037,0 kHz
30 m band : 10.140,0 kHz

Mode
CW at 0,4 words per minute (also called QRSS3)

Codeword
The codeword consists of five arbitrary unique characters in a A-Z and 0-9 range.
Examples : AMTOR, MORSE, 3GLK5, XTA24

Transmit schedule

Date(Sunday) QRG Callsign WW locator RF Power
23-11-2003 3.585,0 kHz ON4AXW JO10VW 500 mW
07-12-2003 3.585,0 kHz ON5UK JO10TX 150 mW
21-12-2003 3.585,0 kHz ON5SL JO10TT 60 mW
04-01-2004 3.585,0 kHz ON4LP JO11PE 30 mW
18-01-2004 7.037,0 kHz ON5EX JO10UX 500 mW
01-02-2004 7.037,0 kHz ON4LP JO11PE 150 mW
15-02-2004 7.037,0 kHz ON7YD JO20IX 60 mW
29-02-2004 7.037,0 kHz ON5SL JO10TT 30 mW
14-03-2004 10.140,0 kHz ON6IH JO20KV 500 mW
28-03-2004 10.140,0 kHz ON5UK JO10TX 150 mW
11-04-2004 10.140,0 kHz ON4AXW JO10WV 60 mW
24-04-2004 10.140,0 kHz ON5EX JO10UX 30 mW

Transmissions start at 17:00 UTC precisely. The message consists of the callsign and the codeword. The codeword is repeated untill 18:00 UTC.
Example : ON4AXW AMTOR AMTOR AMTOR AMTOR AMTOR

Reporting
Please mail your signal reports to [email protected] within one week following the transmission date.
A valid monitoring report contains :
  1. Your callsign / SWL identification
  2. Your WW QTH locator
  3. The codeword as copied by you
Supplementary data such as a full station descripion, snapshots, etc. are most welcome.

Score

Score = Distance (in km) multiplied by the number of correct copied characters and divided by the transmitter power (in Watt)

Distance are calculated from the center of the locator squares and rounded to the km.
At least two correct copied characters are required.

Example :
Transmit location: JO10UX
Receive location: JO11PE
Transmit power: 10 mW (= 0,01 Watt)
Number of copied characters: 3
Distance from JO10UX to JO11PE = 37 km
Score: 37 x 3 / 0,01 = 11.100 points

The final score is the sum of the scores from all transmit sessions. It is not required to participate in all sessions.
The intermediate results after each session will be published on the UBA website : http://www.uba.be/, click on the language you prefer, then click on HF, then click on QRP.

Awards
Awards will be granted to all participants.
Special certificates of merit can be granted for outstanding performances.

Additional experiments
All radioamateurs are also invited to take part in other experiments of similar nature organised on intermediate Sundays.
For more details, please refer to the QRP page of the UBA website: http://www.uba.be/, click on the language you prefer, then click on HF, then click on QRP.