2004 Geminids – December 11 -15 !
Fall 2004 North American Meteor Scatter Rally
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1. PURPOSE: to promote activity using meteor
scatter propagation on the amateur VHF/UHF bands.
2. RALLY PERIOD: Starts on Saturday 0000 Dec 11
to 0700 Dec 15 (Friday evening through Wednesday
evening, North American time.) The dates have been selected to
make good use of the annual Geminids meteor
shower. The Geminids shower’s predicted peak is Dec 13 at
2220 UTC ± 6 hours, but the radiant
is above the horizon from 0000 to 1500 UTC, so it would be good
if the peak is on the late side.
Therefore the 13th and 14th, evening and
early morning should be the best days.
3. ENTRY CATEGORIES: Specify Low Power or High
Power, Single Band or Multiband, and Assisted or
Unassisted operation.
Low Power: Less than 200 Watts output was used at all times.
Unassisted: Entrants for the Unassisted category must
make all of their contacts by calling CQ, answering a
CQ, or tailending on another QSO. There are two exceptions to
this rule. It is permissible for a Multiband Unasissted
station to move a QSO partner to another band. For example, if
you are working someone on 6 meters you might
send "QSY 144.113" instead of "73". In
addition, an Unassisted station may make schedules with other
stations
so long as the schedule is arranged before the Rally has begun.
Schedules for 222 and above may be for any
distance. For six and two meters the other station must be
at least 1300 miles distant (as determined by the
six-digit grid locators of the two stations). This rule is to
encourage efforts to push the envelope of meteor scatter
communication.
PLEASE NOTE: Unassisted means NO use of the Internet or Ping
Jockey during the rally period. Stations may
post their operating schedule or/and frequencies of operation
prior to the rally, but during the contest period no posting
or reading of the various Internet pages is permitted. The
Honor System applies!
Assisted: Entrants in the Assisted categories may
make any normal use of email, Ping Jockey, telephone,
or other scheduling aids during the Rally, but of course they may
not exchange any significant QSO information by
non-meteor-scatter means while a QSO is in progress. Also
note that for any unassisted contacts,made by
an Assisted entrant, the points per contact/band are the same as
for unassisted operation (see Scoring,
below). If a
station that has already been worked via an assisted means is
subsequently worked totally unassisted, the earlier contact may
be disregarded and the unassisted scoring applied.
An example of this is: You copy a station calling CQ and work
him, but you did not see any postings, during the contest,
indicating that the station would be there (at that time or
frequency). Any question as to whether or not a contact
is random can easily be answered by asking yourself, “Did my
internet access make this contact any easier?”.
If the answer is Yes, then it is an assisted contact.
4. EXCHANGE: full callsigns, four-digit grid
squares, and final
communication by non-meteor-scatter means during a contact
invalidates the contact.
5. MODE: any transmission mode (for example, CW,
SSB, HSCW, FSK441,
JT6M) is permitted. QSOs with the same station count only once
per band, regardless of mode. The propagation
mode must be meteor scatter.
6. OPERATING PROCEDURES: QSOs will be much
easier to make if everyone adopts conventional procedures. In
general, the westernmost station should transmit in the first
sequence. On a directly north-south path, the southern station
goes first. For scheduled QSOs in FSK441 mode you may find it
desirable to use 15 second sequences rather than the
conventional 30-second sequences. However, please do not use
anything but 30 second sequencing on 50.260 or 144.140,
the standard CQ frequencies.
All participants are encouraged to listen for "tailenders"
after completing QSOs, and to listen on the standard HSMS
calling frequencies (50.270 and 144.140 MHz) for CQs. The
preferred method of calling CQ is the form "CQ U5 W1ABC",
"CQ D13 W1ABC", or "CQ 113 W1ABC", indicating
that W1ABC will be listening for replies "Up 5 kHz" or
"Down 13 kHz"
from the CQ frequency, or, in the third example, on 144.113. In
each example the subsequent QSO will take place on the
reply frequency, NOT the CQ-calling frequency.
For example: W1ABC in FN42 beams southwest and calls "CQ D10
W1ABC" on 144.140, transmitting in the second half
of each minute. W4XYZ replies on 144.130 and thereafter listens
144.130. As soon as W1ABC hears a reply, he QSYs to
144.130 to send "W4XYZ W1ABC FN42", and the two
stations complete their QSO on that frequency. When the contact
is complete W1ABC can go back to CQing on 144.140, knowing that
either a tailender or someone answering the
new CQ might call him on 144.130.
As a further aid to stations operating in the Unassisted category,
all participants are encouraged to look for requests to
QSY to another band. After receiving RRR from W4XYZ, instead of
sending "73" W1ABC might send "QSY 50.265".
When W4XYZ receives this request she immediately QSYs and starts
calling on 50.265. W1ABC moves over to 6 meters
when he hears no further pings on 144.133, and the pair then make
a QSO on 6.
7. SCORING:
Assisted: Each QSO counts 1 point on 50 and 144 MHz, 3 points on 222 MHz, and 10 points on 432 MHz.
Unassisted: Each QSO counts 3 point on 50 and 144 MHz, 9 points on 222 MHz, and 30 points on 432 MHz.
Contacts made by any of the permitted methods -- pre-arranged
schedule, real-time schedule, calling CQ, tailending, or
requesting a QSY to another band, are all scored the same way.
Your final score is the sum of all QSO points multiplied by
the total number of unique 4-digit grid locators worked, per band.
Standard Rover rules apply for Rover stations; Rovers
also get credit for each band-grid from which they make a QSO.
8. REPORTING: Log information must contain the
following data: Date and time of QSO, callsign of station worked,
frequency, grid square, claimed QSO points, random indicator, and
new grids by band. For example:
Date UTC Call Band Grid Points Mult
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Note that
the 222 MHz. contact was marked as R for random, and received the
extra points for an unassisted QSO.
The following information should be contained on the summary
sheet accompanying the log: Callsign used, Grid Locator,
Power Category, Assisted of Unassisted, Single or Multi-Band,
Name, Address, and Email Address (if available).
Callsign used: K0ABC
Grid Locator: EM48
Power (High or Low): Low Power
Assisted or Unassisted: Assisted
Single or Multi-band: Multi-band
Time Zone: Central
Name: John Doe
Address: 1234 Main Street
My Town, State, Zip
Email address: [email protected]
The summary sheet should include a table of the following form:
Band QSOs Points Grids
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50 1 1 1
144 2 2 2
222 1 9 1
432 0 0 0
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Totals: 4 12 4
Total Score = 12 x 4 = 48
Logs must be postmarked or email dated no later than Jan 16,2005.
Email logs received will be
acknowledged with a return note. If you fail to receive an
acknowledgment please inquire as to your logs status.
Individuals using the postal address may confirm receipt of their
log via email to
Email logs should be sent to
Louis R. Tipton
778CR123
Please, please send in your score! It's very easy to do, and we
want to have a good record of the level of
activity in the event!
9. RESULTS will be posted on a pre-announced web
site.
-- 73 from Joe/K1JT, Tip/WA5UFH, John/N6ENU, and Russ/K2TXB for
the WSJTGROUP, sponsors of this event.