N2BJ WE9V WT2P
The Society of Midwest Contesters
The Society of Midwest Contesters

SMC Member file available

1/19/2015 – Anthony, AB9YC, created a member file that can be used with your contesting software. If you are running N1MM+, you can select this file and the regular history file for your contest and they will combine. You can export a new history file and they will be combined and used later.

Once the contest starts and any SMC member calls you, SMC Member will show on the screen and show their name and state.

Link to file…  SMC Member File

I will also add this to the Resources tab. It will be updated from time to time. We also may add other useful files.

WPX Zone 4 Award thank you

12/23/2014 – From  K4AB:

“It was a nice surprise to open the mailbox and get the plaque for Zone 4 in the CQ WPX phone contest!
I want to thank SOMC for the sponsorship.
Having spent 2 years in the Midwest back in the 80’s, I KNOW what contesting is like in your neck of the woods!
Please give my appreciation to all the members of the club…I know I’ll see you all in upcoming contests.
73,
Larry K4AB
WZ4F in WPX”

SMC SS SS Results – Certificates sent to winners….

12/8/2014 – W9SMC  SMC Team MidCentral found itself in Third Place at the end of CW Sweepstakes, but strong participation in SSB Sweepstakes vaulted them to a First Place overall finish in the first ever SMC Sweepstakes Sweepstakes, according to the preliminary results released today, with the East team taking second place.

The Sweepstakes Sweepstakes is not necessarily about big scores: the East team had the highest average score per log for SS CW and the Northwest team (who led the competition after SS CW) had the highest average score per log for SS SSB along with the highest individual score.  And, the East team had the most logs from both contests with scores of 100,000 points or more.

Continue reading

When should I take off-time for Sweepstakes?

11/13/2014 – The question came up, when should I be taking my off-time for Sweepstakes.  As a reminder, you can operate 24 of the 30 hours.  For your first break, the traditional Midwest thinking is to operate as long as the rate is decent on Saturday night.  This is usually around 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. CT (08-09 zulu).  You would take off about 3-4 hours, until the East Coast wakes up and then get back on the low bands for those close- in QSOs.  You would then take various 30-60 minute breaks throughout Sunday to break up the monotony.  In the 2013 ARRL November Phone Sweepstakes write-up, they published a graph of QSOs by hour for the the entire contest.  You might want to study this to develop your own plan.  Please keep in mind that this data is for the entire geographic area, and Midwest best times and strategies may not line up exactly with this chart.  Of course, it would be great if we could have a similar chart just for W9!

 Click on the graph to enlarge

ss-phone-qs-per-hourQST, June 2014