For those of you who wondered, yes, there will be a GridLoc contest again this year. Here are the details. George and I are toying with the idea about prizes for the winners... ------------------------------------------------------------ International HF Grid Location Contest (GridLoc) I. Announcing Second annual International HF Grid Location (GridLoc) contest. II. Objective For Amateur Radio operators around the world to contact other Amateurs in as many Maidenhead grid squares as possible during the contest period. III. Contest Period 1200 UTC April 13 to 1200 UTC April 14, 1996 (Second full weekend of April). All entrants may operate a total of 18 of the contest's 24 hours. Off periods must be no less than 30 minutes. IV. Operator Classes There is only one power class (less than 150 watts). 1. Single Operator, phone only, CW only and mixed mode. One person performs all operating and logging functions. Use of spotting nets, DX Alert Packet Systems, telephone, etc., is not permitted. 2. Multi-Operator, Two Transmitter. Mixed mode. Only 1 signal per band permitted. Once a transmitter has made a contact on a given band it may not change to another band for at least 10 minutes. All transmitters and receivers must be located within a 500 meter diameter circle or within the property limits of the station licensee's address, whichever is lesser. The antennas must be physically connected by wires to the transmitter. 3. Rover. Mixed mode. One or two operators of a single station moving between two or more grid squares during the contest, and making contest contacts, using the same equipment and antennas at each site. A rover station should sign "rover" after their callsign for voice and "/R" for CW. V. Modes Contacts may be made using CW or SSB. VI. Bands All HF bands (160-10 M) excluding the WARC bands (30, 17, 12 M). VII. Valid Contacts A given station may be contacted only once per band mode from a given grid square. Rover stations may be worked once per band mode in each grid square they visit. VIII. Exchange All stations must transmit a proper Maidenhead grid square (i.e. EM10) and an operator name. If the Maidenhead grid square is unknown stations may be counted for QSO credit only. IX. QSO Points Count 1 QSO point for each valid contact made during the contest. X. Multiplier Points Count 1 multiplier point for each Maidenhead grid square worked per band, not per band mode. Stations not supplying valid Maidenhead grid squares do not count for multiplier credit. XI. Final Score Total QSO points times the total multipliers equals the total claimed score for all entrants except rovers. Rover stations must add the total number of QSO points from each grid, add the total multipliers from each grid and multiply these to produce the final score. XII. Score Submission Log submissions should be sent within 30 days of the end of the contest to: Internet: geoiii@bga.com Mail: GridLoc P.O. Box 180703 Austin, TX 78718-0703 GridLoc is an Open Log contest and all log submissions become the property of the GridLoc organizers. XIII. Awards To be decided. Q. Are there any rules changes this year? A. Yes. This year stations may be worked once per band mode instead of just once per band. This rule change aligns GridLoc with other multi-mode contests (like the IARU HF Championships). For example, mixed mode stations may work each other on 20M phone and then again on 20M CW. Both QSO's count for 1 point but any multiplier credit applies only once. Q. Why use Grid Squares as multipliers? A. More common than countries and zones, Grid Squares provide a large number of multipliers which can be worked on each band. This makes the flavor of this contest different from any other since WPX multipliers can not be worked on each band. Q. How do I determine my Grid Square? A. There are a number of ways to determine this. Ask other amateurs in your area (especially VHF operators) what the grid square is. If no is knows either consult the ARRL grid square map (which will be useful only if your community is clearly within a grid's boundary) or type in the BASIC computer program available from the ARRL Operating manual. It will determine your grid square based on longitude and latitude. Q. Why is the contest 24 hours long? A. To give everyone around the world equal opportunity to operate at peak propagation hours. Q. Why does it start at 1200UTC (7AM CST)? A. This start time gives everyone around the world ample time to get home from work on Friday and prepare for the contest the next day. The contest ends before Monday all over the world. Q. Why limit stations to 150 watts of power? A. One hundred fifty watts is more than enough to work stations around the world. Higher power would raise QRM levels on the bands and result in complicating the GridLoc rules with the additional categories. Q. What are the suggested frequencies? A. There are no suggested frequencies. However it is expected that most activity will be centered around the lower edge of the general sub-bands and the Novice/Tech portions of the 10 meter phone band. Q. Are there any DX awards for HF Grid contacts? A. Yes. The Japanese Amateur Radio League offers the Worked All Grid award to Amateurs who work stations in 100 or more Grids. Endorsements are available for multiples of 100 additional grids. For more information write to: The Japan Amateur Radio League, Inc. Award Desk 14-2, Sugamo 1-Chome, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170, Japan Q. Why are packet spotting systems not allowed? A. Packet is not allowed for single operators only. An entry using a packet spotting network would be part of the multi-two category with "net" as one of the operators. Q. What is an "Open Log Contest"? A. An Open Log Contest is a contest in which operating logs submitted for entry to the contest organizers are made available to the public. It is the intention of the GridLoc organizers to make all of the submitted logs available electronically. This allows everyone to study the techniques of the top operators and to analyze logs using common software tools. Q. Do any logging programs support GridLoc? A. N6TR's logging program TRLog supports the GridLoc contest starting with version 5.19. W5XD's logging software WriteLog (for Windows) now includes a GridLoc multiplier module. Q. Will there be any awards? A. Yes. The organizers will produce awards based on the amount of activity for the contest. At this time it is certain that continental winners in each operating category will receive certificates as will the top ten scorers in each division worldwide. Certificates for the top college clubs are also planned. Q. Where will the results be published? A. There are several possibilities being investigated. The organizers hope to have the results published so as to reach the most Amateurs as possible. 73, Robert Barron, KA5WSS barron@liant.com Liant Software Corporation Hook 'Em Horns!