NAQCC General Sprint Rules

Bands - Frequencies:
80M - 3555-3565 kHz (Be courteous to FISTS operating on 3558 kHz)

40M - 7039-7050 kHz (Avoid W1AW on 7047.5 kHz).

20M - 14059-14065 kHz.

General:
A particular station may be worked once on each band. Operate CW only.
All licensed amateurs are invited to participate, but only club members operating QRP (5 watts or less) are eligible for awards.
All entries must be single-op, single-xmtr. No multi-op, multi-xmtr, SO2R, etc. We want our sprints to be basic simple events friendly and fair to all participants, and not favoring the big contest stations and operators.

Call:
CQ NA

Exchange:
RST - SPC (State Province or Country) - NAQCC Nr.
(non-Members substitute power level for NAQCC Nr., e.g. 5W, 1W, etc. Be sure to add the W.)

QSO Points:
QSO with a Member, 2 points.
QSO with a Non-member, 1 point.

Multipliers:
Each USA state
Each VE province
Each country except W/VE
All multipliers count only once in the sprint.

Bonus:
If you use only a straight key for the entire sprint, multiply your score by 2.
If you use only a bug for the entire sprint, multiply your score by 1.5.
If you key with anything other than a straight key or bug, there is no bonus multiplier.

Categories:
SWA - simple wire antennas - for those using a simple wire antenna per NAQCC definition for all contacts.

GAIN - gain antennas - for those using other than a simple wire antenna.

If you use a combination of SWA and GAIN antennas, all QSO's with both types of antennas count, but you must enter in the GAIN category.

Scoring:
Figuring your score is easy if you do the following:
1. List your total QSO's
2. List the number of those total QSO's that were with NAQCC members
3. Add the previous 2 numbers together to get QSO points
4. Multiply this by the number of multipliers you worked for your initial score
5a. If you used a straight key, multiply the initial score by 2 for your final score.
5b. If you used a bug, multiply the initial score by 1.5 for your final score.
5c. Otherwise your final score is the initial score

Log and Summary Report: The easiest thing to do is to use the GenLog program for logging and then submit your report via the autologger. If you don't use GenLog and/or the autologger, this section will describe everything you need to know to submit a proper report.

If you use GenLog for logging, be sure to submit the correct log file with your report.

First be sure you are using GenLog version 6.57 or later. If not, please update it before the next sprint. Then after the sprint, use the 'Log' menu - 'Write ASCII log [K3WWP.log]' selection to create your log, and submit the K3WWP.log file via the autologger, email, etc. Obviously your log will have your call in the menu choice and log file name, not K3WWP.

If you log on paper then manually create your log and summary after the sprint, we have a form with instructions available to assist you.

Your Sprint Report must contain number 1, 2 and 3 below. Number 4 and 5 are optional:

( 1 ). A plain text file having one line for each QSO you make as in the following example - the GenLog file described above has this exact format:

Call  Bnd Time  Worked SPC Nr/Pwr NewMult Pts
K3WWP 80  0131  KB3LFC PA  0001   1       2
K3WWP 80  0132  W2LJ   NJ  0035   2       2
K3WWP 80  0133  AB4KX  TN  5W     3       1
K3WWP 80  0134  W2SH   NJ  0056   -       2

Call    = YOUR call letters, not K3WWP
Bnd     = Band (just 80, 40, 20 - not 80M, 40M, 20M)
Time    = QSO time (IN UTC/Z ONLY - no colon between hour and minute)
Worked  = Call of station worked
SPC     = His state or province (DX for non W/VE stations)
Nr/Pwr  = His NAQCC number or power
NewMult = Indicate a new multiplier with serial number. If the mult
          is not new use a hyphen (-)
Pts     = Point value of the QSO (2 for member, 1 for non-member)

Don't worry about formatting into neat columns. The important thing is to keep all the items in the correct order as shown with at least one space between items.

If you use a computer logging program other than GenLog, the text file output of that program including Cabrillo and ADIF will be accepted as your log if each QSO line contains at least the first 6 items shown in the example above. Logs showing all 8 items are greatly preferred. We reserve the right to reject any logs containing QSO's without the first 6 items until they are corrected and re-submitted.

( 2 ). A scoring summary:

The very basic requirement is a list of the following items:
1 - Total QSO's (including those with members and non-members)
2 - The number of QSO's just with members (if you made 33 QSO's overall and 30 were with members, we want the number 30 here)
3 - The number of multipliers (SPC's) you worked
4 - What final bonus you get (2 for a straight key, 1.5 for a bug, 1 for anything else)

If you want to help out the overworked log checker, something as close as possible to the following example is preferred for easy cut and paste to the web site, and it takes but a few seconds for you to prepare it:

YourCall QSO's Mbrs QSOPts Mults Score Bonus Final
K3WWP     27    25   52     18    936   x2    1872

YourCall = YOUR call letters
QSO's    = Total QSO's made
Mbrs     = How many of those total QSO's were with NAQCC members
QSOPts   = QSO points (simply add QSO's + Mbrs)
Mults    = The number of different SPC's you worked (multipliers)
Score    = Preliminary Score (simply multiply QSOPts X Mults)
Bonus    = Bonus multiplier (x2 for SK, x1.5 for bug)
Final    = Final score (simply multiply Bonus X Score)

( 3 ). Antenna description & Category:

Examples:

110' indoor random wire
80m loop @ 65'
40-dpl@ 20',80-1/4wv vert

Category: SWA (or GAIN)

Your Time Zone (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific)

If your antenna is outdoors, please include its approximate height.

( 4 ). If you are eligible and competing for the Special Award of the month, you must indicate by prefacing whatever you say with "SPECIAL AWARD:" or we will not enter you in the Special Award competition.

( 5 ). Any comments you wish to be posted in the Soapbox must be prefaced with "SOAPBOX:" or they will not be posted since we won't know if they are intended as public or private comments.

Log Checking:
Each month all logs received are put into a master database for cross-checking as is done in any sprint or contest worthy of the name. This is done to correct any errors that may result in a score and/or position change in the standings. We feel this is the only way to be completely fair to all participants and ensure accuracy and credibility in our sprints. All errors found and their corrections that involve a scoring change are then reported to the participant so he may learn more about contest logging and benefit from it in future contests. If you submit a QSO that was not found in the other person's log, you are given that person's email address so you may check with him/her about the missing QSO. Most contests penalize errors in some way, but we do not. If you weren't notified of a scoring change, you may still request a summary of any other errors found that didn't involve a change in your score.

If you're curious about cross-checking, here is our procedure along with some other notes about your log submissions.

Here is what Chas W2SH had to say about our cross-checking procedure after he was involved in a 'not-in-log' situation: "And that is just one thing that puts NAQCC head and shoulders above ALL other similar clubs. May the amply demonstrated fairness and integrity of the Club's administrators, that also seems to prevail within the membership, long prevail!"

Logging Program:
We strongly recommend the GenLog program mentioned above. It has a special template for our NAQCC sprints. GenLog is available from http://mysite.verizon.net/dmascaro1/. An up-to-the-minute data file and instructions in zip format can be obtained here. It is updated to include the latest members the afternoon of each Sprint. Check the Readme file in the zip archive to be sure it is the latest for that month's sprint.

We thank Dave W3KM, creator of the program, for his help in quickly updating the program for our NAQCC needs. While the program is freeware, it might be nice to send Dave a small donation since he has been so helpful in modifying GenLog to work with our sprints.

If you still log with paper and pencil, you can enter your QSO's into GenLog after the sprint and have it produce the same log file. That would be much easier for you than having to re-type your log into a word processor. Also it would serve to check that you copied the correct member number in your paper log.

Either way, after all QSO's are entered, be sure to go to the "Log" menu and select "Write ASCII Log [K3WWP.log]". Of course your menu item will have your call letters, not K3WWP. Then send the log so created or copy and paste it's contents into our autologger as your log.

Awards:
To encourage more participation from our western USA members, we are awarding a certificate to the top score from each USA mainland time zone, i.e. Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific in our SWA category. Thus participants in each time zone will effectively only be competing against others in their own time zone. Since band conditions vary so widely across the USA at the time of our sprints in the evening, this should 'even the playing field' somewhat.

We will continue awarding only one certificate to the GAIN category winner since we receive so few entries in that category.

Thus each sprint will now have the following certificates awarded:
1st place Eastern time zone SWA category
1st place Central time zone SWA category
1st place Mountain time zone SWA category
1st place Pacific time zone SWA category
1st place overall GAIN category
Special Award for achievement in a different situation each month (using a homebrew straight key, using an indoor antenna, etc.) - awarded via a drawing among the top qualifiers in each of the certificate divisions listed just above.

Any DX stations entering the sprint will enter in whichever time zone is closest to their location. For example, EU stations would enter in the Eastern time zone division, KH6, KL7, JA, etc. would enter in the Pacific time zone division.

There are now three ways to submit your sprint report listed here in order of preference:

1. Use our on-line autologger.

2. Email your report to naqcc33@alltel.net

Logs may be submitted as an attachment or in the body of the email - your choice. Make the subject of your email "[YOUR call letters] Sprint Log". For example in my case: K3WWP Sprint Log. This is VERY important - any other subject may cause the email to be deleted because of spam filtering.

If you use either of the first two methods and your score is not posted within a day or two of sending your log, check with us to be sure we received it OK.

3. Send your log via postal mail to:

John Shannon, K3WWP
478 E. High St.
Kittanning, PA 16201

All entries must be RECEIVED before 2400Z on the Sunday following the sprint.