Category: Contests

Upcoming and recently completed contests

  • 2025 Sweepstakes

    By Bob Hess, W1RH

    Well, we completed our 10th ARRL Sweepstakes club competition in November.  How do you think we did?  Let’s take a look at the battle for our 10th Medium Club win in Sweepstakes.

    I’ve taken a look at the clubs who have scored well in past years as well as those who usually submit around 50 logs and sometimes fall into the Medium Club category rather than the Unlimited category.  This includes the Florida Contest Group and Contest Club Ontario.

    With 53 logs submitted, it looks like FCG will be in the Unlimited category, assuming several logs have not been thrown out due to being outside of the circle, submitted late, etc., so we’re not going to worry about them.  I did, however, include their score in my tally, below.

    That leaves the Tennessee Contest Group, the Arizona Outlaws Contest Club, the Southern California Contest Club, Contest Club Ontario, and the Southeast Contest Club.  There are many other clubs out there and it is certainly possible that a smaller club, composed of mostly all big-gun contesters, could come from out of nowhere but, based on previous years, these are the clubs to watch.

    On the list of the club scores I checked, the top five clubs, with the exception of MLDXCC, had huge CW scores relative to their Phone scores.  This year will be the first year in the 10 years that we have been competing in Sweepstakes that our Phone score was lower than our CW score.  Not by much, however.   Only two clubs on my list had higher Phone than CW scores and they were Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado and the Western Washington DX Club.

    We had 22 logs submitted in SS CW, one of which was Alan, KH6TU, who’s great score of 124,320 can’t be counted because he’s outside the circle.  In SS Phone, MLDXCC had 25 logs submitted and, again, unfortunately we can’t count Alan’s score of 92,988.  Great job by Alan and, of course, he did work most of us.

    I want to note the significance of bringing K9YC, W6SX, K6RIM, K6JS, and K6GHA into our club this year.  Our total raw score this year was 3,508,528.  Deleting the scores of our five new members brings us down to 2,866,496; a huge drop.  This is only 10,000 points above the Arizona Outlaws.  Remember, these are raw scores, prior to log checking, and a 10,000 point difference is close enough that log checking could make the difference.  If you happen to talk to Jim, Hank, Al, Jim and Don, let them know they absolutely KB’d for MLDXCC this year.

    A note about log checking.  Our claimed score in 2024 was 3,413,016.  After log checking, our final score was 3,043,160.  That’s a loss of 368,656 points, which just reinforces what wrote, above.  

    Bottom Line: It is looking pretty good for the little club that could!

    Here’s my score count:

    2025 Sweepstakes Medium Club Competition Ranking Based on Raw Scores

    CCO = CONTEST CLUB ONTARIO

    AOCC = ARIZONA OUTLAWS CONTEST CLUB

    SCCC = SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CONTEST CLUB

    SECC = SOUTHEAST CONTEST CLUB

    GMCC = GRAND MESA CONTEST CLUB OF COLORADO

    TCG = TENNESSEE CONTEST GROUP

    WWDXA = WESTERN WASHINGTON DX ASSOCIATION

    FCG = FLORIDA CONTEST GROUP (Probably in the Unlimited Category)

    CWCWPHONESSBTOTAL TOTAL
     CLUBSCORELOGSSCORELOGSSCORELOGS
    MLDXCC1,902,660221,605,868253,508,52847
    FCG1,657,12627125,954262,914,08053
    AOCC1,900,56220955,618132,856,18033
    CCO1,514,99626891,756212,406,75247
    SCCC1,425,36420912,808182,338,17238
    SECC1,471,47018777,202132,248,67231
    GMCC921,82614986,024111,907,85025
    TCG994,94019693,232141,688,17233
    2024202420232023
     CLUBSCORELOGS/
    RANK
    SCORELOGS/
    RANK
    MLDXCC3,043,16036 / 13,157,38239 / 1
    FCG3,027,430513,261,30053
    AOCC2,493,39828 / 32,665,84236 / 2
    CCO2,806,94446 / 22,620,73848 / 3
    SCCC1,555,22426 / 82,268,25038 / 5
    SECC2,083,74429 / 42,209,31826 / 6
    GMCC1,776,74824 / 61,340,47423 / 11
    TCG1,153,28433 / 152,389,85638 / 4

    I want to mention our members who entered as two multi-ops.  John, NZ6Q, and Ann, N6ACL, used Ann’s call for the contest.  John is our Pacific Division Director.  Steve, NC6R, and Sue, K6SZQ, who used the call, W6LP.  Participating in a multi-op always helps to keep our log count under 50.  In a multi-op, no mater how many operators are involved, it still counts as just one log.

    Finally, I want to acknowledge everyone who helped us get to what I hope is our 10th win.  This time, I want to start with the lowest scores, because every score is important.  Our lower scores may come from experienced contesters who just didn’t have the time, members with limited antennas or from new contesters in our club.  Regarding our new contesters, remember your score in 2025 and try to beat it in 2026.  That’s the way I started out in contesting, with a new goal every year.

    SS CW

    K6ST2,128
    W6RKC3,400
    K7RC9,630
    N6XI13,680
    KE6GLA38,398
    K6GHA47,040
    WX6V61,320
    K6NV70,224
    K6MM77,952
    N6GEO80,640
    W1SRD95,592
    N6TV97,744
    W6EU101,136
    N6RK102,240
    WX5S108,192
    W6SX110,712
    K6OK112,560
    K6RC113,400
    K6RIM113,736
    K6JS118,440
    W1RH120,120
    KH6TU124,320
    K9YC140,448
    WC6H167,328

    SS PHONE

    KE5JTS176
    N6NFB1600
    N6XI5328
    W6RKC6020
    KA9MDP12084
    K6BEW13566
    K6ST13776
    K6TQ25116
    W6SX34048
    K6JS38608
    K6GHA39000
    WX6V41426
    K6OK48202
    K6NV55728
    AE6Y56240
    N6GEO57564
    N6ACL67830
    W1RH72640
    KE8FT76626
    WX5S88536
    KH6TU92988
    N6RK103750
    NR6Q144670
    W6LP164948
    W1SRD177650
    WC6H260736
  • Tips on how to increase your score in a contest

    By Rich Cutler, WC6H

     Schedule the time in your calendar to operate the contest.  Get focused on making your best effort this year.  Give the contest 100% effort for the time you have to operate.

    I like to go to 3830 scores and copy my last year’s contest score and place it on the operating table so I can see how I did last year.  This gives me a benchmark to beat. 

    In the California QSO Party, you need to be calling CQ all the time.  People are looking for you; this is not the time to spend lots of time searching and pouncing.  I wait about a second to a second and a half before my next CQ if no one answers me.  Calling CQ is like fishing; if your line is not in the water, no fish will bite.  

    Keep your exchange to just the serial number and the county you’re in.  You need to set the tempo of your exchange.  If you sound like you mean business, they will respond in kind.  

    Plan your off times to be the most efficient so you’re not off when the rates are still high.

    Most of all, have FUN.

    Good Luck, 73’s  Rich WC6H

  • Presentations and Slides from Dayton

    Here are some useful links from the Dayton Hamvention this year. Please contact the Webwookie if there are any I missed listing here.

  • MLDXCC Scores in the 2024 DX Marathon

    The 2024 CQ DX Marathon results have been posted, and the MLDXCC placed 4th overall in the small club category!

    Also two MLDXCC members placed first for call area 6 in their respective categories: Mike K7QDX in the Limited category, and Richard NC6RJ in the Formula 100W category.

    Let’s go get ’em in 2025!

  • 2025 RTTY Roundup Final Results

    I’ve seen the final results for the 2025 RTTY Roundup and here are the results for the MLDXCC. The club competed in the Medium Club category and came in 9th place.

    RTTY Roundup Medium Club

    Generated by wpDataTables

    Club member scores for Single Op, Low Power:

    • K8TR – 6174
    • KE6GLA – 4294
    • K6DGW – 1650
    • KN6TZK – 735
    • N6NFB – 323

    Club member scores for Single Op, High Power:

    • W7RN – 231990
    • K6TQ – 41391
    • KH6TU – 35108
    • N6XI – 19642

    Club member scores for Single Op, High Power, Unlimited:

    • AF6SA – 60900
    • W1RH – 57798
    • WE6Z – 53054
    • K6NV – 34293
    • NU6T – 28416
    • N6GEO – 25527
    • W1SRD – 23785
    • W6RKC – 11926
    • WX6V – 11122

    Thanks everyone for your participation!