Northern Lights Radio Society
Contesting 101 -- RoverMania
RoverMania is our name for the ARRL August UHF Contest. We gave it that name because we felt that the August contest is an especially good fit for folks who want to try their hand at contest participation as a rover station. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I need to talk about some more general concepts of contesting.
Ham Radio contesting generally consists of an activity in which licensed hams try to make as many radio contacts (QSO's) with as many other stations as possible, during the hours that the contest period specifies. More QSO's = more points = better score. Really pretty simple.
For VHF contests, and particularly for UHF and Microwave contests, there is a bit of a problem with the simple idea of one QSO = 1 point. The problem is that the very high frequency radio waves seldom propagate over enormous distances, so one ham in a densely populated area might make hundreds of easy QSO's with hundreds of hams within a 20 to 50 mile radius, while another ham, with considerably more skill, and a better radio station, who ought to get a higher score, is at a serious disadvantage if he lives in a rural area, say the northeast corner of Iowa, instead of in one of the New England states.
Enter the concept of multipliers. The designers of the contest figure out some things that suggest that the QSO was harder to make, and rewards the contester more generously when the more difficult QSO is actually made. One simple scheme that applies to most VHF and UHF contests is that higher frequency bands get more points per QSO. For example, in the August UHF contest, one QSO on the 222 MHz band gets 3 points, while one QSO on the 1296 MHz band gets 6 points, and one QSO on the 10368 MHz band gets 12 points. This helps to reward the "better" stations and operators, but still doesn't address the issue of population density disparities. Enter the Grid Square.
A Grid Square, also known as a Maidenhead Grid Square, is an approximately rectangular area on the surface of the Earth, 2 degrees of longitude wide by 1 degree of latitude tall. Every point on the Earth's surface has a unique Grid Square location. In most VHF and UHF contests, the total number of QSO points that you have earned gets multiplied by the total number of unique Grid Squares that you have worked. So, working 10 buddies in your own Grid Square (i.e., nearby) on 222 MHz gets you 30 points in the August UHF contest, but working 10 strangers on 222 MHz, each of whom is in a different Grid Square, would earn you 30 x 10 = 300 points! That is quite a large reward for making contacts that are further away from your location.
This also helps to explain the concept of Rover stations. A Rover station is one that operates from 2 or more different Grid Squares during the course of the contest. A fixed station is allowed to contact the same Rover station every time the Rover moves to a new Grid Square. In this manner, the fixed station earns lots of new multipliers for working different Grid Squares, and the Rover earns lots of QSO points even if there are not a very large number of fixed stations within range. In most contests, the Rover station also gets to earn more Grid Square multipliers for each new Grid Square that they activate (work from). So, there is benefit to both types of station.
There are some contests, such as the ARRL 10 GHz And Up Cumulative Contest, that take this idea of distance-based scoring even further. Instead of a small fixed number of points per QSO, the value of each QSO is equal to the number of kilometers of distance between the two stations. So, making one QSO with a station 10 Km away gets you 10 points, while making one QSO with a station 250 Km away earns you 250 points! The distance between the two stations can be computed if you know the 6-digit Grid Square of each of the stations. (A 6-digit Grid Square, which is often referred to as a sub-grid, is a more precisely-defined location. There are 576 sub-grids in each Grid Square, arranged in a 24 x 24 array. So each sub-grid is 5 minutes of longitude wide by 2.5 minutes of latitude tall.) The math is a bit complicated, but there are numerous programs available for computers and PDA's to do the distance calculation for you.
But you may be saying, "So, why should I care about any of this? I am not a contester!"
One answer is that even if you don't plan to enter the contest or work hard to get lots of contacts, any valid QSO that you make with a contester helps him or her to earn a better score, and they will appreciate your helping them out in this manner. It's not hard or very time-consuming to make a valid contest QSO. So, if you have a few moments to spare, why not do it? You are not obliged to keep a log or send one in. You can, if you choose, "give out points" by making casual but valid QSO's with the contesters. And in the process, you might have a little fun in operating your ham radio gear in a way that is a little different than your usual style of operation. Maybe you spend most of your time on a local 2 meter FM repeater. But wouldn't it be a buzz to use that same radio and antenna, tuned to a simplex frequency, and find (during a band opening, for example) that you can talk to a station over 300 Km away? It happened to me during one of my very early contesting experiences!
So, what constitutes a valid QSO? Imagine that you have two ham radio operators, whom I will arbitrarily call AB0CD and W9XYZ. AB0CD sends his callsign and his grid square to W9XYZ. W9XYZ repeats back what he heard, and sends his own callsign and his grid square to AB0CD. AB0CD then acknowledges that his information was received correctly by the other station, and he repeats back the other station's information. Finally, W9XYZ acknowledges that his information was received correctly, and the contact is complete.
Here is an example.
AB0CD says: CQ contest, CQ contest, this is AB0CD in grid EN34aa.
W9XYZ says: AB0CD, I copy your grid is EN34aa. This is W9XYZ in grid EN43xx.
AB0CD says: W9XYZ, I copy your grid is EN43xx, from AB0CD.
W9XYZ says: AB0CD, roger, roger. Thanks for the contact, good luck from W9XYZ.
See, that didn't hurt a bit. You already know your own callsign. About the only other thing you need to know is your own Grid Square location. If you own a Garmin GPS, most of their models can be set to display your location as a Maidenhead Grid Square instead of showing you latitude and longitude in degrees. There are also a large number of internet based tools to look up your grid square, either by entering your call sign, or by entering your street address, or by clicking on a map until you find your home on the map. If you use your browser's BACK button to go back to the previous page, there are a number of links posted there to help you figure out what your Grid Square is. So where do I tune my radio? If you are limited to FM only, simply go to the FM calling frequencies, namely 223.50 MHz and 446.00 MHz. If you have CW or SSB capable gear, go to the SSB calling frequencies, 222.100 MHz and 432.100 MHz. For higher frequencies, you usually use 222 and/or 432 MHz first to set up the contact, then go to whatever frequency is mutually agreed upon on the higher bands, e.g., 902.100 MHz or 1296.120 MHz or somewhere close to (within tens of KHz of) the calling frequency.
There are a few reasons why we in the NLRS encourage you to consider participating in the August UHF "RoverMania" contest.
