This short CW sprint ran from 1500Z to 1800Z on Saturday March 13th 2010.

This contest is now in its' fourth year and is proving very popular.
If you operated in the event please send in an entry to show support.
All entries must be in by 13th April 2010.



Unsure about Grid Squares ?

Don't worry - it's just a way of locating your position on the planet using a 6 character code. They have been used for years by VHF/UHF DXers, now grid locators are being exchanged on the HF bands too. For our purposes we will be exchanging just the first 4 characters (e.g. FN02). In the USA this equates to a roughly rectangular area 70 miles by 100 miles. Steve Ford WB8IMY wrote an excellent article explaining locators in the April 1994 issue of QST. There is also a good explanation on Wikipedia.

If you know your latitude and longitude then you can easily work out your grid square using either the ARRL or AMSAT calculators.

Here's the easiest way of all - there's a really great propagation prediction program called VOACAP. Go to their QTH Locator web page, it shows Scandinavia by default. Drag the map over to your location and zoom right in. You will find your latitude, longitude and grid locator displayed on the right hand side of the page. Great stuff !

Any questions should be directed to the QRP ARCI Contest Manager Jeff Hetherington VA3JFF (pictured above).

Did you know that you can get a contest entry form, logsheets and dupe checking sheets from the Downloads section of this website ?

Click on 'Read more' to get the rules

Mode:

HF CW only.

Exchange:

Members send: RST, 4 Digit Maidenhead Grid Square (i.e. FN02), ARCI member number
Non-Members send: RST, 4 Digit Maidenhead Grid Square (i.e. FN02), Power Out

QSO Points:

Member = 5 points
Non-Member, Different Continent = 4 points
Non-Member, Same Continent = 2 points

Multiplier:

Grid Square total for all bands. The same station may be worked on multiple bands for QSO points and Grid Square credit.

POWER MULTIPLIER:

>5 Watts = x1
>1 - 5 Watts = x7
>250 mW - 1 Watt = x10
>55 mW - 250 mW = x15
55 mW or less = x20

SUGGESTED FREQUENCIES:

160m 1810 kHz
80m 3560 kHz
40m 7030 kHz (please listen at 7040 kHz for rock bound participants)
20m 14060 kHz
15m 21060 kHz
10m 28060 kHz

BONUS POINTS:

If you are operating PORTABLE using battery power AND a temporary antenna, add 5000 points to your final score. (You can NOT be at your shack operating from battery power using your home station antenna to qualify for this bonus.) This is to help level the playing field for contesters who work from the field against contest stations with 5 element yagis at 70 ft.

Score:

Final Score = Points (total for all bands) x Grid Squares (total for all bands) x Power Multiplier + Bonus Points

Categories:

Entry may be All-Band, Single Band, High Bands (10m-15m-20m) or Low Bands (40m-80m)

How to Participate:

Get on any of the HF bands except the WARC bands and hang out near the QRP frequencies. Work as many stations calling CQ QRP or CQ TEST as possible, or call CQ QRP or CQ TEST yourself! You can work a station for credit once on each band.

Email Log Submission:

Submit Logs in plain text format along with a summary stating your Callsign, Entry Category, Actual Power and Station Description along with score calculation to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Snail mail Log Submission:

Submit Logs along with a summary stating your Callsign, Entry Category, Actual Power and Station Description along with score calculation to:

QRP-ARCI Grid Square Sprint
c/o Jeff Hetherington, VA3JFF
139 Elizabeth St. W.
Welland, Ontario
Canada L3C 4M3

Deadline:

Entries must be postmarked on or before 13 April 2010.

Results:

Will be published in QRP Quarterly and shown on the QRP-ARCI website.

Certificates:

Will be awarded to the top scoring entrant in each category. Certificates may be awarded for 2nd and 3rd place if entries are sufficient in a category.