One of the AWs during IARU HF W1AW Be a rare multiplier for 24 hours! NU1AW

How We Got the Opportunity Dave Patton, NN1N at ARRL Headquarters 12 to 15 years ago, Dave was ARRL’s speaker at the Monroe Hamfest K5ER, NN1N and W5WZ discussed contesting in Louisiana We have our friend Dave Patton NN1N at ARRL Headquarters to thank for this opportunity. About 12 to 15 years ago, we managed to get the ARRL to send a headquarters representative to the Monroe Louisiana hamfest as a speaker. Dave was the ARRL representative. Mark K5ER and me were on the club's board at that time, so we had the responsibility to "host" the visitor. Following the ARRL forum at the hamfest, in the few minutes that remained before having to take Dave back to the airport, the three of us were talking about contesting. As I recall, Dave mentioned that he always saw K5ER and W5WZ in odd categories in the contest results, and asked us why. We told him it was because we knew we could not compete with the big guns, especially W5WMU. Dave told us that was a crazy strategy, and that if we wanted to get better, we needed to play in the big leagues. His advice was "Think loud, be loud! Get in there and mix it up with them!" So we did. Ever since that weekend, Dave has been a friend to us, and was an influence in the founding of the Louisiana Contest Club in 2008. Mark and I seek him out at Dayton Hamvention to keep in touch. During contests, if we make a QSO, we often take time to say a quick hello.

A simple question via email on June 1st Hey Mark and Scott! Any chance you want to organize a small, distributed multi-multi for the IARU test this July 8/9? I have an offer out for W1AW (which may not materialize but I also need a team to do NU1AW. Be a rare mult for 24 hours! 73, Dave

What's the Big Deal? As a rare multiplier, we become the hunted! 5.1. IARU member society HQ stations send signal report and official IARU member society abbreviation. IARU International Secretariat club station NU1AW counts as a HQ station. Members of the IARU Administrative Council and the three IARU regional Executive committees send “AC,” “R1,””R2,” and “R3” as appropriate.

Getting other stations involved Email to the LCC members: Who is interested in participating in a distributed multi-multi operation during the 2017 IARU HF contest in July? If you participated in the ARRL Centennial QSO party in 2014 when the LCC operated as W1AW/1, you know how much fun that was and what the pileups were like. A similar opportunity is on the horizon. The LCC has been offered the opportunity to use the call NU1AW/5 for the 2017 IARU Contest as a distributed multi-multi! This will be a 24-hour all-out effort to make many thousands of QSOs!

ARRL Guidelines Requirements: 1. Entirely within Louisiana Assigned time slots by band and mode Call CQ and RUN Requirements: 1. All transmit and receive antenna must be in the state of Louisiana 2. Participating stations will be assigned a specific time slot to operate on a specific band and mode 3. Participating stations are to call CQ and run - not tune around looking for stations to work. Our job is to put the NU1AW multiplier on the air. Logistically, it may be preferred for some Louisiana stations that are capable of operating with multiple transmitters and high power to be the operating locations, and host groups of LCC members at their stations.

Host Stations Step Forward

KN5O – Covington, LA Tower #1 Tower #2 Tower #3 Mosley 2N6 @ 80’ Mosley Pro67C3 @ 70’ Tower #2 5 ele 20m @ 100’ 2 ele 40m @ 87’ Tower #3 5 ele 15m @ 88’ 5 ele 10m @ 72’

Host Stations Step Forward

W5WZ - Calhoun, LA Tower #2 Tower #1 Cubical quad @ 45’ 160m Inv L @ 77’ 160m dipole @ 105’ 80m Shunt-fed tower 80m dipole @ 77’ 40m 2/2 @ 118’/52’ 20m 3/3/3 @ 118’/85’/52’ 15m 4/4/4 @ 118’/85’/52’ 10m 7/7/7 @ 118’/85’/52’ Tower #2 Cubical quad @ 45’ 20m 2 ele 15m 2 ele 10m 2 ele

Host Stations Step Forward

Coordinating Operating Time Slots Online tool by N2IW Proven during the ARRL Centennial The tool could be modified for the specific needs 24-hour contest period and 1200 UTC start Both modes per band Host station owner login access

Coordinating Operating Time Slots http://w5wz.com/nu1aw/

Online Tool Works Well Each host station reserved time slots Each station owner staffed to fill his slots Changes made in real time as needed

The Team of 14 Operators Ops at KN5O: KN5O NO5W K2FF K5YG W5XU N5HZ KG5HVO 2 transmitters Ops at KA5M: KA5M KG5VK 1 transmitter Ops at W5WZ: W5WZ WM5H W5LA K5ER KV8S 3 transmitters

Setting Expectations for NU1AW/5 11 years ago, Mad River Radio Club and North Coast Contesters were NU1AW/8 from northern Ohio with about 9,000 QSOs Better QTH for running Europe Larger stations Many more operators Our LCC goal was 5,000 to 7,000 QSOs Why does 11 years ago matter?

Because the 11 year solar cycle 2006 Actual Conditions Solar activity was very low The geomagnetic field was quiet 2017 Forecast Conditions Solar activity at moderate levels Solar activity expected low with a chance for M-class flares The geomagnetic field was at quiet to minor storm levels for the 24 hours prior to the contest What Really Happened in 2017 M1.3 solar flare, G1 geomagnetic storm

What's that solar stuff mean? Only 143 QSOs on 10m

What's that solar stuff mean? Very limited DX QSOs on 15m 829 total

Dit-Dit-Da-Da-Dit-Dit My elmer Jim W5LA running CW as NU1AW/5 during 2017 IARU at W5WZ

CQ Test DE NU1AW/5 Mark K5ER and Bobby WM5H running SSB as NU1AW/5 during 2017 IARU at W5WZ

Everyone contributes!

Submitted Score

Rumored Standing by Claimed Scores By Category - HQ #16 World #2 USA By Total Score #24 World 3830scores.com

First Attempt N1MM+ Partner Mode Another operator with a computer is “partnered” with a Run transmitter Listening to same audio stream Listening to the same frequency via a separate receiver and antenna Enters callsigns heard to “stack” the next QSO for the running station. Can also offer 2nd opinion on difficult to copy stations

Too late for this contest N1MM+ Wide Area Network (via Internet)

Contesting Analysis - Datamining SH5 v.2 is fast and easy to use contest log analyzer which creates a variety of statistics in HTML format from the Cabrillo format log generated by any contest Reports may be viewed with any Internet browser SH5 Contest Log Analyzer http://w5wz.com/sh5/w5wz/2017/2017_iaru-hf_nu1aw_5/

A Rare Multiplier! The rates were great! BUT, they were BELOW our expectations!

Questions we love to answer. How far can Ham Radio reach Questions we love to answer! How far can Ham Radio reach? Can you speak that many languages? What about the time zone differences?

24 hours of QSOs in 4.2 minutes http://www.w5wz.com/pindrop.html Each QSO, in order, from the NU1AW/5 log For the 24-hour period, the average QSO rate was 209.58 per hour or 3.49 per minute Keep in mind the contest started at 7 am local time Notice the geographic distribution of the QSOs as time progresses See if you can identify the propagation patterns as the sun moves across the sky