Dear contester,
you are invited to take part in the survey about IARU R1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves contests, first of its kind in their 61 years long history.

As you may know, the IARU R1 General Conference in Landshut this year formed the "C5 Contest Working Group" with the task to manage the IARU R1 VHF/UHF/Microwaves contests. Our goal is to bring the contest organization to a higher level so that the number of participants would increase. Contests are very important means of using our bands and this is even more so on microwave bands. We really want to hear your thoughts about VHF&up contesting.

To start a survey, follow this link: https://www.darc.de/referate/iaru/iaru-survey/
Survey will close on 30th of November 2017.

Forward this invitation to all hams that are interested in contest matters.

We are very thankful to DARC for their support.

Begin August some DL friends make a DX expedition on the millimeter bands. They activated, mainly in France, England and the Channel islands, but also touched Belgium. From De Panne they realized QSO's to Ramsgate/UK on 47 GHz and 76 GHz. This were first contacts between Belgium and England.

If you want to know more about this expedition you can read this article (in German). Later it will also be covered in DUBUS magazine.

You can find the list of firsts between ON and the rest of the world by clicking here.

MMMonVHF, in cooperation with the magazines DUBUS and Funk-Telegramm, invites you to take part in the 10th edition of the “144 MHz Meteorscatter Sprint Contest” during the maximum of the Perseids meteor shower (PER). Based on predictions from IMO[4] (the International Meteor Organization), this maximum will occur on August 12, 2017, and August 13, 2017, between 14:00 GMT and 02:30 GMT.
 
 
RULES:
 
Contestperiod:
August 11, 2017, 22:00 GMT – August 13, 2017, 21:59:59 GMT (end time last completed QSO).
 
Participation:
Class 1: QRP (< 1.5 kW ERP)
Class 2: QRO (>1.5 kW ERP)
Stations can participate in one class only. No difference between single- or multioperator stations or modes.
 
Exchange:
Full callsigns, reports (e.g. 26 or R26 for FSK441 or in case of MSK144 +00 or R+00) and final rogers (RRRR)[5].
 
Scoring:
For each completed QSO you receive an amount of points that equals the spheric distance (111,2 km/degree) between you and the station you completed with. A worked station only counts once, so no duplicates allowed.
 
Final scoring:
The total score is the  sum of all points you received for all completed QSO’s together.
 
Logs:
Logs can be send via E-mail or regular mail. Your log has to be received before September 15, 2017 23:59 UTC. In case you have send your log by regular mail, the postmark will count. Logs received after that date will be considered as checklogs.
Logs via E-mail can be sent to: mssprint [at] mmmonvhf [dot] de ; Subject: MSSprint “Call”
Logs via regular post can be sent to:
A.F. Veldhuijsen, PA4EME,
Westlandstraat 9,
6137 KE  Sittard,
The Netherlands.

 
Be sure you log contains at least the following:

• Your call, name, adress and class you want to participate in. Stations in Class 1 (QRP) have to state details about the equipment they used in form of used output power and antennagain. If no data about your station is given, you will be placed in Class 2. The power used for the calculation of the Effective Radiated Power will be the power measured at the output of your transceiver or active amplifier(s);
• The QSO list. As there are many logging programs available nearly every format is possible.
• But make sure that the log will show at least: date, time (to be specific: end time), call, report send, report received, locator and distance (equals points). As it seems that logbookprograms are using different methodes of calculating distance, please check if your program is using spheric distance calculation.
• If you have doubts what distance is calculated you can have a look at the distance calculating menu of the ON4KST-chat which will show you WGS84 and spheric distances.

 
With sending your log you also declare to have operated within the limits of your chosen Class, licence and local regulations when performing any activity that could impact your submitted score. Unsportsmanlike conduct can be ground for disqualification. Also you agree to have the log open to the public which might result in publishing your log on MMMonVHF or in the magazines DUBUS and/or Funk-Telegramm.
Reception of a log will be confirmed in the same way it was received.

Stories and pictures are welcome for the soapbox.
 
Conditions to be observed:

• The use of DX-clusters and chat-channels during the contest is only allowed in such way that there is no exchange of reports or other data from which the status of the QSO can be extracted.
• Limited information on the cluster (e.g. 12:00 DK5EW PA4EME JN48MB<MS>JO20WX) or chat (e.g. 12:00 PA2DW 144.355 CQ for MS Sprint) is allowed.
• Acceptable examples for communications on chat-channels:
  • "Shall we make a sked on 144.388 at 13.10 GMT, PA4EME 1st period";
  • "I have QRM, lets QSY 5 kHz up and start again";
  • "Let us continue for 15 minutes and start again";
  • "Thank you for the nice QSO" after the QSO has been completed on the radio.
• Unacceptable examples for communications on chat-channels:
  • "I only need the final rogers..";
  • "470/9";
  • "I received a burst from you.";
  • "I received a burst from you but no decode.".
• Selfspotting exceeding more then once every 15 minutes will be considered as unsportsmanlike behaviour
• The distance calculation will be spheric as this format is used by most programs that calculates distances between locators. In case a station has claimed his scoring on WGS84, his scoring will be corrected. Calculating a distance by WGS84 will give a different  result then calculating the spheric distance. Therefore the same formula need to be used for each participant.

 
Winner of the contest:
The winner of the contest is the station with the highest amount of points. There will be a winner in each class. If two stations have the same amount of points, the position will have to be shared.
 
Special scoring for outside Europe stations:
There will be a seperate listing for stations outside Europe.
 
Certificate:
 All stations will receive a digital certificate showing the Class and ranking achieved.
 
Results:
The results of the MS Sprint Contest will be published on the foreseen date that DUBUS magazine no. 4, 2017 will be issued: December 7, 2017. Results will be online that day on MMMonVHF. Printed versions will be in DUBUS magazine no.4, 2017 and Funk-Telegramm no. 1, 2018. VHF-editors around the world are free to publish the list as well provided the source and organizers are mentioned.
 
 
Participants are strongly advised to check the QTH-locators from the stations they contacted before they send the log. Using the database of the logbook will not always give you the correct QTH-locator of the station you worked! Just checking all calls with the available databases and a quick search on the Internet for each worked call will help. A very good source for actual locators is the [Users list] which can be found in the menu of the wellknown ON4KST-chat. Special attention should be given to stations that are not working from their home-QTH. Please also check for duplicate QSO's.