11/20/2020

TheÿARRL November Sweepstakes[1]ÿ(SS) phone weekend is upon us, and this year, participants will have to search out an additional Section. The SSB event is from November 20 - 22 (UTC), getting under way at 2100 UTC on Saturday and continuing through 0259 UTC on Monday. Stations may operate 24 of the available 30 hours. The SSÿOperating Guideÿpackage, available forÿdownload[2], includes all rules and examples of log formatting. The deadline to submit SS phone entries is November 29.

The number ofÿARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC)[3]ÿsections rose to 84 earlier this year with the addition of Prince Edward Island (PE) as a separate entity. The objective of SS - or "sweeps" - is to work as many stations in as many of the 84 sections as possible within 24 hours of operating. The number of sections worked is a score multiplier, and working all of them is a "clean sweep."

The SS contest exchange has deep roots in message-handling protocol and replicates a radiogram preamble. In SS, stations exchange:

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ A consecutive Serial Number. Operators do not have to add zeros ahead of numbers less than 100.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Operating category (Precedence) -ÿQÿfor Single Op, QRP;ÿAÿfor Single Op, Low Power (up to 150 W output);ÿBÿfor Single Op, High Power (greater than 150 W output);ÿUÿfor Single Op, Unlimited, regardless of power;ÿMÿfor Multioperator, regardless of power, andÿSÿfor School Club.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Your call sign.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Check - the last two digits of the year of first license for either operator or station.

úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ Section -ÿARRL/RAC Section[4].

Direct[5]ÿquestions to the ARRL Contest Program.


[1] http://arrl.org/sweepstakes
[2] http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes
[3] https://contests.arrl.org/contestmultipliers.php
[4] http://www.arrl.org/contest-sections-list
[5] mailto:contests@arrl.org

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