SKSE - The SKCC Straight Key Sprint Europe

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The Straight Key Sprint Europe is modelled on the ordinary SKS but with adjustments to make it more accessible to our European members.

The next sprint is the 1st SKSE Anniversary and will take place on Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 1900-2100z.

2000-2200 / 8:00pm-10:00pm BST (British Isles etc.)
2100-2300 / 9:00pm-11:00pm CEST (Central Europe Time: Most of mainland Europe)
1200-1400 / 12:00pm-2:00pm PDT (Pacific Standard Time: Western US)
1500-1700 / 3:00pm-5:00pm EDT (Eastern Standard Time: Eastern US)

May Theme: Newcomers

It has now been a year since this event was first held, on May 5 2011.

Each of the 12 events so far have been successful events, where new and old SKCC members from both sides of the "pond" have had the opportunity to work each other.

Now, a year has passed and the SKCC has evolved in that time, with a lot of new members (including many from Europe), many of whom I've worked during the SKSE and/or WES.

For me it's an event I look forward to every month, knowing I'll meet old and new friends in Europe with 599 signals and have "impossible" QSO's with QRP stations on the other side of the Atlantic, conditions permitting, all within the space of two hours.

For those of you who haven't taken part before, the SKSE is a very informal sprint. Sure it's a contest, but it's very much in the spirit of having fun and not excessively competitive, there's always time to say a quick hello to your friends apart from the required exchange, and I find it especially nice to meet those EU members who've joined during the year and hearing their CW skills improve month after month!

Each and every participating station, and that certainly includes the "top" members who tend to end up in the top-3 places every month, are always extremely welcoming to a newcomer, and will happily QRS for them, so if you have never taken part in any contest style operation before, the SKSE is a good place to start.

With all that said, since this is the beginning of a new year for SKSE the theme for the May SKSE will be newcomers - every station who has never taken part in the SKSE before will be worth a 25 point bonus in the scoring. If you are a newcomer to the SKSE, you may add "NEW" if you are calling CQ or during the exchange, but this is not a requirement.

In the entry form, there will be an extra field for entering the callsigns of all the stations you worked. The database will be checked automatically and your "newcomer" bonus will be calculated for you, so you don't need to keep track of whether the stations are newcomers by yourself during the sprint.

On behalf of the SKSE team (myself and Feco HA8KW), we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible for the anniversary SKSE!

Prizes and Awards

Each entrant may download a printable PDF certificate once the final results of each event are confirmed. Other prizes and awards may be made available from time to time, including aggregate awards based on a station's results in multiple sprints.

Rules and Scoring

Eligibility

You do not have to be an SKCC member to participate. All participants must use a manual key (straight key, sideswiper or bug) unless granted an exception by SKCC.

Entry Categories

There are 4 categories for this sprint:

Class 1: QRP - 5 watts or less
Class 2: QRO - 100 watts or less
Class 3: QRO - Greater than 100 watts
Class 4: SWL - Short Wave Listener

An overall winner as well as the winner for each class will be announced.

Suggested Frequencies

Any frequency where CW and contesting is allowed by your licence class and your local band plans. Remember to be considerate to other hams!

The frequencies listed below are those most frequented by SKCC members and are where you are likely to make contact. Look around, and remember to pay heed to any applicable licence and bandplan restrictions.

Band	Frequencies
160m	1820 kHz
80m	3550 kHz
40m	7029 and 7114 kHz
20m	14050 kHz
15m	21050 kHz
10m	28050 kHz
6m	50090 kHz

Spotting and sked pages

Use of SKED pages to announce your calling frequency or arrange QSO's is permitted in the SKSE. This specifically includes the K3UK SKCC Sked Page.

Exchange

The minimum exchange must include RST, QTH, Name and SKCC number. The QTH is sent in a format that makes it clear what DXCC entity it is located in:

Stations in USA or Canada send their 2-letter State or Provice code.
Stations outside of these send their IAAF country code as found here - Note that these are NOT the same as the 3-letter ISO 3166 country codes, which don't include countries like Scotland, Wales, and Faroe Islands which are nonetheless separate DXCC entities

Non-SKCC members send "NONE" as their SKCC number.

Unlike most contests we discourage the use of "staple 599" and encourage real signal reports, so please be realistic when giving the report. We're planning to generate statistics and reports from the received logs, so you'll be able to see how others have fared with the same dx stations etc. which will be much useful and interesting if we give proper reports!

To keep it uniform and to make it easy to find stations calling, we recommend that you call simply "CQ SKS" in this and all other SKCC sprints.

Example exchange

This is meant only as a guideline, the format is open as long as the required information is exchanged.

M0TRN DE AF2Z UR 579 = DREW VA 2082T BK
BK UR 589 THOMAS ENG 7344 TU

Scoring

Score = (Total QSO points x Total multiplier points) + Total Bonus points

QSO points

You earn 1 point per QSO. You can only work each station once per band. Despite its name, the sprint is not limited to contacts with European stations, and you may work any station participating in the sprint, regardless of their QTH, this includes intra-US/Canada contacts.

Multiplier points

You earn one point for each unique DXCC entity worked during the sprint. Note that this is per sprint, not per band. So, for example, once you work a station in France, working a second in France does not increase your multiplier count, even if it's on a different band. You can count your own country as well, if you worked a station there. So, for example, if you worked 5 stations in the US, 3 in Canada, 2 in France and 1 in Serbia, your multiplier is 4.

Bonus points

You earn the following bonus points:

1 points for each unique ordinary SKCC member worked
5 points for each unique Centurion worked
10 points for each unique Tribune worked
25 points for working the Special Station (per band)

These bonuses are per sprint, not per band, so working the same Tribune or Centurion on more than one band only counts once. The only exception is the Special Station, where the bonus is multiplied by the number of bands worked.

You can only add one bonus score for each member worked. Even though Tribunes are by definition also Centurions, and Centurions and Tribunes are also an ordinary members, you can only count each member once - that is, if you've worked 123T, 234C and 7344 you get 1 Tribune bonus, 1 Centurion bonus and 1 Ordinary Member bonus.

If a special event station is announced for the sprint, working that station gives you an extra 25 bonus points.

Submissions

All submissions must be made on the Submission Page within 1 week after the conclusion of the sprint. Submission of logs is not REQUIRED but it is highly RECOMMENDED as we would like to be able to analyze the particpation in the sprint. Logs should be submitted in ADIF or CABRILLO format, details to be announced. The plan is to use the collected log data to get a better understanding of the propagation between Europe and America, the bands used and what stations are working each other, to improve the sprint in the future and provide interesting statistics.

Feedback, suggestions and comments

Please use the Feedback form if you have comments or suggestions!

Sprint Website by Thomas Horsten M0TRN, SKCC #7344T