11/20/2020

The ARRL November Sweepstakes[1] (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 SS Operating Guide package, available for download[2], includes all rules and examples of log formatting. The deadline to submit SS phone entries is November 29.

The number of ARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC)[3] sections 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:

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

·         Operating category (Precedence) - Q for Single Op, QRP; A for Single Op, Low Power (up to 150 W output); B for Single Op, High Power (greater than 150 W output); U for Single Op, Unlimited, regardless of power; M for Multioperator, regardless of power, and S for School Club.

·         Your call sign.

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

·         Section - ARRL/RAC Section[4].

Direct[5] questions 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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