Thursday Night Contesting
Sponsored by the Northern California Contest Club
Practice Contests
The Northern California Contest Club sponsors Thursday evening (NA local time) contest practice sessions of 30 minute duration. On the Thursday (and, sometimes Friday also) prior to a major contest weekend, the practice format follows the upcoming contest.
NS (NCCC Sprint)
Generally, on other Thursday evenings, a special format is followed, called NS or "NCCC Sprint". The NS began in the summer of 2004 as a snappy, concise contest occurring most Thursday nights, North American time. NS participants are asked to listen for slower stations and reduce their CW speed to accommodate them. In the long run this tactic may increase the pool of active contest participants. The power limit is 100 watts. For high QSO rate, NS Rules allow dupes after just one intervening QSO and other modifications of the NCJ NA CW Sprint rules. There is no score reporting and the goal is to keep in practice and have FUN!
Ladder Competition (NSL)
During periods of infrequent major contests, an NS ladder competition may be held. There may be one or two ladder competitions per year. A ladder competition is a series of NS events (NS Rules) where competitors are ranked based on the sum of their best X of Y event results. For example, if the series is 18 Thursday evening NS events, the ladder may be based on one's best 12 NS results in that series. For details on the current ladder competition, go to Ladder. For the current ladder rankings, go to Results.
N6ZFO analyzes the results of including, or not, the "legal dupe" rule where a station can be worked again on the same band after at least one intervening QSO. Here is his analysis of the two "no-dupe" test sessions in the middle of the 2009 NS Ladder series.
SNS ("Slow" Sprint)
From the outset NSL organizers have encouraged skills development. This can be difficult, however, with CW speeds of 30 to 40 WPM common in the NSL. Three years ago, Mike, W9RE, and Bill, N6ZFO, conceived a pre-NSL slow-speed practice session competition, strictly limited to 18 WPM or below but otherwise following NS rules. Ken, N6RO, suggested the name SNS (“Slow NS”). The SNS takes place on 20M, 40M and 80M at 0200 UTC, 30 minutes prior to the NSL. To help slow the NSL speed demons to 18 WPM, K7SS proposed that NS pros use the SNS to practice straight key or bug skills. This works very well.
Logging Software information is available for the major logging programs listed in the left-hand navigation menu. Please send W0YK any information you have on these and other loggers when used for NS. This will enrich this web site and make it easier for others to join in NS.The NCCC holds its weekly club net at the close of these Thursday night contests on 75-meter LSB. The net is open to all and often the check-ins will share their results and experiences in the just-completed Thursday night contest. The exact time and frequency of the net is included in the weekly announcement (see next paragraph) of the Thursday night contest.
Weekly announcements are made as to the format for these Thursday evening contest sessions and other related information. Watch the Next NS web page or the email reflectors, e.g., CQ-Contest, NCCC, CT-User, TR-Log, etc. Questions can be directed to N6RO, N6ZFO or NCCC VP/Contest Chair K6DGW.
Northern California Contest Club
