KØTO Inducted Into Contest Hall of Fame
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Last Updated on Thursday, 02 June 2016 02:36
The Contest activities during Dayton May 2016 will hold a special place in the history of the Minnesota Wireless Association. Our club was promoted and honored alongside our very own Tod Olson, KØTO.
The modern day “re-founder” of MWA, Tod Olson – KØTO, was recognized for his vast contributions to ham radio contesting and radiosport as Tod was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame as one of the two 2016 inductees.
Tod was recognized for starting the leading journal of radiosport – the National Contest Journal, as well as his leadership in radiosport. Tod was acknowledged and recognized for mentoring a number of world-class contesters including many in MWA and across the world. He also was recognized for his contributions to ham radio leadership by holding so many past leadership positions in the ARRL – Vice Director, Director, International Vice President, and Honorary Vice President. Finally Tod was recognized for his infectious enthusiasm for radiosport which continues to this day as he has organized a remote station for his Idaho QTH using an Icom 7300 which he allows access to for many hams around the world who want to try remote operation.
Tod was introduced by MWA President Bill Lippert, ACØW as well as Randy Thompson, K5ZD who represented the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. Tod received a standing ovation at his introduction, and then he regaled the audience with his thoughts on ham radio including one of his early contest operations. It appears Tod as a young ham persuaded a fellow student to drive him to his girlfriend’s home in Southern Minnesota to scout out a location to operate for the upcoming Field Day. However, Tod failed to explain to Jackie what Field Day was so they literally had to set up in the field. While there they figured they better check out propagation from the location so set up a station and started operating. Tod and his friend found a CD Party in progress so joined in the fray. Not fully understating the rules, the decided to “pirate” themselves as a “NTS” station which resulted in higher rates and more QSO’s. It apparently worked and set the hook, for Tod married the girlfriend – Jackie- and developed a deep interest and love for contesting that has not waned even to today! Tod ended his remarks by talking about how important the Minnesota Wireless Association was to him, to radiosport and encouraged all in attendance to join an active contest group. What a fabulous Minnesotan to take his night of fame and share it with the MWA and all radiocontesters!
The induction ceremony was only one of several special moments for Tod during the Dayton Hamvention.
Friday night, the contest supersuite celebrations were dedicated in part to Tod. The famous ham band – Spurious Emissions – dedicated their opening song to Tod. The song “On the Cover of NCJ” was a perfect tribute to Tod and the band’s leader Ward Silver asked Tod to join them on stage to be serenaded! Tod remained there for the rest of the evening and knew the words to nearly every song the Spurious Emissions played!
Saturday evening after the Hall of Fame dinner, MWA hosted a reception for Tod in the Crowne. Many members and friends dropped by to see him and to say hello! It was great to see him chatting with all – including some of the younger and newer members of the organization. Tod has a large number of radio friends from across the world as was evident by all who stopped in.
Many thanks to Bill for his role in introducing Tod and leading the nomination effort, to Matt K0BBC who organized a table at the Contest dinner, to Hans KØHB who drove in largely to join the celebration for Tod and the many others who came to Dayton’s Contest U and helped with all of the contest super suite activities to honor Tod, to John Olson, WBØSID, Tod’s son who joined Tod and us to help Tod with the travels and to re-ignite his own passion in Ham radio, and finally to all from outside MWA who made the weekend special for KØTO and all of us.
Scott, KØMD
Club Competition Update
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 March 2016 16:43
The final scores are now posted and we can declare a (preliminary) winner for the 2015-2016 Team Competition!
Based on reported scores, Team Hennepin will be the winner of the pizza at the Fall Meeting! This is still a very close race and the log checking will be the final determination of the winner. The MNQP will be the closest race and could swing the competition!
Here are the final results:
- Team Hennepin - 6 Points (CQWW RTTY, SS Phone & Overall SS, ARRL 10M, MNQP & ARRL DX Phone)
- Team South - 4 Points (CQWW DX Phone, CQWW DX CW, ARRL 160M & ARRL DX CW)
- Team North - 2 Points (SS CW & ARRL RTTY RU)
Here are the results from the ARRL DX Phone Contest:
- Team Hennepin - 13,742,530 points (Up 161.49% over last year!) - 20 Active Members (39% of team)
- Team South - 9,487,868 points (Up 39.24% over last year!) - 19 Active Members (37% of team)
- Team North - 3,285,074 points (Down 5.77% from last year) - 16 Active Members (25% of team)
- OVERALL MWA - 26,515,472 points (Up 70.46% over last year!) - 55 Active Members (33% of the club)
Well, the contest season has ended. We saw propagation decline but we maintained scores from the previous season!
This was our first season using the point system versus the overall percentage gain. Let me know your thoughts on this system. Also, let me know your thoughts on how we can improve our activity levels, or other ideas you have!
As scores come out, I'll update the standings and make them "official." I hope everyone got their logs in!
Thanks to everyone who was active this year! It sure was another fun contest season!
73, Rich NØHJZ
A Few Points on Getting More Points
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 26 May 2015 18:19
Metal-in-air, butt-in-chair, submit your log.
That mantra goes a long way, but there is much more to learn and do to improve
your contest score. This guide has suggestions everyone can implement on any budget.
Contesting takes practice and patience. Start by making a few improvements here and
there, and over time it will add up to bigger scores for you and the club.
Bill Mitchell, AEØEE, provides some tips on improving your score in this article.
How To Win The Pizza - A New Way!
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Last Updated on Thursday, 08 October 2015 17:16
We've come up with a new way to "win the pizza" for this season! In an attempt to have some fun, increase MWA scores, and level the playing field between contests, the MWA Team Competition has a new method for the 2015/2016 contest season. This was announced at the MWA meeting but I wanted to get the word out to everyone in the area.
Previously we used the percentage gain for the entire year as the determining factor for the winning team. Whoever increased the most over the entire season won the pizza. Simple!
As we analyzed the results, we found that the DX contests really drove the season. Why operate the little contests when you can create a large score in CQWW or ARRL DX? We looked at a way to make ARRL 160 or MNQP mean as much as the CQWW events.
Here is the result:
- Each of our 11 contests will be separate events. Each contest will be worth one point (11 points total). The team that improves their score percentage the most (year over year) in each event will be awarded one point. Sweepstakes Phone is now worth the same as CQWW DX CW or ARRL RTTY Round-Up! Eleven separate points will be awarded for our eleven contests.
- Each year we will also give out a bonus point for a specific event or set of contests. This year the extra point will be awarded to the team that improves their scoring increase (year over year) for the combined Sweepstakes events. With this one bonus point, there are 12 points available throughout the entire contest season.
- If teams are tied at the end of the season, the tie breaker will be the team that improved their score percentage (year over year) in the Minnesota QSO Party.
This new scoring method will hopefully get more stations active in more events. We'll see increased activity, more QSO's for each of us, and larger scores for MWA! I'll have the first results out soon. Let me know if you have any questions.
73 Rich NØHJZ
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