2021 Convention Schedule

Saturday August 7, 2021 – All times shown are Pacific Time

Times and Presentations are subject to change

9:00 AM	Welcome from Chairman
9:05 AM	Randy Foltz, K7TQ - N1MM+ Setup From Beginner to Intermediate. Randy will demonstrate a minimal N1MM+ setup for either a CW or a SSB contest, an Entry, a Log, and a Check window. Macro definitions for CW including what to include and what not to include plus a discussion of how to use Enter Sends Message will complete the Beginner phase. The Intermediate phase will include a discussion of additional useful windows such as Bandmap, Available Mults, Telnet, and a few others. With the addition of keyboard shortcuts to send CW that is not in a macro, to re-send the last function key, and CW speed up/down, the participants will be able to utilize many of the features of N1MM+ that make it the most popular contest logging program.
10:00 AM	Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA - Cycle 25: A New Hope. Carl will discuss the predictions for and the progress of Solar Cycle 25, including what to expect in terms of propagation throughout the remainder of 2021 and in the next couple years as Cycle 25 ascends. He will then briefly review websites with space weather data and how to tie the important parameters to HF propagation conditions. Finally, he will highlight real-time propagation websites that allow us to assess what’s happening right now.
11:00 AM	First Prize Drawing
11:30 AM to 11:45 AM	Break Time
11:45 AM	Scott Wright, K0MD - Ham Radio operating from China – my time with the B1Z contest group - Scott enjoyed operating CQ WPX CW with the Radio Club of Beijing B1Z during the 2007 CW WPX contest. He was their guest. He will describe the experience, the propagation and show photos of their mountaintop contest station.
12:45 PM	Second Prize Drawing
1:00 PM	Al Rovner, K7AR - The Raspberry Pi and Arduino for Dummies. Al will present an introduction to the Pi and Arduino and how you can use them in your shack. Demonstrations include using a Pi as a WSJT terminal, a remote antenna switch, and a controller for hotspots.
2:00 PM	Mike Ritz, W7VO - ARRL Contest Forum - Mike will be joined by Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, ARRL Radiosport Manager; Bill Lippert, AC0W, ARRL Board of Directors Contest Advisory Committee Liaison; and Jim Cassidy, KI7Y, ARRL NW Division CAC Representative to discuss recent developments and answer questions
3:00 PM	Third Prize Drawing
3:15 PM	Vince Van Der Hyde, K7VV - How to Work DX: The First One Hundred - This talk is aimed at the novice DX'er. Using W9KNI's famous book as a guide we'll review some 'best practices' , guidelines, standards and hints about how to work the first 100 to get your DXCC.
4:15 PM	Dr. Scott McIntosh, Deputy Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research - Hale Cycles, Terminators and their control of the Sunspot Cycle: How Will They Impact Cycle 25? - Scott will discuss the relationship between the Sunspot Cycle and the underlying (magnetic) Hale Cycle and how that relationship can help us understand what the Sun might be doing. Further, as a result of this relationship we have a better sense of how the Hale Cycle shapes the amplitude of sunspot cycles. Finally, I'll discuss how we arrived at our "out of the box" forecast - that SC25 could be large - and why that forecast is contrary to the opinion of dynamo experts. Finally, I'll present an update on the growth of SC25 and look at how our forecast is tracking against reality.
5:15 PM	Wrapup - Introduction of next year's convention