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While European operators will be focused the EU HF Championships this weekend, US and Canadians ops get to spread their contest focus between the ARRL UHF test and the North American QSO Party.
The NAQP CW is on the first weekend in August; the SSB portion comes up two weeks later on the weekend of August 16.
In the ARRL UHF, Mike King KM0T puts his four year winning streak on the line in this contest, as he again looks to put his central location in Iowa to his advantage.
In 2007, King and Don Wilke WW8M ran away from the field, as King won the Single Op High Power category 369k to 336k.
Both of them more than doubled the score of the top Multi-Op, Team K5QE.
The last time KM0T finished out of the money in this contest was back in 2003, when Bill Lentz AA2UK got the victory. Since then, King has won four in a row, and twice beaten the top multi as well.
Meanwhile, it's a CW affair in the North American QSO Party, which returns for its August version.
The big score was put up last year by Team K5KA, as Ken Adams' squad cranked out over 300k points, doing most of the damage on 40 meters.
In the single operator ranks, Dave Mueller N2NL won't be able to defend his August 2007 title that he won from K1PT's QTH in South Florida, as Mueller will be doing his day job with the US Coast Guard.
"I am hoping, however, to make a run up to K1PT for the NA Sprint CW in September," the WRTC veteran told radio-sport.net.
Mueller won both NAQP CW tests in 2007, August in South Florida and the January version from California.
As for what part of the country might be favored in this year's August NAQP CW, one important question obviously will be propagation.
"I think when considering propagation in August, the W4's and W5's will have a clear advantage," said Mueller. "High band conditions are usually poorer, and stations to the south usually get some sort of North/South propagation on 10/15 meters."
"The competitors will have to keep an eye on 10 meters as there is often a chance for sporadic-E propagation in the late afternoon and early evenings," he added.
Last year, the down solar conditions forced many contestants onto 40 meters much earlier than usual, as 10 and 15 meters offered little in the way of rate and/or multipliers.
Mueller for example, made only 117 Q's on 15 and 10, for 48 mults. He made 571 on 20 and 40 and 105 multipliers.
Looking for propagation clues in recent contests, the IARU test a few weeks ago found some domestic openings on 15 meters, but the focus was mainly on 20 and 40.
One reminder for anyone thinking about competing seriously in the NAQP CW contest, there is no high power category, not even for the multi-ops.
W3SZ - Single Op Low Power
K5QE - Multi Op
W0ZQ - Rover
See the results of the 2007 ARRL UHF contest at the ARRL website.
N2NL - Single Op Low Power
KC5R - Single Op QRP
