The RaDAR Challenge – How to

The first RaDAR Challenge takes place from 00:00 UTC to 23:59 UTC on Saturday 2 April 2022. Contest details can be seen on http://radarops.co.za/index.php/radar-rules/

The RaDAR Challenge is for everyone. All logs however have to be logged online at http://www.radarops.co.za/radarsport/RaDAR_Sport.html In order to log online you will need a PIN which relates to your own call sign and can be obtained by contacting Eddie ZS6BNE at edleighton@gmail.com

The logging process is important. Logs can be uploaded via ADIF if you log your QSO’s using a different logging program but you will still need to edit RaDAR related fields online.

New log

As with any QSO log these are the standard fields that need to be logged. The frequency should be to the nearest kHz and the times in UTC and usually the time at the end of the QSO to be most accurate. This is important. RaDAR evaluations allow a maximum of five minutes difference in time. RST’s, Comments and Power are just additional information and not that critical as far as RaDAR evaluations go. Just good to know information.

RaDAR Related fields

The RaDAR Related fields are most important. With any RaDAR Challenge deployment only five contacts are needed for every deployment done. Some hams however make more than the required five contacts. Here you have a choice to mark the five QSO’s you consider to be the most important per deployment.

Category

Also very important, mark which category your RaDAR Chellenge is participating in. See the RaDAR rules for more info on these various categories. Evaluations are done online according to these various categories after the challenge. There is no need to submit a log, it is already online!

Your deployment grid locator and the other station grid are most important and important that they are accurate. Ideally both stations should be logging on the system as that validates the QSO and the exchange accuracy. This allows for bonus points to be generated during the evaluation process.

Mode of transport (If any)

Of course, your method of transport, if any, is important too. Fixed, field stations and moving stations have different multipliers. Make sure that you specify these criteria correctly.

Evaluations can be done online at any time by anyone. The evaluator can be accessed at http://www.radarops.co.za/radarsport/evaluate_Sprint.html

The goal of RaDAR

The QSO between Bob KK4DIV and Greg N4KGL is the goal we try to achieve during the RaDAR Challenges. Good luck and have fun!

73 de Eddie ZS6BNE

RaDAR – November 2021 “Official” results

I was busy refining the Evaluator to cater for all the RaDAR Challenge rules. I had to edit just about all the logs, not the QSO or Grid detail but adding “Power” which means nothing here really and adding the x / 5 markers estimating which QSO’s were most valid.

The overall result (Category X) November the sixth 2021 from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC

The graph shows all participants that actually logged their QSO’s online. Queries can be further done to determine the scores for the Categories A, B, C and D (Chasers).

Category A (24 Hour challenge)

Category B (Standard four hour challenge)

Category C (Two hour RaDAR Sprint)

Category D (RaDAR Chaser stations)

Category D operator can be active at any time on the day of the RaDAR Challenge. They are the chasers and the guys the moving RaDAR stations really need. They are usually fixed stations and possibly connected to the grid too.

There is however something I need to look into. I calculate the number of deployments by deviding the number of (Selected) contacts by 5 and rounding up. The number of contacts that chaser stations make are calculated in the same way although not seen as deployments but certainly can be seen as a multiplier for the many contacts the chaser station could make making himself available.

The categories are calculated separately so this should not present a problem, the multiplier for category D just needs a name and has not been mentioned to date.

RaDAR Sport – ZS3DR Test case

In the year 2021 RaDAR Sport was introduced and practical experiments done during the last of three challenges on November the sixth. Much development and updates were done to accommodate the situations which may arise during a RaDAR Challenge.

New fields were introduced into the online logger to cater for these situations and here presented as a test case and to explain how the online community logger and evaluator are used to evaluate any of the RaDAR Challenges.

Please refer to the RaDAR rules at http://radarops.co.za/index.php/radar-rules/

Page 1

The new columns introduced are Power and x / 5, where Category existed on the day of the challenge already. Here ZS3DR took part as a category B (SINGLE PERIOD, FOUR HOUR ops) RaDAR station, moving by vehicle (Vehicles, motorcycles and motorboats (motorized transport) – move 6 km every five contacts).

If more contacts were made than the required five per deployment, the best five QSO’s can be selected for evaluation. The best options are where a valid grid check took place (Bonus points) and second at least where QSO information has been validated by other operator log submissions. Good choices could be those where the operator is also taking part in the RaDAR challenges.

So in effect, after the RaDAR challenge has taken place the operator can come back to the online log and make these decisions and also correcting any mistakes that may have crept in during the logging process. Certainly after an ADIF upload this will be required as ADIF files only carry the most basic information. Once the logs have been submitted and refined by all participants then an evaluation can be done online.

Here again a test case for ZS3DR. Tjaart only operated two hours but category B runs for four hours unlike the RaDAR Sprint category C which is two hours but no motorised vehicles allowed.

Date, time and category selection

Tjaart’s operating times and category were selected for the test case evaluation for the 6th of November 2021. Fortunately all the guys that logged their RaDAR Challenge logs have provided valuable data to refine the system for this year 2022 and years to come.

On clicking the submit button, all the magic happens, within seconds. Concentrate here just on the results for ZS3DR.

ZS3DR’s Final result

Here we can see from the selections Tjaart made (Edited by ZS6BNE) to his logs that he made 10 official RaDAR contacts (Even though he had more QSO’s than the required five per deployment). His mode of transport / movement was a vehicle and moving stations have a multiplier of 3. That gives a score of 30. From the logs he had selected 2 were validated by other RaDAR operator logs right up to the grid exchange which gave him in total 4 bonus points. A subtotal was then calculated to be 34. The number of deployments (Five contacts per deployment) then come into play as a multiplier. Those stations that do multiple deployments within the time frame enjoy a higher score than other stations doing fewer deployments.

Each participants score presented graphically.

Once all the other call signs are correctly marked and refined by each participant (Here I will use that data to edit and test) then the graph will be quite representative of all the results.

Ensure you have your assigned PIN which is related to your call sign. The first RaDAR Challenge for 2022 is just around the corner, in April!

73’s de Eddie ZS6BNE