There is a contest for every taste -- including the QSO Parties of each state, as featured in the ARRL's Year Of the State QSO Party. If contests aren't your cup of tea, try the "other" mode or one of the contest-free bands: 60, 30, 17 and 12 meters!

1) Match the multiplier to the contest:
a. Zone        e. CQ WPX Contest
b. Grid        f. June VHF QSO Party
c. Prefix     g. IARU HF Championship
d. State      h. North American QSO Party

2) Which contest features "QTC" as a way of making extra points?
a. CQ WW VHF
b. Worked All Europe (WAE)
c. ARRL School Club Roundup
d. North America RTTY Sprint

3) What is "Precedence" in the ARRL Sweepstakes exchange?
a. The call sign of the station you just worked
b. The number of the contact in the contest
c. Your category of entry: A, B, M, Q, S or U
d. The order in which the exchange elements are sent

4) What is a "captive rover"?
a. The dog in your neighbor's backyard kennel
b. A mobile station that only works the parent club station
c. Slang for the multiplier hunting position at a multi-op station
d. A mobile station running a county line on the County Hunter's Net

5) Match the exchange element with the contest:
a. Name                      g. ARRL International DX Contest
b. Check                     h. North American QSO Party
c. Power                      i. Kids Day
d. Serial Number      j. CQ WW Contest
e. Zone                       k. ARRL Sweepstakes
f. Favorite Color       l. CQ WPX Contest

6) Which of these is the fastest growing contest?
a. ARRL International EME Competition
b. CQ 160 Meter Contest
c. ARRL RTTY Roundup
d. North American Sprint

7) What must you do after a station answers your CQ and completes a contact in the North American Sprint contest?

8) Can a US station work a Caribbean station for credit in the ARRL Sweepstakes? What about Mexico in the ARRL's VHF+ contests?

9) The proper way to acknowledge a station's exchange and resume soliciting contacts is:
a. "W1AW Contest"
b. "CQ CQ CQ Contest W1AW"
c. "Thank You, W1AW, QRZ?"
d. "Test de W1AW"

10) If you work all possible multipliers in the ARRL Sweepstakes, you have just completed a...
a. Slam Dunk
b. Hat Trick
c. Grand Tour
d. Clean Sweep

11) What achievement does the Triple Play Award recognize?
a. WAC three times in one day
b. WAS on three bands
c. WAS on CW, Phone and Digital modes
d. DXCC from three locations

12) In what year was the first contest held?
a. 1913
b. 1923
d. 1927
e. 1930

Bonus: Which event is not a contest, but attracts more participants than any other ham radio activity in North America?

Answers
1) a-g, b-f, c-e, d-h -- CQ WPX CW occurs this weekend (May 30-31, 2009).
2) b -- The QTC mode of WAE encourages short log extracts to be exchanged. This is novel and challenging!
3) c -- Precedence is also an element of the ARRL Radiogram preamble, on which the ARRL Sweepstakes exchange is based.
4) b -- These stations activate multiple grids in VHF contests for a specific club effort.
5) a-h, b-k, c-g, d-, e-j, f-i (name is also exchanged in the Kids Day contest).
6) c -- Digital contesting is growing like a weed because it's easy to use your PC sound card and free software. To join the fun, check out this Web site for information on RTTY contesting.
7) QSY by at least 1 kHz before answering a CQ or by 5 kHz before calling CQ -- this keeps stations from occupying one frequency for extended periods.
8) Yes and Yes -- KP2/3/4/5 stations count in the ARRL Sweepstakes as either the PR or VI section. XE stations are welcome to add their grid squares to the fun on VHF+.
9) c -- If you don't acknowledge the information, how is the other station supposed to know that you copied their information correctly? Many top operators won't log an unacknowledged QSO.
10) d -- One of the most coveted achievements in contesting results in a swell coffee cup, to boot.
11) c -- The Triple Play award is in full swing as of Jan 1, 2009!
12) The ARRL International Relay Test was held in 1927, predating the ARRL Sweepstakes by three years.

Bonus: ARRL Field Day. This year, look for Field Day on June 27-28.

H. Ward Silver, N0AX
ARRL Contributing Editor