National Contest Journal

The National Contest Journal (also referred to by the acronym NCJ) is a bimonthly magazine published by the American Radio Relay League, with an independent volunteer editor. The magazine covers topics related to amateur radio contesting. The magazine is published in English and draws its subscription base primarily from the United States of America and Canada.

National Contest Journal
National Contest Journal cover, Nov./Dec., 2000.
EditorLee Finkel, KY7M
CategoriesAmateur radio
FrequencyBimonthly
Circulation2600[1]
PublisherAmerican Radio Relay League
First issueJan/Feb, 1973
CountryUSA
Based inNewington, Connecticut
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.ncjweb.com
ISSN0899-0131

History

The National Contest Journal was founded by Minnesotan contester Tod Olson, K0TO. In his editorial for volume 1, issue 1 (January/February, 1973), Olson described the motivational purpose of the publication: "We believe that a genuine desire exists for more information about Radio Contests. Most of us have an interest in learning about other stations, operators, etc that we find in competition with us."[2] Olson relied upon the National Traffic System to gather claimed scores in order to print tables of likely competition winners months before the official results were published by the contest sponsors. Publication for the first three years was done with typewriters and offset printing. Each issue was 16 pages in 5" x 7.5" format. After printing, issues were assembled at Olson's home and mailed from a local post office.[2]

Editors

In 50 years of publication, the National Contest Journal has had 17 different editors. The first editor, and founder of the magazine, was Tod Olson, K0TO. Olson was one of three editors to have served multiple times in that capacity for the magazine.[2]

EditorYears
Tod Olson, K0TO1973-1975
Pete Grillo, W0RTT1975-1978
Tod Olson, K0TO1978-1979
Randy Thompson, K5ZD1979-1980
Tom Taormina, K5RC1981
John Crovelli, W2GD1981-1982
Rick Niswander, K7GM1982-1983
Randy Thompson, K5ZD1983-1984
Dave Pruett, K8CC1985-1987
Randy Thompson, K5ZD1988-1989
Tom Taormina, K5RC1989-1993
Trey Garlough, N5KO1993-1994
Bruce Draper, AA5B1994-1996
Dave Patton, NN1N1997
Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV1998-2002
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA2002-2007
Al Dewey, K0AD2008-2011
Kirk Pickering, K4RO2012-2014
Pat Barkey, N9RV2015-2017
Scott Wright, K0MD2018-2020
Lee Finkel, KY7M2021-

Contest sponsorship

The magazine organizes, adjudicates, and publishes the results of two series of annual radio competitions, the North American QSO Party (NAQP) and the North American Sprint. The NAQP has three separate events (for CW, voice, and RTTY) run twice a year, managed by volunteers. The Sprint has two separate events (for CW and RTTY) run twice a year, managed by volunteers. The competitions focus on participation from stations in North America. The National Contest Journal publishes the contest rules and results in the magazine and on the magazine's web site.[3]

Citations
  1. United States Postal Service (2007). PS Form 3526: Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation. Published in National Contest Journal, Vol. 35, No. 6. November/December, 2007. p. 44.
  2. Luetzelschwab, Carl K9LA, ed. "We Hear from Former NCJ Editors". National Contest Journal., vol. 35, no. 5, Sep/Oct, 2007, p.14.
  3. NCJ Contests. National Contest Journal official web site. Retrieved Sep. 26, 2007.

Official website

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