From the August, 1970 issue of QST

Open to All!

THOSE Of you who have been following recent issues have realized that some basic changes in the quarterly FMTs were underway. For many years the procedures in the quarterly FMTs were essentially standard, to wit: Official Observers could participate in all four FMTs, while non-OOs were limited to participation in the two QST announced runs (held in February and September).

In recent months, W1AW has been transmitting the official readings approximately ten days following each of the tests. The object of this is to get word back fast to those anxious to know how accurately they measured the test signals. (Well in advance of the necessary paper work by Hq.!)

Considerable evidence exists that numerous listeners would like the opportunity to actively participate in the test, and have the accuracy of their measurements compared with others. Thus, effective with this FMT, we're attempting something different. Participants reporting their measurements prior to the W1AW transmission of results (about 10 days following the FMT), will be listed in QST. Results will be tabulated in order of average accuracy with a cutoff point at some still-to-be-determined percentage.

FMT Procedure

1. Do some listening an hour or so before the test, to get an idea of band conditions and consequently of which band or bands will be best for measurement purposes. 2. The FMT transmission will start with a general call (QST) at exactly 0130 GMT, September 12. 3.Transmissions for measurement, sent simultaneously on all frequencies, consist of 15-second key-down periods interspersed with W1AW identification. 4. The three periods for measurement will start at 0137 (80 meters), 0145 (40 meters) and 0153 (20 meters); for the "late" run, 0437, 0445 and 0453 respectively. Each period will last for five minutes, including a series of dits at the end of it and identification before the start of the next period. We suggest you make your measurements in that order to coincide as closely as possible with those of the umpire. The table herewith shows the approximate frequencies which will be used.

	Starts	Starts
Sept. 12, 1970	0130 GMT	0430 GMT
First 5 min.	3530 kHz.	3535 kHz.
Second 5 min.	7064 kHz.	7082 kHz.
Third 5 min.	14,063 kHz.	14,078 kHz.

5. Your percentage error is calculated on all the measurements you submit, so we suggest that you omit any readings in doubt. Watch out for careless mistakes in arithmetic, typing and other simple operator errors which can throw your percentage off. Submit more than one reading on each transmission and, if possible, measure more than one frequency so we can strike an average.

No entry consisting of a single measurement will be eligible for QST listing of top results. Listing will be based on overall average accuracy, as compared with readings made by a professional lab. Never tried the FMT? An excellent introduction to the basic techniques can be found in the W2VMX article "Try the FMT", page 54 July 1968 QST.