ARRL Sweepstakes, CW
Call: W6YX
Operator(s): W6LD,N7MH
Station: W6YX
Class: Multi-Op
QTH: SCV
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band QSOs
-------------------------------
160:
80: 59
40: 196
20: 356
15: 318
10: 365
-------------------------------
Total: 1294 x 80 = 207,040
Club: NCCC
Comments:
Equipment:
Station 1: FT1000MP+Alpha 87A
Station 2: FT1000MP Mark V+Alpha 78
TR-Log 6.59, Packet, Array Solutions StackMatch & 2 SixPaks, 2 ICE filters
Antennas:
10m - Telrex 6-el monobander at 70', Hygain 105CA at 35'
15m - Telrex 6-el monobander at 70', Hygain 155CA at 25'
20m - KLM 6-el monobander at 60', Hygain 205CA at 40'
40m - KLM 4-el monobander at 60'
80m - Inverted Vee
We had a great start this year, with 402 QSOs in the first 4 hours. Things
went downhill from there, particularly on 40 meters where it seemed impossible
to get much of a run going in the evening, probably because of the World
Series.
We spent the weekend before SS putting up the 105CA which had been down since
last summer when the 205CA went up onto the 35 foot wooden pole that had
previously held it (we casually operated in CQWW Phone while working on the
antenna project). The 105CA is now at about the 35-foot level of a rotatable
tower with a 402CD at 50 feet and a KT34XA at 60 feet. One of these days we'll
figure out how to attach a rotor to the pole, but for now we use the arm-strong
system to point the lower antennas within the limits dictated by the 80-meter
inverted vee that is just above the 402CD.
This was the second time in my memory that we operated two separate callsigns
from the W6YX station. In 1977 I operated as N7MH/6 while the rest of the club
was W6YX. This year N6DE and crew took the multi-band antennas, 402CD, and
80-meter dipole while John, W6LD, and I got the other monobanders and 80-meter
inverted vee. ICE bandpass filters kept QRM to a minimum. We were sometimes
able to have both stations on the same band, but experienced occasional
intermod and other interference effects.
SS is still my favorite contest. In my opinion the activity hasn't gone down
that much, even on CW. The biggest difference is that the elimination of the
15-minute band-change rule has changed strategies to favor SO2R operation and
band versatility. This has greatly increased rates at the beginning of the
contest for many stations, leaving them with little to work on Sunday. The
15-minute rule was a natural rate-reducer that distributed the rate better
across the entire contest for the same number of participants. I'm not arguing
to reinstate it, just pointing out the fact that strategies are very different
with and without it.
The exchange simplification that occurred in the early 70's has also sped
things up a lot. As I recall, the exchange included the GMT (UTC) clock time
and one's birth date. The time was bogus since everyone knew what would be
sent within a minute, but the birth date made it much more likely to need a
repeat. So instead of shortening the length of the contest we could revert to
the longer exchange to keep things busy the entire 30 hours. Instead of the
bands being filled with unanswered CQs they would be filled with repeated
exchanges. The two-weekend version of SS must have been before my time so I
can't relate to it, but I do remember two weekends in the ARRL DX contest.
In case you couldn't tell, that was written tongue-in-cheek. I'm actually
quite happy with the current format of the contest and think that the Sunday
doldrums offer another challenge to all operators. The top ops need to
strategize to figure out how to maximize the dismal rate and keep the
competition from catching up. It gives the QRPers and droppers-in a chance to
CQ and develop a run rate of their own. Middle-tier ops (most of us) can try
to figure out how best to catch up to the top ops. The contest would be more
boring if you just did the same thing the whole time (isn't that what the
Sprints are for?).
Now we just need to figure out how to keep that 100 per hour rate going beyond
the first 4 hours... Is it better band-planning? Off-time strategy? More and
better antennas? Better focus on copying the exchange right the first time?
More or less S&P? Improved software? Moving to 40-meter-land? Guess we
better work on all of them, except the last - I like the weather here too much.
73 and CU in SS Phone,
-Mike, N7MH
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