ARRL January VHF Contest
Call: W9RM
Operator(s): W9RM
Station: W9RM
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: DM58
Operating Time (hrs): 15
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 74 60
2: 28 26
222:
432:
903:
1.2:
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 102 86 Total Score = 8,772
Club: Grand Mesa Contesters of Colorado
Comments:
January - say no more. No openings....well, maybe one for 5 minutes on 6 to
TX...no enhancement...January.
Now that WSJT-X co-exists with all the 'funny little numbers' guys, it's easy to
use and quite effective in contests like this where there is no enhanced
propagation of any kind. Depending on how much you wanted fight fading and
other powers out of your control, there were signals to be seen on 6M FT8 almost
the entire contest. Now, most were not really workable and the ones that were
only resulted in hourly rates in the (maybe) teens, but there were signals there
! Signals heard, which equated to 'butt in chair' time, since one didn't want
to 'miss' that potential opening (which would probably never come). For me,
breaking 100 Q's in January is something I haven't done for years, mainly
because I wasn't interested in sitting listening to nothing but noise for long
stretches. Now, at least I can hear SOMETHING ! And, just maybe, it would be
something cool !
I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of FT8 on 2M. I worked several
guys at 400+ miles, across terrible terrain. Now, these guys were NOT small
stations, to be sure and could very possibly have been worked on CW, but....
This mode has potential on 2 that has yet to be realized.
Yes, I'm praising WSJT modes, which might come as a surprise to some. But, I
have ALWAYS been keen on the technological aspects of these modes, ever since
they appeared in the 90's and it was obvious you could work things 'you couldn't
hear'. My gripe, and it still exists strongly, is the improper use of these
slow, very much weak-signal modes during CONTESTS, when signal/noise conditions
are good enough to allow QSO's on CW or SSB at a rate 3-5X faster. I heard (or
read - it might have been on a chat page) a guy say "Oh, there is a
sporadic E opening starting and signals are getting strong - I better get back
on FT8". THERE is my gripe - right there ! Signals are strong, it's a
contest weekend and you need to get on FT8. What ???
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