As I write this I'm not sure whether I'll post it or not. Sorta hard to
know what would be interesting to others, not just me.
Conditions --
Fantastic, as everyone has said. I didn't have the problem on 80 that
others in the southeast experienced; I'm one of the top 2 or 3 posted (so
far) on the band. But I got waxed by the big guys on 40 (particularly) and
15. Maybe the rotary dipole just doesn't cut it on 40 -- and I know I got
to 10 meters too early on Sunday morning, short-changing 15 in the process.
I also find it hard to keep pushing rates above a hundred hour after hours
- that's what really separates the leaders from the rest.
Antennas --
The W9LT parasitic array on 80 is a killer, but I was just as impressed by
the Force 12 C4 (at 100 ft) on 20-10. On Sunday, I got used to diving into
the worst pileups and coming out of it with a QSO before the third call.
Not having a high front-to-back can be a real advantage for a 1-yagi
station, being able to grab Caribbean mults without turning the antenna
during Asian S&P sessions. On the other hand, the rotary dipole part of
the antenna just didn't seem to have what I need on 40 - another 4 dBi or
so would be very nice to have. Maybe a C4XL in my future(?).
Operator smarts --
This was my first time in CQWW seriously, in 40+ years ... just never felt
I had the antennas to be competitive before. Now I realize how much I
missed by not having directional antennas all these years. I didn't
anticipate many rare ones, and never seemed to know when to look long path
versus short. I'll look forward to the writeups from K3ZO and others, so I
can learn some of these things for next year.
My smarts aside, this contest really brought home to me just how important
good pileup management is. The very nastiest pileups, especially on
Sunday, resulted from rare stations who ignored the cardinal rule -- answer
an early caller, even if it's just a fragment, don't wait until the pileup
diminishes and then grab a call. Those who ignore this tenet deserve what
they get -- pileups that go on forever, as everyone tries to be last.
Worst I heard was a zone 35 station -- not one of the big guys -- who
succeeded in turning his pileup into one continual smear. I'm not being
sanctimonious, I hope ... I was one of those who tail-ended the pileps ...
but it was so bad that he answered me twice, and told me the second time
that I was already in the log! We had a QSO without my ever knowing it.
Curiosities --
The 2M prefix (a G novice?)
FB1s - is this a class of license?
JE9LLO - made me do a double-take when I saw it on the screen
An awful lot of stations that weren't in the MASTER.DTA file, and a lot of
obvious busted calls in the same file.
Being encouraged by all the calls in the MASTER.DTA file that I hadn't
worked yet... they ARE out there.
Enough. It was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, and I can hardly wait for
the next one. Thanks for all the Qs!
73, Pete Smith N4ZR
n4zr@contesting.com
"That's WEST Virginia. Thanks and 73"
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