ARRL January VHF Contest
Call: W3IP
Operator(s): W3IP
Station: W3IP
Class: Single Op HP
QTH: Va
Operating Time (hrs): 22
Remote Operation
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
6: 173 41
2: 82 25
222: 38 15
432: 51 17
903: 10 7
1.2: 23 12
2.3:
3.4:
5.7:
10G:
24G:
-------------------
Total: 377 118 Total Score = 66,670
Club: Potomac Valley Radio Club
Comments:
This was not the contest I thought it would be. With multiple new modes in
widespread use (FT8 and MSK144), I found that I needed to be more strategic in
my use of time on a particular band/direction/time of day and mode (similar to
an HF contest) - not sure I got it all right! There was a surprising amount of
FT8 activity on 6 meters, as well as MSK144 activity on both 6 and 2 meters.
Some statistics for the digital modes:
6 meter FT8 - 75 contacts/few unique grids
6 meter MSK144 - 15 contacts/mostly unique grids
2 meter MSK144 contacts - 3 contacts/all unique grids
This came at a cost of QSOs primarily on 6 and 2 meter SSB and a lack of sleep
on Saturday night/Sunday morning for the 2 meter MSK144 contacts.
My biggest complaint is the large number of people that did not understand the
contest protocol on FT8 which resulted in a much longer average time per QSO as
the operator sorts out whether or not a station did not understand the second
transmission (i.e. the contest protocol) or they did not hear the second
transmission at all due to changing propagation or QRM. Both conditions resulted
in a repeat of the other station's initial transmission so a real time decision
was needed whether or not to uncheck the contest box for the next transmission
approximately 20 seconds later.
This was the first time I tried to integrate all of the software packages I was
running (N1MM, WSJT-X, LP Bridge, JTAlert, SDRConsole) over the remote link.
Keeping all the Com ports alive on two computers separated by miles so the
software doesn't crash during off times is an unmet challenge.
Propagation as a whole seemed about average for a January contest. I had only
one easily identifiable e-skip contact on 6 meters (to VO1). Many thanks to the
rovers that got out to activate those many grid squares, your efforts are
appreciated!
73, Mike, W3IP
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.3830scores.com/
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