As the others have said, it takes time and practice. As for equipment, yes,
you do need good antennas -- far more important than a KW.
In my early days of contesting (mid '60's) I started with wire antennas. I
did OK but could not get beyond a certain point with regard to higher levels
of competition. In those days I was very active in the CD Parties which
were held 4 times a year. K2EIU/5 (Now N6RO) and I (I was W1BGD then) would
battle it out with Ken being number 1 and I number 2. I wasn't able to beat
Ken until I put up some beams and a new level of stations to work opened up
for me. From then on, I was able to beat him. Even with a kw, it was the
antennas that made the big difference!
My contest season started with the WAE in August and would end with IARU in
July! If there wasn't a contest on some particular weekend then I was on
the air working stations.
Currently I run a Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V at 150 watts (I stopped using the
amp so as to not annoy neighbors). Antennas are Force 12, C31XR at 80 feet
for 20-15-10, and MAG240N at 90 feet for 40. 80 is a delta loop.
My suggestion is to put your money into antennas and your focus into
operating -- get into as many contests as you can. Consider them training
(which they are). You will learn something from each one -- and that's how
you build your skills.
Good luck and stick with it!
Pete, W1RM
-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of KE5CTY Bob
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 2:55 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Operating Methods or Equipment?
This is really discouraging:
Not crying on anybody's shoulder, just trying to find out what I am
missing here:
I thought I did pretty well for my second contest *ever* and then I see
scores like the one below. As you can see, I was also SO(Single
Operator) but running LP(LowPower) and worked all bands CW(CW Only):
Call: KE5CTY
Operator(s): KE5CTY
Station: KE5CTY
Class: SO CW LP
QTH: USA - NTX
Operating Time (hrs): 15.95
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Mults
---------------------------
160: 0 0 0
80: 29 0 5
40: 39 0 7
20: 70 0 14
15: 39 0 10
10: 12 0 7
---------------------------
Total: 189 0 43 Total Score = 24,897
How can *one* person amass over a million points. There *must* be more
to this contesting than meets the eye. What operating methods are these
guys using? Are scores dependent more on operating methods or equipment?
Call: UP4L
Operator(s): UN7LZ
Station: UN7LZ
Class: SO CW HP
QTH: KOSTANAY
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs Mults
---------------------------
160: 15 53 6
80: 167 697 30
40: 381 1688 48
20: 733 3309 61
15: 310 1422 39
10: 8 32 3
---------------------------
Total: 1614 7201 187 Total Score = 1,346,587
Granted I operated a *few* less hours, was Low Power and working on a
fan dipole 10-80 antenna up 25 feet at the apex, but even so, can
working just 10 or so more hours, going high power with beams and a
tower make *that* much difference in scoring??
7&3 fer nw,
Bob
KE5CTY (old calls WB5ZQU - WY5L)
10X# 37210
FP#-1141
http://www.qsl.net/ke5cty/
Code may be taking a back seat for now, but the pioneering spirit that
put the code there in the first place is out front of it all.
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