Your comment, Ian, brings up a different issue that is probably better
discussed on the CQ-Contest reflector. That is contesting strategy. But
I'll throw out a few ideas / questions here, for entertainment purposes...
Does the strategy change if your call sign is rare or common in the
event, i.e., ZD8 vs WØ? Is it better to sacrifice QSO rate for
multipliers? Do you prefer to RUN or Search & Pounce? Is the propagation
shifting to favor the weak station or is he fading into the sunset? Is
there a pileup of KWs calling and you are runing LP? Do you have a
better chance of working him on another band? Is the station known for
full-time activity or is this a rare opportunity of a unique multiplier?
Do you need him for your final WAS or DXCC entity?
So the point I am making is that during contesting, there are so many
variables at play it really is a judgement call whether I spend 10
minutes trying to pick out a weak signal or just move on and put 10
additional QSOs in the log. The contest scoring rules also plays into my
decisions, i.e., multipliers per band or not.
As you know, experienced and effective contest operators have good
answers to these questions. If an operator is new to the game, or has a
small window of opportunity for a few hours of fun on the radio, that
changes everything too.
I guess that's why the answer to whether I will spend time to pull out a
'weak one' is... "It depends..."
73 de Bob - KØRC in MN
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On 8/23/2013 2:56 PM, Ian White wrote:
"...but experience tells me narrow is better for contesting, perhaps wider for
weak signals but if they are that weak most won't hear them at all
during a contest which is why DXing if different from Contesting."
Succinctly stated, and mirrors my contesting experience as well. When you have 4 or 5
signals at 20 dB/S9 "fighting" for the same 1 kHz of spectrum during a contest,
weak signal detection is at the bottom of your list of problems you face trying to work
and confirm them!
I would agree with all of that, except for the last point. When faced
with S9+20dB QRM in a contest, the ability to decode weaker stations is
at the very -top- of my list. The strong stations will already be in
the log, but the weak ones are much more likely to be valuable
multipliers. We all try to use the wider filter when we can, but sniping
rare and distant multipliers through a wall of QRM is where the narrower
(sub-300Hz) filter can sometimes score.
Your next opportunity to enjoy this 'problem' will be next month, September 28
& 29 during the CQ WW RTTY DX Contest. I hope to see you then!
You will - looking forward to it already!
73 from Ian GM3SEK
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