On 8/8/2021 8:21 AM, Pete Smith N4ZR wrote:
> Without assistance, operating becomes a deadly boring sequence of
tune, copy, type the call in, be told it's a dupe, and repeat.
I'm one of those unassisted S&P single ops with not-so-great antennas (I
refer to my shack as "Bedsprings Brigade Manor" (as in compared to many
contest setups, I might as well be running old metal bedsprings as
antennas)), and with proper strategy, it's not that bad. In particular,
when you get done with a sweep of one band, don't go back and sweep the
same band again. IF there's only band with lots of activity, poke your
nose into a couple of the less active bands. And, even if you don't
have much of an antenna, run! As has been pointed out many times, if
you're only S&Ping, you'll never work those others who are S&Ping. You
may not generate intense pileups, but you will likely work a few Qs, and
won't be S&Ping from dupe to dupe.
If there's more than one active band, when you finish sweeping one band,
sweep one of the others, then come back. Either way, the idea is to do
something productive while giving time for composition of a band to
change. You'll still run across some dupes, but they shouldn't be *all*
dupes.
Also, if you're using N1MM+, take advantage of call history lookup,
particularly the reverse lookup feature. Copy a station's exchange, and
watch the reverse lookup box. If it (e.g.) shows 4 matching and 3 of
them are greyed out (meaning they've been worked already on this band),
you may not want to wait for hearing their call.
And even though you're not using the cluster, keep the band map open. If
you tune off of a station (perhaps because you can't compete with the
current callers) with the call still showing in the entry window, N1MM+
puts it in the band map. Going back to see if he's any easier to work
is then a Ctrl up or down arrow away.
I put these to use yesterday, and despite the contest starting out with
mediocre conditions, having to dig stations out of the mud even on the
best band (20M (although I'll admit, having 15 and 10 inactive can be a
benefit for S&Pers, as everyone piles into 20M)), I ended up with a new
high score for NAQP CW. I also had fun, and it wasn't a boring
dupe-to-dupe slogfest.
Ben
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