California QSO Party
Call: CJ7RR
Operator(s): VA7RR
Station: VA7RR
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: BC
Operating Time (hrs): 24
Radios: SO2R
Summary:
Band CW Qs Ph Qs
--------------------
160: 8 2
80: 30 59
40: 78 167
20: 106 345
15: 56 98
10: 18 12
6: 0 0
2: 0 0
--------------------
Total: 288 681 Mults = 58 Total Score = 129,340
Club: British Columbia DX Club
Comments:
My first CQP since 1997. I decided to use the special CJ7 prefix (available
until after WorldWide Phone at the end of the month); I think it bought me some
extra contacts, but also cost me a bit of time correcting those who thought I
was KJ7RR. So far, so good, as no one (yet) has sent me a request for a CJ7RR
QSL card!
Doing the CQP from the Vancouver area of British Columbia is a real
challenge. Being directly north of California means that most of the W6's do not
have their beams pointed our way. We're also too close to CA to do anything
meaningful on 10 and 15 meters as most of the signals skip over us. So, from
here, the big band regarding of where we are in the sunspot cycle is always 20
meters. This is where I have to spend most of my time during the daylight hours
of the test.
Unfortunately (for me), conditions in California were reasonable last
weekend, so most of the W6 competitors spent both days of the test on 15 and 10.
All of my 10 meter and about a third of my 15 meter QSOs were made on scatter
with my beam at 120 degrees (the signals got weaker when I pointed direct).
Some other things I observed:
1) Running low power in this contest makes less difference than in SS or a
DX contest. I would estimate only a 10 to 15% QSO increase had I turned on the
amp, as opposed to perhaps a 25% difference in one of "the majors."
Congratulations to W8MJ on one incredible low power effort. His claimed score
is only a bit below the out-of-state HIGH POWER record!
2) Out-of-state CW activity seemed great, judging from the big gun CA
numbers and N6IG's CW-only effort. It seemed to me,though,that the code
activity from CA was down. I spent a lot of time trolling the CW bands, and
would have expected 40-60 more CW Q's between 40 and 80 meters. I'm not sure
what the answer is to increase things. I don't think that changing the point
structure to allow 4 points for a CW contact is the solution, however.
3) Non-contest general ham radio activity out of California on 40 SSB
during the daytime sure has changed in the past 15 years. Back in about 1986
N6TR set a new CQP out-of-state record from Oregon in which he worked about 500
W6s on 40 SSB. Many of those QSOs were made during the daylight hours with CA
stations that were "not in the contest." I've noticed less and less W6's on 40
Phone, less traffic and swap nets, and less ragchew QSOs. I had success on 40M
from VE7 during the day in CQPs in the early '90s, but it's gotten worse and
worse. This time I only worked about 25 daylight QSOs; there was definitely
propagation, but no one was there!
Having spent five years from 1986 through 1990 working for the Northern
California Contest Club as the Chariman of the CQP, it's fantastic to see that
this contest is still so vibrant and activity-filled some 12 years after I
retired from organizing it. Congratulations and thanks to those involved for
generating the activity, getting together the awards, computer checking the logs
so that the scores are meaningful, and publishing the final results. It's a big
job, and you guys did great!
73,
Gary VA7RR
ex VE7NTT
aka WA6VEF
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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