ARRL DX Contest, CW
Call: KT8K
Operator(s): KT8K
Station: KT8K
Class: SOAB QRP
QTH: EN82cg SE Michigan
Operating Time (hrs): 26
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
-------------------
160: 1 1
80: 25 20
40: 140 55
20: 188 60
15: 199 62
10: 118 45
-------------------
Total: 671 243 Total Score = 489,159
Club: Mad River Radio Club
Comments:
Conditions were mostly very good, sometimes great, until propagation worsened
here starting around midday Sunday. Those periods when nobody knows I'm
operating QRP-to-wires are wonderful. My sincere thanks to all of you who
listened hard and patiently endured the repeats.
I used a number of techniques this time to try to get through more reliably. I
should add that I don't have data on whether these are really good ideas, or
whether any of the things I will describe drive other ops nuts - if so I'd
certainly stop. Over time, however, I've found myself trying such ideas in the
quest to be heard in noisy contest environments.
One of the simplest is having a keyer and paddle set up beside the laptop with
the keying line (relay isolated) connected in parallel with the wire from the
small optoisolator at the back of the laptop, which operates the keying circuit
via an RS-232 signal. (yeah, this laptop is OL-L-LDDDD.) Then I set the
weighting on the keyer slightly heavier than the N1MM software default and keep
the speed slightly slower than the speed I set in the contest. That way I can
use the paddles to spread characters out slightly or lengthen one or more
characters slightly to make it easier to distinguish the message from the
noise. I worry that when I get tired, though, I can make a mess of my sending
with that paddle.
If you have fluttery propagation characteristics in some directions having the
second keyer ready to provide some slower characters can be handy. Of course,
if the QSB is longer and deeper, I keep my speed a bit higher and use the
paddles to increase character spacing and slow down for ops that need that.
(Heck, there were some ops out there today running SO fast their dits sounded
like ignition noise!) Unfortunately, if running fast decreases intelligibility
then it is counterproductive and I heard a few stations like that this weekend.
I had to listen to their callsign over and over to figure out what it was (but
that zippy speed sure sounded cool). One speedy station didn't realize they
were fighting the not-infrequent short wave echo and their code was loud but
impossible to read - it sounded totally garbled. Anyway, they were "killing my
rate", so I vowed to have second thoughts in the future before spending much
time trying to figure out blurred callsigns. If it's not the last hour of the
contest I will probably get another shot at them (perhaps with a different op
at the key, or at least clearer propagation) later.
Another thing I do is to try to figure out exactly where the sweet spot is in
the receiving ops passband. Some ops set their filters wide and some like them
more narrow, but you can figure this out by listening to how an operator works
out a small pileup. Then you can try to put yourself a bit higher or lower
where you can be heard best. Some ops listen slightly above and below their
frequency to work out a pileup, and may listen slightly above or below their
transmit frequency, so I listen for a pattern and try to use it if there is
one. Some ops miss calls simply because they are fighting noise and have their
filters set narrow.
I just realized why I have time to think of such stuff - As a QRP-er you
frequently find yourself waiting for someone else's QSO to finish (or maybe a
lot of them if you are determined to log that station) and that provides time
to think of ways to improve your score.
A Big Thanks! I have the admittedly self-chosen double whammy of being a hard
core QRP-er and living on a small city lot with many trees, putting a tower out
of the question for several reasons. So I dream ... and I shared my dreams with
you in this song and music video a couple of years ago,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNWZjzrzgwA, and since then I have thrilled to
see reports of thousands of views (I trust most of the viewings were longer
than a few seconds). That video has been a source of joy to me, and I want to
thank everyone who has enjoyed it. I will do more when I can.
(I am sorry for the ads, though - I don't control them except that I think I
can shut them off entirely - I'll try to do that tonight. So far Google tells
me my videos made a highest-ever grand total of $1.79. They don't send you a
check until it tops $10, though, for obvious reasons, and there seems to be a
rate of decay, so that money earned but not collected for a period of time
vanishes. Anyway, suffice it to say that in three years I've never earned a
penny, and only now realize how much I need to get rid of those things. Thank
you all for your patience.) But I digress ...
I'm looking forward to putting you in my log in the next contest (where that's
appropriate). I hope 2013 finds you and yours doing well, and wish you good
reception and good propagation. 72/73 de kt8k - Tim
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
______________________________________________
3830 mailing list
3830@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/3830
|