Good morning,
I worked the ARRL 1998 SSB contest as single operator this year,
but it was much tougher than last year when I was joined by
Tapani OH5BM in a multi-single effort. My rate sheet shows some
long gaps which another operator could have filled.
I found the low bands very tough this year: 160 was
hopeless, and 80M contacts were only possible with the top stations.
40M split operation is difficult, as State-side ops do not
tune for DX above 7100. So we have to try to protect both the
calling frequency, and the listening frequency. It is really scary
to pick what seems to be the *only* clear frequency, only to find
the stateside ops who come up are responding to some other DX station
on some other unknown calling frequency. Best 40M hours were
between 0700 and 1000z.
I did not feel confident fo my signal on 20M, so I left 20M
until the higher bands were played out. My best hours on day1 were
0300 at 96qs, 0400 at 100qs. On day2 good runs were at 0300 at 112qs,
0400 at 126qs and 0500 at 52qs.
I discussed my band strategy with Chuck KZ5MM (single 10m),
and he agreed that I would get a better run rate by starting the
contest on 15M. This was good advice as the hours preceeding the
contest showed that 10m was not in good shape.
So I opened day1 on 15M with hours of 145qs, 150qs and 110qs.
Further runs on 15M produced hours of 82, and 30 qs at 2100
and 2200. On day2 the bands opened late, but I recorded a run
at 1900z of 104qs, and 15M began to die at around 2000z.
10M was spotty on day1, with small openings at 2000 and
again at 2300 through to 0200 (now day2). Best rate was 99qs
at 0100 on day2.
At our next morning 10M seemed dead, so I did not operate until
2000z with just 6qs, 2100 at 26qs, 2200 at 112qs, and 2300
at 120qs. So the best opening on 10M was the final hour
of the contest. A this stage I had worked out the contest stations
and it was great to work the smaller and non-contest stations.
It was helpful to leave one memory on the KZ5MM frequency, so I
could check whether 10 was in reasonable shape.
Thanks to all who made contacts for a great contest.
Martin ZL1ANJ
---------------------------------------------------
Comparison with last year:
1998 1997
Single Operator Multi Single
BAND QSO STATES/PROV QSO STATES/PROV
160 0 0 2 2
80 32 7 283 50
40 153 41 526 51
20 516 51 277 31
15 646 53 223 34
10 579 47 3 3
------------------------ ----------------
Totals 1926 199 1314 171
Interesting that low bands were much worse, and high bands
were much better, compared with last year. We need more SFI !!!
--------------------------------------------------------
Rate Sheet:
BREAKDOWN QSO/mults ZL1ANJ Single Operator
HOUR 80 40 20 15 10 HR TOT CUM TOT
0 ..... ..... ..... 145/37 ..... 145/37 145/37
1 . . 150/12 . 150/12 295/49
2 . . . 110/2 . 110/2 405/51
3 . . 96/31 5/1 . 101/32 506/83
4 . . 100/6 . . 100/6 606/89
5 . . 26/1 . . 26/1 632/90
6 2/2 . . . 2/2 634/92
7 3/1 3/3 . . . 6/4 640/96
8 ..... 64/28 ..... ..... ..... 64/28 704/124
9 1/1 40/4 . . . 41/5 745/129
10 . 1/0 . . . 1/0 746/129
11 . . . . . . 746/129
12 . . 3/1 . . 3/1 749/130
13 . . . . . . 749/130
14 . . . . . . 749/130
15 . . . . . . 749/130
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 749/130
17 . . . . . . 749/130
18 . . . 2/0 . 2/0 751/130
19 . . . 6/0 1/1 7/1 758/131
20 . . . . 63/22 63/22 821/153
21 . . . 82/0 . 82/0 903/153
22 . . . 30/0 8/2 38/2 941/155
23 . . . . 28/1 28/1 969/156
0 ..... ..... ..... ..... 78/7 78/7 1047/163
1 . . . . 99/3 99/3 1146/166
2 . . . 4/0 38/0 42/0 1188/166
3 . . 112/8 3/0 . 115/8 1303/174
4 . . 126/2 . . 126/2 1429/176
5 . . 52/2 . . 52/2 1481/178
6 . . . . . . 1481/178
7 . 36/3 . . . 36/3 1517/181
8 ..... 7/1 ..... ..... ..... 7/1 1524/182
9 4/3 . . . . 4/3 1528/185
10 . . . . . . 1528/185
11 . . . . . . 1528/185
12 . . . . . . 1528/185
13 . . . . . . 1528/185
14 4/2 . . . . 24/2 1552/187
15 . . 1/0 . . 1/0 1553/187
16 ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 1553/187
17 . . . . . . 1553/187
18 . . . 5/0 . 5/0 1558/187
19 . . . 104/1 . 104/1 1662/188
20 . . . . 6/0 6/0 1668/188
21 . . . . 26/4 26/4 1694/192
22 . . . . 112/6 112/6 1806/198
23 . . . . 120/1 120/1 1926/199
DAY1 4/2 110/37 225/39 530/52 100/26 ..... 969/156
DAY2 28/5 43/4 291/12 116/1 479/21 . 957/43
TOT 32/7 153/41 516/51 646/53 579/47 . 1926/199
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