Here is an email that I sent to the PVRC list regarding the 80m situation
this weekend. I had quite a few people stop by this weekend and tell me how
it was rediculous that I was operating split and that there was abolsutely
no need for it. I see people are asking the same thing here. Perhaps
sharing this will help clear some of it up...
We were not sure what to expect this weekend on 80m at W3LPL. I had a few
rounds of emails with KC1XX's 80m op a while back and I knew that he was at
least hoping to keep the split thing going. But, I thought that finding a
listening frequency might be too difficult because the loud splattering USA
stations would all be down there.
Here's how it went down at W3LPL...
I started Friday night simplex on 3700. The first hour rate was "ok", but
way down from last year. That could be the band conditions, it could be
they're all somewhere else, or it could be I was making a mistake operating
simplex. But, I did two things... I kept an ear on K3LR and KC1XX's run
frequencies to see if they appeared to be running any better, and I kept
asking EU stations if my run frequency was clear. It seemed that being
simplex wasn't so bad.
After the first hour things really slowed down. Between 0500 and 0548, we
only worked 4 stations and that's usually a good hour. When the rate is 4
you really can't make any bad decisions, so I decided to operate split. As
soon as I did, the rate shot up. At the same time, I noticed signals all
over the band got louder. So... did the rate go up because I went split or
because the conditions improved?
Perhaps a little of each. But, looking at K3LR's numbers I see that it was
indeed a mistake to operate simplex. By Saturday morning, K3LR was nearly
100 QSOs ahead of W3LPL on 80m!! After 0548Z Friday night, I spent the rest
of the weekend operating split (at least during the EU openings). Luckily,
it appears we eventually did work a lot of the stations we missed during
those first 5 hours, as we did finish off the contest ahead of K3LR. But,
we may have been more ahead had we not operated simplex.
While I agree that operating simplex is easier, there are a couple of
reasons why I don't think it's best. First, not everyone in Europe gets
into the ARRL DX contest. An EU station would be foolish to park himself on
LPL's run frequency and CQ Contest, as he wouldn't work anyone (not true in
CQ WW, but that's another story). But, there are plenty of EU nets who will
park themselves there and ragchew. We're not bothering them, but they are
killing our rate. If you think it's hard to get a USA net to move during
SS, try getting an EU net to move! It just isn't going to happen.
Second, we are trying to dig out weak Europeans while stations in the
Carribbean are working loud USA stations. If one of those guys parks
themselves 2KHz away, you'll never be able to dig out the weak guys under
the S9+40dB splattering USA stations calling the Carribbean station. If
that happens on our RX frequency, it's easy enough to find a new one. But,
it's not nearly as easy to find a new good TX frequency.
Overall, it is just so much easier to work weaker DX stations when the
booming USA stations aren't around. The same holds true for EU stations
working USA. They can hear us much better above 3800 than they can lower in
the band with all of their EU QRM. I don't think that it is a matter of
them not knowing that we can go down there; it's a matter of them not being
able to hear us as well down there amongst all of their local QRM. Sure,
they'll hear KC1XX, K3LR, and W3LPL, but they are after the
100-watt-and-dipole guys just like we are.
Another question might be the multipliers. Perhaps working simplex on 3700
would result in more? Not so this weekend. We did beat K3LR and KC1XX in
mults on 80 this weekend. But, not a single one was a result of our time
running simplex.
We had 8 more mults than K3LR (btw, it's unusual to be that far off). Often
we'll have some that they didn't and they'll have some that we didn't. But,
that wasn't the case this weekend. We had 8 that they didn't and they had 0
that we didn't. Of the 8 that we had, only 1 was the result of a pass from
40m. That was 5B (C4I), which also didn't call K3LR on 40m (otherwise I'm
sure they would have passed him also). The other 7 were ones that we just
got lucky enough to have call us and not them: 4X (we had 2 of them), FP,
GJ, HB0, TU, ZD8, and Z3. All 7 of them were ones that called us while we
were running split (some of which I then passed to 40).
I don't know how the mults compared with KC1XX as the results aren't posted
yet, but I suspect it's about the same.
Overall, I don't think the game has been changed on 80m. It has, however,
been made a bit more obnoxious as we now have to find a new RX frequency
more often because of the USA stations who go down there. Many times I
heard a USA station do that, right on top of an EU station they couldn't
hear. They'd CQ, CQ, and CQ some more, never working anyone. The odds are
that your simplex frequency is not nearly as clear in EU as you think it is,
and keep in mind many of the casual ops you are trying to work don't have
the filters and directional antennas that more serious contesters do.
73,
Tom, NI1N
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Morrison" <cfmorris@bellsouth.net>
To: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Cc: <nq4i@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 12:59 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Logic Here
> Rick
>
> I asked AA1BU (I think it was), the SAME EXACT question on Saturday night.
> Im like, Im not trying to be smart, but if we can transmit on 3600, why
> are
> you cq'ing on 3800 and listening down there?
>
> He gave me 2 explanations:
>
> 1. His TX antenna wasn't cut for down there, that its either at 3500 or
> 3800, but not in between. ( Think someone posted this to the reflector).
> 2. He said that he didn't want the competition from all the stations in
> Europe on 80? Not sure I follow, since if he were cq'ing there, then the
> europeans are going to be cq'ing there also? Not sure about this one. I
> figured, maybe his pileup (or thought of one) was great enough that he
> just
> plain ole needed to work split.
>
> I thanked him for the time and the answer and moved on newly educated!
>
> Charlie
> Ki5xp
>
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>
>
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