John,
There is no one-size-fits-all "best practice". August and January NAQP
are very different. And east vs. central vs. west makes a difference.
Every contest presents new ionospheric challenges and opportunities.
I can only speak from my New Mexico/Colorado experience.
Yes, taking 30 or 60 minutes between 23Z and 02Z is good in August for
the reason you state. In January, it's probably a little narrower, like
23Z-00Z. I would typically wait for 20 to close, then take off-time,
even though 40 was open. After all, you have to take that off-time
sometime ! If 10 and 15 are poor at the start of the contest, taking 30
minutes off after the first hour, and another 30 minutes in the first 3
hours is a good strategy. However, last weekend 10 and 15 were excellent
for the first 2 hours, and taking off-time then would have been unwise.
I don't think activity slacks off as early as you observed - you need
those 80 and 160 QSO's and mults. But quitting the contest and using
your last time-off at 0530Z is a good idea.
My exact off-times last weekend were:
2035Z-2104Z
2159Z-2228Z
2350Z-0019Z
0109Z-0138Z
In retrospect, I should have skipped the 2350Z off-time and taken
0530Z-0600Z off.
73,
Steve, N2IC
On 08/03/2015 10:12 AM, John Reilly wrote:
Once again this weekend, I was faced with determining if/when to take
breaks. Personally, I took a break around 23z when activity on 20m was
beginning to slack off, and 40m wasn't active, yet. On the other hand,
it also appears to me that activity really begins to decrease after the
10 hour point.
Is there a "best practice"? What is your time-off strategy?
- 73, John, N0TA
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