Bill, Some thoughts.
There are a lot of strata in the RF soup.
The power levels, QRP, LP, and HP set the basic level.
Antennae, Wires, Small Beams, Multiple Beams, are another set of factors.
Operating time and number of Operators and Operator skill form yet another
set of factors.
Location, Globally, Continental, and Local, like on a hill, or surrounded by
salt water, or on a subdivision lot are another set.
Some propagation effects are covered in the Location, some are more general
and may not even be shared by all. TE, Aurora Es...
You could put a number on each level, add all your numbers, and come up with
an index for your setup, and compare scores that way.
This would be a finer edge than the classes as most contests now offer.
No matter how you rate it, a move up to any Yagi for the HF bands is just
about the biggest jump in improvement you can make.
I put that behind op skills even, but not much. There is a different world
on the end of that coax.
Which voice keyer is giving the problem? Should I avoid a particular one,
or what?
I use a 40M add-on kit on the A3 for mobile field day... it works pretty
well. It is a shortened length for 40, but does not suffer too much from
efficiency drop.
An inverted L with a tuner might cover your 160/80 needs. Don't forget to
get on 160 and get at least a few multipliers, but I would not spend much
time if the setup is not adequate. Just work the strong ones, get the
zones or sections or whatever, and get back to the main plan.
It sounds like you just moved up the scale a pretty good jump... congrats.
Mike, NE4S
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-secc@contesting.com [mailto:owner-secc@contesting.com]On Behalf
Of Bill Coleman
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 10:39 AM
To: secc@contesting.com; Dan Nixon; Mike Zeug
Subject: [SECC] SS Phone Thoughts
I know many of you have moved on to CQWW CW, but I'm still digesting what
happened during SS Phone. Here's some of my thoughts.
Good:
* Having a beam makes all the difference. I could get through to any
station on the higher bands on the first call, for the most part. It's a
world of difference from using the R7000, where you call and call and
call and maybe get through when no one else is calling.
* Rate during the first hours was right at my target of 50/hr. 20m was
good. Started off there and had 13 Qs in 12 minutes. Then nothing for
four minutes, at which point I went to S & P.
* Did an RFI audit of my house before the contest. Only found two bad RFI
problems: 1) on the A3S, I get into the master bedroom telephone 2) the
downstairs TV/VCR feeds audio into the TV speakers. I fixed the latter by
disconnecting the VCR cables. The former was fixed by telling my wife to
use the portable phone (which is rock solid with no RFI whatsoever).
* Missed the sweep by one. This is good. I don't mind missing the hardest
section of all: NWT/YU. I focused on rate and managed to get 79 sections.
Had 75 sections after the initial 12 hours. Last three were: SD, NV, WY.
Easily worked.
Bad:
* 40m sloper just does not cut it when the band is full of region 1 QRM.
Thinking seriously of the 40m option for the A3S. It would buy me another
10 feet, and allow me to rotate the dipole.
* 80m dipole at 35' feet is too low. No one could hear me well. Never did
get responses to CQs on this band.
* Voice keyer makes an annoying "pop" at the end of the message. This
keeps the rig VOX keyed, which caused me to lose the first letter or so
of many callers. In SS, with the repeated callsign in the exchange, it
wasn't so bad, but needs to be fixed.
Improvements:
* Need to stay on 20m more. Last years record low-power GA effort by W4WA
had nearly half the QSOs on 20m. K4BAI's high-power effort of this year
had nearly 2/3 of the Qs on 20m. In GA at this point of the sun-spot
cycle, 20m is the place to be. 40m might be good if it weren't for all
the region 1 QRM in the evening. On CW, it's more of a 20/40m split. But
in Phone, 20m rules. Next year, I'm spending half my time on 20m.
* Need to produce runs. This is very difficult with low power. I avoided
the temptation to call CQ on 10m, but did manage several runs on 20m, a
couple on 15m, and one nice one on 40m early. Next time I may switch to
40m a bit earlier, then escape back to 20m when the QRM gets bad.
* 2 Radios. This would solve the run vs search dilemma. Runs often come
in spurts. You can't just sit there and call CQ for more than about 2-4
minutes without answers. So, sometimes you might give up an otherwise
decent run frequency during a lull. With 2 radios, you can continue to
make contacts during a lull in getting answers to your CQs.
* More effective antennas for the low bands. The 40m option for the A3S
should definitely go up before next year. I'm also trying to shunt-feed
my tower for 80m. I hope this would be more effective than the low
doublet. If I get the 40m option for the A3S, I may turn the 40m sloper
into an 80m sloper.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL Mail: aa4lr@arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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