Thought I would repeat a few W4AN emails from days gone by - still good
info.
CU in the 'test.
N4GG
>From an old CQ-Contest Reflector post:
1. CQ a lot
2. Move multipliers you need or expect to need later to bands that
you feel you will miss them on. Don't be afraid to move someone as late
as the end of the contest to 10 and 15 meters. I remember one NAQP
where I had missed MA on almost all bands. I worked K5ZD on 80 meters
and moved him through every band. This was like 11:30 at night.
3. You don't have to be on the band that you hear everyone else is
on. I almost always start on 20 meters. I work the second radio on 10
and 15 to get the mults.
4. Don't go to the low bands for good too early. Always keep a
mental note of where you are in the contest. At 7PM you will be halfway
to the end. Are you on 40M? Have you already been there for a long
time? Guess what? You are going to run out of QSOs near the end.
Experience helps here.
5. Last January I averaged 100+ QSOs per hour. Keep that in mind.
This is not a slow contest (not in January anyway). Keep the rate up,
pay attention to where your rate has been, and don't be afraid to move
around when it drops. Frequency allocation is not a problem in this
contest.
6. Call CQ TEST, not CQ NA. You can work anyone in this contest.
The guys that call CQ NA aren't thinking it through very well in my
opinion. I work at least 30 DX QSOs in the NAQP every time.
7. When asking someone to move, don't make it a run-on sentence.
Simply send '10m?' or more often I will just send a frequency like
'28070' after my report. Maybe a PSE in front of it. Move people high
in the band. Don't make the mistake of moving someone to someone else's
CQ frequency. I'll move 'em to the novice band.
8. Point your 10M yagi South. Especially after the band sounds
dead. Same with 15.
9. You guys with 'no 160 antenna' should try loading whatever you
can. I worked a bunch of guys in the ARRL 160 contest from loading a 40
meter dipole and getting 5W out of my FT-1000MP. Amazing.
10. CQ a lot.
And from July, 1997:
Offtimes: Four 1/2 hour breaks spread out to where you think you are
getting the most exposure to the most people when you are operating.
NEVER
take an off time from 4 p.m. EST to 11 p.m. EST. This is when the rate
occurs. So, this leaves you with either the first 2 hours or the last 3
hours for off times. Still, I take them in 1/2 hour chunks. This
should
also be the key to doing well in the SS. Off time in the SS should be
the
shortest duration possible.
Ontimes: Two radios make a bigger difference in this contest than in
any
other I can name. If you can use two radios effectively it is worth 200
QSO's. Well, it is to me anyway. OK, you have two radios . . . Move
everyone you can if the rate justifys it. I will simply send a
frequency
to someone, move the other radio to that frequency and wait for them to
call me. I do this for the Q's and the mults. Depending on the
rate. Also, depending on the mult I will leave a pretty good run if
it's
worth moving a guy through five bands that I would otherwise miss.
So you don't have two radios? CQ as much as possible with occasional
complete S&P runs up the entire band. Don't be afraid to lose a
frequency. This isn't CQWW. Frequencies are easy to come by in this
one. If you need to move to work a mult . . . then move.
CQ: This is where two radios buys you 200 QSOs. I never stop CQing for
the entire contest.
20M: Bread
40M: Butter
High bands: I move guys to 10 and 15 meters up to the end of the
contest. I worked K5ZD last August on 10 and 15 meters with 1/2 hour to
go
in the contest. Never assume the band is closed.
Band selection: Biggest mistake made in the NAQP and the Sprint is
going
to the next band too early. You need to milk the highest band open for
all
it's worth as long as you can. Nothing like getting to 80M at 8:00 p.m.
and then not having anyone to work for the last 3 hours of the contest.
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