Kev! That's why he's "The Judge".
Good Luck all!!
Sent from my iPhone
> On Jan 9, 2015, at 7:03 AM, Kevan Nason <knason00 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> WOW!
>
> I don't think I've received such a thorough and precise answer so quickly in
> many, many years! Why don't you go into politics? We could use you! I know
> you've talked on this subject before and perhaps you grabbed and updated an
> old email, but even so that is great advice modified for today's conditions
> whipped out on short notice. If not, and that was all on the tip of your
> tongue... again, WOW! Thanks John.
>
> Figure I'll go home and summarize this tonight into hourly and bullet point
> style and post it at the station for reference during the contest.
>
> Any input or comments from anyone else? I'm sure people do things a bit
> differently than John. I undoubtedly will too as I digest his answer and
> figure out how to apply his advice to my stations strengths/weaknesses.
>
> Kevan
> N4XL
>
>
>
>
>
>> On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 8:36 AM, John Laney <k4bai at att.net> wrote:
>> Good advice that you have included in your message Kevan.
>>
>> Here is my general band plan for SO1R operating in NAQP CW. Start on 10M if
>> there are any signals there. After that for the afternoon do a sweep of 10
>> on the hour and 15 on the half hour as long as there are signals on those
>> bands. Try to run during these sweeps. I generally find running on 15 and
>> 10 unproductive from here, but sometimes we will get short skip to the
>> northeast and I can do so very well. If you don't CQ, you cannot work some
>> participants who are S&P only. Most of us have a tendancy these days to
>> start at the bottom of a band and work up. If you hear someone you'd like
>> to work (like a new mult doing S&P), try CQing up the band a few kHz from
>> where you last heard him.
>>
>> When you are S&P, one frustrating thing is to keep being beat out by the
>> same station each time you call someone. If that happens, you might want to
>> switch to the other SSB on CW and go down the band rather than up. Some
>> people, K1TO and the late W4AN included) always go down the band for that
>> very reason. I guess I like to go up the band as a result of being a
>> General Class licensee so long that I wanted to start at the 025 kHz marker
>> and move up without having to worry about slipping across the 025 marker
>> without realizing it if I was moving the other way.
>>
>> In between forays to 10 and 15M on the hour and half hour, you need to be
>> running on 20M. That is not to say don't call someone else, but you need to
>> be CQing on 20M to get those S&P ops who will start the contest and drop out
>> soon. Most of the stations running will continue running for a while and
>> you can call those who haven't already called you later.
>>
>> It's a pretty good idea to start making quick runs across 40M beginning
>> about 2100 or 2130Z. You can pick up the more local 4th district mults and
>> maybe DE and WV while the skip isn't long. We have been experiencing long
>> skip on 40M in recent weeks and if you are late getting to 40M, you might
>> miss some of the more local mults.
>>
>> On 80 and 160, you certainly want to be on 160M at 0330Z and 0430Z. Those
>> used to be target times for 160M when not too many of us were active on that
>> band. After starting to run on 40M, I think of checking back on 20M every
>> half hour. I don't ever leave a frequency when anyone is calling (unless I
>> have promised a quick QSY for a mult). In other words, when I am talking
>> about checking other bands on the hour and half hour, those times are
>> flexible and I'll never leave a run frequency until I have called CQ a few
>> times with no answers.
>>
>> After going to 40, you have to decide when to start checking 80M. As a rule,
>> it is a waste of time for us this far south to try 80M much before 0000Z and
>> then you don't want to stay there too long. But you do want to make a few
>> passes across 80M before most 80M operators start going QRT. If you wait
>> too late, you will miss a lot of them and maybe some otherwise easy mults.
>>
>> When to take your off times could be a complete topic for a long essay.
>> W4AN always believed it was best to take them a half hour at a time in the
>> afternoon. I usually take one half hour off for supper with my XYL whenever
>> she calls me, but that is for peace in the family and probably doesn't
>> maximize the rate, as it always seems to me that 40M is going great guns and
>> 20M needs a final check when I take that time off. One very important
>> consideration is to be sure that you take a full 30 minutes off. Nowadays,
>> that means if your last QSO is at 0015Z, don't make your next QSO before
>> 0046Z. If you make it at 0045Z, you have taken off only 29 minutes and the
>> whole off time will count as on time. You can make your off time as long as
>> you want, but it must be 30 minutes at a minimum (unless it is the time
>> before your first QSO, which can be any time). In other words, it doesn't
>> matter when you start, your ten hours starts then. I take my other off
>> times at or near the end of the contest period. If you quit too early, you
>> will miss mults on both 80 and 160. If you take all your off times earlier,
>> it seems to me that the rate always drops during the last 90 minutes because
>> so many people on the east coast have quit and gone to bed. So, its a
>> difficult problem. Should you take off more time and lose rate time in
>> favor of better chances at mults? If getting sleep isn't a big
>> consideration, it is probably better to take all your off time and come back
>> on for the last 45 minutes to maximize your chances for west coast mults on
>> 80 and 160M. I don't usually take this last advice seriously. I'll probably
>> take the last hour or 90 minutes as off times and go to bed early. (This
>> has absolutely nothing to do with my advanced age, of course.)
>>
>> We still could use some more team members for NAQP CW and SSB. I will
>> register the teams late tonight and send out a confirmation to everyone. I
>> will try to check e-mail at 1630Z Saturday for any last minute changes or
>> additions. I can re-register teams up to the start of the contest at 1800Z,
>> but will be eating lunch with my son and can't be sure of being able to
>> check e-mails after about 1630Z.
>>
>> Good luck and 73 to all, John, K4BAI.
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