I will be unable to operate next weekend until late morning. Hope I can
have a lot of fun as "fresh meat" in ARRL SS after I can get on.
Remember that there is a club aggregate score competition. SECC has won
the gavel for middle sized clubs twice. Hope everyone can get on and
make some QSOs and have some fun.
In so far as "off times" is concerned for full time single ops, it is
best to be on at the first and run as hard as you can for as long as you
can and then take off time in the wee hours of the morning when your
rate drops. You need to be back on 40M by 7 AM and run as long as you
can so you will not still be on the air during the last few hours when
almost everyone is calling CQ and not getting any new answers. You
should take time out for meals with the family unless they are all out
of town. The contest allows 24 hours out of 30 hours. So if you get
only six hours of sleep in the night, you must operate the other 24
hours. I usually take out at least an hour for dinner with the XYL and
lunch with the family, so if I sleep four hours, I may be able to avoid
the tedious last hour.
Don't think you have to run the whole 24 hours. Very few ops actually
do that. SO2R is a big help in this contest.
73, John, K4BAI.
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