Ed does a great job running multiple radios, especially on RTTY. It is
definitely not easy, especially if you are operating from a high rate
area. Imagine working 200-300+ stations per hour on SSB on one radio
while looking for mults on another. There are operators that do this very
well. Anyone can set up two radios but learning to use both and maintain
this energy and motivation during the contest is the challenge. I see no
reason for a separate category. You should never under estimate what can
be done with a single radio. Many people have won using SO1R, including
myself. As Ed said, SO2R on RTTY is easier. You do not have to mentally
copy anything and the exchanges are often ridiculously long which give you
a lot of free time. The difficult part for me when running RTTY on two
bands is that you cannot legally transmit on both at the same time (as
single op) and sometimes QSOs do not sync well. Both may require my
response at the same time and sometimes I have to wait longer than I care
for before I can hit the appropriate F key for one of the QSOs.
John KK9A / W4AAA
To: <W2GR@aol.com>, <WriteLog@CONTESTING.COM>
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] P49X Prefill file & Message SO2R vs SO1R
From: "Ed Muns" <ed@w0yk.com>
Reply-to: ed@w0yk.com
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2015 06:54:28 -0800
How many of the "SO2R guys" who "push you down in the standings" are
operating from a "small city lot . 1 trapped beam, 1 homebrew short 160m
vert. and a very low 80m inv. V"? Most SO2R operators have already created
significant advantages with their station location and antennas, etc. How
many SO2R operators out score you from identical stations in identical
locations? That will tell you how severely tilted the playing field is due
to SO2R.
Of course, a skilled SO2R operator will likely outscore a skilled SO1R
operator in identical locations with identical propagation and identical
antennas. But the extent of this advantage is smaller than the advantages
gained from all the other qualifiers in that sentence. Most SO2R operators
have already gained significant advantage by optimizing other aspects of
their station and location.
By the way, for anyone wanting to improve their SO2R skills, spend plenty of
time in RTTY contests. SO2R is much easier because the operator is freed
from copying and can therefore apply his attention to perfecting all the
other skills needed to effectively manage two or more QSO streams on
different bands. The potential score advantage of SO2R in RTTY is also much
higher than in CW or SSB, but the SO2R skills developed in RTTY are mostly
applicable to the other modes. My CW SO2R skills improved much faster once
I started doing RTTY contesting.
Also, SO2R skills can be developed in any SO1R station that has a radio with
a reasonable second receiver. This is so-called SO2V. It is even more
challenging than SO2R because you can not listen to another frequency on the
same band (usually) while transmitting.
Finally, don't underestimate the skill it takes to operate SO2R such that it
actually is an advantage. My scores were lower due to SO2R for many, many
contests. To the extent that SO2R is an advantage for me today it is
because I invested thousands of hours struggling to learn it.
Ed W0YK
_______________________________________________
WriteLog mailing list
WriteLog@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/writelog
WriteLog on the web: http://www.writelog.com/
|