I agree 100%,
I run alot.. but im FAR FAR from big.. my rule of thumbs is... Calling CQ
TEST.. leave enough room between CQ's to hear your own call 2x in a row
10wpm LESS that your CQ'ing at.. I generally cq @ 28 WPM as it says on the
N1MM program.. and I had the delay @ about 8 Seconds. Here is one thing
that REALLY irks me ( any contest definatally not TB specific ) I cq.. I
get a weak reply.. I send ? or __? or w/e i need to.. and they CHANGE THEIR
SPEED..or they slow down from 25 WPM to 10 wpm..REALLY? I wouldent CQ @ a
WPM that I couldent copy a call @ 99,1 % of the time @ the same speed with
a marginal to light signal. ( the other .9% im drinkin coffee n I slurp
loud hihi) Also hear a few ..very few thank goodness, horrible dot dash
ratios out there.. like the dashes were @ 25 wpm but the dots @ 40..tht is
SO HARD to copy.. STOP doing that! On the flip side.. I think the speed
gurus are hoping for that 45 second opening to super-caledonia and the only
way they will make the q is 100% copy & one exchange @ 38 WPM.
-Steve Raas
N2JDQ
On Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 4:05 PM, Cormac Gebruers <ei4hq.mail@gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> This weekend I spent a bit of time dipping in to the ARRL 160m contest.
> Something that has struck me a lot over the past few contests on topband
> struck me yet again last night and I figured it was time I put pen to
> paper. I think (hope) it is something fellow contesters might appreciate
> being reminded about as it will help increase their topband score:
>
> I'm a pretty typical little pistol station; on topband I run 100w into a
> base loaded vertical that is just shy of 18m high. It has a reasonable
> ground system under it - 44 radials that are a quarter wave on 80m and that
> radial system is also connected to my 64 quarter wave radial system for my
> 40m vertical (that is in the direction of USA/Canada as it happens). I live
> on the shores of the Atlantic ocean so I'm luckier than most in terms of
> far field. I use a K9AY for listening that is over one wavelength from my
> transmit antenna and has a buried coax feed. These two antennas, 100w and a
> good radio (Yaesu FT-2000 with AC0C roofing filter mod) are a balanced
> combination in practice - lots of time on the air suggests my ears and
> mouth are pretty well matched.
>
> One pattern that lots of operating on topband has thrown up is this; if the
> band is open during the night (not special conditions around
> sunset/sunrise), I'm usually quite audible (but far from rock crushing)
> into the areas about 4000-6000km E/W from my QTH e.g. to the east coast of
> the USA. In a normal DX situation I'll call at a relatively low speed
> (16WPM) until I get one through i.e. when the frequency is sufficiently QRM
> & QRN free. My callsign will generally be copied by the DX station after
> two (perhaps three) repeats. After that we'll have a pretty solid QSO
> (provided band conditions aren't fluctuating rapidly).
>
> In a contest situation however things too often go differently; too many
> run stations treat topband just like the higher bands and call CQ *but only
> listen for a very brief period* before calling again. Unfortunately for me
> (and for them) that results in them failing to hear my call. I'm quite
> confident I'm there alright but the run stations are not leaving long
> enough between calls for there to be much chance of my 16WPM relatively
> weak call being heard. These stations aren't crocodiles - many are in the
> super station category and definitely have the "ears" to hear me. This
> seems to be a matter of operating technique, not technology.
>
> Last night I worked 19 of the 26 stations I called on the east coast. The
> others should have been hearing me just as well. I seriously doubt it was
> their ears were the problem as they were all big stations. It wasn't QRM
> either as they weren't working anyone else. QRN wasn't an issue as far as I
> could tell last night... All the stations I failed to work exhibited a
> common behaviour of leaving only a matter of seconds between CQ calls. I
> did struggle to work stations further west in e.g. LA and TX - even those
> that were listening with great care, but that was down to propagation I
> expect (the K was 2 at the time - see ON4UN for some interesting stats
> about the probability of working the west coast of the USA from Europe when
> the K index is > 1). The 7 guys I didn't work were in "easy" states like
> NH, NY, PA, ME etc. where I did work at least two other stations of similar
> capability.
>
> On topband, run stations need to leave longer between CQs than they do on
> the higher bands to give themselves a chance to hear the weaker ones. Why
> bother? On topband there is a higher proportion of stations that fall into
> the "weaker" category than on the higher bands due to the necessity for
> many to use compromised transmit antennas on 160. A run station's QSO total
> depends on listening a bit harder and a bit longer on topband but this is
> something that certain stations seem to have overlooked. It is interesting
> that those run stations in the 4000 to 6000km zone that do leave a decent
> gap (enough time for me to transmit my call twice at 16WPM) almost
> invariably do hear me and consequently do get the QSO and the points as a
> result :-)
>
> It's been my overwhelming experience on topband that it is beneficial to
> slow things down a bit. I always use a lower WPM speed as experience has
> shown it clearly makes me stand out more than if I send faster. For run
> stations leaving bigger gaps between CQs on the higher bands will impact
> rate but let's face it you aren't going to work a rate of 160 an hour on
> topband very often, so generally there is time to listen for a bit longer.
> Many little pistols wind back the CW WPM on topband as it increases the
> likelihood of a successful QSO. It only works however if the other guy/gal
> leave long enough between CQs to hear us in the first place!
> Thanks for the contacts in the ARRL 160, it was fun - see you in the Stew
> Perry in a few weeks.
>
> --
> Regards
> Cormac, EI4HQ
> [Cork/UTC] NNNN++++
> http://ei4hq.cloudaccess.net
> http://www.corkharbourweather.ie
> https://sites.google.com/site/cormacgebruers/<
> http://ei4hq.cloudaccess.net/>
> <http://www.corkharbourweather.ie/>
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