[3830] CQWW CW N2IC SOAB Classic HP

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                    CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: N2IC
Operator(s): N2IC
Station: N2IC

Class: SOAB Classic HP
QTH: New Mexico
Operating Time (hrs): 24

Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Zones  Countries
------------------------------
  160:   25    13       14
   80:  147    25       57
   40:  660    29       80
   20:  535    31       89
   15:  930    31       96
   10:  212    28       53
------------------------------
Total: 2509   157      389  Total Score = 3,852,576

Club: 

Comments:

Yes, you read correctly - I entered in the Classic category. I have done SOAB
HP, SO2R, over 43 hours, many times. Thought it was time to try something
different.

The classic category is now "mature". This is the 3rd year it has
been run, and Randy (K5ZD) now includes the classic category in the searchable
CQWW records.

The CQWW classic category lets you choose which 24 hours, and they don't have
to be contiguous. The only requirement is that a time-off must be at least 60
minutes. However, you can't operate 48 hours, and then cherry-pick the
"best" 24 for your classic score. If you exceed 24 operating hours,
only the first 24 operating hours are counted towards your classic score. The
other wrinkle with the classic category is that you can only use 1 radio. No
SO2R. You can use multiple VFO's in the 1 radio, but the radio cannot be
capable of receiving while you transmit.

If you are trying to optimize your score, operating 24 out of 48 hours presents
some interesting strategic challenges. Which 24 hours ? How do you optimized
rate vs. multipliers ? What if conditions are better after you run out of time
? etc...

My basic strategy was to cover all the JA/Asia openings once, the Europe
nighttime openings once and the high-band Europe openings twice - both Saturday
and Sunday morning. After that, any leftover time would be used for
search-and-pounce. I operated 20.5 hours of the first 24 hours, taking off
0630Z-0800Z, 1100Z-1200Z, and 1900Z-2000Z. That left 3.5 hours to operate on
Day 2.

The plan was to search-and-pounce as much as possible on the other VFO for a
few seconds in between unanswered CQ's. However, with the excellent conditions,
limited operating time, and excellent activity from Europe and Asia, I rarely
had unanswered CQ's when the band was open to those areas. This left me
significantly short on some multipliers, on some bands, especially from the
Caribbean and Central America on the low bands. I mitigated some of this by
using 30 minutes of my remaining 3.5 hours to S&P on 40, 80 and 160 around
0630Z. The last 3 hours was used for working Europe from 14Z-17Z. An excellent
opening on both 20 and 15 meters to finish the contest !

Overall, I am satisfied with my results. I could have had more QSO's by working
all of the JA openings, but at the expense of many high band multipliers during
the afternoon. There were a few low points. Despite improvements to the radial
system on the shunt-fed tower, I'm still a 3rd class citizen on 160 meters.
Rocky, dry, mountain tops just don't play on 160, and there is no flat ground
for a stand-alone vertical, much less a vertical array. 40 was a little
disappointing to Europe. The post-EU-sunrise opening (08Z-11Z) did not happen
on Saturday morning, but the JA opening at the same time was good. If 10 meters
opened to Europe on Saturday, I missed it. The rate was too high on 15 meters to
invest any time on 10 meters trying to work weak, scatter Europeans. This would
have been an excellent opportunity for SO2R, but not for 1 radio operating.

It would be great to see more participants in the classic category. Adding an
assisted category to the classic category would be a worthwhile addition. I
know that some folks have been complaining for years that they can't compete
with SO2R stations. This is the perfect category for 1-radio stations and their
operators.

73,
Steve


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