ARRL DX CW - BAD CNDX ???

jsteinman at aol.com jsteinman at aol.com
Mon Feb 21 22:22:51 EST 1994


I have seen the light. I have found religion. My life will never be the same.


What's this, you ask ?  Has KR0Y flipped out and [finally] decided to give up
ham radio contesting ? No, not yet. But words escape me when I attempt to
describe operating the ARRL DX CW test last weekend. You see, I was at the
K1AR (K1EA QTH) Multi-Two.

During my 14 year contest career, I have had the pleasure of operating from
Missouri and Texas, with an occassional side trip to V3, VP5, P4 and
Pennsylvania. But I have NEVER before experienced the absolute feeling of
domination in a contest like I did this weekend.

To be sure, K1EA has a FB station with excellent antennas. If you could
somehow rank USA stations by size of antenna systems, I'm sure K1EA would be
in the top 50-100. Ken is no slouch of an operator, either. He has won the WW
ya' know, in between writing code for CT and stuff. K1AR needs no accolades
from me or anyone else. But what the hell, we all know John is THE operator.
It was a great experience operating with these two and I had a blast. 

A very good station and operators. But I said TOTAL DOMINATION before, didn't
I ?? So what have I left out. Hmmmm, let's see... Oh yes, location ! And I
don't mean the hill that Ken's QTH is on, either !
Sure, conditions this year were down. But down EQUALLY across geographic
areas ? No, not even remotely. 

I've never seen it so easy to find hold a frequency. Not even challenged by
wanna-be's who don't care if anyone calls, they just wanna nudge up to a big
boy on the band edge and play. Big rate all the time, you ask ? No, not
really. Figure our best hour was maybe 135. But you sure do hear EU well for
A LOT of hours. And where did all these QRP guys come from in Europe, anyway
? I've never heard them before. Weird working that YB and HS during the
Sunday morning EU run on 15 meters. I was really disappointed that 80 was so
poor. I mean, only 300 QSOs ? What a bummer. How could we miss a JA on 15 too
? And losing one station for 45 minutes Friday night right at EU sunrise.
Ouch, that sure hurt ........

In 1992 I had about 4 M single-op from WM5G. The K1AR multi-two score that
year had about 8.3 M. Two years later the 'AR score is down about 25%. I can
only speculate, but figure the best I could have done from WM5G this year
would have been 2 M. A reduction of 50%.

Does it sound like I'm bitching ? It's not my intention. I simply had no idea
what it was like, operating a DX contest from W1. I won't get caught up in
the argument about what constitutes an "East coast QTH" (I don't think Dallas
is). I'm sure the 2s and 3s think it's W1. And those guys in Maine sure have
an edge over Connecticut, etc. I have no doubt that there are SUBTLE
differences.

While one contest from W1 isn't a statistically significant sample size for a
quantitative analysis, I can safely say one thing: DO YOU GUYS ON THE EAST
COAST KNOW HOW GOOD YOU HAVE IT ?! 

73

Jeff Steinman KR0Y

jsteinman at aol.com 

>From Richard Hallman <0006135537 at mcimail.com>  Tue Feb 22 03:40:00 1994
From: Richard Hallman <0006135537 at mcimail.com> (Richard Hallman)
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 22:40 EST
Subject: ARRL DX CW From the west!
Message-ID: <34940222034043/0006135537NA3EM at mcimail.com>

                   ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST 1994


      Call: KI3V/7                   Country:  United States
      Mode: CW                       Category: Single Unlimited

      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS PTS/Q COUNTRIES


      160        4       12   3.0        4
       80       21       63   3.0       16
       40      334      993   3.0       64
       20      214      621   2.9       66
       15      236      705   3.0       51
       10       42      117   2.8       29
     --------------------------------------

     Totals    851     2511   3.0      230  =   577,530

                18 Hours On-Time
 Excuses:

   - 9 feet of snow in past 6 days.  Major storm killed the Backbone
     link to W6GO Hours before the Contest.  This is a 120 Mile
     220 Mhz Direct connect Over the Sierra's!  Most of the time is 
     100 Percent connect!

   - 80 Meters had 10 Db over line noise ALL weekend.  SP&P got a call
     the next day to come and fix it!

   - Alpha 77 had T/R switching problem.  T/R relays hang after about
     5-6 Hours.   Thought I fixed this problem 6 hours before contest!

   - Wont talk about the Snow static we had ALL weekend.....

   - S92SS pile-up on 15 meters.....HA!   

 Observations:  

   -  I see the East Coast complaining about the REAL poor conditions
      this weekend......It was Just another West Coast DX Contest
      from what I saw in Conditions....Glad to see the East gets 
      West Coast conditions once and a While! ( Couldnt resist!)

   - Thanks to ALL the JA's who showed this weekend!  If it wasnt  
     for the JA's, I dont think you would have seen ONE score over
     1 Million from the west.

   - Thanks to AD1C for a FLAWLESS .CTY file!

 Conclusion.....

    As Bevis would say " Conditions Sucked!".

    Went skiing twice this weekend and watched a few videos....18 hours
    operating time.  Most enjoyable part of the weekend was the 40 meter
    JA Run Sunday!    This WAS the PITS!

                               Rich KI3V/7


>From Randy A Thompson <K5ZD at world.std.com>  Tue Feb 22 04:50:00 1994
From: Randy A Thompson <K5ZD at world.std.com> (Randy A Thompson)
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 1994 23:50:00 -0500 (EST)
Subject: K5ZD ARRL CW Score (full breakdown)
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9402212314.A29386-0100000 at world.std.com>

K5ZD - ARRL CW

If you lived in NE, it was an entertaining contest.  If you didn't, it was
probably a good weekend to do something else.  The rates were low enough 
that it was easy, and extremely effective, to tune with the second 
radio.  Kind of reminded me of SS on Sunday afternoon where you will do 
anything for a QSO.

Here's a full report from here:

               ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST 1994
      Call: K5ZD                     Country:  United States
      Mode: CW                       Category: Single Operator

      BAND     QSO    QSO PTS PTS/Q COUNTRIES
      160       39      114   2.9       32
       80      187      561   3.0       56
       40      800     2400   3.0       83
       20      816     2448   3.0       87
       15      782     2346   3.0       82
       10       49      147   3.0       31
     --------------------------------------
     Totals   2673     8016   3.0      371  =   2,973,936

Breakdown by continent:

                 160   80   40   20   15   10  ALL   percent

North America     16   24   21   24   27   24  136     5.1
South America      5   10    9   18   19   17   78     2.9
Europe            14  146  722  698  697    6 2283    85.3
Asia               1    0   22   67   28    0  118     4.4
Africa             3    5   11    8    8    1   36     1.3
Oceania            0    2   17    4    3    1   27     1.0


BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  K5ZD    Single Operator

HOUR      160      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT  
   0    .....    .....   110/34     1/1     .....    .....   111/35  111/35 
   1      .        .      72/10     6/3       .        .      78/13  189/48 
   2      .       5/4     41/4      4/3       .        .      50/11  239/59 
   3      .      18/12    36/2       .        .        .      54/14  293/73 
   4     3/2     24/12     7/0      4/2       .        .      38/16  331/89 
   5     5/4     23/5     10/3      1/0       .        .      39/12  370/101
   6     4/4     18/2       .       2/2       .        .      24/8   394/109
   7      .       7/2     63/4       .        .        .      70/6   464/115
   8    .....     6/3     32/4     .....    .....    .....    38/7   502/122
   9      .       4/3      8/3      7/6       .        .      19/12  521/134
  10     1/1      2/0      1/1      6/4       .        .      10/6   531/140
  11      .        .       4/2     88/16      .        .      92/18  623/158
  12      .        .        .      80/12    20/10      .     100/22  723/180
  13      .        .        .       8/6     93/16      .     101/22  824/202
  14      .        .        .       3/1    103/9       .     106/10  930/212
  15      .        .        .        .     101/4       .     101/4  1031/216
  16    .....    .....    .....    41/7     46/5      4/4     91/16 1122/232
  17      .        .        .      97/2       .      10/8    107/10 1229/242
  18      .        .        .      66/2       .      12/7     78/9  1307/251
  19      .        .        .      61/1     12/10     2/2     75/13 1382/264
  20      .        .        .      43/3     11/5      2/1     56/9  1438/273
  21      .        .      53/3      5/0      5/2       .      63/5  1501/278
  22      .        .      71/1      8/6       .        .      79/7  1580/285
  23      .        .      15/0     34/2       .        .      49/2  1629/287
   0    .....    .....    30/1     15/0     .....    .....    45/1  1674/288
   1      .       6/1     26/0       .        .        .      32/1  1706/289
   2     5/4     14/3      5/0      1/1       .        .      25/8  1731/297
   3    10/9     12/2       .        .        .        .      22/11 1753/308
   4     3/3      9/3       .        .        .        .      12/6  1765/314
   5     2/1      8/0     20/0       .        .        .      30/1  1795/315
   6     4/3     22/1      5/1       .        .        .      31/5  1826/320
   7     1/1      2/2     44/2       .        .        .      47/5  1873/325
   8    .....     1/0     32/3     .....    .....    .....    33/3  1906/328
   9      .       2/1      7/3       .        .        .       9/4  1915/332
  10      .        .       1/1      1/1       .        .       2/2  1917/334
  11     1/0      1/0      3/0     43/0       .        .      48/0  1965/334
  12      .        .        .      27/0     18/4       .      45/4  2010/338
  13      .        .        .       1/0     79/2       .      80/2  2090/340
  14      .        .        .        .      92/1      3/2     95/3  2185/343
  15      .        .        .        .      80/1      2/2     82/3  2267/346
  16    .....    .....    .....     2/0     69/1      4/2     75/3  2342/349
  17      .        .        .      60/1     12/1      1/0     73/2  2415/351
  18      .        .        .      45/2      5/2       .      50/4  2465/355
  19      .        .        .      38/0      3/2      3/0     44/2  2509/357
  20      .        .       4/0     12/1      7/1      4/1     27/3  2536/360
  21      .        .      42/1       .       1/1      2/2     45/4  2581/364
  22      .        .      46/0       .       7/4       .      53/4  2634/368
  23      .       3/0     12/0      6/2     18/1       .      39/3  2673/371
DAY1    13/11   107/43   523/71   565/79   391/61    30/22    ..... 1629/287
DAY2    26/21    80/13   277/12   251/8    391/21    19/9       .   1044/84 
TOT     39/32   187/56   800/83   816/87   782/82    49/31      .   2673/371

Op time/rate per band:

DAY1  0.6/21   2.6/41   7.9/66   7.1/79   4.1/95   0.4/70    .....  22.8/71 
DAY2  1.5/17   2.6/31   6.7/41   5.1/50   5.5/71   0.3/55      .    21.8/48 
TOT   2.1/18   5.2/36  14.7/55  12.2/67   9.6/81   0.8/63      .    44.6/60

-end-




>From Randy A Thompson <K5ZD at world.std.com>  Tue Feb 22 05:42:39 1994
From: Randy A Thompson <K5ZD at world.std.com> (Randy A Thompson)
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 1994 00:42:39 -0500 (EST)
Subject: W1KM ARRL CW Score
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9402220049.A29386-0100000 at world.std.com>

Talked to Greg this evening and got his score for ARRL CW.

W1KM
Single Operator

160	25	23
 80	239	62
 40	613	75
 20	584	86
 15	758	77
 10	36	25
	---	---
Tot	2255	350	= 2.36M points



>From Tim Totten <kj4vh at iglou.com>  Tue Feb 22 05:53:10 1994
From: Tim Totten <kj4vh at iglou.com> (Tim Totten)
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 1994 00:53:10 -0500 (EST)
Subject: N4AR M/S ARRL DX CW score
Message-ID: <Pine.3.88.9402220041.D25915-0100000 at iglou>

N4AR 1994 ARRL DX CW Multi/Single 

      160   80   40   20   15   10  ALL   pct

NA     16   26   23   28   29   25  147   9.3
SA      3    9   11   30   31   23  107   6.8
EU      6   92  306  218  480    5 1107  69.9
AS      0   16   56   42   27    1  142   9.0
AF      0    5    9    8   13    3   38   2.4
OC      0    3   17    7    8    7   42   2.7

JAs     0   15   45   26   23    1  110   7.1
 
QSOs   25  148  420  331  571   62 1557
Mults  19   59   91   86   93   41  389

Score:  1553 * 3 * 389 = 1,812,351           Ops:  N4AR, N4TY, KJ4VH
        (we had 4 zero-pointer Qs)          Club:  Kentucky Contest Group
 
Comments (de KJ4VH):  Sure wish more DX would make the effort for scatter
QSOs on 10.  This is going to be a fact of life for the next few years!
9A1A was like a "scatter beacon."  And JA1YDU knew what they were doing
too--they were our only Asian on 10.
 
It's very tempting, but we decided to shun the contesting tradition of
qualifying one's score with a list of excuses.  Suffice it to say that we
know we can do significantly better, and that's just what we plan to do
next year!
 
73, Tim

--------------------------------------------------
  Tim Totten, KJ4VH     Home tel +1-502-239-6486  
  kj4vh at iglou.com       Home fax +1-502-239-7766  
              Kentucky Contest Group


>From oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills)  Mon Feb 21 23:50:31 1994
From: oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills) (Derek Wills)
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 94 23:50:31 GMT
Subject: ARRL contest observations
Message-ID: <9402220550.AA29429 at astro.as.utexas.edu>

	>>First, the ARRL is a *lot* different from the CQ WW.  There is just
	>>no comparison in the level of activity. 

	>>Soapbox comment:  Couldn't the ARRL do something about this?
	>>Is support for contests now politically incorrect?

	   >>-- Pat WA8YVR

The obvious response is to remember what the "WW" in "CQWW" means,
and that for the rest of the world the ARRL contest is almost a
local affair.  I don't see many reports on this reflector giving
US scores in the Oceania contests, and only parts of this country
take the WAE and JA contests seriously.

There's a lot of incentive for the little stations all over the globe
to get on during CQWW and work some new countries, but if I lived in 
Africa, I don't know that I'd want to spend a weekend working just Ws 
and VEs - it would get boring after the first few.  Not that many
people outside N. America are working on their WAS or county awards.

I'm actually surprised by the high level of activity in this contest,
considering how one-sided it is.    It's hard to realize, but for many
people in the world, the ARRL contest is just not interesting - when
you've worked one W and one VE you've worked them all.   Plus the fact
that unlike the CQWW, you don't have 24-hour propagation.  You probably
saw James 9V1YC's note on the reflector, mentioning his 4 hrs per day 
propagation to the US, so while James and others might (and did) travel 
to VS6 for the CQWW weekends, there is little point in their doing so
for a contest where the targets are only available for a total of about
8 hrs over the weekend.  In spite of this, 9V1YC, VS6WO and VS6BG were
all on during the contest at some time - thanks, guys.

Perhaps the League, who after all sponsor this contest, could do some of
the "work 200 station and you can buy a cute coffee mug" stuff for this
contest - it seems to have worked well for SS.

Derek "just another boring W" AA5BT


>From robert penneys <penneys at freezer.cns.udel.edu>  Tue Feb 22 06:53:12 1994
From: robert penneys <penneys at freezer.cns.udel.edu> (robert penneys)
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 94 01:53:12 EST
Subject: WN3K to HRO Delaware
Message-ID: <9402220653.AA15024 at freezer.cns.udel.edu>


Heard that HRO was opening up here and ran up to talk to them in NH about
it Sunday. Was a different experience spending a ARRL contest day in
YCCC-land. Tried to lull them on repeater.
Spend a little time on at home just to get a log in.

Will be in ham radio from different perspective--certainly puts the knife in
VE activities and will get in the way of some contests. Hope it's fun.

I'm excited about the amount of contact I'll have with the wide variety
of hams with their different knowledge and criteria. Should be quite
interesting.

CU on ARRL phone from N2MM.

Go FRC!!

Bob WN3K



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