WRTC - Stn Prep

[BK1ZX70SFL at aol.com]

ya done great Dave! Sure the stations weren't identical...but they was an
effort to make them that way...I saw that picture of you at the drill press
building forty meter dipoles!

(Contesting 201)...There are always some QTH's which seem to posess a magic
at times, despite their average locations...by constantly working on refining
and improving ones stn you hope to minimize that factor. Isn't that why the
big contesters are always trying a different antenna every season?

For the most part it seemed pretty level - a given callsign never seemed to
be "always weak" OR "always loudest" - some on 40 changed big time as the
opening came and went, while others seemed more level. W6Z was pretty damn
loud in the closing minutes on 40 - why, oh why, did I miss them for the 40
meter WRTC stn band sweep - I'll bet they were on "the phone" a lot more
compared to the other teams... 

Occasionally a given station would be weak, I attributed that to my being of
the side of their beams on the higher bands (I imagine I'm in a real lousy
part of the lobe if they are beaming for JA!) ...unfortunately Florida is not
as prime a target as the Northeast or Mi/Oh areas (yet)...but we are workin'
on increasing the number of hf/contest types, even in Repeaterville - c'mon
down Dan!

You guys did well in your preparation of so many stations, and, like K4VX
said years ago there will always be that one weekend when things all go your
way and you have to be ready for it with all your savvy QRV...interesting one
of his "graduates" KR0Y was on the winning team.  

On this end, on any given weekend something will always favor one station
over another slightly - be it one man's connector failure or a guest op
dealing with the host's Doberman (you home yet, dude?)...that's just part of
the game - if you aren't trying to minimize those things at your station you
are missing a whole angle to contesting.

You guys all probably need a week of vacation to recover from this
event....tell your bosses I said it was cool.

Jim     zx

              k1zx at contesting.com

ps: once again a Grandparent (#6 was born late last night - Alexandria Nicole
@ 8 lbs 13 oz - its a good thing none of the major contests fall on
Christmas, I'd have a really tough time getting outta trouble then!)