[CQ-Contest] 1 radio vs. 2 radios

[Charles Fulp]

At 04:26 AM 8/5/97 +0100, you wrote:
>Hi Gang,
>
>Been doing some thinking lately ... trying to gauge how "competitive" my
>station and contest techniques are compared to others.  
.............
>Any ideas how the 1 radio, little pistol crowd can tell
>how we're doing?


This is VERY tricky and can become an obsession.  You have to determine, at
some point, what you are trying to compare and then how to do it.  
It is extremely difficult to find another person in your exact situation.
If you can find a group with similar antennas and radios, you will find
they are wide spread geographically.  Some will operate from city lots,
some from dead quiet hill or mountain tops.  The variables are endless.

What I do is compare to my own past efforts.  I can see if I am improving
against the grain of the sunspot cycle, or am at least taking advantage of
improved propagation when it happens.  I also have certain stations that I
use as benchmarks.  It is not important that they are in the same class as
I am, or have similar stations.  There are guys who you KNOW what they have
and that they are going to always be making their best possible effort.
Given that they may be improving along with us, they still provide a good
indication of what can be done.  If I can hold my own...say x% of the score
of a regional, consistent participant...then I have a reasonable benchmark.  
Over the years I find quite a few people that I tend to be around in my
scores.  I can judge my improvement, or degradation based on this
comparison.  What is required is a level of commitments to the event,
similar to your benchmark guys.  Every change in my station gives me a
chance for evaluation, every change in my personal efforts gives me a
different chance to reflect on my overall performance.

Just when I
>think I'm doing "fairly" well ... I see some of the other scores posted,
>and my "fairly" well turns to "is that all" I can do?

On any given weekend, if you put in your best effort, for the situation you
are in, then that is all you could have done.  If your effort is slipping
against a realistic standard ( I will never be on a quiet mountain top
again, so when W4AN hits tons of weak guys I will not hear, his effort will
be skewed off the chart compared to mine) then you must evaluate what you
can do to improve.  It may be your technique, ears, level of practice,
ability to stay awake, or your equipment/antennas may be falling farther
behind.  You have to decide what you are willing to change.  If your
situation locks you in to simple antennas, and 1 radio, then you have to
improve your use of them, or find a benchmark which shows you are
optimizing your situation, and continue to have fun.

  I think probably
>one reason for the variations in scores is due to the 1 radio vs. 2
>radio operations (of course, hardware and operator skill probably have
>something to do with it too!).  But with a lot of folks going to 2
>radios, and obviously having an advantage over the 1 radio crowd, I'm
>thinking, how can I compare my score to the rest of the 1 radio
>stations?  Since I only run 100 Watts into a tri-bander and a Center Fed
>Zepp for all contests, I'm always happy to see either a power limit,
>such as NAQP, or a high power and low power class.  At least I can get
>some idea of how I do compared to others. 

In SS there are places in the country where low power guys blow away decent
High power scores from other regions.  


But when I look at some other
>scores in the same "low power" class, the QSO totals just blow me away
>... and I would guess, a lot of this is due to using a 2nd radio, as I
>can see where it can really be an advantage.  However, for those of us
>who are antenna or real estate challenged, or just prefer to use one
>radio, it's kind of hard to get an accurate picture of how well (or
>poorly) we've done.
>
>My thoughts are, is it possible or of any benefit to anyone else, other
>than myself, to somehow indicate those stations who use 1 radio vs. 2??

Private discussions with guys you feel may be in reasonably similar
situations can let you know what major differences you are looking at. 
You usually can get a pretty good description of the stations, and
techniques used from most of the big score guys.  



One last note; perception is not always reality!.

I was doing a little 2 radio work, CQing on 20 and tuning 10.  I found 
N6ZZ on 10 (the only signal I heard) I called Phil, worked him, hit the CQ
button on radio 1, and back comes N6ZZ on 20 meter.  Back to back.  I
assumed Phil was doing the same thing, running 1 band, s/p another, and
found me as I found him. I was going to mention this, as it was a stand out
moment in the NAQP.  OF COURSE Phil posted the thing about who was using 2
radios...indicating he was a 1 radio guy.  Coincidences happen all the
time, its not all bigger stations, there is still some magic in contesting.

73 Chas K3WW  k3ww at fast.net  http://www.users.fast.net/~k3ww


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