[CQ-Contest] VERY LONG POST -Multi/Single-Opinion-coupled w/K4OJ MS WW CW Summary

[K4OJ]

In a message dated 97-12-08 17:11:22 EST, jhumet at mhv.net writes, and a lot of
others have said similar, that:

<< Sure they are within the rules but thats not the intent of the rules. >>

What is being referred to is the "larger stations" not being suited to the
multi-single category....this is the recent poster's interpretation of the
category...mine is very different....I will couple an overview of the category
as I see it (and how to enjoy it) with a summary of how we did it last month,
for the CQ WW CW.

I think you guys are approaching this from the wrong point of view.

If you and some friends want to do a multi-single:

Rather than approaching it as stretching a single op entry you should view it
as an entirely different beast, this is where I think you are missing out on
the fun.

If you are a manager and you have resources available to you in your business,
you seek to maximize them...to create the greatest output for your "group".

This is how I view multi-single contesting....you are maximizing your
resources be they your plant (gear/antennas) or human resources (the ops).

OK, Mr Manager....how are you going to get the best output for this next
business venture....well you need to study your branches locations to best see
which one is going to be the best one to do us proudest.....i.e. - the ham
from your group who has the most antennas (or potential for the most antennas)
is the one who should be hosting the multi-op.

OK - well lets see, you as the guy with the most antennas have a state of the
art transceiver and your old backup rig which you occasionally press into
service whenever your state of the art rig over reacts to carpet static and
needs a trip to the shop.

Since you are inviting friends over who share the goal of maximizing your
score as a team you realize that your assets now include some portable assets
from other branches....they can bring their tranceivers/amps/computers etc.
with them to your QTH.....suddenly you see business potential, you can have
enahnced capabilities through your branches (stations) newly enhanced arsenal
of equipment.

A friend offers to take the ole Field Day tribander out of the attic over the
garage and bring it over so you can have a fixed South/Carribean antenna -
another says heah - I have a ham-m in the garage doing nothing....suddenly
your business now has two rotary yagis on the higher bands....

Well if we have several guys teaming up the the best way to use that many ears
is not to have this manpower sitting around watching TV, it is to put them to
work using this equipment so the ears which were watching TV are now your
spotters, manning the secondary positions....they are busy combing the bands
for the new ones that pop up.

In order for them to be best able to assist you they must be able to know what
you have already worked on the band, no sense in getting excited about 5V7A on
20 meters when you see he was worked 5 minutes into the contest!  SO, you
network computers via the comm ports....hmmm, you are suddenly sharing
knwoledge oif what is good DX all over your station.....your business is
becoming smarter and more efficiently run!

To take full advantage of the rules you have to be able to see the packet
cluster spots...so, you as a manager learn about this packet radio thing.
(your knowledge of the comm ports on a computer aids in your job standing as
your real life co-workers are fascinated at your ability to make computers
talk to each other-in your house you had a network of computers....oooh ahhh,
note: you don't have to tell them it is a cable and a null modem you bought at
Radio Shack that is doing it :-)) - Now you the manager are using information
from outside the walls of your business to more inteligently do business in
the multi-single market place......wow, you have just learned about packett
radio, and while you may never need to know it, imagine if there was an
emergency and you were asked to help get packett communications going - how
helpful this knowledge would be!

So a bunch of friends have decided to come by your place and operate, sounds
like fun....one of the department managers (Joe, the guy who loaned you the
rotor) suggests we find out who spends their time on what bands during the
week....turns out Joe is a 160 buff....you as a smart manager make him captain
of the multi-single's 160 effort - Joe has the most 160 knowledge - put him to
work there.

Is this starting to gel?

Heah it turns out that Sid is an honor roll DXer, he loves DXing and is great
at fereting out those wierd DX multipliers and knows those special times to
look for them....do you put Joe in charge of running Euros, hell no - Joe is
in charge of S&Ping on the mult bands...he suggests what direction Willy might
find DX coming in on at his band position at xx:yy zulu.

Gee, everyone is contributing something and suddenly the combined effort is
formidable, you have created a machine...taken your resources and best
utilized them.....

Or, have you merely invited someone over to keep your call on the air this
weekend, and feel that those managers who have agressively persued the
marketplace are unfairly competing?  

The category is one which allows you to have a great time with a lot of
friends, together you can have a ball....if you have thought about m-s for the
ARRL DX I would recommend you have a session with your potential ops now and
discuss some station and manpower strategy if you want to COMPETE......then
again, if all that matters is keeping your call on the air for 48 hours just
invite some guy over to man your station as is while you sleep....but please,
don't say you are competing in multi-single!

-...-

For the past several years we have run a lot of multi-ops from the W1CW/W1YL
station outside of Tampa...and enjoyed a fair amount of success!  This years
effort for the CQ WW CW was a bit less agressive, but in its way a lot more
rewarding.

With the three main "other guys" who have been helping out over the past few
years all either trying to make the top ten single from their new home, on a
Dxpedition or sailing ( forget about this one - he is a candidate for the
rubber room with his priorities this out of
order....contest/sailing....contest / sailing......I don't think there should
be a quesiton as to which one makes more sense to persue :-)  This meant I had
to dig a little deeper within the club ranks to man a multi-single this go
around.

We had the good fortune of having DXer and QRP nut NA4CW back, Frank is an
excellent guy for finding good stuff on the S&P bands.  Since Frank was the
only returning guest obviously we needed some more manpower if we were to get
some rest....with a week to go before the contest, at the Tampa convention and
our lunch time club meeting a request for ops brought us the rest of our crew.

Paul AJ4Y had to work during the weekend but was eager to help whenever he
wasn't on the clock...he also came over to help with the setup of the station
several times during the week prior to the contest - thanks Paul!  His
knowledge of packet radio was great, I have been relying on the other guys,
now gone, and never have really learned the stuff....as evidenced by my panic
postings on the CT reflector prior to the contest (thanks to those who
responded) - it is amazing how having the two meter rig on the correct
frequency can enhance the ability to tie into the cluster....I beat my head
against a wall for several days over that....duh.

Ron WD4AHZ and George AE4MH would be able to come up - but it would be
Saturday afternoon before they could get there....George had to work in the AM
and as soon as he could get away he brought Ron along with him. These two will
minimalize their importance to the effort, I disagree with their stance
however, and would recommend them to anyone looking for additional ops [like
me come the ARRL DX :-)]

Ron has been the voice of Florida for years in the contests, always
there....operating from a small station low power/low antennas...suburban
style.  Ron is well versed in a number of different aspects of the hobby, and
is very comfortable talking on any of them...  Being used to not being that
competitive on the low bands - runing low power with low antennas, on Saturday
night when I left him with the key to 40 meters in his hands (so to speak) he
experienced a new kind of DX contesting.  Sunday morning in the pre dawn hours
as I rubbed my eyes and scrolled through the log seeing what we had done a gab
message popped up from Ron, telling me that he "liked 40 meters" ... I suspect
the beam at 135 feet and 1500 watts gave him a newfound interest in DX
contesting at 7 MHz :-)

George, AE4MH has not been in it that long and was quick to caution me as to
his abilities as far as CW...he was also quick to tell me that no many how
many times he wanted it to change 6Y4A was still a 6Y and not a BY -  sounds
to me like George is far better at CW than a lot of the guys who spot stuff to
the cluster!..... George's code speed undoubtedly got a healthy boost that
weekend, I am sure he left a few WPM up from when he came over....

On the Thursday before the contest, Tom KF4RZI made his first CW QSO....he had
dropped by our group's web site to say hi and I sent him an e-mail inviting to
swing by the following weekend if he was interested in seeing some hot and
heavy cw contesting....fortunately he oblidged me.

No, Tom did not do any operating but for me he opened my eyes....in the midst
of my explaining all the information on the CT screen I heard my own
enthusiasm for what we were doing....I was showing him how the scoring was a
function of both zones and countries, andthat the G station was in zone 14 and
we were in zone 5  on the map I was waiving, and the next QSO was with
Finland, and then Germany....like I say I heard myself excited about
contesting, and then later that day I heard my father and then Frank NA4CW
also enthusiastic in our descriptions of what was going on....we were having a
blast....and I am sure we were "contagious".....

Tom helped with some PL259 soldering that W1CW was doing in getting the third
position ready for the arrival of two more sets of ears (AE4MH and WD4AHZ).
We all talked with Tom about what we were doing....all of us were eager to
answer his questions..... when you are haivng this much fun you wanna tell the
world I guess!
Of course the fact that the 15 meter rotor wasn't working and the beam was
stuck southeast meant there was less operating to be done than might have
been!

Several attempts to get the tribander rotor going failed prior to the
contest....the flood which rendered the back yard of W1CW/W1YL a pond complete
with ducks paddling their way across it also rendered the control cable for
the rotor trashed....resistances appeared between conductors despite the fact
that they were lifted from the terminal strips at both ends....

When NA4CW showed up on Friday and I explained the dilemna on the tribander he
offered up an excellent soultion to that problem, we used the armstorng method
- putting a rope over one end of the boom which allowed us to swing the beam
between Africa and South America...the prime sights for the usage that antenna
as the thrid station's antenna would get....pretty much so it would be that
way anyhow most of the time looking for those Carribean and S/A mults. My
"department manager" NA4CW through throwing this idea out on the table
enhanced our teams performance - more managment principles at work at a multi-
single, I merely had to loosen the u-bolts on the rotor....and voila....

Unfortunately after the contest started it was realized that the 15 mneter
monobander was stuck on the Carribean....with it stuck and the tribander not
fully rotating I decided to make Saturday an "all 20" run day....we ended up
with 98 QSOs in the 15 meter log on Saturday night....most of them S&P
mults....arrgh.

While I was waking up on Sunday AM and laughing at the gab messages from
WD4AHZ it dawned on me that the 15 meter beam's ring rotor problem might be
due to the directional sensing circuit not getting all the info it needed to
decide whether it should rotate clockwise or counterclockwise....I concluded
that mebbe there was an open on one of the direction pot ends....sure enough,
W1CW found it and we were back in business on 15.....

While I was running EU on 20 in the dawn hours I had NA4CW listening on 15 and
keeping me updated as to what was going on there....at one point Frank said,
they are pouring in, it is definately runable....with only 98 QSOs on 21 MHz
from the first day I went to 21.

What followed was a CQWW personal best hour of 151 QSOs, now I am anxious to
see what QRATE says my best 60 minute rate was....as exhilerating as this was,
the ensuing 120 hour was joyous....after this kinda run on 15 and the
fattening of the log on 15 by about 300 QSOs I told Frank to get in the chair
and run 28MHz...he had been multing on 28 and updating me as to the fact that
fellow club members WC4E and KN4T were both running EU on 10....mind you Frank
insists that he is a DXer and not a run guy.

With 28 MHz at his disposal I went out to the porch where we had position
three to chat with WD4AHZ adn AE4MH - I was pretty pumped after the EU
run....while i gassed with them, I had one eye on the last 10 minute rate
meter....Frank, who "doesn't run, I like to S&P" kept the run meter over 90
the whole time he was on 28MHz...yes, I was watching Frank!  From now on I
will not accept Frank's non-run insistance!

Since we were so far back on 15 we spent all Sunday CQing there....the never
ending watery OH signals astounded me....as a snapshot of what's to come in
years ahead...boy oh boy oh boy.....to enjoy this much propagation I may have
to do multi-multi....or be torn with decision about which band to run on 10 15
or 20!

Over the years we have gotten more and more hardware in the air at W1CW/W!YL
...our first multi-single was with a tribander and wires, not unlike the start
of my posting.  Each year we add more and more weapons to the arsenal...not
because we are forced to....because it is more fun!  

The newsletter of the Frankford Radio Club has a great motto on it -
"Proficiency Through Competition", while I have never been an FRC member their
motto is right on - our desire to COMPETE in the multi single class has made
us semi literate in computers, packett, not to mention having a never ending
antenna experimenting site....the station gets better and better, because we
enjoy competing. We could have stayed participants in m-s with the tribander,
but trust me - this a hell of a lot more fun!

A special thanks to W1CW and W1YL who could not have been better hosts...
special thanks to W1CW for his last minute prep on 80 meter antennas the week
before the contest...too bad 80 condx stank!  

4.05 Meg.....2350 QSOs x 153 x 479

160    26  11   23
 80     66  17  61
 40    797  32 105
 20    645  37  122
 15    624  33   99
 10    202  23   69


Are you adding any antennas before the ARRL DX, the time to act is NOW....or
at least after the 10 meter contest....hope to see everyone then.

Is this a great hobby or what?

K4OJ


--
CQ-Contest on WWW:        http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests:  cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com