[CQ-Contest] ARRL SSB- report ZL1ANJ (long)

Martin Ellis jmellis at ihug.co.nz
Tue Mar 10 14:28:58 EST 1998


Good morning,

I worked the ARRL 1998 SSB contest as single operator this year,
but it was much tougher than last year when I was joined by 
Tapani OH5BM in a multi-single effort.  My rate sheet shows some
long gaps which  another operator could have filled.

I found the low bands very tough this year: 160 was
hopeless, and 80M contacts were only possible with the top stations.

40M split operation is difficult, as State-side ops do not
tune for DX above 7100.  So we have to try to protect both the
calling frequency, and the listening frequency.  It is really scary
to pick what seems to be the *only* clear frequency, only to find
the stateside ops who come up are responding to some other DX station
on some other unknown calling frequency.  Best 40M hours were
between 0700 and 1000z.

I did not feel confident fo my signal on 20M, so I left 20M
until the higher bands were played out.  My best hours on day1 were
0300 at 96qs, 0400 at 100qs. On day2 good runs were at 0300 at 112qs,
0400 at 126qs and 0500 at 52qs.

I discussed my band strategy with Chuck KZ5MM (single 10m),
and he agreed that I would get a better run rate by starting the
contest on 15M. This was good advice as the hours preceeding the
contest showed that 10m was not in good shape. 
So I opened day1 on 15M with hours of 145qs, 150qs and 110qs.
Further runs on 15M produced hours of 82, and 30 qs at 2100
and 2200.  On day2 the bands opened late, but I recorded a run
at 1900z of 104qs, and 15M began to die at around 2000z.

10M was spotty on day1, with small openings at 2000 and 
again at 2300 through to 0200 (now day2).  Best rate was 99qs
at 0100 on day2.
At our next morning 10M seemed dead, so I did not operate until
2000z with just 6qs, 2100 at 26qs, 2200 at 112qs, and 2300
at 120qs.  So the best opening on 10M was the final hour
of the contest.  A this stage I had worked out the contest stations
and it was great to work the smaller and non-contest stations.
It was helpful to leave one memory on the KZ5MM frequency, so I
could check whether 10 was in reasonable shape. 

Thanks to all who made contacts for a great contest.

Martin ZL1ANJ

---------------------------------------------------
Comparison with last year: 

        1998                                     1997
      Single Operator                           Multi Single

      BAND      QSO    STATES/PROV              QSO    STATES/PROV
      160       0       0                         2        2
       80       32      7                       283       50
       40       153     41                      526       51
       20       516     51                      277       31
       15       646     53                      223       34
       10       579     47                        3        3
     ------------------------                 ----------------

     Totals     1926    199                    1314      171  

Interesting that low bands were much worse, and high bands
were much better, compared with last year.  We need more SFI !!!

--------------------------------------------------------

Rate Sheet:

BREAKDOWN QSO/mults  ZL1ANJ    Single Operator

HOUR      80       40       20       15       10    HR TOT  CUM TOT  

   0    .....    .....    .....   145/37    .....   145/37  145/37 
   1               .        .     150/12      .     150/12  295/49 
   2      .        .        .     110/2       .     110/2   405/51 
   3      .        .      96/31     5/1       .     101/32  506/83 
   4      .        .     100/6       .        .     100/6   606/89 
   5      .        .      26/1       .        .      26/1   632/90 
   6              2/2       .        .        .       2/2   634/92 
   7     3/1      3/3       .        .        .       6/4   640/96 
   8    .....    64/28    .....    .....    .....    64/28  704/124
   9     1/1     40/4       .        .        .      41/5   745/129
  10      .       1/0       .        .        .       1/0   746/129
  11      .        .        .        .        .        .    746/129
  12      .        .       3/1       .        .       3/1   749/130
  13      .        .        .        .        .        .    749/130
  14      .        .        .        .        .        .    749/130
  15      .        .        .        .        .        .    749/130
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....  749/130
  17      .        .        .        .        .        .    749/130
  18      .        .        .       2/0       .       2/0   751/130
  19      .        .        .       6/0      1/1      7/1   758/131
  20      .        .        .        .      63/22    63/22  821/153
  21      .        .        .      82/0       .      82/0   903/153
  22      .        .        .      30/0      8/2     38/2   941/155
  23      .        .        .        .      28/1     28/1   969/156
   0    .....    .....    .....    .....    78/7     78/7  1047/163
   1      .        .        .        .      99/3     99/3  1146/166
   2      .        .        .       4/0     38/0     42/0  1188/166
   3      .        .     112/8      3/0       .     115/8  1303/174
   4      .        .     126/2       .        .     126/2  1429/176
   5      .        .      52/2       .        .      52/2  1481/178
   6      .        .        .        .        .        .   1481/178
   7      .      36/3       .        .        .      36/3  1517/181
   8    .....     7/1     .....    .....    .....     7/1  1524/182
   9     4/3       .        .        .        .       4/3  1528/185
  10      .        .        .        .        .        .   1528/185
  11      .        .        .        .        .        .   1528/185
  12      .        .        .        .        .        .   1528/185
  13      .        .        .        .        .        .   1528/185
  14     4/2       .        .        .        .      24/2  1552/187
  15      .        .       1/0       .        .       1/0  1553/187
  16    .....    .....    .....    .....    .....    ..... 1553/187
  17      .        .        .        .        .        .   1553/187
  18      .        .        .       5/0       .       5/0  1558/187
  19      .        .        .     104/1       .     104/1  1662/188
  20      .        .        .        .       6/0      6/0  1668/188
  21      .        .        .        .      26/4     26/4  1694/192
  22      .        .        .        .     112/6    112/6  1806/198
  23      .        .        .        .     120/1    120/1  1926/199
DAY1     4/2    110/37   225/39   530/52   100/26    .....  969/156
DAY2    28/5     43/4    291/12   116/1    479/21      .    957/43 
TOT     32/7    153/41   516/51   646/53   579/47      .   1926/199


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