[CQ-Contest] Whats happened to DE ???
Mike Gilmer - N2MG
n2mg at contesting.com
Mon Feb 26 17:39:10 EST 2001
On Mon, 26 February 2001, "Tim Makins, EI8IC" wrote:
> Imagine you are listening to a pileup (lets forget RIT for a minute) and you
> hear W3 then just as he's sent the '3' you hear K1AA. The brain is
> distracted by the new callsign and copies it - or at least that's what mine
> tends to do.
It takes practice (if one even cares) to avoid this distraction. I found
the freeware pileup programs good in this regard - forcing myself to (try
to) copy the first call I focused on. Doesn't always work and isn't always
necesary, per se. But without an attempt, I find myself responding either
to a slower and/or slightly delayed guy (who'd probably wait for another
round anyway) or to no one because I didn't get a complete call.
As has been said before
> on this list, its a problem these days that everyone is so good at
> zero-beating, as a pileup can sound like a single note.
I wonder if this is the operators' being "so good" or just that their
radios are all "so good" and they all grabbed the same packet spot?
> The station that gets picked up quickly is the one who is distinctive, for
> one of the following reasons:
> He's louder
> His pitch is different
I found it very effective to set the TX frequency up the band a touch (100
Hz) in large pileups.
73 Mike N2MG
________________________________________________
PeoplePC: It's for people. And it's just smart.
http://www.peoplepc.com
--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com
>From Rick Davenport" <rickdav at banet.net Tue Feb 27 01:42:05 2001
From: Rick Davenport" <rickdav at banet.net (Rick Davenport)
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 20:42:05 -0500
Subject: [CQ-Contest] KI1G ARRL DX CW Story (Long)
Message-ID: <000401c0a05e$7f9030e0$b6a06420 at rick>
Conditions for the 2001 ARRL DX CW contest were the best that I have ever
heard during a contest in my 20+ years of contesting. Yes, there have been
years when the high bands were better, but the low bands suffered, and years
when the low bands were great but the high bands suffered. This contest gave
the best of everything.....
Before the contest started, I had (2) goals in mind for the weekend. #1 was
to try to increase my QSO totals by not letting packet spots drag me into
drawn out pile up fights, and #2 was to operate the entire 48 hours.
I started the contest on 40 running Europe, at 00:28 with 64 Q's in the 40
meter log, I made my first second radio Q, J38A on 20. In between running on
40, I worked 5 more second radio Q's on 20 and 3 on 10 including KH6/W6PH
and KH0/JQ1NGT. I finished up the first hour with 140 Q's in the log.
I stayed on 40 until around 01:30 while continuing to work second radio
mults on 15 including Brett VR2BG, T32RD, KL7RA, KH6/W6PH and a few JA's. I
made a quick stop by 160 and picked up YO2LDC, OK1TN, IK2DED, RW2F AND RU1A.
Then made a quick escape to 80 meters. Europe was pounding in so I set up
shop and began running EU. Toward the end of the 01 hour, 9K9C and A92ZE
called in, nice grabs for 80. I ended the second hour with a total of 245
Q's in the log, not a bad start I thought, but what will the rest of the
night bring ?
I continued running on 80 while grabbing more second radio Q's on 15 and
then back to 160. 160 was sounding good with big signals from Europe and
they were even hearing pretty good as well. Worked 14 Q's for 13 Mults on
160 during this hour. 80 was slowing down so I decided to try 20. It wasn't
long before E21EIC and VU2TS called in, then a bunch of Scandanavians with
UA9's and JA's mixed in. At 03Z I had 334 Q's and 119 Mults in the log.
I stayed on 20 working FR5FD, VR2BG, TF3GB and a few more Europeans then
went back to 80. The 03 hour brought in 67 more Q's on 80 and 10 second
radio Q's on 160 and 40. At 04Z I had 421 Q's in the log, not bad I thought,
at least I'm keeping 100/hr so far..
The 04 hour brought another 52 Q's on 80, 11 more on 160 and 11 on 40 mostly
all Europe.
At 05Z I decided to go back to 40 and try to run Europe. I added 84 Q's to
40 this hour as well as 9 more second radio Q's on 160 and 7 more second
radio Q's on 80. At the end of the 05 hour, I had 595 Q's and 189 mults in
the log.
At 06Z I decided to have a quick listen to 20, knowing that we usually get a
European opening on 20 at their sunrise that lasts an hour or so. The first
signal I tuned across was W1WEF and Jack was already running Europeans. I
set up shop on 20 and there I stayed for the next 2 and a half hours adding
almost 400 Q's.
At 08:45 I went back to 40 where my European run picked right back up where
it left off when I went to 20. I am always amazed at 40 meters, I stayed
there until 09:45Z working Europe, mostly Western Europe but a bunch of
Eastern Europe mixed in. It must be at leat 4 or 5 hours past their sunrise
for some of the eastern stations.
At 09:45 I went back to 20, it was still cranking to Europe. As of 10Z I had
1068 Q's and 254 mults in the log. I thought to myself, WOW, this is the
best start I have ever had...
The 10Z hour brought 130 Q's on 20 and ZL6QH, VK2AYD and a couple other
second radio Q's on 40. I started listening to 15 meters around 10:30 and
signals were there, but still weak.
At 11Z it was time to go up to 15 meters. This is when the fun usually
begins, but up till this point, fun was already happening !... This hour
brought 175 Q's mostly Europe with a couple UA9's mixed in on 15 and JT1CO
on 40 meters on the second radio. As of 12Z I had logged 1376 Q's and 297
mults.
I started the 12Z hour on 15 running Europe, worked JA2ZJW on 80 meters on
the
second radio. At 12:15 I decided it was time to go up to 10. The next 45
minutes gave me 130 Q's on 10, and a couple second radio mults on 20, XX9TDX
and C6AKP.
The 13Z hour I spent on 10 runnning, while tuning 15 and 20 when getting no
answers on 10. 10 gave me another 158 Q's this hour, mostly Europe, while on
the second radio I worked HC8N, GJ2A, TI4G, YB0ECT, and FM5GU on 20 for
Mults.
The 14Z hour brought more of the same, another 127 Q's including VQ9IO
calling in on 10 and UP6P, MD/DL5AXX, and D68C on the second radio on 15. A
quick look to the south on 10 scooped a bunch of easy mults, 8P5A, VP5GA,
LU1DZ, V26G, WP2Z, HR6/N4MO, V47KP and WP3A. The hour closed with A45XR and
EC6TK calling in. At the end of the 14Z hour, I had 1836 Q's and 382 mults.
I can remember entire contest with smaller number than these. I could only
begin to wonder how many Q's the unassisted guys had at this point.
The 15Z hour was spent on 10, mostly running Europe, a quick sweep of the
band with the antenna beaming south yielded V47X, HC8N, PJ2T, FM5GU, FS/ND5S
and P40R.
I started the 16Z hour on 10 with TZ6DX and T77C calling in, and at 16:45 I
decided it was time to switch to 15. The rates were slowing on 10, I had
nearly 600 Q's on 10 and only 200 on 15. As soon as I got to 15, the rates
started again. 44 Q's in the last 15 minutes of the hour including VU2TS
calling in again.
I spent the 17Z hour running on 15, 9M6V called in long path, 8Q7LH called
in, not too strong but quite persistent. Thanks for calling !! ZS6EZ called
in QRP, nice signal. I also grabbed VQ9IO on 20 meters and several other
mults on 10 using the second rig.
18Z things were slowing down, only 90 Q's on 15 meters this hour, caught
9M6V on 20 on the second rig and a couple other mults on 10. At the end of
the 18Z hour, I had 2319Q's and 421 Mults.
I started the 19Z hour on 15 meters, signals were starting to fade, I
grabbed SU9ZZ on 20 meters on the second rig and heard enough signals that I
decided to try 20 for a while. I finished up the hour with 93 more Q's on
20, and picked up VK4EMM on 10 for a mult.
I spent the 20Z hour on 20meters, 8Q7LH called in again, better signal on 20
than he had on 15. MU0FAL called in for the fourth band already. Meanwhile I
picked up V73ZZ, J38A and PJ2T on 15 meters with the second rig.
I started the 21Z hour on 20 while picking up ZL1CMY, FO0CLA and a couple
others on 10 with the second rig. At 21:30 I decided it was time to try 40
meters. It didn't take long and there was a rip roaring pile up of Europe
calling. 76 Q's in the last half hour on 40 meters brought my totals up to
2671Q's 436 Mults at 22Z.
At 22:11 JA6BZI came pounding in over the top of Europe on 40 so I decided
to point the beam SSE and see what else may be calling from Asia. Several
more JA's and YB9BON called in shortly followed by D68C for band #5 already,
then came VQ9IO. I picked up a couple pacific mults on 10 with the second
rig, V73ZZ and AC4G/KH9, and a couple South American mults on 15.
I started the 23Z hour on 40, OY1CT called in, at 23:17 I went on the prowl.
I jumped to 10 meters and quickly logged 20 JA's and a couple UA0's. A quick
stop by 15 netted a few JA's and XX9TDX. Then I was off to 80 meters...as
had been the case all weekend so far, it didn't take long for a pile up of
Europe to begin. 40 more Q's on 80 in the last 20 minutes of the hour
brought us to HALF TIME.
There was no break at half time like in the football games, but now that the
contest is over and I have had a chance to mull through some of the stats I
still have to say WOW. After 24 hours, I had 2870 Q's and 453 mults in the
log. In chatting with K3WW since the contest I found out that he was at 2856
Q's and 446 mults at the same point in time. That seems pretty even to me !
During first 24 hours K3WW and I both had 17 hours with rates over 100/hr, 3
hours over 150/hr for each of us, and to look at our .brk files, we were NOT
always on the same bands at the same time. This certainly goes to show how
dynamic contesting is and how there are many ways to get to the finish line.
I was 600Q's ahead of the best start the I have ever had. My best start was
last years ARRL DX CW contest and I had 2250Q's at the end of 24 hours. I
kept saying to myself I bet some of the unassisted guys are over 3000 Q's so
far.
Back to the game...
I spent the first 15 minutes of the 00 Z hour on 80 meters, then quickly ran
up to 10 and worked a bunch of JA's. They all seemed to be calling CQ, the 5
watt stations were S-7, but I could not get a run going. I worked VR2BG and
FO5RA and by 00:50 I moved to 15 meters where I picked up 3W2LWS , YC8TXW,
WH0ABA and BX4AF.
I started the 01 Hour on 15, quickly moved to 20 and worked a handful of
stations, jumped to 80 and logged OH0PM, tried running on 40 with no luck,
the band had already gone long, then settled back down on 80. Signals were
good, but rates were slow. I made Q's on 5 different bands during this hour
including EI7M, OH0PM and GI3OQR on 160 as well as VK4UC on 15.
The 0200 hour rates were slow but steady so I stayed put on 80 for a while.
Had a bunch of UA9's call in at their sunrise on 80. Jumped to 15 and worked
HL5UOG, AC4G/KH9 and HS0/G3NOM then quickly jumped to 40 and S&P'd across
the
band.
03Z-07Z were slow but steady mostly S&P on 160 thru 20. Then the Saturday
night fatigue set in...by 07:30 I realized that I had a problem, there was a
pile of Europeans calling me on 40 and I couldn't sort out the mush that was
going through my head. I quickly decided that my plan of operating the
entire 48 hours needed amending and quickly or else there would be real
trouble when daytime returned with bigger pileups.
MY best tactical decision of the contest was to scrap the idea of staying on
for all 48 hours and to sleep from 07:45 until 08:30 Z. I sat back down in
front of the radio at
08:50 on 40 meters, and there was the pile up just as I had left it.... I
was quite dazed at this point, pillow to pile up in less than 3 minutes, but
I could copy call signs now, but wasn't sure how to log them.... By 0900 I
was becoming more alert and was back in the race.
As of 09Z I had 3297Q's in the log and had my eyes on 4500 for a possible
total. It was around this point that I thought that someone was going to
break 5000Q's if the conditions were the same on Sunday as they were on
Saturday.
At 09 Z I moved up to 20 meters and we were off to the races, 115 Q's this
hour , all Europe except 9K9C calling in and CT3DL being worked on the
second rig on 40 meters.
The 10Z hour was much the same, 20 Meters and Europe. This hour was 93 with
no mults.
11Z was back to 15 Meters, 144 this hour with mostly Europe, A92ZE called
in, and I picked up SU9ZZ on 10 with the second rig.
12 Z started on 15 meters with SV9BAI and 4Z5FW calling in for new ones, at
12:10 I decided it was time to move up to 10 meters, and there I stayed
until 16:15 Z adding another 450 10 meter Q's with occasional second radio
contacts on 15 and 20.
At 16:15 I moved back to 15 meters, signals were weak, but present. E21EIC,
HS0/JR3XMG and OY1CT called in. At 18:30 3W2LWS called in, but was a dupe.
However he was more than willing to move to 20 where I worked him and OY1CT
on the second radio for new mults. I stayed on 15 until 19:15Z, I had added
another 250 Q's to the 15 meter count. At 19Z my totals stood at 4426 Q's &
530 Mults.
I moved to 20 at 19:15, 20 was painful. No rates to be had, signals were
quite weak. I kept the CQ machine going on 20 while doing S&P for Q's on 15
and 10 until 21Z.
At 21Z I decided to try 40, and to my surprise it was alive and well 4Z5LU,
HB0/DL1RWB, EX7F, JY9NX,E21EIC were worked for new 40 meter mults. By 23:30
the rates had slowed and I figured that I could do better by S&Ping on all
the bands than CQing on 40. Working GJ2A on 80 as my last mult, then JH6OPP
as my last Q on 10 at 23:59.
ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST -- 2001
Call: KI1G Country: United States
Mode: CW Category: Single Assisted
BAND QSO QSO PTS PTS/Q COUNTRIES
160 69 207 3.0 47
80 399 1197 3.0 74
40 897 2688 3.0 97
20 1223 3669 3.0 108
15 1032 3096 3.0 112
10 1168 3504 3.0 102
--------------------------------------
Totals 4788 14361 3.0 540 = 7,754,940
Continent Statistics
KI1G ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST Single Unlimited 18 Feb 2001
2359z
160 80 40 20 15
10 ALL percent
North America CW 13 16 17 20 20 22
108 2.2
South America CW 3 6 9 12 17 11
58 1.2
Europe CW 53 359 840 1119 911 1009
4291 88.0
Asia CW 1 16 34 89 72
117 329 6.7
Africa CW 1 4 10 11 13
11 50 1.0
Oceania CW 0 2 7 9 11
11 40 0.8
Thanks to the 24 stations that worked my on all 6 bands and the 107 who made
it on 5 bands, and to everyone else who worked me in the contest.
I believe that my QSO total is the highest QSO total by a US Single Op in
ANY contest, and is about 2 Meg larger than the record set last year. All I
can say is WOW, probably will never see this again.
73,
Rick
--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST at contesting.com
More information about the CQ-Contest
mailing list