[CQ-Contest] Secrets of SSCW - #2

[Tree]

First off - let's address a message from K5RC (or whatever his call is
these days):

> > Think outside the box and make it happen.
> > 
> Oops! You just did what you accused N6TJ of, using management cliche's. 
> Let's be consistent if you are going to be iconoclastic.

Thanks for thinking of me as an icon Tom.  I will attempt to avoid cliches 
like the plaque and search for viable alternatives in my future musings.

Also - raise your hand out there if the first time you saw the word paradigm
in print was in the NCJ in Tom's editorial.  I thought as much.

Instead of talking about frequecy choices today, (you don't really need 
to know that just yet), let me talk about a different issue that requires
action sooner, rather than later.

This has to do with your family.  Back when we were all single and didn't
have anything QRMing our contest life, it wasn't a big deal to make 
arrangements to have the weekend free to jump into the SS.  However, most
of us now have more complicated lives and getting a weekend to ourselves
is not so easy.  It is beyond the scope of this document to instruct you
on how to get this weekend reserved for your activity - but you need to
make sure this important step is done.  

Furthurmore - you should not feel bad about doing this once or twice a 
year.  When is the last time you got to spend some quality time in front
of the radio?  

In fact, there is a twisted way of looking at this that provides some
motivation to really pour yourself into the event.  

If you are like me, the number of hours that you spend in front of
the radio over the course of a year is always decreasing.  I find 
that a contest is often the only way I can get some time to play
radio.  It is scheduled in advanced so that the normal activities
associated with family life can be pushed aside, and it is intense
activity - which can help you get your "fix" in a shorter period of
time.  

So - make sure you have the time marked off on the calendar - make 
sure everyone knows that you will be focused on the radio and ask
for support.  Then, look at this as an opportunity to play radio 
without interruptions or guilt.

This frame of mind will help on Sunday when things are slow and you
wonder why you are doing this.  If you remember, that this is your
time to play radio - you won't want to cut it off too soon.  I find
I can even get on for contests with really slow rate - just because
it is fun and happens so seldom anymore.

We will cover "Sunday" as a whole subject in a future posting.

Adding onto yesterday's posting about two radios, if you are not yet
using a logging program in the SS, you should consider it.  Some of
the logging programs are pretty good at orchestrating your two radios
so that you are not transmitting on both of them at the same time, 
and so you have fewer dead times where nothing is happening.  You
can do a google search on contest logging software or look in a 
recent NCJ to see what's out there.  Getting one and being comfortable
with it will go a long way to enhancing your two radio performance.

Finally, we have recently uncovered some audio files used by one of
the old contest clubs to help improve their performance during the 
SS.  Many great secrets are demonstrated in these recordings.  They
are required listening to anyone who is serious about competiting.
Hopefully, after hearing them, you will be less so.

You can find them at this URL:

http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr/nccc-tapes.html

Many thanks to K5TR for making these available on the web.

73 Tree N6TR
tree at kkn.net

PS: If you have some specific questions about the SS, serious or otherwise,
please pass them along and I will try to address them.