[CQ-Contest] Secrets of SS CW - #3

[Tree]

Okay - let's clear up any old business first.  Rich, VE3IAY asks the following
"nuts & bolts" question:

> Tree, you said: "Get an all-band vertical and your old tube radio setup for
> that second radio."
> 
> I can understand that you might want your best antenna, your best receiver,
> and your loudest signal on the run radio, since you will presumably be
> making the majority of your contacts there. However ... If you have one
> frequency-agile computer-controllable radio and one old boat-anchor which is
> neither, wouldn't you want to use the newer radio as the S&P radio to take
> advantage of its agility, the bandmap in your software, etc., and reserve
> the boat-anchor for CQing so you won't have to retune it as often and the
> lack of computer control is less of an issue? Or do I have my head stuck
> firmly inside the box so I can't see the forest for the trees?

Very good point Rich - and I think you are thinking correctly about your 
choice of radio.  Using the old Drake line as your CQ radio and your 
TenYaeComWoodCraft computer interfaced radio for your secondary radio 
makes great sense.  We haven't talked about the banpmap yet, but obviously 
the bandmap will be much easier to pull off if you have a computer interfaced 
radio.

Obviously, the best choice is if you have something like this setup:

http://www.kkn.net/~tree/N6TR.jpg

But something like this can be put to use as well:

http://n6tr.jzap.com/kw1-stn.jpg

Another question from Dan, W8CAR:

> Tree, I'll  take you up on some not so serious questions. Why is it the       
> stations in 8 land make fewer contacts in SS than 6 land stations. After      
> all, there are no stateside stations to work to your west (well, okay-HI ).

Well, this is a great lead into today's topic - population denisty.  The basic
problem with being in W8 land is that you only have good propagation to KP4,
Californina and parts of The Yukon (the parts where there are no hams).  This
phenomenon is sometimes called "The Black Hole" indicating that W8 is in a 
region where RF signals have a hard time exiting.  However, we now know 
that the block hole is actually over Chicago and is the reason the Cubs 
didn't make it into the World Series (c'mon guys - that poor fan who tried
to catch the ball did the same thing any of us would have done in that 
position.  You're looking at this ball coming at you at 100 MPH.  Talk 
about your whole life changing in a millisecond...).

People on the west coast just point their antenna east and can work most
everyone on the high bands.

> Also, is it true that a California Kilowatt is more than a 'regular'
> kilowatt because your taxes are higher? 

There is no truth to the rumor that the power crises was cause by a group 
of W6's trying to get through first on a pileup to a DX-pedition.  

The only person licensed to use 6KW in California was Jack Riggs, who is 
now a silent key.

Also, there is no truth to the rumor that a WA6 station had a driven 
element melt and fall down onto the roof of his shack because he was
running too much power.  We are sure it melted for some other reason.

For more details about this - go and listen to those NCCC recordings
again.

> Now that California has a new governor - is the rumor true that NCCC 
> members get Hummers if they win SS again (presumably since you won't 
> have to pay that 'car tax' thing that Arnold is going to eliminate)?

I doubt this will be any kind of problem since we all know the NCCC isn't
capable of winning the SS (how's that for reverse psychology?).

Today's subject has to do with skip zones and population density.  For 
those of you going to KP4, you can skip this lesson since you have great
skip into all parts of the US.

As you probably know, different bands have different optimum skip distances 
based upon the time of day and the condition of the ionosphere.  It is 
important that you have some understanding of how these factors work 
together and how that will influence your band plan.  

One picture here is worth a lot of words:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/usanight_dmsp_big.gif

You can quickly see from this photo where your contacts will come from in
the contest.  The brighter areas are the ones you need to think about how
you will put your signal there for your CQ radio.  

For example, if you are hearing the west coast and Maine on 10 meters, but
the W9s are 30 db over on 20 meters, you will get some results from CQing
on 10 meters, but after you have worked 100 west coast stations and both 
of the Maine stations, you will be better off switching to a band that has 
a bigger audience that can hear your signal.

However, the real payoff is if you can figure out how to be loud in the 
brighter parts of the country - when they are not hearing very many other
people except you.  

For example, if you are on the west coast and are hearing loud stations 
from W9/W0/W5 on 20 meters late, you probably should keep milking that 
situation.  Your signal stands out on the band.  If you QSYed to 40 or 80
meters, you are now weaker than most of the other stations these people 
will be hearing.  However, the converse is true if you are in the midwest.
You will find as 20 meter's skip gets longer, you aren weaker compared to
the west coast into your target audience, and you should think about using
a lower frequency where the skip distance is more favorable.  

True - you do need to work those guys who are close to you - but a lot of 
that can be done with the second radio.  Many times in the SS CW, almost
all of my QSOs on 80 meters will come from the second radio.  Sure, I could
get a few answers to my CQs there, but I will probably get a lot more on 
another band where my signal is better into the high population areas.

Another component into this complicated equation is your station.  There
are probably bands that your station is more competitive on than others.
Your band plan should play to those strengths as much as possible, but 
don't try to fight mother nature too much.  A dipole on the right band
will often be more productive than a 5 element beam on the wrong one.

So, think about it.  Listen on the bands leading up to the contest and 
get an idea on what strategy will work best for you, your location and
your station to maximize your exposure to the population densities.

If you are in W8 land, you are going to have a harder time figuring that
out than the rest of us.  Sorry Dan.

Tree
tree at kkn.net