[CQ-Contest]re: NAQP and the (midwest)(south)east coast
Leigh S. Jones
kr6x at kr6x.com
Sat Jan 24 01:41:16 EST 2004
KU8E wrote:
> The only people who made the top 10 on either mode from other than
> the West Coast...
>
> 1) Operated from a large well known station and are great operators
and
> masters at SO2R - an unbeatable combination..
> (i.e K9PG on SSB, N9RV,N2NC,W4PA on CW) or
>
> 2) Operated from the Carribean... (ZF2NT)
>
Well, I'm going to have to disagree both with your count and your
conclusions. First of all, K5RC is in Nevada, N6ZZ is in New
Mexico, and K6LL is in Arizona. Now, to a guy in 8 land that
sounds like the West Coast. But to a guy on the West Coast
it's easier to tell the difference between those three and someone
who is actually on the West Coast than it is to tell someone in
8-land apart from someone in 1-land in a DX contest. Those
three states are several hundred critical miles to the east of the
coastline.
Now, for what it sounds like to a guy in 8-land, I'm drawing a
distinction between two similar locations, I know that. But I'm
likely to be a little more familiar with the distinction between
California and New Mexico in a domestic contest than is
someone in 8-land, just as someone in 8-land is better
informed about the distinction between 8-land and 1-land in
the CQWW.
There is a high population region in the United States and it
extends from approximately Boston in the north to Washington
DC in the south. From anywhere in California this region lies
just beyond the first skip for most of any contest period. From
California this means approximately one half of the stations
are worked on "two hop" propagation paths. But from Texas,
New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and many areas of the west
these are "one hop" contacts. This means longer openings,
stronger signals, and much more opportunity to stand out on
what sounds like a nearly empty band on the eastern seaboard.
To someone in 8-land (and especially 9-land) it may seem as
if California and the rest of the coastal west is loud everywhere
and all the time, but for much of the country's population it
isn't like that.
But, you see, to those who are familiar with the stations and
operators in these top ten listings, it's easy to see why the west
coast is well represented this year in the NAQP top ten listings.
I'll get into that in a moment, but please note that while KU8E
may count six west coast stations in the top ten on CW, I count
three west coast stations but four more in the west who are
actually well east of the coastal region (and in good position to
make "one-hop" contacts with the eastern seaboard).
Secondly, I'd like to draw attention to the station and operator
prowess credentials of both top ten lists. KU8E seems to think
that only K9PG, N9RV, N2NC, and W4PA are top operators
at good stations.
On the other hand, K6LL is in the top ten of the SS with some
regularity, and has certainly proven himself as an operator. N6ZZ
was the winner of the CW SS back in the late 60's, and is a top
operator on top of his game building up a new big station. These
guys are superb and highly experienced operators taking advantage
of the "one hop" advantage, but with trapless tribanders and small
40M beams giving them just enough station to take advantage of
their locations and skills. There's the region with the propagation
advantage (on phone at least): Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.
If you don't know the history of K5RC and the SS Multioperator
efforts signing K5LZO and WA5LES, and aren't aware of the
potency of that station, well then maybe you should learn. W4AN,
who has frequently been top scorer in the NAQP in past years
thought highly enough of the K5RC station to operate there for the
CWSS in the same season that he won DX contests from his
Georgia hilltop station.
K6LL, N6ZZ, and K5RC (AZ, NM, NV) are in sections that
are just rare enough to hold the attention of everyone who finds
them through a couple of contacts, so they seem to attract more
callers than stations of similar signal strength. K5RC is a touch
too far to the west and north to get the full propagation advantage
felt by K6LL and N6ZZ, but has a marked advantage over any
true coastal station.
As for the remaining guys in 6 and 7 land this year, consider the
following:
K6LA is a consistent top scorer in the CW SS with SO2R and
big single band yagis on multiple towers. W6EEN is one of the
premier radio stations in Southern California with 4 100'+ towers,
big yagi stacks plus a "no compromise" full size 3 element yagi on
80 meters, and N6RT is the operator who put W6EEN into the
top 10 of the ARRL DX Contest a couple of years back. W6KP
is another of the premier radio stations in Southern California, with
big single band yagis on separate towers at a fine, quiet (low
QRN) mountain top location with a particularly nice terrain
toward the east coast. N6MJ is a fine operator, both young
and experienced. I've operated multioperator efforts from
both W6KP and W6EEN and rate these stations highly.
Now, I certainly must admit to not knowing much about N6NF,
K7RL, and W7EJ, but N6RO is probably the premier contest
station in Northern California with three stacked yagis per band
on each of the 10/15/20 M bands plus stacked 4 element yagis
on 40. If you're not familiar with the CD Party operating
prowess of K2EIU/5 from a number of decades ago then it
might be worth your while to learn who Ken is. And, the W7GG
station has stacked yagis on 40 through 10 (yes, stacked 3
elements on 40 with the top at 160 feet).
On phone I must admit to some surprise that Oregon and
Washington are so well represented in the listings. But
I've got to believe that N6NF, K7RL, and W7EJ are
in the top ten because they are competitive operators
at competitive stations simply because their scores are
up there with the superstations and superb operators that
are well known to me.
In short, if you paid attention to who these operators and
stations are you wouldn't begin to suggest that the good
representation of the west in this years NAQP was due
to a case of propagation advantage. You'd look deeper
and realize that all the stations and operators that made it
to the top 10 this year are simply superb.
You might also begin to recognize that on CW at least the
N9RV, W4PA, and N2NC scores are right up there at the
top with the best the west coast has to offer, providing
convincing evidence that any region of the country could win
the NAQP on a given weekend. Those guys couldn't
be said to be at a disadvantage -- they were all close
enough to winning that they very well might win next time.
For this particular contest, it looks different on phone. But
you know, on another phone weekend a station might show
up from South Florida and win it all, and any well-equipped
station in Texas has the potential to knock all these guys out
of the top spot with regularity. Until 10 meters is nearly
useless there could be a phone advantage to being far away
from the eastern seaboard. But on some weekends the
75 meter and 160 meter phone multipliers will provide a
prohibitive advantage to everyone east of the Mississippi
River.
Pay attention to the fact that the West Coast operators that
made these top ten listings "operated from large, well
known stations and are great operators and masters at
SO2R - an unbeatable combination," just as exemplified by
the K9PG, N9RV, N2NC, and W4PA scores.
And, I'd have to point out that the reason that so many west
coast superstations and superb operators show up in an
NAQP contest is because remarkably few contests are
pleasant these days from the west coast. For many top
west coast operators, DX contests must be operated from
DX locations to be any fun. When I say this, read "for
example, ZF2NT". The rare chance to get on the air and
compete on an equal footing with the rest of the country
brings top western stations out of the woodwork these
days. And, until guys like KQ2M and K1EA are regular
participants in the NAQP simply because they are really
really hungry to get into the top ten, you won't ever know
what the potential for the northeast really is in this contest.
They'll have to be hungry like west coast operators in order
to overlook the fact that many consider the NAQP to be
a second tier contest.
KR6X
----- Original Message -----
From: <ku8e at bellsouth.net>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004 2:05 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest]re: NAQP and the (midwest)(south)east coast
> W4PA Wrote :
>
> >Mmmmm - I do see that in this year's January NAQP there is a high
> >proportion of west coast stations in the top 10 on both modes, but
I
> >have never felt that they have an advantage over the southeast in
this
> >contest. I'd judge it to be about equal. Yes, if 10 stays open
for a
> >long time and the low bands are noisy (as happened on SSB this
month),
> >the west coast is going to win it. If 10 meters tanks and we have
a
> >quiet night on the low bands, forget it, there is nobody out in
W6/W7
> >that is going to win NAQP over the W4's. And then N9RV gets in
there
> >with a bunch of top 5's and confuses the whole issue further.
>
> >Once the sunspot cycle drops, it's not going to get any easier on
the
> >west coast for a good showing in the NAQP's.
>
> >"East coast" isn't a real good catch-all descriptor out here
anyway -
> >my contest QTH in Tennessee is longitudinally directly south of
> >Indianapolis.
> >
>
> >Scott W4PA
>
>
> NAQP SSB High Claimed Scores from 3830 :
>
> All Single Op LP
> N6NF 1851 250 10 462,750
> N6MJ(@W6KP) 1703 262 10 446,186 SCCC #1
> K6LL 1586 264 10 418,704 SCCC #1
> K7RL 1595 260 10 414,700 WWDXC
> W6EEN(N6RT) 1422 268 10 381,096 SCCC #1
> K9PG(@WB9Z) 1221 289 10 352,869 SMC #1
> W7GG 1429 235 10 335,580 Orygun Staight
> K6LA 1257 248 10 311,736 SCCC #1
> K5CM(W5AO) 1376 221 9:52 304,096 TCG
> W7EJ 1296 231 10 299,376 Orygun Staight
>
> 8 of 10 from West Coast
>
>
>
> NAQP CW High Claimed Scores for 3830 :
>
> All Single Op LP
> ZF2NT 1314 280 10 367,920 NCCC #1
> N6MJ(@W6KP) 1290 285 10 367,650 SCCC #1
> N9RV 1278 276 10 352,728 SMC #1
> N6ZZ 1161 278 10 322,758 Azenmokers 3
> W4PA(@K4JNY) 1169 270 10 315,630 TCG #1
> K6LL 1214 259 10 314,426 SCCC #1
> N2NC(@N2NT) 1092 269 10 293,748 FRC
> N6RO 1086 263 10 285,618 NCCC #1
> W7RN(K5RC) 1098 260 10 285,480 NCCC #1
> N6NF 1121 250 280,250
>
> 6 of 10 from West Coast
>
>
> Guess I am missing something in Scott's logic... According to my
numbers 80% of the top 10 on SSB was from the West Coast and 60% on CW
. The only people who made the top 10 on either mode from other than
the West Coast...
>
> 1) Operated from a large well known station and are great operators
and
> masters at SO2R - an unbeatable combination..
> (i.e K9PG on SSB, N9RV,N2NC,W4PA on CW) or
>
> 2) Operated from the Carribean... (ZF2NT)
>
>
> You have almost no chance from a station with a plain tribander and
wires or less........
>
> I'm sorry but a tribander/wire station is no match against a multi
stacked yagi station. It surprises me that many people can't see that.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
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