[CQ-Contest] DX Sprint is a good idea

[George Fremin III]

On Tue, Mar 23, 2004 at 12:12:28AM -0500, Nat Heatwole wrote:

> Anyway, this discussion is really more appropriate for TowerTalk, not
> CQ-Contest, but I think KQ2M really encapsulated my point when he said:
> "hills are good, salt water is better, anywhere you can put up stacks is
> the best."

No - living closer to your target area is the key.

Most DX contests require a lot of contacts with Europe - for 
two reasons:  
 
- There are a lot of countries in Europe.
- There are a lot of radio ops in Europe.

So being closer to Europe makes a huge difference, 
more difference during the course of a contest weekend
than any antenna.

I have used a lot of big antennas (even stacks of them) over the years
from here in Texas.  I currently live on very good hill.  Neither of
these things are better for working Europe than living closer to
Europe.


QTH selection tip:

Given the choice between living on a hill with sloping 
foreground in front of the antennas and having stacked 
antennas I will take the hill - it is much better than 
stacked antennas any day of the week.


-- 
George Fremin III - K5TR
geoiii at kkn.net
http://www.kkn.net/~k5tr