[CQ-Contest] NAQP CW observations

[John Geiger]

I was surprised at the level of 160 activity for the contest this year.
Seemed better than last year, and quite a few ops were able to pull out my
terrible signal.  Glad to see the top band is becoming more popular for this
contest.

73s John NE0P

----- Original Message -----
From: "Art Boyars" <art.boyars at verizon.net>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 2:48 AM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] NAQP CW observations


> 1.  Op's seemed willing to work harder than in SS to QSO weak sigs.  I
wonder why.  Maybe because  a) It was late in the contest (I was on only for
last 6.5 hr);  b) Shorter exchange means better chance of getting the QSO;
and   c) Once you have the QSO on the first band, then the only thing you
need to copy on the other bands is the call (too easy for my taste, but most
people seem to like it).
>
> 2.  A >>lot<< of sigs had really bad key clicks, some from op's with fine
reputations.  I know this has been discussed here before.  I just hope that
if it keeps being mentioned, then maybe some of those guys will fix their
radios.
>
> 3.  Lack of whomping big sigs made everybody seem weaker than in SS... or
were condx on 40 and 80 just that bad???  Some of the big guns seemed down a
lot more db than 10*log(100/1500).  I am reminded of a comment I made after
my return to SS CW a few years ago: "One mid-west station was
rcvr-jumping-up-and-down-on-the-desk loud all night long on 40.  I would
have thought that so effective an antenna system would have yielded a better
result than he claims."  Nothing like that in NAQP CW (this time, anyhow).
>
> 4.  It's nice to get peoples' names, but some names sure are hard to copy
if the sig is a little weak.  I found myself wondering why my parents had
not named me "BOB".  And then there were the guys who outsmarted themselves
by using cute names.  I had thought of doing that.  I was going to name
myself "EEN", and get everybody confused, or maybe bust the QSO when they
typed 599.  But I figured that would just get me on everybody's do-not-call
list.  Don't want that!
>
>
> 73 & GL in SSB,   Art K3KU
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