[CQ-Contest] Contesting in the Sunlight [was: SO1R and SO2R]

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/28/2006 9:24:24 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
radiosporting at yahoo.com writes:


If  you knew this about each participant...you could
easily compare your  results to other similarly
equipped stations.  Are there any other  factors that I
may have overlooked?




Probably the biggest one of all.
 
Location. 
 
The quality of propagation on paths to areas with the most contest  activity. 
 This includes both qso activity (number of people active)  and multiplier 
activity (number of different multipliers active).
 
In DX contests from the USA this means the path to Europe. From  outside the 
USA it means the path to Europe and North America.
 
In domestic USA contests the differences are less pronounced, but mainly  
it's the path to the Northeastern quarter of the country.
 
In VHF contests this means the path to the northeast. Mostly this requires  
being in the Northeast, but when six meters is open it means being one Es hop  
away.
 
Take a fairly decent station well located, and you'll beat just about  
anything from elsewhere.
The rest is mostly window dressing.
 
 
73  -  Jim   K8MR