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

[Dale Putnam]

Jim makes a good point, and I have often wondered how the geographical differences weighed in, have tried many times to study the "other"
station and learn. Without taking to stand that nothing west of the Mississippi can win... that logic becomes "location, location, location" and 
skill seems to take a back seat. I've been told many times that I have "the biggest signal on the band" during non contest times... then in the 
contest... an hour later.. the same station or one very close can't hear me. So it can't be just the propagation between here and there... it has also be the local propagation, the NVIS, that covers the "others".
But you know... when it all gets totaled up... I know what I did, this year, last year, last contest, which antenna worked or didn't, what technique worked, or didn't, and why. Keeping my focus on things that I can control, remedy, and correct, allows me to focus on getting better. 
It would be nice to know what the other station was setup as, to compare what he was doing and what I was hearing... to be able to learn how my setup reacts and to make adjustments to improve.
Thanks for the bandwidth,
C U in the next test,--...   ...--Dale - WC7S in Wy



> From: Jimk8mr at aol.com> Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:04:21 -0400> To: radiosporting at yahoo.com; cq-contest at contesting.com> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Contesting in the Sunlight [was: SO1R and SO2R]> >  > 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    > _______________________________________________> CQ-Contest mailing list> CQ-Contest at contesting.com> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
_________________________________________________________________
Try Live.com: where your online world comes together - with news, sports, weather, and much more.
http://www.live.com/getstarted