[CQ-Contest] SS SSB reflections

[kr2q at optonline.net]

TRUTH:  I sure do love contesting!!!!
Co-Truth:  I sure do dislike phone!

Outline:
I.	Blah, blah, blah
II.	Rigs/antennas
III.    Potentially interesting Stats.
IV.    Heard on the bands
IV.3. Oh no, not THAT again.

I.  Blah, blah, blah.  
(To see some possible interesting numbers, scroll down to the bottom)

1.  Not having done SS SSB before (not more than 100 or so Q's), I have a reasonable amount
yet to learn about this event.  It is rather frustrating to me to spend about 6 more hours on
ssb than on cw and come out with a (marginally) smaller score.  Is that normal in SS?  I would
think that in general, ssb scores would be bigger.

2.  Some very strange "spot" openings, especially on 15m.  Had one time where the band was 
"dead" except for W6...and then mostly SCV to boot (see analysis below).

3.  On CW, I felt "loud" despite be qrp.  On SSB, I did not feel loud.  That negatively impacts 
my drive.

4.  As usual, I ended up doing antenna work all day Saturday until (after) the start of the 
contest.

First, I wanted to re-cable the steel "crank up cable" on the back tower (not the one that 
crushed my hand last month or so ago).  That went pretty smoothly and no crushed parts, but 
did take a fair amount of time and climbing, including measuring and installing nicopress 
sleeves, etc. Stringing cable when the tower is vertical (and making sure it doesn't slip and 
fall) and being sure to weave it in/out of the wrong sections take a fair amount of 
concentration (too many zigzags) and belting and re-belting as you climb (climbing belt, that 
is).  With that done, I was confident that when I cranked 'er up, it would stay up.  Original 
cable was badly rusted and I just knew that if I "took a chance" that today would be the day it 
crashed.

Figured it would be important to have an antenna on 80m (which I did not have for CW), so 
spent hours untangling about 500 feet of solid copperweld (I should get a reward for that...did 
not have to cut anything and I didn't poke my eyes out) and putting together a "sophisticated" 
antenna...aka an inverted V.  

OH yeah...now I have to feed it.  Hmmm.  I looked around and found about 100 feet of RG58 
from my (can you believe it) Novice days.  It has been nicely coiled up all these decades and 
unrolled with ease (finally...a break).  It even had a PL259 already installed on one end.  Okay, 
so it's 100' of pretty lossy cable and I'm qrp - Who cares...time is running out (the sun is 
setting).  Unfortunately, it did NOT start to snow, so I know that the antenna would NOT 
perform as well as possible.

Got back inside after the start and was pooped.  Sat around catching my breath and decided 
to start at 23:00, after some food (had not eaten all day, though I do carry plenty of reserve 
with me at all times).  At 22:20, I got antsy and bolted to rig, having caught my breath, but 
not eaten anything yet.

5.  Being clueless about SS, I started on 15...tuned around, made 2 Q's and went to 20 and did 
the same.  I ended up on 40m within 10 minutes of turning the rig on.  Then it was a band 
changing about every 10 or 20 minutes, trying to keep the Q's flowing.  Live and learn.

6.  Gosh, but I hate phone; took aspirin after an hour of the "noise" on ssb.  Had to take more 
on day 2.


II.
RIG:  FT817, MFJ-434 voice key (which is much bigger dimensionally than the rig!).  Plus: 
Datong external RF clipper (audio to RF to audio) - an ancient gem.

Antennas:
Optibeam OB11-3 @ 72' fed with RG217
Cush 402 CD @ 80’ fed with RG217 
80m inverted Vee @ 55' fed with 100' RG58

Still using CT989 DOS on Pentium (1) computer (pretty old)

I did not use my Elecraft K2 as it has no SSB module.


END OF BLAH BLAH BLAH




SOME POTENTIALLY "INTERESTING" STATS FROM MY LOG:

Who do QRPers (me) work?
MDC	45 QSO's	8.3% of total contacts   mostly on 80
VA      38 QSO's        7.1% of total contacts   split between 80 and 40
SCV     27 QSO's        5.0% of total contacts   mostly on 15


Ø Qso sections:  BC, MS, NT.  
1 QSO sections:  MB, PAC, VI
2 QSO sections:  AB, DE, ID, KY, ND, NL, NNY, ORG, PR, QC, SB, SC, and SD. 

Last "new" section worked:  SB @ 22:58 Sunday (was also my "last" new section on CW)


Best "10 QSO rate": 146.9 (40 meters, running) - WOW...even I'm impressed (pure luck)
Best "100 QSO rate": 41.5 (ending 17:39 - S+P)




HEARD ON THE BANDS:

1.  Most common remark received:
"You're QRP?  What a big signal!" (sometimes accompanied by laughter).

It's all in the propagation...I'm not going to call you if YOU are weak here.
If you're 40 or more over S9 here, why would you think that I should be well below S-9 there?
Do the math.  

For every guy that tells me that I'm "too loud," there are 10 more who ask me for multiple 
repeats.  Tell THEM that I'm too loud for QRP.


2.  Most illogical comment heard:

Overhearing (many times) exchanges (qrp guy to a HP guy) and when finally successful, the HP 
guy thanks the QRP guy for "hanging in here" to complete the exchange.

Shouldn't it be the qrp guy thanking the HP guy for "hanging in there?"

No matter what, though, "thanking folks" if nice to hear any time!


3.  Greatest Epiphany:  Realizing just how much entrants/participants use SCP (I never use it).  
I overheard one conversation where station A was debating with station B (who station A was 
working) about what Section station B was in.  B kept telling him one thing but A kept citing 
what was "loaded in the computer."  B stated over and over, I was there LAST YEAR, now I'm 
"here." Station A seemed unwilling to doubt SCP.

Then I had someone else tell me how long ago it was since "we worked" (a long time) in SS.  
Now I finally figured why so many guys only want YOUR NUMBER, YOUR NUMBER and nothing 
else...it's all there for them already.  How disappointing...a long exchange to "test" skill made 
meaningless by so-called technology.  Sort of defeats the whole point, no (unless your point
is to just "score big" or "win")?


de Doug KR2Q