[CQ-Contest] State QSO parties and CW

[Michael Coslo]

On Apr 29, 2008, at 2:16 PM, John Geiger wrote:
> The Florida QSO party this past weekend reminded me of
> something I have observed for the past few years.
> With the exception of maybe the California QSO party,
> there seems to be much more CW than SSB activity for
> state QSO parties.
>
> I am not complaining as I like CW contests and just
> tolerate SSB contests, but why is this?  It seems that
> SSB would be easier to run while mobile.
>
> Does the extra points that CW QSOs score relative to
> SSB QSOs make everyone stick with CW?

Relative to the PAQSO party, the doubled points are an attractant, if  
only because it can make a difference to winning that county or  
section, etc. Our official policy is to encourage people to engage in  
worthy modes. Some of the counties end up with tight races, so CW  
contacts can make the difference.

While we do have a lot of entrants that are CW only, most who use CW  
do it mixed.

CW mobile is a mixed bag. While people have been doing mobile CW for  
a long time, contesting while mobile using CW seems pretty scary to  
me. I think that most who do are stopped at the time.

I believe that the setup encourages people to use CW. Maybe a person  
might give it a try and find they enjoy it.




-73 de Mike N3LI -