[CQ-Contest] Stirring the Pot

[Kerr, Prof. K.M.]

Hello all,
I'll rise to the bait!
Been trying to get antennas organised for the weekend as time allows. Spent all last Saturday trying to find out why my trusty but not rusty C3 had poor SWR on all bands. I use this as a temporary 'second direction' antenna and for the last three years it has never shown any problem each time it was put up. It is stored 'outside' assembled and I noticed a few loose rivets and assumed this was the problem. Lots or drilling and rivetting later.....no change. Eventually the problem was traced to a faulty coax line from the shack to the remote relay switch box! Frustrating...........lessons learned.

But now, apart from my beverages which still have to be strung once the neighbouring farmer is finished with the field, I seem to be ready. This is worrying since the last time I was in this position, in 2006, the main tower fell down in a storm 48hrs before the off. No storms forecast this year but we are certainly looking at very strong winds from now and over the weekend.

Propagation......I am trying to psyche myself up to believing that it might be a shade better this year but that could be a marginal call....rather depends on how much SpE we get up here on 10 and 15. Otherwise it could be a re-run Eurofest on the highbands!!!

Tactics.......I am still unsure what the best thing to do on 40 and 80 when trying to work the USA; simplex, duplex? Below 7.1 or above 7.125 for transmit? How do you guys see this from the 'other side'?

SOAB in Europe is always a tough challenge and getting harder; but I keep trying. I am looking forward to my 90 min sleep in Sunday morning already!

GM7V will be on from 00z Saturday, God willing, Single Op, All band, internet and cluster-free shack!! Goes without saying that I hope to work as many of you all as possible.
Good luck to everyone and enjoy......and please, please give your callsign frequently if you are running and 'in full' when you S&P.

Keith GM4YXI (GM7V)

-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of K1AR at aol.com
Sent: 15 October 2008 18:00
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Stirring the Pot

All,

Most of us are about to participate in the world's biggest contest in a little over a week (CQ WW SSB) and no one is even talking about it on this channel. How about some posts that discuss propagation, operating plans,  strategy, questions, last-minute challenges, skimmer rules (ummm, cancel that  one), etc.?

We have a great resource at our disposal with lots of experienced folks hiding the weeds. Let's use it to our advantage!

73 John, K1AR
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