[CQ-Contest] Skimmer had finally arrived

[Mark Bailey]

One very effective trick is to find the station that the DX stations is 
working and match that station's CW speed and frequency.  :-)

73,

Mark, KD4D

On 2/22/2012 2:38 PM, Jeff Blaine wrote:
> Keith,
>
> I worked the Nigerian station in the ARRL DX CW contest last week.
>
> He had a gigantic pileup.  I don't have a monster signal - but given the
> amount of guys who were zero beating on him, I imagined he must hear just a
> blur.  And knowing most DX tends to work UP when in split, I guessed he
> would have a tendency to listen UP even when in simplex.  So I went up about
> 100 hz from the hordes banging away - he came back to me on the first call.
>
> I could have just been lucky with that guy.  But I have used the same
> strategy before in other cases and it generally let's me work the guy.
>
> 73/jeff/ac0c
> www.ac0c.com
> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Collins, Graham
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 11:10 AM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Skimmer had finally arrived
>
> An interesting discussion.
>
> I operate primarily QRP power and when operating CW many of the suggestions
> others have made are what I use to try and be heard - zero beating, if that
> doesn't work then plus or minus a wee bit or a wee bit more, speeding up of
> slowing down my sending, and sometimes adjusting dot-dash ratio a bit -
> anything that will make my tiny signal stand out just a bit more to get
> heard.
>
> Something else I do is run a audio spectrum analyzer program (Spectran is
> the program and is windows app but will run on LINUX using WINE). It will
> show not only zero beat of the station I am interested in but I can also
> spot trends in who the station is replying too - consistently higher or
> lower than zero beat and by how much and if I set my receive filter fairly
> wide I can note where some other station is calling - either higher or
> lower - than the one I am currently trying to work which makes it easier to
> move on to another when done with the first.
>
> Cheers, Graham ve3gtc
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Robert Brandon
> Sent: February 22, 2012 10:43
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Skimmer had finally arrived
>
> I like the suggestion to just turn on a little XIT before you start clicking
> on spots.  The bigger the pileup, the more offset I'll use.  Many of the
> best ops will run pretty wide filters and/or will tune off to the sides of
> the pileup.
>
> Robert K5PI (at V31TP)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Keith Thomas
> Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 5:56 AM
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Skimmer had finally arrived
>
> I play around in contests and had a good time in the one this past weekend.
> I don't use skimmer, but with my FT-2000 it is easy to zerobeat using
> the visual indicator.  I did hear some of the hordes that came down on some
> stations and usually passed them by as I did my S&P.  I am sure I zerobeat
> others.   Is there a recommended offset that should be used as a general
> rule in contests to avoid zerobeating and causing issues?
>
> Keith KB3ILS
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