[CQ-Contest] How to start a run

[Jeff AC0C]

W6SX Hank is always sounding good on the RTTY contests.  He's all wire, open 
feed, Matchboxes.  But he's an experienced op and has an amp.

I've been a micro signal, a moderate signal and a decent signal - from the 
Midwest - over the last 10 years.  Here are my thoughts:

1. If you have to ask how to run on the reflector, I hope I am not being 
presumptuous in saying that perhaps you have not spent enough time running 
S&P and working contests.  There is no magic bullet.

2. You have to be loud enough that the other guy does not think you are too 
weak to ignore.  There is no substitute for power and antennas.  If you are 
QRP or 100W - and you have a dipole - then you are going to be crushed by 
everyone else who has something more.

3. If you cannot compete on signal strength, then you have to leverage skill 
(which comes from working contests to learn the basic skill) - and to 
consider how you can tilt the field in your favor.  All things being equal, 
it's easier to run in CW and RTTY than in SSB.  It's easier to run higher up 
in the band than lower.  It's easier to run on the off band (which now is 40 
or 15) than to try to elbow into 20m in the prime daytime slots.

4. Pick the right contest - for example NAQP and FD are easy to run - WPX 
SSB or the ARRL DX is a lot harder.

5. A good way to get some run time is to go to a more potent station in your 
area and beg some chair time.

6. Consider why you want to run.  The contest sage of "if you are not 
running you are losing" only applies if you are able to run rate 
consistently over time.  It's easier to work on S&P with tough band condx or 
with a marginal signal than trying to run and getting pushed off your QRG 
after only a couple of minutes.

73/jeff/ac0c
www.ac0c.com
alpha-charlie-zero-charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Steve London
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2016 4:41 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How to start a run

You should be looking at the K1AR CQWW CW contest results over the past
10+ years.

I believe that John has nothing more than a center-fed dipole, fed with
open-wire, and using a real Johnson antenna tuner. His is up
considerably higher - 80' or so ? No towers, no wire beams.

73,
Steve, N2IC

On 08/21/2016 02:29 PM, john at kk9a.com wrote:
> How could this be made into an excellent 20m antenna? It will have very 
> deep
> nulls (30dB+) and super high SWR, plus likely high feedline loss.  A 32'
> dipole would be a better antenna.
>
> John KK9A
>
> To: Timothy Holmes <taholmes160 at gmail.com>, cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How to start a run
> From: Steve London <n2icarrl at gmail.com>
> Reply-to: n2ic at arrl.net
> Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2016 10:24:31 -0600
>
>>> On 08/21/2016 10:11 AM, Timothy Holmes wrote:
>>> Hi steve
>>> To answer your questions
>>> My antenna was a 125 ft dipole up 40 ft
>
>
> Fed and tuned how ? How high are the ends ?
> Done right, this can be an excellent antenna. Done wrong, this makes a 
> poor
> dummy load.
>
> 73,
> Steve, N2IC
>
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