[CQ-Contest] CQ WW DX SSB Midwest vs East Coast

[Pete Chamalian]

Ray, some thoughts...

Are you both using the same spot source?  By that I mean are you both connected to the same telnet station?  Not all telnet stations are interconnected so it is possible that you are not getting the same spots your friend is.

There is no question that there is a difference in propagation between W9 and W4.  I'm in central Connecticut and I see a difference between what I can hear and what the guys in Boston hear.

Beam height is important but elevation more so.  And what is in your near field?  You can be at 1000 feet asl but if you have a mountain to your northeast (EU) that's 1200 feet asl, you are going to have a problem with EU.

Spots on Phone are reliant on stations making them.  Spots on CW come mainly from the RBN (reverse beacon network) and skimmers.  There are no skimmers for SSB (yet).

Hunting for multipliers is an art.  Picking off spots is easy (point and click) but no guarantee you are going to get 'em all.  Careful tuning can pay dividends.  Besides, spots tend to attract attention and can be harder to work.


Pete Chamalian, W1RM
W1RM at Comcast.net

-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest <cq-contest-bounces+w1rm=comcast.net at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Ray Mikula
Sent: Sunday, November 7, 2021 1:58 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] CQ WW DX SSB Midwest vs East Coast

I have an informal Competition with a ham who lives on the East Coast (Richmond, VA).   I live in the Midwest (Chicago Northern Suburbs).  In last weeks CQ WW DX SSB contest, he outdid me with many more multipliers.  He had 63 more multipliers on 15M and 92 more multipliers on 10M.  What is interesting and frustrating is that we were both doing S&P (no running at all).  I was operating assisted using the cluster spotting in N1MM and I was very heavily focused on multipliers.  He, on the other hand was listening up and down the bands, snagging contacts.

So, what I’m trying to figure out is how he ended up with so many more multipliers.  Is this the difference between East coast and the Midwest propagation?  Or is it my approach?  Could it be that I missed so many multipliers because they never showed up as spots?  I would have thought that almost everyone that was running would likely get spotted but perhaps that was a really bad assumption.

Overall, we are both little pistols.  His station my have a slight edge as his beam is at 40 feet vs my 35 feet but that is about it.

So, two questions.  

If one is running assisted what balance of clicking multiplier spots vs. tuning up and down the dial tends to be most productive in snagging multipliers?

Second, how much of a difference is there between working a world wide contest from the Midwest vs. the East coast?

Any insights would be appreciated.

73,
Ray Mikula  (W9NZ)

Sent from Mail for Windows

_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest