[CQ-Contest] Low CW SS Activity

[jimk8mr at aol.com]

There have been lots of comments of how activity levels in CW SS were so low. Given the number of us CK64s and nearby years aging out of staying up all night to operate (or passing from the scene entirely) it is not surprising.
While I would have been in WCF for SS had it not been for the hurricanes that messed up the beach condos my daughters were renting for this week, I took advantage of the situation of being in Ohio to return to my Single Operator Multi-Station CW SS efforts of past years. Though as a recognition of getting old, rather than trying four separate six hour operations, with drive time between, I opted for a different approach: go like crazy for as long as the rate stayed good, and then move on.

The results:
K8MR:     485  x 79    76,630    6.8  Hours     71/Hour
W8KEN:  359  x 72    51,696    4.4  Hours     81/Hour
K8AZ:     315  x 74      46,620    3.4  Hours     92/Hour
W3USA:  175  x  61   21,350    1.8  Hours     97/Hour     (A Power)
Total:       1335           196,296   16.4 Hours    81/Hour
I never worked NL, but I did get all the other multipliers from at least one place.  And as I have noticed in past SOMS efforts, the rate goes up as the contest goes on!

The W3USA operation (from my QTH) may have been against the rules. There had been a rule about one transmitter/one callsign from a given location, though the ARRL General Rules page has gone MIA on the ARRL web site. (I did use a different radio than for the K8MR operation.)  If anybody is offended by that QSO with W3USA, feel free to delete it from your log.

Might we consider a category, whether official or not, for multiple station efforts, comparing the sum of the scores? While certainly not an apples/oranges comparison, my total score was better than that of all but three of the serious competitors. Other details for this category could be worked out (total time limits, off times between callsign switches, etc.)  In addition to be more fun for those of us being fresh meat, it would give a lot more QSOs for the serious one station guys.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for rate, try mobiling in one of the state QSO parties, where you become a new station every time you change counties!

73  -  Jim   K8MR