[RSM] CQWW-SSB Recap

[Ed Richardson]

I am sure there will be plenty of comments about how lousy the band
conditions were. No doubt that for a DX contest, this was not a lot of fun.
However there were still a few lessons learned that I thought I would share.

 

1.       Contest prep - I forgot to add.  make sure you have pen and paper
handy at the operating position.

2.       Contest prep - review the rules of the contest. For example, in
this contest, working other Canadians scores 0 points. However, you do need
to work one other VE on every band for the DXCC multiplier. It is perfectly
OK to work another VE for a zone multiplier but it is unlikely you would
need to rely on a VE for zone 3,4 or 5 multipliers. I worked 68 other VE's
and I needed to call 2 of them, on 160m and 10m. I'll chat with other RSM
members anytime in any contest!

3.       Take what the bands will give - In this one pointing the beam at
Europe and calling CQ would not have been very useful. In this contest the
north-south path was very good. 15 and even 10 showed good propagation to
South America. However propagation changes as the day progresses and certain
areas moved in and out of coverage. There are a lot of stations in South
America.

4.       What is with the path between D4 and VE4? - I have seen this happen
over the last several years and again in this contest. There is a huge
pile-up on the D4C station and yet one or two calls maximum and he pulls the
VE4 out of the crowd. Anybody else experience this.

5.       I have high noise levels on 160/80 yet I was hearing LU and CE
stations on both bands better than zone 8 or even many stateside signals.
Worked them both on 80 but 100w on 160 couldn't get their attention. Some
kind of trans-equatorial conduit on the low bands.

6.       I saw a 10 minute period where the path opened to central Europe on
20m late Sunday afternoon. It came and went quickly. I stopped my run and
went into S&P mode to grab as many multipliers as possible. Again, take what
the bands offer.

7.        Being aware of some major net frequencies and avoid them. I lost
one good frequency to the QCWA net. It wasn't worth the fight or argument
and a gesture of good will between contesters and others goes a long way.
Others may disagree but be aware of the band.

8.       On 40m, be aware of the broadcast stations that pop up every 5 kHz
or so when operating above 7.200. If you are picking a run frequency, give
yourself some room in case one starts up. It's one frequency battle you will
not win. Below 7.2, there are many rag chew frequencies in use Saturday and
Sunday mornings. These poor folks have radios without VFO's and I am sure
they are all crystal bound. They will not move or QSY up or down a few kHz.
Mark out a few of these popular rag frequencies and try to avoid them.

9.       Don't write 3830 reports when you are sleep deprived.

 

This contest turned into a sweepstakes practice session running endless US
stations (1854 Q's).

 

My statistics:

Band     QSOs     Pts  ZN   Cty  Pt/Q

   1.8       5       8    2    2   1.6

   3.5     221     442   15   26   2.0

     7     707    1425   18   44   2.0

    14    1162    2361   22   62   2.0

    21     266     639   21   53   2.4

    28      64     174    9   26   2.7

Total    2425    5049   87  213   2.1

Score: 1,514,700

 

Run Rates

Best 1 Minute   - 6.0 per minute, 360 per hour

Best 10 Minutes - 4.6 per minute, 276 per hour

Best 1 hour     - 3.6 per minute, 214 per hour

 


DXCC

1.8

3.5

7

14

21

28

Tot


6W

 

1

1

 

2


6Y

1

1

1

1

1

5


8P

 

1

1

2

4


9A

 

 

1

 

1


9Y

 

1

1

1

3


A3

 

 

 

1

1


CE

1

3

9

12

5

30


CE0Y

 

 

 

1

1


CM

3

4

5

5

1

18


CN

1

1

2

 

4


CT

 

 

3

1

4


CT3

 

1

1

1

3


CU

 

 

2

 

2


CX

 

2

6

7

6

21


D4

 

 

1

1

2


EA

 

 

2

 

2


EA8

1

2

2

1

6


EA9

 

1

 

 

1


FG

 

1

1

1

3


FM

 

 

1

1

2


FY

 

1

1

1

1

4


GM

 

 

1

 

1


HA

 

 

1

 

1


HC

2

2

3

2

1

10


HH

 

 

1

1

2


HI

1

3

3

1

2

10


HK

 

3

4

7

1

15


HP

 

 

1

2

3


HR

 

1

2

1

4


I

 

 

1

 

1


J3

 

 

 

1

1


JA

 

 

5

 

5


K

4

183

598

976

93

1854


KH6

2

4

3

6

15


KL

 

 

1

1

2


KP2

1

4

3

4

2

14


KP4

1

6

12

12

2

33


LU

2

4

10

17

9

42


OA

 

1

2

3

2

8


OH

 

 

1

 

1


OK

 

 

1

 

1


P4

1

1

3

2

2

9


PJ2

1

1

1

1

1

5


PJ4

1

2

2

2

2

9


PJ7

 

 

 

1

1


PY

1

9

19

30

15

74


PZ

1

1

1

1

1

5


S5

 

 

1

 

1


SM

 

 

1

 

1


SP

 

 

1

 

1


T32

 

1

1

2


TF

 

 

1

 

1


TG

 

1

2

2

5


TI

2

3

5

5

15


TK

 

 

1

 

1


UA9

 

 

1

 

1


V2

 

1

1

1

3


V3

 

 

1

1

1

3


V4

1

1

1

1

1

5


VE

1

8

21

33

4

1

68


VK

 

2

1

3


VP2M

 

 

 

1

1


VP5

1

2

2

2

1

8


VP9

 

1

1

1

3


XE

1

3

3

3

2

12


YN

1

1

1

1

1

5


YV

1

3

4

10

1

19


ZD8

1

1

1

3


ZF

1

1

1

2

1

6


ZL

 

4

2

6


ZP

 

1

2

1

4


ZS

 

1

2

3


Total

5

221

707

1162

266

64

2425

 

On/Off Times

I was prepared to go the full 48 hours but it was pointless. When the rate
dropped to 5 per hour I pulled the plug and went for a 3 hour nap both
nights. Basically from 3AM to 6AM. However on Sunday morning it took me over
an hour to get my first QSO. With all that sleep at least there was no
hallucinations this year.

 

See everyone in CW sweepstakes this coming weekend.it can't get any worse.or
can it?

 

Ed