[RSM] CQWW-CW Results, Notes and observations

[ed_richardson at shaw.ca]

Well that was a lot of fun, even if was a CW contest. The addition of a little solar flux sure helped propagation on 15 and 10 meters.  My focus in this contest was working DX and not optimizing my score.  My goal was to work as many Zones and countries as possible and not focus on rate.  CW pros like Tom VE3CX, Todd, VE5MX and Rob VE$GV would set different goals.

 

I opted to use the spotting cluster and run high power (800 W).

 

Based on past experiences in this contest and using the cluster, I knew I there would be pros and cons. Obviously the pros are you can see what DX is out there and your bandmap gets populated for you. It also gives you a sense of what band is the most active, although, this usually is a reflection of what DX the east coast is working.  I also set a filter on the spotting network to only report stations submitted by Canadian and US stations.  (Hmmm we could possibly do an RSM presentation on setting up and using the cluster)

 

The downside to using the cluster is, so many others are also using it and clicking on a spot, usually lands you in the middle of a massive pileup, especially on the rare DX. You also have to watch for bad calls, Verify the call before you hit transmit!

 

I also feel that if you are going to use the spotting assistance, you should also be prepared to send spots of your own. If you come across a station that is not spotted, submit it  but only “after” you have logged the station. It’s also a nice boost if you spot your RSM friends!  Once you submit your spot, it only takes seconds before the hoards descend on your spotted frequency.

 

It is also worth noting that its not worth getting into the same pileup as Rob VE4GV. He always wins or the DX station is too confused trying to decide was that VE4 a VT or GV.  Or like several stations did, just assume VE4VT was really VE4XT (…- vs -..-)  You may get a bunch of unexplained QSL’s Kelly 😊

 

Propagation notes.

As the solar flux increases, we are faced with the dilemma as to which band to operate as often more than one band is open to DX. Some of these windows are small and you need to be there if they actually open.  Quite a few QSO’s were very weak or near ESP levels. The 800W was the only way I would have made the QSO.

 

10M – With the current solar flux, this band opens around sunrise local time to stations to our east. There isn’t yet enough flux to open  the northern paths to mainland Europe from VE4 but working southern Spain and Africa, were all possible in the few hours after sunrise. Similarly, late in the afternoon, station the Pacific like KH6, ZL and VK were open. Nothing from Asia was heard as the flux just doesn’t support the more northerly routes.  During the middle of the day, the paths will open to various regions of South America. Around solar noon, the hop lengths are the shortest so look for your Caribbean and central American stations.  Sporadic E is also possible to help work the zones 3-5  stations.  This all changes in a couple years when 10 is open big time.

 

15m – Same patterns as 10m except this year we got a 60-90 minutes each morning to mainland Europe. This started just around local sunrise. This usual starts with working Zones 20-33 with the best distances moving from east to west across Europe.  When you start hearing strong F and G stations, you know you are about to lose the band to Europe.  During the middle of the day the band was open to Africa and Zones 6-13.  There was also enough flux to open the band to much of the US.  In the afternoon 15 opens to the Pacific Zones 29-32 and just around sunset, the JA’s started to arrive.  However, I only saw the band open to JA on Friday evening and none were heard on Saturday or Sunday.

 

20m – Everyone knows 20 right?  There are a couple little known windows that I have leveraged repeatedly for some extra multipliers.  There is a brief window to zones 24-28 in Asia around noon local time.  Most folks are focused on working Europe and Africa at that time, it would be easy to miss the signals from this region unless you are looking for them.  Also the midnight openings over the pole to Europe and the middle east.  I have seen a dead 20m band suddenly pop open to this region although we may have to wait a couple years for this to occur again.  Also when the band is just opening to Europe right after our sunrise, I suggest spending a few minutes working as many zone 7-10 stations as possible. The reason for this is most folks are focused on Europe so the pileups are smaller. The signals are also good just as the band is opening.  If you wait to try and work these stations later in the day, the pileups are fierce.

 

40m- For me, this was the money band for working the most zones.  Normal logic dictates that we work Europe near our sunset and again just around European sunrise.  On Friday night, I found plenty of auroral sounding signals from NA with significant flutter and hardly a trace of Europe.  This changed about 6:30z or slightly before Europe sunrise when the path opened weakly. This continued until about 0800z when most of Europe moved away from 40m. During this time I started to work some JA stations as well as the usual VK/ZL folks.  The next big window was just after our sunrise when the path to zones 25-28 opened.  During this time, signals from Northern Europe were also strong.  This year, 40m was open weakly all Saturday night to Europe. It was spotty and weak but still slightly open.

 

80m – is never open it seems to me.  But that is the result of my local noise level.  In the past I have had success working Europe for about 15 minutes right at our sunset.  This year that didn’t happen but on Saturday night I could almost hear Europe at times. Not enough to work them but I am sure the eastern half on North America or Jessy and Todd with their quiet receive locations would have heard and worked many.

 

160m – With an S9 noise floor, a global pandemic shutting down many of the usual big guns, it was hard to tell hen it opened.  I did work a very strong KH6 station around midnight local.

For the following Table, times are in zulu and sunrise is about 1400z, sunset is 22:30z.

 


Band

Focus


0000-0100z

Asia (15-20m) , SA (20m)


0100-0200z

Europe (40m)  SA and Caribbean (40m)


0200-0300z

Europe (80-40m)


0300-0400z

SA and Caribbean (40m)


0400-0500z

SA and Caribbean (80-40m)


0500-0600z

SA and Caribbean (160-80-40m)


0600-0700z

Europe (80-40m), Japan and South Pacific (40m), Europe/middle east (20m)


0700-0800z

Europe (80-40m)


0800-0900z

Japan and South Pacific (40m)


0900-1000z

SA, Asia,  Oceania (80-40m)  Sleep is preferred


1000-1100z

SA, Asia,  Oceania (80-40m)  Sleep is preferred


1100-1200z

SA, Asia,  Oceania (80-40m)  Sleep is preferred


1200-1300z

Asia,  Oceania (80-40m) 


1300-1400z

South Pacific (80-40m), Asia (80m)


1400-1500z

Asia (40m), Europe (40m), Africa (10m). Middle East (20-15m) , Zones 8-10(20m)


1500-1600z

Europe (20 and maybe 15)  Middle east (15m), Africa (10-15m)


1600-1700z

Europe (15-20m)


1700-1800z

Europe (15-20m)  Africa (15m)


1800-1900z

Check for Asia(20m)


1900-2000z

Central and South America (10-15m)


2000-2100z

South Pacific (10-15m), SA (15m)


2100-2200z

Asia (20m), Europe (40m) SA (15m)


2200-2300

Europe (40-80m), Asia (20m-15)


2300-0000z

Europe (40-80m), Asia (20m-15), SA (20m)

 

My results

Band     QSOs   Pts  ZN   Cty  Pt/Q

   1.8       10       15     6      5   1.5

   3.5       75     150   11   16   2.0

     7     238     600   29   68   2.5

    14     309     781   28   84   2.5

    21     182     485   27   67   2.7

    28       59     160   16   22   2.7

Total    873   2191 117 262  2.5

Score: 830,389

 


Zone

1.8

3.5

7

14

21

28

Tot


1

		1

4

3

1

9


2

1

1

1

1

2

	6


3

1

9

17

30

5

1

63


4

2

12

27

29

11

4

85


5

3

38

44

62

17

3

167


6

	1

1

2

2

1

7


7

	2

3

5

3

1

14


8

2

4

12

9

9

4

40


9

	2

2

3

7

2

16


10

		2

3

3

1

9


11

		7

3

5

13

28


12

		1

1

4

3

9


13

		2

2

11

13

28


14

	2

38

41

40

3

124


15

		38

47

16

	101


16

		10

7

1

	18


17

		1

1

		2


19

		1

2

1

	4


20

		3

5

		8


21

		1

			1


22

			1

		1


24

			6

		6


25

		6

31

14

	51


28

		1

1

		2


29

		1

1

		2


30

		4

	5

	9


31

1

3

3

5

7

6

25


32

		4

	5

	9


33

	1

5

4

5

2

17


35

		1

2

2

	5


36

				1

	1


37

				1

1

2


38

		1

	1

	2


40

			1

1

	2


Total

10

75

238

309

182

59

873

 

Ed Richardson