[RSM] CQWW-CW Results, Notes and observations
Tom Haavisto
kamham69 at gmail.com
Mon Nov 30 16:08:44 EST 2020
Thanks Ed
I did find a couple of interesting things to pass along to the group.
As you know, the cluster will spot you pretty much anywhere. Getting up
around 14080 (above the FT-8 stuff), it was interesting to see a few folks
up there, and the band was not very crowded. What I also found was - there
was a number of stations running above 14100 all the way up to around
14120. This way, they did not have to fight off near-by QRM
This is where I found 3V8SS, Z39A and a few others.
EW8ON and A71EM worked at 14088
So - remember to look high in the band on 20 :-)
Second thing I found was - some DX stations had HUGE pileups. As we all
know - there is no copying a single station when all you hear is a single
tone from everyone calling.
By running my XIT up a few hundred HZ, it got me through a few pileups. I
also found that sending my call SLOWLY (dropped to around 20-25 WPM) seemed
to do the trick once he had VE.
I forget who I worked on 40, but he had a big pileup, was working guys, but
I never heard anyone in his pileup work him. So - squeak the filters to
have a good copy on him, and start moving XIT up. Two minutes later -
double mult in the log :-)
Here is a fun one: More than a few guys thought I was VE3CV (he shows up
first in the SCP)
Imagine the fun when both Jeff (VE3CV) and me were in the *same* pileup!
Tom - VE3CX
On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 11:59 AM <ed_richardson at shaw.ca> wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
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