[SCCC] Ohio QSO Party

[RGrubic at aol.com]

Ohio QSO Party, Saturday, August 28, 2010

Call: NC6Q
Operator(s): NC6Q
Station: NC6Q

Class: Single  Op LP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 10

Summary:
Band   QSOs  Mults
-------------------
160:       
80:            
40      3
   20:    11
15:     
10:          
-------------------
Total:    14    10      Total  Score = 280
 
All CW

Club: Southern California Contest Club

Antenna: multi-band  dipole in the attic (of a condo)   :(


Comments:
 
Did about the same as I have done in the past from Panama. The "party" is  
definitely for the Ohioans. Outsiders are just temporarily invited. They're 
the  ones having the party. (I'm definitely looking forward to the 
California QSO  Party again in October.) I did work into my home county of Lorain 
County  this time though. Didn't know the guy, but it felt good though.
 
Conditions mean a lot. When they're all dead, they're all dead. It's  
interesting though just sitting there on frequency (20m: 14.045) listening to  
propagation change as the Ohio QSO Party, the Kansas QSO Party, and the Hawaii 
 QSO Party came in and out over the course of a couple hours at a time. The 
KQP  was easy to recognize from the OQP. The KQP used signal reports so 
everyone was  599, while the OQP used serial numbers.
 
I think I enjoyed preparing for this contest more than I did "working" it.  
Actually got a lot done ahead of time. I made improvements in my  station 
and in my logging arrangement. Didn't log too many. Had the N3FJP  software 
able to key my transmitter for the first time. Used some of the F-keys  for 
this, but, big deal! It still comes down to being able to copy  the exchange 
and enter it correctly. Sending is a piece of cake.
 
This year I ran into too many guys calling CQ at 35+wpm. (The slower guys  
might not have had big enough stations to get through in poor  conditions.) 
Though I could make out the counties with a strong enough  signal, I noticed 
my copying of (serial) numbers was lagging. (Have to improve  on that.) 
Which makes me wonder, if the guys calling CQ at 35+ wpm with NO  TAKERS, know 
how many other hams are listening and trying to copy his  info when he does. 
He'd probably work more stations if he'd just slow down to 25  wpm 
consistently. Put poor conditions on top of that, and the QSO just doesn't  get 
made. I passed on a number of stations because it was just discouraging to  even 
try.
 
Maybe to boost CW participation in contests, as an experiment, one (new)  
contest ought to be set up with a speed limitation. There are rules for  
everything (rovers, power, time off, spotting, etc), why not speed in wpm? Just  
have everyone set their keyer or computer for 20 wpm (max), and see what  
happens. Slower speeds would be okay too. I wonder how the participation  
would be. You could even ask entrants to fill out a questionnaire and get  
feedback on it. I wonder if this has been tried before. Maybe some of the  
"experienced" contesters out there might remember. I hear the Novice Roundup  
used to come close to something like this.
 
Oh, I'm not discouraged by this. It just makes me want to practice more! hi 
 hi
 
It's also interesting to discuss it and analyze it too. All part of the  
hobby.
 
73,
Bob,  NC6Q