[SCCC] ARRL International Digital Contest K6PO

[Paul Kube]

       Hours: 14:51

         Band   Mode  QSOs     Pts   Pt/Q
         1.8  FT8      1       2    2.0
         3.5  FT4      4      21    5.3
         3.5  FT8      1       5    5.0
           7  FT4     38     240    6.3
           7  FT8     13     260   20.0
          14  FT4    183    1493    8.2
          14  FT8     84    1327   15.8
          21  FT4    152    1317    8.7
          21  FT8    109    1938   17.8
          28  FT4      1      16   16.0
          28  FT8     16     294   18.4
       Total  Both   602    6913   11.5


            Score : 6,913
              Rig : IC-7300, WSJT-X, N1MM+, KT34M2 10-15-20, wire 40-80-160

SCCC Team #1.

A lot of activity for the inaugural run of this contest. I never ran out of calls to (try to) work.

Enough activity that the FT4 subband on 20 was often a real mess. The SNR/speed tradeoff for that mode isn't great with so much QRM. Joe Taylor's suggestion to move up 2kHz when it gets crowded doesn't really work, because everyone runs a 2.5 or 3kHz bandwidth and nobody wants to deal with the confusion in the overlap. Moving up 3 or 5 kHz would be better.

The FT8 subbands were better in that respect, since that mode packs in twice the signals to a given bandwidth and has better SNR, but it is slow! It's only a factor of 2 compared to FT4, but it feels like more.

It found it is possible in practice to run FT4 at a 4 QSO per minute rate SO1R, which isn't bad if you can sustain it. But the existing WSJT-X message sequencing isn't ideal for this; callers need to cue on the runner's report message, not a "73" message.

In the heat of the contest it's pretty often not clear when a FT-mode QSO has been completed vs. abandoned.  You can't miscopy a call or an exchange, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are still a lot of busted Q's in the logs.

Overall, I liked the rules. Distance-based QSO scoring levels the playing field in some ways, but it disfavors the low bands. The "enclosed antennas" overlay is a nice nod to weak-signal modes in these days of HOA's.

73, Paul K6PO