[SECC] ARRL SS CW 2002 at W4AN, Second Radio QSOs

[John Laney]

Hello all:

I thought some of you might be interested in an analysis of second radio
QSOs last weekend in ARRL SS CW from W4AN.  I made 280 non-dupe QSOs on
the second radio out of a total of 1323 non-dupe QSOs.  Of course, some
of those guys would have been worked on the main radio if I hadn't had a
second radio, but I'm guessing that I would have lost an equal number of
QSOs by not constantly CQing on the second radio if I had had to S&P
some with the main radio.  So 280 to the plus side might be a little
high, but probably not a lot.

This was my third or fourth SO2R experience, the others being the other
two or three times that I did ARRL SS CW from Bill's QTH.  I do not have
my rigs set up for that at home, primarily because I barely have a set
of one antennas per band.

Hour	Mins	Total QSOs	2nd Radio QSOs
21Z	60	78		2		Getting used to things again.
22	60	73		4
23	60	78		10
00	60	78		8
01	60	64		17
02	60	82		7
03	60	88		7
04	60	78		8
05	60	68		14
06	60	71		13
07	18	12		7
08	0
09	0	
10	0
11	0
12	37	28		15
13	60	57		16
14	60	44		18
15	60	52		17
16	38	24		9
17	44	35		11
18	60	42		10
19	60	43		13
20	60	42		13
21	60	35		14
22	60	29		10
23	60	31		3
00	60	27		9
01	60	35		11
02	41	29		11

23 hr, 56 min	1323		280  (Guess I should have operated 4 more min)
Score:  211,680.

It seemed to me that only a few mults were difficult this year.  MS and
WY seemed to be more highly represented than in many past years.  There
were only a few ops in VT and RI, but some of the RI stations were very
active and VT was worked early (K1KD).  There were only a few DE
stations worked and I think two of the three were QRP, but W3PP was very
active.  SC could have been rare. I think only a few different SC
stations were worked, but Don, W4OC, was so active that few should have
missed the mult.  Thanks also to SECC member George, W4BUW, for a SC
QSO.  AL stations seemed to be more active than in many CW SSs including
K4NO, K4AB, W4NTI, and W4DEC, who had a big QRP effort.

KP4 and KP2 were well represented compared to some years, both by
visitors and stay at home ops.  KH7X was very active, KH6DV was
moderately active, and I also worked W3GW/KH6, who was QRP.  All of the
other states except MT seemed easy to find, including NE and the
Dakotas, which can sometimes be difficult.
MT was well represented by K7BG and, late in the contest, I found KS7T. 
But, it was probably the rarest of the US mults.  

In Canada, there were a fair number of Maritime stations QRV, including
VE1AOE, who was CQing a lot.  VE2s were better represented than they
often are, including a DXpedition of sorts to the club station VE2CUA. 
I only worked three VE4s and one was QRP, so that could have been
difficult.  VE5, 6, 7 were well represented.  

The two last sections worked were the hardest.  I didn't hear VY1JA the
first day despite the second radio.  I know that he was QRV especially
on 28 mhz.  I found him on the second radio on 10 M low in the band on
Sunday afternoon when he had called someone and got a QSO by S&P.  He
then sent "down" and QSYed down a few khz to call CQ.  It seemed that
the band was just opening two way to him.  There was a big pile up and
his signal was weak.  All the backscatter signals seemed to be stronger
than Jay and covered him when he tried to answer somebody.  I kept
trying with the second radio and got him on about the fourth call. 
Later in the afternoon, his signals came up to be fairly strong and I am
sure it was easier to handle the pileup then.

Later in the afternoon, I still had not heard a KL7.  I know now that
KL7XX was quite active, but I never heard them at all.  Finally, on the
second radio I heard KL7J sign with someone on 28060.  He was also very
weak.  I called, as did NT1N and others, but he answered no one. 
Finally someone said "QRX."  Maybe that was KL7J.  Anyway, after a while
of calling and leaving the second radio on 28060, I moved on and found a
few more new QSOs.  I went back to 28060 about 10 minutes later and it
was still quiet.  But, I tried tuning 28060 again about 20 minutes after
that and there was KL7J, still weak, but I got through fairly easily for
mult #80.  Very late in the contest, on the second radio, I heard KL7WV
on 20 M doing S&P, but I couldn't figure out how to work him.  I think
he was going up the band and I was going down, so we didn't meet very
often in my tuning the second radio. If I had still needed AK, I would
have moved up the band a bit and called CQ with the antennas north for
as long as it seemed likely I had a chance for him to answer me (and he
probably would have unless the contest ended (or my remaining operating
time ended) too soon.

Haven't heard from K4GA and didn't work Archie in the contest.  
Congrats to all on the FB scores posted.  Be sure to send in your score
for South East Contest Club, no matter how small and we will add to the
club score by a lot of SS Phone scores in two weekends.  WB6BWZ is
especially to be congratulated on his QRP score in just 17 hours. 
Thanks for the QSO, Matt.

There were a number of GA, AL, and maybe SC and NC stations in the SS
who are not yet signed up for SECC, but who are eligible for membership
and club score counting.  If you know any of these guys, let's get them
on board!  I didn't meant to slight Tennessee, but the TCG is so well
organized, I doubt many TN stations within our circle would want to join
to the exclusion of TCG, but it would be nice to have them in both
clubs.  This might help with multiop stations under some contest rules.

Hope everyone has a good week.

73,


John, K4BAI.