[SECC] NAQP...40 Meters

[Bill Coleman]

On 1/12/04 10:39 AM, Macie, Gordon at GMacie at innotrac.com wrote:

>After sweepstakes and naqp I am convinced my weak area is 40 meters. I will
>be putting up another 40 dipole soon. My current one is at 30 '..

A higher dipole would be more effective. Particularly one oriented E-W, 
so the broadside lobe is N-S. (Remember the W4AN rule on domestic 
contests: if you aren't working 8 & 9 land, you are on the wrong band and 
are losing. 8, 9, 3 and 2-land are where the bulk of the ham population 
is, so that's where most of your Qs must come from. NAQP is more 
challenging since you really have to work stuff on 6 bands)

>My question is what time did you go to 40 meters the first time ??.. I am
>not going until the band lengthens out and not working close in population
>areas.. That isn't as bad for sweepstakes because you get more than 1
>chance. for naqp you only have 1 day..

Looking back over my contest reports, the time I go to 40m depends on the 
conditions. In 2002, I didn't go to 40m until nearly 0100z. In 2003, I 
went there before 2300z. (Conditions stank in 2003) If conditions are 
reasonably good, 40m won't see much activity until sunset arrives on the 
east coast.

There are some mid-west guys will hop on 40m at the start of the contest 
to work all the locals they might miss when things get active later. If 
you have a second radio, you might listen for them.

20m is the serious money band for this part of GA, but if 20m goes long, 
40m may be the place to be. 40m Phone can also get really bad SWBC QRM, 
which tends to keep people on 20m, or forces them to 80m. It's a factor 
that really doesn't affect the CW portion.




Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901