[SECC] NAQP CW Team Registrations

[John Laney]

Hello all:  Here are the team registrations for today's NAQP CW.  Thanks 
to you all for participating with us.  The teams were determined by the 
amount of time you said you could devote to the contest and, 
secondarily, when I heard from you.  I could make changes if I had time 
and knew about them before the contest starts, but we are going to a 
grandson's basketball game this morning and will probably have lunch 
with family members afterward.  I will try to check e-mails before the 
contest starts if there are any last minute changes, but I can't promise 
I will have the time. After the list of team members below, I will make 
some suggestions about operating the contest which you may consider or 
disregard. Please do not change the call you use and use the call as 
registered (unless I made a typo, of course).  Please post your score to 
3830 after the contest as soon as you can conveniently do so.  There 
will be a pull down chart for you to select the name of your team.  You 
may show your "home" club, but anyone is welcome to show your club as 
"South East Contest Club" if you have no other club to promote.  There 
is no club aggregate score competition in this contest.


Thanks for registering your NAQP CW team.

Team Name: SECC#1

Team Members:
K4BAI
AD8J
AA4CF
W4AU
K7SV

Registration recorded at: 2016-01-09 13:45:13Z


Thanks for registering your NAQP CW team.

Team Name: SECC#2

Team Members:
N4XFA
W2GDJ
N4TB
KZ5D
N4XL

Registration recorded at: 2016-01-09 13:46:47Z


Thanks for registering your NAQP CW team.

Team Name: SECC#3

Team Members:
KU8E
K5ZM
K9OM
WA5POK
KN4Y

Registration recorded at: 2016-01-09 13:48:00Z


Thanks for registering your NAQP CW team.

Team Name: SECC#4

Team Members:
K2SX
NM2L
AA4LR
N3ZL
NJ8J

Registration recorded at: 2016-01-09 13:49:02Z

Note that we are all in the Southeastern USA area generally except Ian, K5ZM, who is in OR, but has operated at the NQ4I M/M in GA often in the past.  The rest of us are from VA to FL and out to LA.  I have noted other teams from our are sponsored by GCG and ACG and, for your information, will list those teams below. There is also one from the Deep Dixie Contest Club in MS, but I failed to note their members.  I do remember that WB5EIN is the captain and N4OGW is on the team.

 From GCG:  N4PN, WN4AFP, WA2MBP, WA1S, N4OX, N5TOO, WW4LL, N4ZZ.

 From ACG:  WA1FCN, N4KH, K4WI, KS4L, K4IQJ.

All these team members should guarantee that there will be a lot of activity from this area and increase the opportunities for each of us to make QSOs and mults.

Remember that maxiumum power is 100W.  The contest starts at 1800Z (1 PM EST) and goes until 0600Z (1 AM EST).  You can operate only 10 hours out of the 12.  Your off periods must equal 30 minutes (after you start. You may start at any time.  Don't worry about off periods before you start.  Only between the start and end of your operating).  When I say 30 minutes, you need to keep in mind that means 30 full minutes.  Some of your logging programs may allow you to restart after 29 minutes and some seconds, but the seconds don't count for contest purposes.  As an illustration, if you make your last QSO before an off time at 2100Z, do not make your first QSO after the off time at 2130Z because, if you do, you have taken off only 29 minutes.  Wait until the 31st minute, 2131Z to make your next QSO.

Multipliers count per band. So, you may be asked to QSY to another band for someone who needs you or your multiplier on the other band. This is very for those who are SO2R.  I am not SO2R at the present, but can easily QSY to any other band upon request (with the possible exception of 160M when sometimes I might have to change the feed system to the 80M antenna to go there).  So, I usually try to comply with such requests and always try when I also need the mult on the other band.  You may want to ask other stations to QSY to a band where you need them as a mult.  Unless the other station is operated by a close friend or is a M/2 or SO2R station, it is usually useless to ask someone you have called when you are S&P to QSY.  The run station usually doesn't want to stop his run to accommodate you.  So, it is much more likely that a S&P station will agree to QSY to another band at your request.  Some won't or can't, so don't be offended if it is refused.  There will also be a few in the contest who don't seem to be able to understand your request or have their computer set up in such a way that they can't send anything but CQ and their exchange. So, don't waste a lot of time on stations who are not immediately responsive.  But, you should be set up with a keyboard or a paddle so you can respond to and make such requests yourself.

The exchange for North American stations is Name and State, Province, or North American country.  For stations outside NA, it is only Name.  My logging program requires something in the QTH space before I can go on to the next line, so I will type in "DX" or the DXCC prefix for the station on another continent and then remove that from the Cabrillo file.  It is probably OK to leave that in your Cabrillo file, but I delete it.  I make a pen and paper note of each such QSO so I can find them easily when the Cabrillo file is created.

If you can, listen or operate on the CW bands for a half hour or so before 1800Z and get a feel for conditions and what bands would be good to start on.

Because ten meters may not be open much due to the current propagation conditions on that band, it is a good idea to start on ten if it is open at all.  Your best run rates in the afternoon will probably be on 20 meters.  (Different for K5ZM on the west coast.)  I try to run on 20M during the afternoon, but check and work whomever I can on 10M on the hour and 15M on the half hour as long as those bands are open.  You may be surprised to find that QSYs to an apparently dead band such as 10, 15 and 20 at night will be successful even if the band are otherwise empty.  You may want to select a QSY frequency that is high in the band or low in the band to avoid a quick QSY on top of another strong station.

You may want to go to 40M fairly early (2200-2230Z) to get more local multipliers just in case the skip is long later.

You may find that stations don't QSY to 160M as early as that band is open.  A quick QSY to that band is OK any time, but what I mean is that you may not find a lot of stations running on 160M as early as the band could be used for that purpose.  So, the best times for 160M seem to be fairly late in the contest period, say 0330Z.  Some stations seem to go to 160M on the half hour beginning about 0300Z.

I try to run on the most productive band with a check back on the higher bands or down to the lower bands on the half hour so I don't miss multipliers on those bands.

Operate as much as you can conveniently do so and have a lot of fun.  Good luck to all.

73, John, K4BAI
For SECC.