Topband: Contest

[Julius Fazekas]

> The problem I see when trying to use ~300 Hz spacing (instead
> of 500 Hz) is that too
> many stations are calling off-frequency.  Even ~150 Hz
> off can create problems
> when spacing is tight because you'll be outside the
> bandpass of the station
> you're calling and also QRMing an adjacent station. 

Judging by some of the eQSLs I've seen so far, more than a few thought they were working one station and actually are in another log. This seemed to be much worse below 1830 versus above say 1850.

There were several pileups on multiple stations that were nano-Hertz apart, it was extremely difficult to figure out who was calling who. Fortunately some of those stations, on both sides of the QSO, repeated callsigns. This slowed everything down, but better that than lousing a multiplier or adding another NIL to the list.

The tough part is that the running stations probably were not hearing each other. Ran into this a couple times myself with EU stations not hearing me, but many US stations hearing them... That's usually a sign that it is time to QSY.

Julius Fazekas
N2WN

Tennessee Contest Group
http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
http://groups.google.com/group/tcg1?hl=en

Tennessee QSO Party
http://www.tnqp.org/

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