VE2TZT
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Re:CQ WPX CW 2015 - 2015/06/01 22:15
Hi Victor and all,
Thanks for the thoughts about the dog, actually my wife is very sad and I am afraid that this will last a while. It was a each moment companion and even if she has been prepared for weeks to live that, she misses it a lot now.
Coming back to the WPX, I did not develop but it is actually very tactical and that is what makes it interesting.
For some reasons I did not want to spend much time to prepare so I knew SO2R will be missing but indeed Victor to improve our scores SO2R is mandatory in our stations at our locations: There are several hours when rates are under 80/h (18 Hours in my case). If during those hours we work only 10/h more QSO`s and 5/h more mults per hours that gives 180 mores QSO`s and 90 more mults . In my case the score would come from 11.2 to 12.9 M.
Victor, what you are mentioning about antennas difference versus propagation is interesting that would mean a relationship with departure angle which itself is related to soil quality and antenna height. Using HFTA we can see that a few more meters are often of a great importance.
Another thing about antennas and a partial answer to Claude at the same time, I have often used during this contest the BI position when running. It looks like the BI position is not a 50/50 but rather 4 elements/3elements. I use the BI when the rates to EU are not very good but signals are good that adds some NA QSO by the back. It is interesting to see that with the BI I get stations from right back and with the normal position the stations from the back are actually from the 2 side back lobes.
Now choosing the band... The priority is the 80m/40m. The QSO points are doubled so a 40m or 80m 60/h rate is equivalent to a 120/h 20m or 15m which barely happens. Then I would say as long as the rates are over 40/h and you are working some EU's (6 pointers) stay on 40m and do not go to sleep ... The dark side is that you will have to make some 60 mn minimum naps at the right time during the daylight when the rates will be under 70/h.
Now choosing between high bands during the daylight, I will prefer the as high as possible and keep it as long as possible. First reason, a time will come when it will close and I will continue on the next lower, second the higher the band the higher the signal/noise ratio even if lower signals. The last reason is that I will not want to saturate my ''market'' too soon. If for example I start on 20m when the band opens on the morning and I stay on 20m the whole day, a time will come when I had worked everybody, then my rate will slow down, I will try to change to 15m and too late it is closed... So the good practice is to start by saturating first the band that could close the first.
Perhaps a little detail : the 15m antenna is obviously at the same height as the 20m one. So in a wavelength point of view the 15m antenna is far higher than the 20m antenna and then a better performer. Then I will prefer to use the 15m on low angles ranges...
Now for more than a year I do not use S&P anymore except sometimes when rates are so slow that I work more QSO`s in S&P than in RUN which barely happens. Even in this case it is not always a good practice to use S&P. Experience shows that many (if not majority in some contests) mults are never running so if you are S&Ping (then not running) while there are also S&Ping you will miss them.
It is one of the main reasons with the ''Velcro on the chair'' why my scores have improved significantly for a year. Of course the mandatory counterpart is SO2R in some contests.
Finishing with the storms : I have an automatic generator (and UPS's to wait the 3mn of starting) so I can work a whole contest without Hydro but when Hydro falls the first time my amp on 240V is of course not backuped by the UPS. So I do not lose the PC`s but the RUN anyway.
I must admit that this is the first year that I had not to stop during a WPX CW because of a storm, I have monitored the Mac Gill radar the whole Sunday, it was always very close but never on.
Personally, I do not play with that, when I can hear the strikes by ear with less than 10 seconds (3km) of delay with visual or radio flash, I lower the tower, switch off everything and wait 15 minutes. 25 QSO`s will not make you win the contest but they may cost you your life.
73`s
Gilles VA2EW
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