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WRTC notes: W6D (long)

To: <3830@contesting.com>
Subject: WRTC notes: W6D (long)
From: frenaye@pcnet.com (frenaye@pcnet.com)
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 05:23:01 PDT
                          WRTC -- 1996

      Call: W6D                      Country:  United States
                                     Category: WRTC

     BAND      QSO   QSO-PTS   PTS/Q    ZONES  CTY  HQ STNS

       40      552     1005     1.82     18   14    1
       20      917     1635     1.78     33   43   13
       15      422      593     1.41     19   16    4
       10      282      417     1.48      9    5    1
     ---------------------------------------------------

     Totals   2173     3650     1.68     79   78   19

                 Score: 642,400 points (submitted score)

Operator List: Tom Frenaye, K1KI and Phil Koch, K3UA

Equipment Description:  IC-765 and TS-850
                        Mosley Classic 33 tribander @ 50'
                        40M Inverted Vee @ 47'

Note: WRTC scoring was 2 points for each CW and 1 point for each SSB
QSO (making W6 QSOs worth the same as Europe, except for multipliers).
The WRTC multiplier was ITU zones, HQ stations and DXCC countries per
band (IARU contest mults are just zones and HQ stations).  Deleted QSOs
were assessed a 3 for 1 penalty (10 miscopied callsigns leads to a
penalty of 30 additional QSOs).

Continent Statistics

                    160   80   40   20   15   10  ALL   percent

North America   CW    0    0  413  677  157  135 1382    62.6
South America   CW    0    0    2    5    4    1   12     0.5
Europe          CW    0    0    0   38    0    0   38     1.7
Asia            CW    0    0   36   13    7    0   56     2.5
Africa          CW    0    0    3    0    1    0    4     0.2
Oceania         CW    0    0    3    5    3    0   11     0.5

North America   SSB   0    0  100  189  246  147  682    30.9
South America   SSB   0    0    0    6    3    1   10     0.5
Europe          SSB   0    0    0    1    1    0    2     0.1
Asia            SSB   0    0    0    2    3    0    5     0.2
Africa          SSB   0    0    0    0    0    0    0     0.0
Oceania         SSB   0    0    0    4    0    0    4     0.2

Only 142 non-North America QSOs were made.  Of the USA QSOs, 516 were
in zone 6, 257 in zone 7, and 513 in zone 8.

QSO Rates

12Z  103          21Z   97
13   121          22   137
14   126          23   164
15   166          00   120
16   132          01    62 (oops)
17   164          02    97
18   136          03   123
19   145          04   127
20    92          05    93

                      2205 (32 dupes logged)

35 different WRTC stations worked (we didn't search for them):
    K6 ABC EFGHIJK      RS UVW YZ
    W6 A C*E G  JK M OPQRSTU WXYZ
   AH3    D

Some log checking notes: (parts from discussions with log checkers)

Each station was set up with a VCR to record the entire contest.  WRTC
teams were allowed to note any "problem" QSOs during the contest and
could correct them during a ten minute period after the contest.  If
you ran into a problem QSO that was not noted during the contest, it
could not be corrected afterwards.  In any case, after ten minutes the
log had to be given to the judge.

The WRTC log checking team (N6AA and some others) used the
54 WRTC logs, plus 20+ logs from IARU competitors to crunch through the
competition logs.

The log comparisons generally turned up two kinds of problems by
finding "unique" QSOs (those worked by only one station).  The first is
where a callsign was copied incorrectly (we had our share).  This is
where, for example, 25 people worked WA1ABC and one station worked
WA1ABD.  The second is where a callsign may be OK but no one else
worked it, and no others are similar (like our QSO with IK0HBN).  Not
all of these uniques were deleted from logs - the judges made the final
decisions.

The top ten logs were put through extra scrutiny to make sure the final
order was accurate.  Our unique rate of 1.6% represents about 35 calls
out of the 2173 claimed (i.e. 2138 were matched with other logs!).
Correctly copying 10 more QSOs would have meant a swing of about 10K
points - enough to move up one spot!

N6AA has a summary sheet for each WRTC entry showing what the unique
checking found and which QSOs were deleted.  He said it will be
available to team leaders, along with the tapes from the VCR.  I'm not
sure what the arrangements are for getting them for those who didn't
get the word in SF.  (Our tapes have good audio)

I had a brief look at the sheet for our W6D entry and noticed a few
things about the log.  We logged AI7AO which probably should have been
KI7AO, W7OM in zone 6 instead of 8, VE6RAC instead of RWC.  The last
two were in our notes for post contest checking.  We had them right and
corrected them the wrong way...(ugh!).

Because computer controlled band changing with CT/NA/TR software was
not permitted, we had trouble getting it right every time we QSYed (or
changed modes).  I heard that many (most?) stations lost a few QSOs
because cross checking didn't find calls on the right band or mode.  I
noticed that our last QSO (C21NJ with 15 seconds to go) was logged on
40 meters instead of 20 meters but I don't think it was deleted as a
unique.

Two multipliers were deleted (IK0HBN on 20m and LU3AVA on 10m) because
they didn't show up in other logs.  I assume the three busted QSOs we
made during the contest and filled in with W6D were also deleted.

>From what I know about ARRL and CQ log checking, actually deleting
unique QSOs without verification is not done - but, a high unique rate
is a good indicator that there may be problems to check into.  Plans for 
handling unique QSOs differently by WRTC log checkers was communicated 
to all teams beforehand.

The log checkers spent even longer than the competitors doing the post-
contest work!  Everyone seemed very satisified with the care taken to make 
the results accurate.

Station location:

We were at the Palo Alto ARC field day site (W6OTX).  This was located
in East Palo Alto (drive through a very, very bad neighborhood, then an
industrial park, past a really big electric power distribution plant,
then a bike path/nature preserve, then to a flat spot next to a boat
yard along the bay).  This was noted as a "class B" location on the
site survey (is that worse than class A?).  The nearby salt water
should have been a big plus, the tribander a bit worse than TH6/TH7's
used elsewhere, the power distribution plant QRN was a minor negative,
and the two runs 200' of coax to the antennas appeared to be older than
any I own (15 years+?).  Most people were hosted in "real" houses, we had a 
25+ year old trailer (K3UA sez it was like N2RM's QTH).  A special treat 
was the ants - a scrap of food was surrounded and carried away within 
minutes.  Raid was applied liberally - ants were not a long term problem.  

Other:

We expected a lot more search and pounce operating but this was really
a contest for those who could run, run, run (and hunt multipliers).
During the contest it seemed like we were doing as well as anyone else
but we came up a bit short in QSOs - mostly on 20m.  Though the multiplier 
total was excellent, at least 20 more were heard and not worked. We had five 
or six 5-minute periods calling multipliers that got away, and several others 
that finally snagged one.  It was tough with 100 watts at times!

For all WRTC teams, the second radio was only for receiving, no
transmitting, and it was quite a challenge to use it with 40m dipoles
usually just a few feet from the tribander!  Only a few teams had
equipment problems from what I heard, though several did experience
significant powerline noise.  One team had computer and VCR problems so
their totals were not complete.

Overall, I agree with those that say the playing field was pretty even
- it would have been impossible to do much better.  I think it does
show several areas where people might make improvements to "modest"
stations to gain advantage - use a longer boom tribander like a TH7
instead of a short boom TA-33, work to eliminate powerline noise, don't
move into a house up against a hill, and pay attention to the quality
of coax and connectors.

The WRTC contest was really a lot fun - but the real fun was meeting
so many other contesters and having a chance to spend some time getting
to know them.  The organizers really put on a first class event that 
will be hard to top in the future!

73 Tom  K1KI

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: frenaye@pcnet.com  
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box 386, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444



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