Score = 252 QSOs and something like 68 mults.
Not being mentally prepared for a full SSB effort, I decided to try the
new club call for the Boring Amateur Radio Club K7RAT. Did a Q power
effort during the cracks in a normal weekend at home.
I was very surprised to find out several things about running this
power. My first surprise was hearing my work-mate W7YAQ calling CQ
on 20 meters (this was about 3 hours into the contest). Bob was also
running Q power and I didn't think you could do that. After trying
it some, I discovered you could indeed run people some of the time.
This works best when the band is about to close and there isn't as
much activity.
15 meters was of course the best place to be. However, I was amazed
at how well I did on 20. I had someone tell me that there was no way
I was Q power. He was about 50db over however, so it is obvious
there was a pipeline. Using 5 element mono-banders probably helps
to. Biggest surprise was the excellent scatter signals on 15. I
worked K7QQ in Seattle!!
40 and 80 meters is a different story - very tough going. However, I
did manage to work several W8/W9 stations on 75 near the end of the
contest.
Running Q power required you to be pretty agile. You might be able to
call CQ for a few minutes, but then your frequency would evaporate.
It felt more like the sprint where you do a lot of frequency shifting
and a good mix between CQing and S&Ping. The band map sure was nice.
Overall, I think this is more like what contesting should be like than
just CQing all weekend.
I got frustrated enough to turn on the KW on 75 and use N6TR. My
3rd QSO was N2IC who was doing a good job with the second radio
(K5TR was #21). I also heard an echo on my signal similar to one
I had heard at K6NA back in 1988 for a CQP. I could hear my last
two syllables very clearly! This was around 0730Z. It was gone
by 0830Z when I QRT. I was able to run over 100 guys in an hour
and open up a pretty clear frequency. The loaded 45 foot tower is
still an amazing performmer.
Perhaps there will be a serious Q power effort in my future. However,
I will probably wait until 10 meters comes back!!
Tree N6TR (aka The Rat)
tree@contesting.com
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