California QSO Party - 1997
Call: WA6CTA County: Marin
Single Operator, Hi Pwr Op time: 18 hours
Club Affiliation: Shasta DX and Contest Club
1045 Q (682 CW / 363 SSB) X 57 Mults = 158,004
Well.....I missed a sweep <<again>>! THIS time it was Nevada! In the last
5 years, I have either missed Nevada or Hawaii - I've stopped trying to
figure
it out! Always an enjoyable contest. I noted that there were many stations
outside Calif. with high QSO numbers. Great run on 15 SSB on Sunday morning,
with oodles of DX stations. 80 was not as productive this year as it was in
the
past, for some reason. There was a nice opening on 10M Sunday around 1800Z,
which
was a nice surprise.
I know that my insistance to stay on CW (my preferred mode) cost me some Q's.
It is
always intersting to figure out what the right balance should be in this
contest. There are
numerous theories about the ratio of SSB to CW Q's. I have always felt that I
needed to
max out the 3 point Q's, and fill in with SSB. My main goal is to maintain a
consistant rate
over the entire contest. In looking over my rate sheet, I figured out that it
cost me about 15 Q's
and hour staying by concentrating on CW. That's almost 300 Q's for my
operating time. It would
appear that some adjustments are in order for next year!
It was nice to hear so much activity this year - I hope that this is a good
indicator for SS next
month! With all of the activity, I only had one instance of frequency
grabbing. I duked it out for a
few minutes after this fellow landed on me (I had been running on the same
freq. for about 2 hours),
but moved after I made my point. Who needs it??
Lots of fun, and it's always to meet everyone year after year. Thanks for all
of the Q's!
Ed WA6CTA Mill Valley, Ca.
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/3830faq.html
Submissions: 3830@contesting.com
Administrative requests: 3830-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-3830@contesting.com
|