CQ WW WPX - CW
Call: WC1M
Operator(s): WC1M
Station: K1RX
Class: SOAB Power: HP
QTH: NH
Operating Time (hrs): 36
Summary:
Band QSOs
-------------------------------
160:
80: 20
40: 247
20: 1018
15: 838
10: 305
-------------------------------
Total: 2428 x 717 = 4,752,993
Club: YCCC
Comments:
First and foremost, I want to thank Mark, K1RX for the use of his excellent
station, the significant effort he put into configuring the station, the work
he did on gear and antennas to have them ready for me, and moral support
throughout the contest. Thanks, Mark!
This guest operation was conceived back in October, 1999 when I participated in
the CQWW SSB multi-multi effort at K1RX. I wanted to see how a superior set of
antennas would affect my typical score level. The idea was to get a handle on
the relative importance of improvements in operating skill versus improvements
in antennas. The comparison would be between Mark's fine set of antennas (see
band-by-band breakdown above) and my somewhat limited antennas at home: a TH-7
at 70', a C3E at 50' (on two separate tubular towers), a ground mounted 40M
4-square and an 80M inverted vee at 65'.
The big issue was converting Mark's multi-multi setup to an SO2R setup. At home
I have an elaborate custom-built network that automatically selects antennas
and provides for computerized switching between the two radios. Either radio
can use any antenna, and I've got an 87A on the 1000mp to make band changes
even faster. I could have ripped it all out and brought everything to Mark's,
but that would have required quite a bit of effort. In the end, I decided to
bring the most essential items: my FT-1000MP (to go along with the FT-1000D at
Mark's), my two-radio switching interface, and my switchable bandpass stub
filter banks (which required bringing the bandpass decoders and antenna/filter
diode matrix.) Of course, I brought a few other odds and ends (three boxes
full), including a small 100MHz Pentium notebook loaded with WriteLog, mouse,
keyboard, docking station, etc. The main thing I left at home was the vast
array of antenna switching relays.
To simplify band switching, Mark proposed dividing the bands between the
radios: one with 80/20/10 and one with 40/15 (no 160 needed in this contest!)
Knowing how nice it is to be able to select any band on either radio, I
suggested that we set up a switch to swap 20 and 40 between the two radios. I
thought we'd just need a couple of 1-of-3 and 1-of-2 manual switches, but
things got a lot more complicated when Mark realized that we'd need another set
of switches for the low-power bandpass filters. I wasn't sure that my bandpass
stubs would be good enough and wanted to use those low power filters. In the
end, we decided to dedicate one amp per band (see equipment list above) and
forget about swapping 40 and 20. I considered bringing my 87A, but it trips
when SWR gets close to 2:1 and I knew that would be annoying with a few of the
antennas at K1RX. Besides, with dedicated amps the 87A's automatic band
switching isn't helpful. But it would have been nice to have the 87A's
automatic tuning feature to compensate for impedance differences between some
of the antennas on the same band.
Interference between the radios wasn't really a problem -- the low power
bandpass filters did a great job. On some antenna combinations on 15M and 20M,
which are on the same tower, there was a little noise at the start of
transmission, perhaps due to a loose connection somewhere in the chain. This
could be corrected simply by selecting different antennas in each stack. The
bandpass filters didn't add any supression, so we took them out.
One of the best decisions we made was to setup well before the contest weekend.
I drove the two hours to K1RX about 10 days before the contest and we spent
several hours installing and testing the equipment. Just about everything
worked, but we both came away with lists of things to do for the final setup.
Mark had to build a relay system to bypass the bad pin diodes on his Alpha 86,
deal with some relays on a couple of stacks and convert the 80M vee beam from
SSB to CW. I had to find the right CAT cable for the 1000mp and dig up a few
more adapters and accessories.
Another good decision was to arrive at K1RX by noon on Friday. We had plenty of
time to put the finishing touches on the equipment and antennas, leaving me a
solid four hours for a nap before the contest. That really helped!
The Results:
It's tough to compare this year's performance with last year's. My score was
812K higher this year, with 416 more QSOs and 61 more mults. But I also worked
4.25 more hours in this contest (first time doing all 36 hours!) If I adjust
for the extra time using the average QSO rate for last year, I probably picked
up only about 150 QSOs over last year. However, as I'm sure everyone noticed,
propagation was significantly better last year and participation seemed quite a
bit lower this year. I suspect that if these factors could be equalized, it
would turn out that I did a lot better this year than last year. Obviously, the
antennas were better, but I've also got another year of experience under my
belt. So, was it skill or hardware?
During the contest, it was clear that the flexibility and power of Mark's
antennas were having a significant effect. Judging by the fact that I almost
never lost a frequency, maintained reasonably high run rates and had very few
requests for fills, I'm sure I was one of the loudest signals on each band.
What really impressed me, though, was how rarely I had to dig down to copy the
weak signal stations. That's just not the case at home. The bottom line is that
the antennas definitely made it easier.
However, by the later stages of the contest I began to realize that my score
was still going to be limited in a significant way by my current level of
operating skill, and that this would be a much bigger factor than I had
anticipated. There were times when my CW copy just wasn't good enough, slowing
my rate. I think this was mainly due to loss of concentration, which
periodically came and went and was aggravated by fatigue. Seems like some
contests I really smoke and others I don't. I got plenty of rest before and
during this contest, so that's not it. I think this time it was probably due to
some minor stresses going on in the rest of my life. I apologize to all of the
ops I annoyed with my poor receiving (and occasional fumble fingers on the
paddle.)
Another problem was not finding the best band openings. I've been improving in
this area, but have a long way to go. A good example is a couple of encounters
I had with NT1N on Saturday. When I worked Dave on 15M at 2221Z, he was 59 QSOs
ahead of me. But when I worked him again on 40M at 0042Z, he was 131 QSOs ahead
of me! Evidently, Dave found an opening that allowed him to jump 72 QSOs on me
in less than 2 1/2 hours. Where the heck were you, Dave? I should point out
that Dave beat me by nearly 1M points with a roof-mounted tribander and a 40M
dipole, both at 40 feet. That's what I mean about operator skill!
>From the scores posted so far, I see that most of the top stations worked more
QSOs on 15 than 20. I did the reverse. I think that's because the 20M antennas
at K1RX are better than the 15M antennas, but it might also be that I missed a
couple of good openings on 15M (I have a feeling that's where Dave went...)
Another issue was the second radio -- I just wasn't making the best use of it.
Other than using the second radio to spot band openings, I couldn't do much
with it while the run rate was much over 70 per hour. This is in contrast to
ARRL DX, where I was able to make use of the second radio even when the rate
was over 100 per hour. There were a only a few periods in this contest when I
really had it down and was able to maintain a decent run rate and work stations
on the second radio (this magically started happening during the last couple of
hours.) I think some of this was due to the band allocation and antenna
switching not being optimized, but lack of concentration was the big factor.
In order of importance, here's where I need to improve:
1. CW receiving and sending (i.e., reduce number of fills
requested.)
2. Being in the right place at the right time.
3. More use of second radio.
4. Faster S&P performance.
5. More methodical searching for mults.
6. Fewer typos.
7. Pileup copy.
The conventional wisdom in this contest is that you shouldn't spend a lot of
time hunting for mults -- they tend to come to you when you're running. But I
can see that the more highly skilled ops had a higher percentage of mults than
I did, so there's got to be something I'm not doing right in this department.
One thing I have yet to figure out is the lower points/QSO total this year. I
did 2.985 points per QSO last year and only 2.73 per QSO this year. I'm sure
the main difference is that I worked more USA stations this year, but I'm not
sure why. Maybe it was the propagation.
I finished #19 in the SOABHP category last year, and I'm pretty sure I'll
finish a little higher this year. Chalk that up to much better antennas, a
little more experience, more hours, and some of the competition going multi or
not participating.
What next? Some decent low band antennas at home for the majors next season and
practice, practice, practice.
73, Dick WC1M
Posted using 3830 Score Submittal Forms at: http://www.hornucopia.com/3830score/
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