In the last few contests that I have participated in, I have signed my call
portable 7 or /7 on CW. My perception is that having a 7 somewhere in your
call helps your rate because in general, people seem to be interested in
looking for stations in the rarer states in the seventh call area. This also
appeared to be an advantage in the pileups - sometimes all the DX station would
hear was "portable 7" during CQWW in October. Has to be worth a few db at least.
In the SS people always seem to be looking for places like Idaho, Wyoming, Utah,
Eastern Washington and Nevada. Even some of the California sections are
relatively
"rare" - San Juaquin Valley and Santa Barbara for example.
Alan, K6XO/7
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