I had been looking for a good chance to try out my TS-850S in a phone
contest, and the Phone sprint was it. I hired a babysitter so I wouldn't
have to feel guilty about operating two contests on consecutive weekends.
The phone sprint is VERY different than the CW sprint. You have to work
a lot of non contesters to have a competitive score. After 30 minutes
went by, I used the technique of switching back and forth between two
frequencies down below 14200. This produced rates that were well over
100 an hour at times. Here is a log sample:
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:23 132 NW1J 4 MIKE Mass 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:23 133 K2MFB 1 BILL Ny 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:23 134 KN4JD 1 VANCE Va 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:24 135 N2PKN 1 TONY Nj 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:24 136 K0GT 1 GARY Iowa 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:25 137 KD1PR 2 RON Conn 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:25 138 W3WYP 1 JACK Nc 1
20SSB 19-Sep-93 01:25 139 W4LPL 1 CARL Nc 1
The odd QSO numbers were on one frequency, and the even ones were on another
one. They were about 10 kHz apart.
I spent the first 30 minutes and last hour and a half working the contest,
and the rest of the time working the "North American QSO Party" which is
a lot more friendly to non contesters than "Sprint" or "Contest".
I missed XE1 (was talking to AA6RX minutes before the start but didn't
hang on to him), VE5 (heard on 75), VE6, VE8 and Ida. Also I had C6ANI
calling CQ DX on one of my two frequencies, but couldn't work him. Other
DX was KP4 (in the contest) and HH and HR (not in the contest).
20 M - 227 0Z - 97
40 M - 75 1Z - 99
75 M - 65 2Z - 97
----------- 3Z - 74
Total 367 X 56 = 20,552
I would be interested in hearing what people think of the 2 frequency
technique. It would be nice to have enough activity in the contest
that this technique would be unnecessary. I think it is somewhat
unfair for me to occupy two frequencies at "the same time" (although
I would occasionally loose one to real Sprint activity and I would have
to find another). This is not the vision the founding fathers had
when they invented the QSY rule.
Other big northwest scores:
VE7NTT (WA6VEF) 364/56 W7WA 366/55 K7SS 328/? KI3V 321/52
Tree N6TR
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