As a reminder, the NAQP exchange is Name and State/Province/NA Country. Some
participants don't realize that North American countries outside of the US and
Canada count as multipliers. As Jim said - familiarize yourself with the rules.
73 de Bruce, WA7BNM (bhorn@hornucopia.com)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Brown K9YC" <k9yc@audiosystemsgroup.com>
To: "cq-contest" <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2016 9:55:06 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Hints and tips for NAQP
On Tue,8/16/2016 5:21 PM, Timothy Holmes wrote:
> As we start to roll into contest season 2016, I am curious as to the hints
> and tips you would be willing to share for the NAQP SSB.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for doing this. Some concepts.
1) Read the rules for each contest before you start. They're usually
pretty short and pretty simple. They define the exchange, how the
contest is is scored, the contest time, who can work who for credit,
whether spotting clusters can be used, and things like operating power,
and operating frequencies.
NAQP, for example, has a 100W limit, does NOT permit the use of a
spotting cluster. The exchange is NAME and STATE. It's a 12 hour
contest, and a station must take two hours off in increments of at least
30 minutes.
2) On the air, keep everything short and sweet. Learn to avoid wasting
time with extra words. Avoid "lidisms" like "please copy," don't repeat
the exchange the other guy gave you, don't waste time with "thanks for
the QSO, 73, good luck in the contest." Most good contesters use
"thanks" or "thank you" to tell the other station the QSO is over, and
they're ready for the next one.
3) When calling a station, send only your call, and only once on CW and
SSB. Listen for a second or two, and if the other station doesn't come
back, send your call once more. And listen. (Two or more stations may
have called at the same time and the other station didn't copy either
one.) On SSB, say your call with standard phonetics, with good
articulation.
4) When answering a CQ, NEVER send your exchange until the other station
has sent you his exchange and you have copied it. For example, if he
says "Kilo 8?" only send your call again. If he sends his exchange and
you don't copy it, ask for a repeat, and do it with as few words as
possible. For example, "K9YC Name?"
5) NEVER repeat anything that the other station has copied correctly.
This is particularly important when you're weak or there is QRM or
noise. Sending your call again wastes time, AND, more important, it
makes him think he has it wrong, so he may ask you to repeat it, wasting
more time. :)
6) When you're the station calling CQ, make your CQs short. "CQ Contest,
Whiskey 8 Tango Alpha Hotel, Whiskey 8 Tango Alpha Hotel" is the longest
CQ to use.
7) NEVER use "QRZed" to finish a QSO -- the stations who want to work
you are tuning the band looking for stations to work. They want to hear
your call! When you're the CQing station, finish your QSO with "Thanks,
Whiskey 8 Tango Alpha Hotel." When you only say "QRZed" that tuning
station doesn't know your call, so it will waste time (yours and his)
for him to find out. Or he may just keep on tuning for someone who DOES
say his call. :)
8) When you're the CQing station, always give a station who may be
waiting a chance to call you as soon as you've said "thanks." In other
words, don't start another CQ after each QSO until you've listened a
second or two for a station who has been waiting.
9) Have fun. Keep a smile in your voice.
10) Work on getting your station to SOUND good. This applications note
tells how to adjust your radio so that the other station hears you better.
http://k9yc.com/ContestAudio.pdf
73, Jim K9YC
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