I was one of the unlucky ones who never got Delaware, but I did get Nevada.
I worked W7ZAC and N7ON both on 10 meters. Even though there is no way to
indicate this in the log, I remember that both of them came to me when I was
running, not while I was in S&P mode. I also remember a few other "rare
ones" who found me while running like one of the KL7's. By the same token, I
also remember seeing several other "rare ones" in S & P mode. I eventually
did work both NWØL and KEØA in ND, but I don't remember who came to whom. I
do recall seeing an ND station in S & P mode early in the contest and this
originally made me angry since I obviously needed him more than he needed
me!
All of this only serves to prove 2 points.
1) The point has been well made that if all of us could work all stations
with equal reliability and ease, it wouldn't be much a contest, would it? Of
course a KW and stacked monoband Yagi's will certainly make a difference,
but this is really a contest about finesse. Yes, there is a huge element of
luck, but the top scoring operators know how to maximize their time by
selecting the right band at the right time of day. The only piece of
equipment that is absolutely crucial is some sort of filter.
2) If you really want to do well, you have to mix running and S&P. And
speaking of high scoring operators, I worked AA5AU only 3 times, but one of
those times (on 40 meters I think), he came to me. For the most part,
however, it seemed that I saw most of the same stations coming to me when I
was running regardless of the band. Choosing when to run and when to search
and pounce is another factor that those high scoring operators seem to have
a better handle on than do us ops who are still hoping to break 100,000
points!
Also like most others, my goal is not to win a plaque, but to better my
previous score. Since I was unable to work last year's contest, I found the
September, 2001 copy of QST and saw I had 44,426 points in 1991, which was
good enough for 10th place in the Multioperator Low Power W/VE category.
Even though I was running as a single this year, I still had my goal. For
curiosity's sake, I also looked up last year's scores in the September, 2002
issue. I don't know why this has never caught my attention before, but I
noticed that in the Low Power categories, there was only 1 entrant in the
Multioperator Top 10 who had over 100,000 points whereas EVERY entrant in
the Top10 in the Single Operator category had over 100,000. Wouldn't you
think a team effort would yield a higher score? This is my personal best
score, but I probably won't even make the Top 10 only because I flew solo
this time. Interesting, eh?
73,
de Scott NØIU
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