These statements are based on a full on - 24 hour effort. Your mileage may vary.
My strategy the last couple of years running SSB @ K4SSU has been to run well
into the morning hours. My goal is have 1000 q's before hitting the sack for a
few hours. 1000 q's generally show around 2 to 3 am (local). I will try to go
longer this year as the rate @ 3 to 4am is better than it is 7 or 8am. The rate
Sunday mornings are close to some of the worse late Sunday afternoon hourly
totals. POOR. Those are the hardest/toughest hours of the contest for me.
HOWEVER, the BIC theory applies. Everybody gets 24 hours and everybody feels
this pain somewhere in their time allocation.
I don't operate SO2R (yet) and operate unassisted so I find most mults come to
me simply putting a signal their way. Point NW to get the KL7,SD, WY, VE9
etcs... I chased only 1 multiplier last year as the rest came to me thru rate
focus v. mult chasing. KP4 was the evasive one. I had to find him for the sweep
and did so 1st thing Sunday morning finding him CQ'ing on 15m.
You have to call CQ. There are a great # of 'casual' ops that will get on for
just a few hours during the weekend that will not CQ BUT will answer. You have
to get these guys in your log. That is a big part of the Sunday effort. These
guys being in YOUR log is key.
Turn the tables - if you aren't doing a FT effort, get on Sunday afternoon. I
would love to jump in with just a few hours to go with a fresh call and watch
the rate meter explode. That goes for QRP as well. I run QRP from home and
would bet a 200 hour(s) is possible with a fresh call on Sunday afternoon. Take
advantage of the signals incoming to hold your frequency. They can.
Whatever you do - get on and have some fun. It would be nice to win the gavel
again!! I'll be in there, from somewhere. Go SECC 73's NA4BW
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