On Dec 15, 2007, at 3:12 PM, Gregg Seidl wrote:
> To me spending 30 minutes trying to work a rover on 2304 for a
> grid you
> already have is WAY more fun then working 40 stations on 6 meters
> during
> that same 30 minutes.If you tell them they can't operate those bands
> that
> don't "pay" as much they won't and then there won't be as much
> activity on
> them,is that what we want?Gregg K9KL where there are more cows then
> people
This leads into an interesting discussion of STRATEGY, Gregg... which
is far more interesting than discussion about the rules!
While it may be more "fun" to many of us to make that 30 minute 2304
contact, if all 40 of those 6m contacts are in different grid squares,
leaving the points on the table to work the 2304 guy doesn't make any
sense, if you're serious about competing for points. 6m is always the
wildcard in VHF contests.
40 Q's in 30 minutes isn't that high of a Q rate for 6m either, when
its open. If you can increase your Q speed by working on your
operating practices and automating as much of your logging as
possible, you can have your cake and eat it too... work 30-40 of those
6m contacts in 15 minutes, and spend the rest of the 15 minutes
allotted for this (obviously arbitrary) scenario working the 2304
guy. (4 Q's a minute is my highest unsustained Q rate, and 3 Q's a
minute is in my logs multiple times in 2006 during the 6m openings.)
Or if the sun is setting and 6m is likely to drop off soon, and the
2304 you're trying to work is a rover, ask 'em on 2m/70cm how long
they plan to stay in the grid square. If they're gonna be there for
the night... see if they'll make a sked to meet you back on 2304 in an
hour or two once 6 dies completely.
You have to weigh the benefits of each contact against the
"opportunity costs" of leaving other contacts unmade and against all
of the outside factors like band conditions, all the time. It's great
mental exercies.
It is a contest after all.
On the flip side, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you doing
exactly what you said above and wanting to work the 2304 contact. The
guy on the other end also has to decide if it's "worth it" to him, too.
I *LOVE* playing these what-if's while driving between grid squares
and also after the contest while reviewing my logs. HOW could I have
done BETTER? It made 2006 with its huge 6m openings a completely
different contest than 2007 out here, and THAT's the part that fun to
me!
--
Nate Duehr, WY0X
nate@natetech.com
_______________________________________________
VHFcontesting mailing list
VHFcontesting@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
|