It was a VERY enlightening contest for me..
Category: Low Power / Phone Only / Single Op (IronMan Class)
N9ISN
SSB- 373 Q's 18 DX/ 36 States = 40K
I knew this was going to be a rough time. After last year's comments
I went ahead a got a new Mic (a HC-4 element) and a DVs-2 for my
Yaesu. These two items alone probably gave me 40 Q's. Here is the
rundown of what life was like just 'on the edge' of a great
contest and a 'complete waste of time' from northern Wisconsin.
Friday started out slowly like it always does. But with a great bunch
of contesters in the metro Minneapolis area, I was able to work
23 stations with 100 watts on ground wave. Once in a while a
meteor breaks the silence and was able to work the strongest
of the east coast stations. At 0500Z it was bed time for what I
hoped was going to be another busy contest!
Saturday dawned with very marginal conditions from 1300Z. Only
a handful of scatter contacts but most were heard and not worked
(as it was 90 percent of the time with 100 watts). Then the race
began! About 1600Z the east coast busted through!! Holding a
frequency with low power when 10 is open is not impossible but
I was able to score two 120+ Q's/hr with the east coast. In the
fury I worked one Washington and one Montana. 'Heh, I will pick
up the west coast when the east dies down' I thought. How wrong
I was going to be!! Around 1900Z the east coast stations disappear
and the 'Argentine QSO party' begins. S&P over 30 LU's and then its
back to the east and south east coasts. After day one I notice
that I had no EU or AF in the log and only 10 DX countries!! Only
4 California and 2 KH6!? 'Heh, day two is coming up.. I can grab
those west coast stations then'! The end of day one shows 343 Q's
in the log.
I knew I was in trouble Sunday.
I finally heard some Africa (worked a 9J, D2 and a EL) but THAT
WAS IT! There was *NO* openings to speak of to the east or west
coasts. Only very short random Sproatic Es which I was able to
work a quick Oregon (only 1 total!) and some scatter contacts
with some close in states (IA, IL, IN). The 'Argentine QSO Party'
was in full force all afternoon. FInally the last 3 hours was
spent listening in on the 'mighty W0AIH' to see what 'real BIG
stations' were working in the midwest. Nope, my antenna wasn't broken,
and I finished with 2 Q's in the last 3 hours (30 total for the
day!).
Now some comments and queries:
While my station isn't built for contesting like W0AIH or KS9K,
I do enjoy the 10 meter event every year, even in lean years
like this one. I noticed during the 2 hour opening I did have
to the east coast *very few* new calls. Only 2 /T's and no /N's!
I hope the coma called 10 meters will not deter those from enjoying
the band. There are some wonderful opening on 10!! This weekend
didn't have one.
While I understand the position of the 'big guns' on the east
coast to maximize their QSO rates and totals (I am hearing rumors
in the 1700-1900 total range for SSB only!), it doesn't make
much sense to have a huge signal on the band (K3ZO) and to be
as deaf as a doornail! K3LR and others on the east coast with
huge signals were worked with ease as well as some of the
big guns were worked via scatter (thanks K1IU and NY1E). To all
who took the time to listen up for the scatter contacts: THANKS!
SOrry I didn't work K3ZO, but I tried...
BIG PLEASANT SURPRISE: HK0PPY answering a CQ in the middle of the
'Argentine QSO Party'. BIG NASTY SURPRISE: No Europe heard or
worked, no JA and no VK!
And now.. a run down on the equipment at N9ISN:
FT-1000 (loaner)
Cushcraft A4S @ 100 ft for 10 meters
Heil Pro-Set with HC-4 element (real nice!)
CT version 8.52
QTH: 90 miles east of Minneapolis/St.Paul MN near Eau Claire, WI
(21 miles NW of the mighty W0AIH)
73 Al Allanws@cup.portal.com
>From James White <0006492564@mcimail.com> Mon Dec 12 07:05:00 1994
From: James White <0006492564@mcimail.com> (James White)
Subject: N9ISN Faux Pas
Message-ID: <30941212070503/0006492564PK4EM@MCIMAIL.COM>
RE: K3ZO
Sir, I gather you are new to thE game.
Recommend you check out the top ten boxes, both modes, in all the DX
contests for the last 20 years...think you will find K3ZO there, always...
also think you should check the winners of the Dayton Hamvention CW copying
contest for the last decade, K3ZO either wins or is in the top 3, always...
also think you should check the CQ magazine contest hall of fame roster,
K3ZO is there. Fred has not made these achievements by having hearing
problems or receiver problems!
Fred is an expert contester - I would kill for his hearing ability....if you
were unable to work his station I am certain it was due to a oneway
propagation phenom of one sort or another - especially since you were on 10
meters! Having operated from around the world, Fred is also very familiar
with propagation.
K3ZO I am sure appreciates your efforts to contact his station this weekend
...his not doing so is not his fault, nor yours, I am sure. Like my boss
says...Doo Doo Occurs.
Congratulations on the nice, albeit brief runs, this weekend. 73
Jim, K1zx
>From Jeff Bolda <0005782837@mcimail.com> Mon Dec 12 11:25:00 1994
From: Jeff Bolda <0005782837@mcimail.com> (Jeff Bolda)
Subject: 10 Meter Contest Rumors
Message-ID: <44941212112544/0005782837DC2EM@MCIMAIL.COM>
1994 ARRL 10M Contest scores
3830 Rumors:
Send corrections and scores to WC4E@mcimail.com
Mixed Mode High Power
Call QSO Cty St/Prv Score Op/Stn
------- ----- --- ----- ------- ------
N4ZC 1594 52 100 640,000 WQ3?
AC4NJ 1758 39 100 613,546 WC4E
K6LL 905 33 69 243,576
AB4RU 1030 35 87 243,000
N7ML 528 33 83 192,610
AA4NC 614 24 81 148,000
N5OCD 526 26 60 120,000
VE3RM 457 21 74 113,620
W1BYH 391 9 76 106,000
N4OGW 285 17 67 77,448
missing: W5WMU, WS4F
Mixed Mode Low Power
W4MYA 710 36 86 280,000
KO4EW 422 8 56 77,000
KB5YVT 220 60 37,680
WA7BNM 123 39 15,520
SSB High Power
KC2X 1940 31 53 320,000
K1IU 1826 26 53 288,508
K4VUD 1776 24 54 277,000
KQ4HC 710 11 41 73,840
N3BB 575 20 44 73,600 WB5VZL
SSB Low Power
N9ISN 373 18 54 53.712
CW High Power
VE9ST 793 13 52 192,660
KB4GID 460 16 48 117,760
VS6BG 159 16 0 10,112
CW Low Power
WD4AHZ 435 60 104,400
N4YDU 344 54 74,520
Multi-Single
VP5JM 970 134 330,000
N5OLS 1277 41 83
WB1GQR 697 22 80 168,000
KF9PL 211 12 41 30,000
>From p_casier@eunet.be (Peter Casier) Mon Dec 12 12:05:35 1994
From: p_casier@eunet.be (Peter Casier) (Peter Casier)
Subject: OS6TT ARRL 10m (How low can you go?)
Message-ID: <199412121205.NAA21202@box.eunet.be>
OS6TT - single op SSB high power
252 Q's, 36 C, 00000000000000000 Ss, score: 18114.
And this for a full time contest entry...
What went wrong? With SF=87 K=0, propagation was supposed to be better.
Monitored 27MHz DX channels (oh boy!) the week before the test (no activity
on 10m to monitor). But as the indices dropped, I hoped we were in for a
good one. NOT.
No North America, no far east, no Pacific, 50% of my QSOs are Belgian's, 95%
of the rest was EU backscatter, side scatter, meteor scatter. Just a few
South Americans and Southern Africans through what looked like TEP.
It was interesting to see the prop hot spots move: ZS-es would come in all
of a sudden with 9+ sigs, and after 30 minutes disappear as if they were
switched off. LU's would pop up and disappear, then Africa again, than EU
scatter came back, then...
Highlights:
- ZD7 called me in the middle of a dead band
- DVK autorepeat worked UFB, saved my voice
- not difficult to look for mults, there were just a few signals on the band.
Lowlights:
make one contact in 90 minutes CQ-ing, in the middle of the day.
Horror:
never thought the rate meter could go that low.
Fun:
every odd QSO I was asked 'Is the baby there already?'. hi.
Did we have fun? Well... we're contesters, for better and for worse. So, now
we got the worse (I hope).. Still, the band deserved better. There were just
not a lot of stations on, and my guess is: a lot of people gave up after one
day.
Peter, ON6TT.
p_casier@box.eunet.be
>From nz3i@wile.thetech.com (Tad Danley) Mon Dec 12 13:25:46 1994
From: nz3i@wile.thetech.com (Tad Danley) (Tad Danley)
Subject: Assisted or Unassisted?
Message-ID: <N638wc1w165w@wile.thetech.com>
I read a message on the reflector recently asking for contacts in an
UPCOMING contest. I also read a message indicating that soliciting
contacts in this way might be inappropriate. Do the contest rules
address this? I know that soliciting contacts using non-amateur
means during a contest is frowned upon, and soliciting them using
amateur means during a contest puts you in the "assisted" category.
It seems to me that it would be difficult indeed to try to tie
non-amateur means of communications prior to the contest to contest
behavior. Wouldn't this mean that it would also be inappropriate to
remind a buddy at the local ham meeting to get on the air during a
contest? 73, Tad, NZ3I.
--
nz3i@wile.thetech.com (Tad Danley)
The Tech BBS +1 408 279 7199 San Jose, CA
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