Just Missed It, By That Much!
My goal this year was at least 1,200 Qs. I finished with 1,194. I would have made it, except about six ops answered my CQ with a number and signal report. Efforts to get a proper exchange were met with a long pause, then a repeat of the lacking exchange. Rather than getting sucked into that black hole, I sent TU and moved on. In hindsight, it would have been nice to get them in the log to meet my goal. Unfortunately, it was clear they weren’t copying what I was asking. Maybe next time!
Participation Lacking?
The last few hours were brutally slow. Others have mentioned ways to improve participation, which I applaud. However, this contest is unique because of the long exchange. Just like the guys I mentioned above that didn’t understand what I was asking, there is certain level of CW proficiency that’s required here.
While I totally appreciate ops trying to improve their CW skills in one of the most difficult CW contests of the year, if you can’t give the proper exchange and don’t understand what the other operator is asking from you, then everyone’s time is wasted. Bottom line: I’m not sure this contest will ever rise to the level of volume that SS SSB enjoys. The skill barrier will always act to reduce the volume of ops. That said, organizations like CWops is actively training and producing fine CW ops. To me, this is the hope of getting more guys/gals into CW contesting like SS.
The Contest
Moving on, I finally achieved the sweep after working N5NA in WTX. He was my only WTX and it took spotting assistance to find him. All other mults called in during runs or were found S&P.
Is it me, or are key clicks as bad as ever? Holy cow! What’s worse, it seems the biggest offenders always operate right next to me. Here’s what I’m talking about:
I don’t know if these ops are aware of it, but I might start sending an email to let them know. Those types of messages aren’t usually met with open arms, but short of an OO program to find key clickers, what else can be done to help reduce it? Especially if the poor op isn’t aware of it.
Antennas Pointing South?
If you live in the central part of the country, you need at least two antennas pointed in different directions to hit all parts of the U.S. Up here in the northwest corner, I usually point east and let ‘er rip. I’m starting to rethink that strategy.
For example, N9RV is great op and has a great station. Living in the northwest, he’s one of the reference stations I look at when comparing my own performance. Pat ended up working about 10% more stations overall than I did. He worked 30% more stations in W5, W6, and W7!
Numbers Tell the Story
N9RV: W5 = 102, W6 = 136, W7 = 123. Total = 361.
K7RL: W5 = 87, W6 = 100, W7 = 91. Total = 278
**** N9RV worked 30% more stations in W5, W6, and W7 versus K7RL.
N9RV: W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, W8, and W9. Total = 900
K7RL: W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, W8, and W9. Total = 846
**** N9RV worked 6% more stations in W0, W1, W2, W3, W4, W8, and W9 versus K7RL.
Does this prove having an antenna pointed south and another one east would have helped? I think so. 6% versus 30% is pretty significant. Time to start looking at options!
CW Speed
I always struggle with this decision and I’m not sure why. Started out around 37 to 38 wpm and that seemed to work just fine. I’m always a little concerned if I go too fast I might miss some ops or need to send more repeats.
Starting out fast and slowing down over the course of the contest seemed to work. Of course, near the end, everyone is slower. I found myself asking for repeats more frequently on day two. Fatigue sets in and creates a CW paranoia that I’ve copied something wrong, or didn’t hear it completely. I seem to require more confirmations. Interesting.
Contest Stats
Cabrillo Statistics (Version 10g) by K5KA & N6TV
http://bit.ly/cabstat
CALLSIGN: K7RL
CONTEST: ARRL-SS-CW
CATEGORY-OPERATOR: SINGLE-OP
CATEGORY-TRANSMITTER: ONE
OPERATORS: K7RL
-------------- Q S O R a t e S u m m a r y ---------------------
Hour 160 80 40 20 15 10 Rate Total Pct
2100 0 0 0 99 0 0 99 99 8.3
2200 0 0 0 90 0 0 90 189 15.8
2300 0 0 25 53 0 0 78 267 22.4
0000 0 0 95 0 0 0 95 362 30.3
0100 0 1 75 0 0 0 76 438 36.7
0200 0 30 37 0 0 0 67 505 42.3
0300 0 52 17 0 0 0 69 574 48.1
0400 0 29 17 0 0 0 46 620 51.9
0500 0 18 16 0 0 0 34 654 54.8
0600 0 13 9 0 0 0 22 676 56.6
0700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 676 56.6
0800 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 676 56.6
0900 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 676 56.6
1000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 676 56.6
1100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 676 56.6
1200 0 8 31 0 0 0 39 715 59.9
1300 0 8 47 0 0 0 55 770 64.5
1400 0 0 24 22 0 0 46 816 68.3
1500 0 0 1 23 8 0 32 848 71.0
1600 0 0 0 13 36 0 49 897 75.1
1700 0 0 0 14 42 0 56 953 79.8
1800 0 0 0 28 11 0 39 992 83.1
1900 0 0 0 25 10 0 35 1027 86.0
2000 0 0 1 31 1 0 33 1060 88.8
2100 0 0 3 31 1 0 35 1095 91.7
2200 0 0 2 20 0 0 22 1117 93.6
2300 0 0 18 8 0 0 26 1143 95.7
0000 0 6 20 0 0 0 26 1169 97.9
0100 0 9 11 0 0 0 20 1189 99.6
0200 0 0 5 0 0 0 5 1194 100.0
Total 0 174 454 457 109 0 1194
Gross QSOs=1210 Dupes=16 Net QSOs=1194
Unique callsigns worked = 1194
The best 60 minute rate was 102/hour from 2108 to 2207
The best 30 minute rate was 108/hour from 2143 to 2212
The best 10 minute rate was 132/hour from 2158 to 2207
The best 1 minute rates were:
3 QSOs/minute 21 times.
2 QSOs/minute 247 times.
1 QSOs/minute 637 times.
There were 259 bandchanges and 122 (10.2%) probable 2nd radio QSOs.
Number of letters in callsigns
Letters # worked
4 726
5 349
6 115
7 1
8 3
------------ M u l t i p l i e r S u m m a r y ------------
Mult 160 80 40 20 15 10 Total Pct
VA 0 4 21 32 5 0 62 5.2
IL 0 11 21 26 4 0 62 5.2
OH 0 3 26 21 5 0 55 4.6
MDC 0 7 17 27 3 0 54 4.5
MN 0 9 15 17 3 0 44 3.7
EPA 0 3 14 18 4 0 39 3.3
MI 0 6 11 16 3 0 36 3.0
NC 0 1 15 13 3 0 32 2.7
EMA 0 4 12 13 1 0 30 2.5
STX 0 1 11 10 7 0 29 2.4
WI 0 2 7 14 5 0 28 2.3
TN 0 1 13 10 3 0 27 2.3
NTX 0 4 9 10 4 0 27 2.3
AZ 0 5 9 12 0 0 26 2.2
GA 0 0 8 12 4 0 24 2.0
IN 0 3 7 12 1 0 23 1.9
CO 0 5 5 13 0 0 23 1.9
WWA 0 6 5 8 2 0 21 1.8
NFL 0 1 7 9 4 0 21 1.8
CT 0 0 9 7 4 0 20 1.7
SCV 0 9 8 2 1 0 20 1.7
NNJ 0 0 7 8 3 0 18 1.5
SV 0 8 6 4 0 0 18 1.5
WNY 0 2 6 5 4 0 17 1.4
IA 0 2 10 4 1 0 17 1.4
KY 0 2 8 4 3 0 17 1.4
MO 0 1 8 5 2 0 16 1.3
GTA 0 1 7 6 2 0 16 1.3
NLI 0 1 4 8 1 0 14 1.2
SDG 0 5 5 4 0 0 14 1.2
AL 0 2 8 0 4 0 14 1.2
NH 0 1 5 5 2 0 13 1.1
WCF 0 0 4 8 1 0 13 1.1
SNJ 0 3 2 4 3 0 12 1.0
WPA 0 2 4 5 1 0 12 1.0
KS 0 2 4 6 0 0 12 1.0
ENY 0 1 7 2 1 0 11 0.9
ONE 0 0 3 6 2 0 11 0.9
OR 0 7 3 1 0 0 11 0.9
SF 0 7 3 1 0 0 11 0.9
SC 0 2 3 5 0 0 10 0.8
SFL 0 0 5 4 1 0 10 0.8
LAX 0 3 3 4 0 0 10 0.8
AR 0 0 6 2 1 0 9 0.8
OK 0 0 7 2 0 0 9 0.8
MT 0 5 4 0 0 0 9 0.8
ORG 0 2 6 1 0 0 9 0.8
WV 0 1 3 3 1 0 8 0.7
WMA 0 0 1 6 0 0 7 0.6
LA 0 1 3 3 0 0 7 0.6
ONS 0 1 4 0 2 0 7 0.6
ID 0 3 4 0 0 0 7 0.6
QC 0 1 4 2 0 0 7 0.6
AK 0 1 3 3 0 0 7 0.6
BC 0 2 3 2 0 0 7 0.6
MAR 0 0 1 3 2 0 6 0.5
MS 0 0 2 4 0 0 6 0.5
SD 0 3 0 3 0 0 6 0.5
DE 0 0 2 2 2 0 6 0.5
NM 0 1 3 1 1 0 6 0.5
ME 0 1 2 1 1 0 5 0.4
ND 0 1 2 2 0 0 5 0.4
VT 0 3 0 1 0 0 4 0.3
RI 0 0 2 2 0 0 4 0.3
AB 0 2 2 0 0 0 4 0.3
WY 0 0 3 1 0 0 4 0.3
NV 0 1 3 0 0 0 4 0.3
NNY 0 2 0 2 0 0 4 0.3
EWA 0 1 0 2 0 0 3 0.3
UT 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 0.3
MB 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0.3
SK 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0.3
EB 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 0.3
PAC 0 0 3 0 0 0 3 0.3
SB 0 0 2 0 1 0 3 0.3
PR 0 0 1 1 1 0 3 0.3
SJV 0 1 1 1 0 0 3 0.3
NE 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.2
NT 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0.2
ONN 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.2
VI 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.2
NL 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0.1
WTX 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.1
Total 0 174 454 457 109 0 1194
Sweepstakes Checks
Check QSOs Pct
00 4 0.3
01 3 0.3
02 4 0.3
03 6 0.5
04 5 0.4
05 6 0.5
06 1 0.1
07 5 0.4
08 3 0.3
09 7 0.6
10 1 0.1
11 3 0.3
12 4 0.3
13 5 0.4
14 3 0.3
15 6 0.5
16 5 0.4
17 4 0.3
18 4 0.3
19 0 0.0
20 1 0.1
21 1 0.1
22 1 0.1
23 0 0.0
24 1 0.1
25 0 0.0
26 0 0.0
27 0 0.0
28 0 0.0
29 0 0.0
30 0 0.0
31 0 0.0
32 0 0.0
33 1 0.1
34 0 0.0
35 0 0.0
36 0 0.0
37 0 0.0
38 0 0.0
39 0 0.0
40 1 0.1
41 0 0.0
42 1 0.1
43 0 0.0
44 0 0.0
45 0 0.0
46 0 0.0
47 2 0.2
48 2 0.2
49 4 0.3
50 3 0.3
51 4 0.3
52 9 0.8
53 13 1.1
54 23 1.9
55 30 2.5
56 17 1.4
57 39 3.3
58 36 3.0
59 52 4.4
60 25 2.1
61 52 4.4
62 44 3.7
63 48 4.0
64 25 2.1
65 39 3.3
66 26 2.2
67 33 2.8
68 31 2.6
69 40 3.4
70 34 2.8
71 28 2.3
72 39 3.3
73 26 2.2
74 32 2.7
75 37 3.1
76 47 3.9
77 43 3.6
78 22 1.8
79 18 1.5
80 17 1.4
81 16 1.3
82 7 0.6
83 6 0.5
84 11 0.9
85 5 0.4
86 12 1.0
87 6 0.5
88 10 0.8
89 16 1.3
90 8 0.7
91 9 0.8
92 16 1.3
93 10 0.8
94 5 0.4
95 5 0.4
96 7 0.6
97 4 0.3
98 11 0.9
99 4 0.3
U.S. Call Areas Worked
Area QSOs Pct
0 119 10.0
1 103 8.6
2 116 9.7
3 123 10.3
4 161 13.5
5 87 7.3
6 100 8.4
7 91 7.6
8 107 9.0
9 117 9.8
Total 1124 94.1
Sweepstakes Precedents
Precedent QSOs Pct
A 489 41.0 B 206 17.3 Q 73 6.1 M 41 3.4 U 378 31.7 S 7 0.6
Thanks to all that worked me. Until next time,
73, Mitch, K7RL
