pdf 6436KB Sep 25 2010 04

Contest Tips, Tricks and Techniques Gary Sutcliffe, W9XT
Strengths and Weaknesses
In sports competition you always want
to apply your strengths against your opponent’s
weaknesses. While radio contests
are not direct head-to-head confrontations,
it still makes sense to make the best use
of your strengths and to minimize the effects
of your weaknesses. This installment
of CTT&T looks at what some contesters
consider to be their strengths and weaknesses
and how they adjust their operating
techniques accordingly.
Geography and Location
Unlike most sporting events where
the players are on the same fi eld, radio
contesting has a very uneven playing
fi eld. Different regions experience different
propagation. Within a given region,
geography can have a big effect on station
performance. Everyone wants to be on top
of the big hill in the middle of a salt marsh,
but few of us are that fortunate.
From North America, New England and
Maritime Canada enjoy an advantage
toward Europe with its multiplier-rich population
centers. K1IR considers his Massachusetts
QTH as one of his strengths,
especially on the low bands. Jim says that
his one-acre lot is larger than many hams
have, but compared to his competition in
the multi-single class, it’s quite small. He
has built his station to take maximum advantage
of low-band propagation.
K1IR is limited to one tower, and a 4
element 40 meter beam dominates it. He
has a wire 4-square for 80 meters. The
wooded areas surrounding the property
allow for low-band, low-noise receiving
antennas. Jim says the combination of
these antennas and his location help him
to outscore larger stations in more disadvantaged
locations.
W7WHY considers being atop a hill as
his biggest strength. He has good shots
to Europe and Africa. There is a bay at the
bottom of the hill, so Tom gets the extra
advantage of the water refl ection. Despite
having only 2 element monobanders, he
could hear stations his friends in the valley
could not hear during the last sunspot
maximum. Tom would like to put up bigger
antennas but says the winter winds at the
top of the hill are bad, and he has lost a
lot of antennas because of them.
I also feel my biggest strength is my
location on the side of a hill. I have great
shots to Europe as well as to the south and
to the west. The takeoff toward Europe is
especially favorable, as the terrain drops
off until it reaches a small lake. Working
into the Northwest is a problem, however,
because I’m looking into the rest of the
hill.
32 November/December 2008 NCJ
Continental geography is both a strength
and a weakness for ZS6AA. Being a relatively
rare multiplier is a big help, and a lack
of local stations reduces QRM. Andrew’s
location is also a disadvantage, however.
There are not a lot of short to mediumrange
stations to work when propagation
is poor.
Andrew has found that operating high
power is not too effective, given his
country’s 400 W limit. On the other hand,
running low power hurts him when North
America and Europe have their beams
pointed at each other, and he’s off the
side. To compensate Andrew uses SO2R
and good S&P techniques. He prefers CW,
which can help to offset the low-power
disadvantage.
PY2NY also feels geographic location
is a plus for him, but he credits good
antennas for 40 and 20 meters too. Vitor
says one of his weaknesses is inadequate
fi ltering for SO2R and having only a single
tower.
Antennas
There are probably very few contesters
who didn’t wish they could improve their
antennas, at least on some bands. N2WN
is no different. Although Jules says his antennas
are good, there’s always room for
improvement. To compensate, he tries to
improve the effi ciency of the ones he has.
Most of them are fed with buried Heliax.
W9RE feels that 20 meters is his weak
point, both in domestic and DX contests.
Mike thinks he may have resolved part of
his problem by taking down the top two antennas
on his tower. He hopes to do better
on 20 without the 40 meter beam there.
To compensate for 20 meters, Mike had
tended to stay on 15 meters longer. Now
he’s going back to 20 earlier to catch the
1700 UTC European openings. Mike says
15 meters is a problem in domestic contests
because he cannot rotate his lower
beam to the west. Mike is always working
on antennas to make improvements.
My own towers are fairly short — 50 feet
and 60 feet. I would like more and taller
towers, but the cost — and especially the
upkeep — have kept me from going that
route. Except on 15 and 10 when conditions
are good, I usually don’t get many
big runs going, so I have to S&P a lot. I
compensate by having multiple antennas
on as many bands as possible.
For example I have a TH7 on one tower,
and a stack of 2×3 element tribanders on
the other. I can feed them in any combination.
Sometimes I have all of them
pointed in the same direction. Other times
the stack is pointed in one direction and
the TH7 in another. This makes it quick to
snag stations in different directions without
having to turn a beam.
Different antennas help with different
locations or conditions. For example, the
top A3 of the stack is better toward the
Pacifi c than the TH7. It probably has less
gain than the TH7, but it is a bit higher
and defi nitely quieter. The TH7 is better
toward Africa.
K2SX is in an antenna-restricted location.
He’s hidden a Butternut vertical in the
woods and has been experimenting with
hidden wire antennas. Dennis runs 1 kW
compensate for the lack of antenna gain.
Operating
Multi-op stations often can put in operators
the same way a coach makes
substitutions in a game. K1IR notes that
some of his operators are better at running,
while others excel at S&P. He also
matches operating stints according to
operator interest.
A common practice at multi-op stations
is to have band specialists. Each operator
is an expert at propagation, operating
practices and activity on their particular
band of interest.
Jules, N2WN, used to pick classes for
other reasons, such as improving his 80
meter DXCC count. Now he often picks
categories where other bands can help
make up for what he considers his big
weakness — not having a great 40 meter
antenna. Jules operates low power and
QRP categories, which match his budget
and interests.
N2WN tries to operate in as many
contests as possible, and he believes
state QSO parties offer a great training
ground.
Now that we are lacking sunspots,
W7WHY prefers contests where everyone
works everyone else as opposed to only
working DX. Right now he is operating
mostly domestic events.
N4ZR feels his strengths lie in knowing
his weaknesses and being realistic about
his competitiveness. Pete concentrates
on operating contests that he enjoys and
improving upon his best efforts. He notes
that given current sunspot activity there is
not much chance of beating his scores in
the 2000 to 2002 contest seasons. Pete
says the biggest improvement would be
to be 40 years old again, but he fi gures
he’ll have to settle for a solar maximum to
beat his previous bests.
Health problems prevent WB4ROA from
operating the full contest period. To compensate
Harold tries to operate at times
when he can make the most contacts. He