[Adrian ARC] 3 Band DXCC

[Mark Hinkleman]

I put my new antenna and and some of my new SO2R stuff to use this =
weekend in the CQWW SSB contest. I don't work phone contest much =
anymore, but I thought I would play with this one ( part time). I =
decided to use my SO2R interface along with the "writelog" program. Both =
radios were interfaced with the computer. I ran packet combined with the =
grab windows and band maps on both radios. I ran only 10, 15 and 20 =
meters.   I ran barefoot (100 watts).=20
  I try to set some goal for most every contest I enter or even play =
around in.  It might be to make only 100 qso's, or maybe work 100 =
countries, but I do set some goal.  I started this contest out with the =
goal of working 100 countries ASAP. I decided to limit my activity to =
10/15/and 20 meters.  When you are running barefoot, this contest is =
impossible to "run" in until Sunday. I elected not to run, but to use =
all the technology at hand by chasing spots with both rigs. This contest =
is brutal on a low power station until Saturday. On Saturday it becomes =
a little easier to make QSO's. I waited until Saturday to start playing =
around.
To my surprise I was able to expand my goal by working  DXCC (100 =
countries) on 3 bands, 10 15 and 20 meters. I used the spotting and band =
maps to the maximum. I was able to leave the shack and come back and =
work my way thru the spots on all the bands. I worked 152 unique =
countries. 112 on 10 meters, 103 on 15 meters and 100 on 20 meters. I =
was not trying for maximum qso's. I only had about 450 total qso's, but =
with all the mults I had each QSO was worth over 1,000 points. There =
were a number of countries that I heard that I did not work because I =
could not break the packet pile ups. The key was to use the technology =
to get there fast!!  If you could do that, you could work'em. If not,  =
load'em in memory and return in 30 minutes..hi hi (sometimes that did =
not work!!)
I was very pleased with the new HEX. It seemed to work well. I used it =
to the south and west. It was great for the Caribbean and South America. =
Also used the HEX to get VK. VK9N, ZL, ZL7, ZK1, KH6, T32 and JA =
multipliers.  The conditions were OK on Saturday, but not that great on =
Sunday.=20
I guess the moral of this story is that there is a lot of power in most =
logging programs, but most of the time these power features are not put =
to use. Put these feature to work and maximize ur effort, whether you =
are on for 1 hour or the whole contest. Give it a try...

Mark NU8Z



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