[ADXA] VHF contest

Tue Jun 15 16:48:13 EDT 2021

Here’s one?  What do you put on card for signal report for a Q made in contest mode.  

Steve, QQ

> On Jun 15, 2021, at 3:10 PM, w5zn at w5zn.org wrote:
> 
> 
> You do have a lousy antenna, and you're WEAK also.
> 
> K5UR told me to say that!   :-))))
> 
> ZN
> 
> 
> 
>> On 2021-06-14 13:07, Jay Bromley wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Bill and ADXA,
>> 
>> That is nice to know as I thought it was me and my lousy antenna!  Every time I saw someone in the -10 range and below I would think, oh know another busted call.  While working the contest I would look up some calls via N1MM/QRZ.com and read the station's bio.  One station logged me over on QRZ and we had not finished the exchanged! 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Then I would call folks accidentally not in the contest.  Most seem to be OK with that.  I wish the exchange was more thought out so you would work both stations in and out of the contest with the same report/exchange.  A few got huge up wanting a bonified signal report!
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Then there is that exchange business with WSJT/N1MM.  If you are calling CQ and they call you, they already have your grid.  So your response with R Grid is merely saying your received them or in multiple calls going back to that station only.  IMHO, is somewhat redundant.  But in all contest they want an actual exchange and FT8 is no different with the "R Grid".  If they respond with RR73 and you receive that, the log window comes up.  Most of the time I would never see them again after I would send the R Grid report.  Sometimes I would see them calling CQ after not receiving their "RR73" and wonder, do I log them or not?  I am sure I did this wrong, but I moved on and didn't log them. I would even repeat the exchange and sometimes they would come back with RR73, some would not. Even on the "Band Activity" window or waterfall many times the station would be gone after seeing them well above S/N of zero.  I know one can do manual "Log QSO" under the Band Activity Window.  Maybe I should have been doing this, especially with the ones that went back to calling CQ? 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> When you look up various digital operators on QRZ.com everyone seems to have a pet peeve on confirming the report with a RR73/73 or not.  Then there is a Fox/Hound mode where you never send back a 73 to them.  The report was made and that all that is necessary in that case, but I wish for a standard for all to go by so more Qs are in the log accurately.  Or a better way to say this, I wish everyone dance the same way.  Making it easier and consistent for all involved.  When one compares against ClubLog or other online logs, one can be in the log one way, but not the other.  Then another op will do it totally different. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Then like you said, many of the guys knew the software would go back to calling CQ after receiving RR73.  Unless you manually sent your 73 which in my case took two to three extra mouse clicks.  When things were slow I would do this just to be sure.  Except for a few times, mine never would send a 73 unless I reengaged the "Enable Tx" button and clicked on the 73.  It would just go back to calling CQ after the log window is closed assuming you hit the Tx button again. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> I bet as far as log accuracy is concerned, this contest probably ranks near the bottom, especially on digital?  Mine included, but I always do my best to finish the QSO .
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> A ton of folks will say, well just get off of digital.  Funny after the contest I did a look up on "Spot Collector" and a ton of folks flagged as FOC members were only on FT8.  In fact I had at one point a whole screen was completely solid with only FOC CW guys, I didn't think there were that many?  I wish now I had saved that to a jpg.  It's hard to get off of Digital and back to SSB and CW when the action is up the band on digital.    
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Oh well I finished up and uploaded to the ARRL contest logs and LOTW.  I enjoyed the contest overall, but more work than necessary and folks continue to say>>>> I go to bed with my smart phone, remote in and work DXCC/WAS over night!  Well they are better op than me!!
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> What I enjoyed the most was seeing folks I knew and met over the years on the air.  Also trying to figure out the propagation and experimenting with software and rig setup.  At the end, I turned off the rig's preamp and that seem to help me work or call only the ones that could finish the QSO.  That sure seemed to help complete the contact.  However I normally during regular openings don't have a problem using a preamp 2 on the Icom.  Also enjoyed the extreme groundwave early in the morning.  There seems to be no colored squares during this time on DXMaps.  So the only propagation mode I know of is groundwave. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> I did see Sean KX9X totals on FB and noticed he had quite a few SSB and CW contacts.  I don't think he was running much power, maybe even QRP?  Like I said in a previous post I would keep an eye down the band, but didn't see much. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Anyway thank for the info Bill, I sure appreciate it and others comments on the 6m test! 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 73 de jay/w5jay..
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of BILL KENNAMER
>> Sent: Monday, June 14, 2021 9:02 AM
>> To: Dennis Schaefer <dennisw5rz at gmail.com>; w5zn at w5zn.org
>> Cc: ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net>
>> Subject: Re: [ADXA] VHF contest
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> I only operated 6m, don't have tower space for my 2M antenna. My impression was that people were wasting propagation with FT8. Throughput is much too slow. I only operated part time, and missed some of the better band opening time, but my rates were decent (up to 70/hr) on phone and CW, and about 15/hr on FT modes. Harder to make contacts on FT too. If a station calling CQ was less than 00, they didn't seem to be able to decode me at all. WSJT operation is also somewhat clunky in N1MM, sometimes it would send 73 message, sometimes it would go out of auto sequence after exchanging grids, which would be ok if the other ops knows that exchanging grids is all that's necessary.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Basically, this contest was more fun before FT8.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> FUV
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> On Monday, June 14, 2021, 7:51:24 AM CDT, w5zn at w5zn.org <w5zn at w5zn.org> wrote:
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> ADXA mailing list
>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/adxa
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:ADXA at mailman.qth.net
>> 
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> ADXA mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/adxa
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:ADXA at mailman.qth.net
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/adxa/attachments/20210615/9d7eb1b4/attachment.html>