From Bob KQ2M off of YCCC reflector: (From a NE point of view)

As someone that PREFERS Mixed-Mode, I can tell you from personal

experience that it provides more action and more fun than just one mode.   :-)

But it also challenges you to figure out when you should be which mode

and how to get the same mults on both modes when you can only be on one at a time....  (This is

where SO2R helps).

First thing, understand your "target market" for qso's.  EU ops PREFER CW,

US ops PREFER SSB! Second, regardless of cndx, you will start hearing stations on CW before

you hear them on SSB – this is for several reasons:

A) CW gets through qrm and qrn better than SSB

B) CW counts 2x as many points as SSB

C) the CW band is lower in freq. than SSB, so when 10 M is struggling to

open because the MUF is low or there are disturbed cndx, you will hear CW signals before

your hear SSB signals.

This is especially true in December where we have the latest sunrises

and the least amount of total sunlight and the MUF rises more slowly and falls faster than at

any other time of the year!

So, in the morning, you want to be on CW, until the signals get really

loud ~ 1230z and then about 13z try SSB.  If SSB doesn't work for you then go back to CW for

another 15 - 30 minutes, then try SSB again.  Go very high in the SSB band - I often start around

28.650 and move up 100khz at a time until I find a completely clear spot where I can hear

anything.  If cndx are good you will eventually hear SSB stations as high as as 29.2 mhz SSB!

After you are mostly done running EU on SSB, go back to CW to run some

more, hunt the CW mults high in the band ~ 28.100 and above and then In the afternoon when the

EU signals start to fade, go to SSB to run US.  You will have the best US runs on SSB and from about Sunset

to an hour after Sunset as the terminator moves West across the US.  You will get plenty of US guys on

CW as well, but remember, US ops PREFER SSB.

DON'T FORGET the XE mults!  They count as Sections now - I think there

are either 29 or 32 of them and 20+ should be workable.  You will primarily find them on SSB.  I

think of them as W5 SOUTH - and when W5 gets loud they will get loud too.

If you have a really good run on CW > 120/hr or SSB > 150/hr then don't

worry about mults.   Get all the qso's that you can while you can get them.  You can get the mults later

and on Sunday afternoon.

It will take you operating this contest a few times to get a feel for

what you can do from your station and when you can do it.  That's part of the fun - learning,

making mistakes and improving from one year to the next.

The 10 M contest is also unique for all the different propagation modes

that you will experience during the weekend.  Starting at 00z, you will be working louder guys to

the West with their Sunset enhancement, then you will work more groundwave between ME to

Ohio to VA and then you will hear stations "pinging" on CW and SSB - one letter of a call 3 - 5 s-units

louder than the rest of the call - that's Meteor Scatter - the weirdest mode of all.  Since the 10M contest

occurs during the Perseid meteor showers at night you will hear plenty of that as well as

the short-skip reflections of the E clouds on the Atlantic Ocean - where you have to beam EAST or

Northeast at night to work louder West coast stations than you will hear if you point your beam

West!

And then the neatest path of all, just before you can work EU short-path

on 10 at the beginning of the opening, if cndx are good, you might work JA's by beaming at ~

135 - 150 degrees and hear them S9!

10 M has lots of surprises.  It's the coolest band of all at the top of

the cycle!

You will find it easier to work more mults if you operate Assisted.  But

you will enjoy working a mult more if you find it yourself and there will be plenty to find on either mode!

  Also, not all mults are spotted, I operate NON-Assisted and often I

find mults that have been ignored because there is a BIG pileup right

next to it, but all the ops that just click on the spots and don't tune,

are not even aware of the mult just a bit higher or lower in freq. than

the pileup they are calling in.  Sometimes it is from the same country

as the spotted opr with the pileup and while everyone is slugging it out

in the pileup, you can easily work the unpotted op that is being

ignored.

But Assisted or Non-Assisted?  Operating NON-Assisted you will work

harder and learn more about operating.

But if you just want to chase DX then Assisted might be more fun.  You

can't go wrong either way as long as you get on and operate!

Enjoy!

73 ,  Bob, KQ2M

73, CU on ten this weekend!  Bill

_._,_._,_

Bill Priakos – W5SJ

10 Free Ferry Heights

Fort Smith, AR 72903

479.461.8368