[CVCC] 10 Meter contest

[H. M. Motley, Jr,]

Here'a something that was put on the PVRC reflector by N8II.
Puck

"Time for a pep talk. If you have to work scads of DX to enjoy the 10 meter test, hit the delete button.
I predict little or no F2 on 10M, this weekend. Currently the solar flux is 74 with extremely low geomagnetic activity, A = 0, which may allow some openings to SA and Central America, most likely in the late morning to about 21Z. 15 has been pretty dead this week, no Eu.

So, what to do? The most reliable propagation mode has been sporadic E in the test the past few years. It can just as easily occur in the evenings well after sunset as in the morning. Tends to peak late morning and early evening, but openings past midnight are possible and have happened in the last 5 years. If you have a tribander at 50 ft, you are very competitive for working sporadic E, lower antennas work well with the higher radiation angle. Expect to work stations as close as SC, MI, or TN, or New England on really good openings but more commonly, it's going to provide many Floridains, 5's and 0's; double hop to 6's and 7's has also occurred in the past 3 years. 

Another common mode is ionospheric scatter as opposed to meteor scatter. Well equipped stations running HP are most likely to be worked via this mode like K9BGL in IL and W0AIH in WI; these guys are always in there for long stretches during the day or early evening. Point you beam at them.

The 10M contests occurs during or very close to the Gemenids meteor shower; this year the shower is Dec 13-14, but don't rule out a lot of meteor bursts the first night. Burst are short and not always in the direction of the station heard. My best advice is to just call anyone you can copy with your call once; be as brief as possible. If fills are requested just give the info asked for, such as only the state, not "599 WV". Most meteor bursts last less than 5 seconds, you've got to be fast. 

Ionospheric backscatter can be very useful, but will probably be limited this time out. It peaks in the direction the band is open best on F2, usually slight east of south early, south mid day, and slightly west of south late daytime. You can work anyone within your F2 skip zone who also has the band open at his QTH. Lower antennas can be very effective for this mode if they have gain, signal levels are generally pretty weak unless the MUF is substantially above 28 MHz.

Finally don't forget the PVRC calling frequencies of 28047 and 28447 kHz; I Isuggest checking them every even hour. You can work a lot of stations even with low solar flux; enjoy the challenge and the contest!

73, Jeff N8II"