[Elecraft] FW: [cwops] RE: Contest Settings

[Chester Alderman]

-----Original Message-----
From: cwops at yahoogroups.com [mailto:cwops at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of 'Chester Alderman' aldermant at windstream.net [cwops]
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2016 11:25 AM
To: 'a45wg'
Cc: 'CWOPS'
Subject: [cwops] RE: [Elecraft] Contest Settings

Hi Tim,

I am not an 'expert' contester but I do enjoy the competition! First and foremost I think settings for contesting are 'personal'; what works for me, may not work for you. I use a K3 feeding an Alpha 9500 amp which feeds a 2-el 40m yagi and a 16-el tribander, both made by Optibeam and are up 70' and 80'.

For CW contesting today, get a really good contest program; I use N1MM+ and find it to be a really well written and very well supported contest program (and it is written specifically for contesting only!!), and it fully supports the Elecraft xcvr' s. N1MM+ will key the K3 directly via the DTR line on your PC RS232 interface cable, up past a little over 100 wpm! For my K3 I turn RIT on and use 'CLEARRIT' macro to reset the rcvr when people answer my CQ slightly off my frequency. While I normally run QRQ QSO's for chats, I find best results for contesting is to set my sending speed around 28 to 34 wpm. My K3 is loaded with narrow roofing filters especially useful for CW operations and I select the 250hz 8-pole filter and vary the DSP filter between 350hz and 200hz . Since I run an amplifier, I choose to sit on one QRG and call CQ mostly and only QSY when my Q rate drops below about 50 Q's per hour. When the Q rate drops, I then change to S&P, looking for any multipliers I have not yet worked. (N1MM+ will automatically show you how many Q's that one multiplier is worth!) 

Since I live on ex-farm land and on 15 acres, I seldom need to use the pre amp or the Attenuator and hardly ever need the NR and have no need for the notch filter. Hopefully others who have a large noise issue can supply you with their NR settings. Since you have an 'exciting' DX call sign, the 10 to 20 hz DSP filter setting that you use is probably necessary because of the large numbers caller's you have to your CQ. You might want to try varying your DSP 'SHIFT' to help dig out a readable call sign, in the midst of the QRM, when you get many callers.

I hope this will me a little helpful along with the other responses you will receive!

73 and good contesting,

Tom - W4BQF


-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of a45wg
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2016 9:07 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] Contest Settings

Fellow Hams,
		Having not Contested for over 5 years - I just had spent the past 24 hours participating in the Russian DX Contest (CW), now I realise that Contests are not everyone’s cup of tea so please no “Contests should be banned”.

But I would be interested in how other contesters set up their rigs 

This is what I have been doing - 

	0) 	Narrow Filter enable (500 Hz)
	1)	Very narrow Bandwidth at times even 10-20 (hz?) is too wide.
	2)	Vary where I am listening up and down a little
	3)	Disable PreAmp
	
What other steps can I do to make my life (and the other stations I am working easier - I forgot how many times I sent R7?? or NR ??)

	Attentate (Just thought of this)
	NR Settings ?
	Notch filter ?

Appreciate any input - if you wan to PM me - I will put together the common suggestions.

Many thanks,
			Tim A45WG
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to aldermant at windstream.net



------------------------------------
Posted by: "Chester Alderman" <aldermant at windstream.net>
------------------------------------


------------------------------------

Yahoo Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cwops/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cwops/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    cwops-digest at yahoogroups.com 
    cwops-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    cwops-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo Groups is subject to:
    https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/