[ILQSO] ILQSO Digest, Vol 65, Issue 5

Sun Aug 29 14:04:17 EDT 2010

  Yeah! but ain't it fun!  I never made as many contacts in a contest 
before I operated from a four county line in the 2007 ILQP!  Didn't win 
overall, though, because I'm not that much of a contester, but boy! 
didn't score accumulate fast!

73 de n8xx Hg
Operated N9Q in ILQP 2006 and 2007

On 8/29/2010 1:22 PM, Paul DeWitte wrote:
> 800 divided by 3 = more like 266 actual contacts that count as 3 contacts
> each.
>
> I still have never figured out how to be in 3 or 4 counties at the same
> time, as close only counts in horseshoes.
>
> Paul K9OT
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:<ilqso-request at mailman.qth.net>
> To:<ilqso at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 11:00 AM
> Subject: ILQSO Digest, Vol 65, Issue 5
>
>
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>> Today's Topics:
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>>    1. Re: ILQP Modes...*was*:  KJ9C a no-show this year (James Funk)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:19:14 +0200
>> From: James Funk<jfunk at fossnorthamerica.com>
>> Subject: Re: [ILQSO] ILQP Modes...*was*:  KJ9C a no-show this year
>> To: Illinois QSO Party<ilqso at mailman.qth.net>
>> Message-ID:
>> <CB456FDD0C0E3F4C921EA9296263092667B75D9FC6 at FOSS44.foss.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>> Jared, I have a couple of observations.  The committee has discussed over
>> the years that we do not want ILQP to be a "CW only activity".
>>
>> In 2009, there were 15800 CW and 11300 SSB QSOs reported.  I would suspect
>> that there were quite a few more "casual, non-reported QSOs" on SSB than
>> on CW, but I have no way of proving that.  I think the proportion of CW
>> contacts may have increased slightly, but the NUMBER of contacts on both
>> modes has increased.
>>
>> In 2009, we instituted a special award based upon the number of SSB QSOs.
>>
>> You are correct.  CW proficiency is a skill that takes practice and is
>> often intimidating to those who are newcomers.  While "we can all talk",
>> it took each of us years to get to the point where we are in
>> communications skills using voice.
>>
>> I am not a "great CW operator".  I am also not a "great phone operator",
>> even though I do enjoy phone contesting when I am in the proper frame of
>> mind.  Those who have mentored new operators in either mode (and we thank
>> you!) know that coaching such a person through the first few QSOs can be
>> painful to witness.  With either mode, accomplishing efficient
>> communication does not come naturally.  Properly trained, a newbie can
>> progress from stark terror to reasonable proficiency in a fairly short
>> period of time.  This assumes, however, that the basic communication
>> skills are in place.  I.e., you would have difficulty quickly teaching a
>> person who spoke only French to handle a pileup in English, just as you
>> would have difficulty teaching a person to run a pileup on CW if they did
>> not know CW!
>>
>> As for the reasons that more counties are not available on SSB, they have
>> been enumerated, or at least allusions have been made to them.  Mobile SSB
>> in a contest situation is difficult at best and fruitless at worst.  Take
>> a crowded band and interject your mobile signal that is several dB down
>> from even modest home stations with dipoles and verticals, and you are
>> simply lost in the noise.  Several years ago, the last time I did a mobile
>> ILQP operation from southern Illinois, we had sunspots.  We had short skip
>> on 40 meters during the daylight hours.  Life was good.  I made many QSOs
>> on 40 SSB during the daytime.  When five o'clock came, the band went long
>> and it was impossible for me to work anyone else on SSB. No one responded
>> to my CQs.  I could hear IL stations CQing, but they were coming back to
>> stations in Colorado and New York.  I went to CW and ran stations at a
>> hundred an hour on 40 and 80 CW.  Operating isn't much fun if you aren't
>> working anyone.
>>
>> NG9R and NA9Q can tell you how much "fun" it is to work phone only as
>> mobiles in ILQP.
>>
>> No amount of discussion is going to overcome physics, but we certainly DO
>> need to stimulate phone activity in ILQP!  We need, in my opinion, to do
>> this by getting more fixed and portable (i.e., with decent antennas) on
>> the air for the event.  Jared, you guys put out a good signal with your
>> portable setup and have done well.  In 2008, you made almost 800 SSB
>> contacts, and most people who worked Logan, Mason and Tazewell counties
>> got the contact from you.  We just need to figure you how to "clone you"
>> so that similar operations cover not just three counties, but forty!!  :)
>>
>> Any and all suggestions are welcomed as we gear up for ILQP 2010!
>>
>> 73, Jim N9JF
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:ilqso-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
>> On Behalf Of Jarrod Cook
>> Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 5:15 PM
>> To: Illinois QSO Party
>> Subject: Re: [ILQSO] KJ9C a no-show this year
>>
>> Thoughts from someone who does SSB only:
>>
>> Maybe it's just me, but I see conflicting suggestions here.  On one had
>> we're trying to get newer hams/more hams to participate in the contest,
>> but
>> at the same time claiming CW is the way to go.  The fact is many newer
>> hams
>> (and some who have been around a while) are not proficient enough in CW to
>> use it for contesting.  This is the only negative to ILQP in my opinion.
>> I
>> love setting up portable operations and playing in the contest, but most
>> of
>> the action and rare counties are only CW.  After the first few hours rates
>> slow down and new SSB counties are hard to find.  Every year there is more
>> CW and less SSB activity.
>>
>> Maybe my/our situation is unique because we usually set up portable as
>> sort
>> of an emergency communications drill with the goal of talking to as many
>> IL
>> counties as we can.  It gets tiresome working the limited IL SSB stations
>> and then hearing out of state callers the rest of the contest (no offense
>> to
>> you guys, though!).
>>
>> If you want to hear a lot of new folks on the air (especially newer
>> no-code
>> Generals), they need people to talk to! :-)
>>
>> Not trying to turn this into a CW vs. SSB debate, just making an
>> observation.
>>
>> 73,
>> Jarrod
>> WX9JC
>>
>>
>>
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>> End of ILQSO Digest, Vol 65, Issue 5
>> ************************************
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