[PaQSO] A View From the Road

[Jimk8mr@aol.com]

If you are of the opinion that the PaQP as presently constituted is the best 
possible contest that could ever be conceived, and must never be improved, 
save yourself some time. Find the key on the keyboard in front of you that 
says "Delete", and press it now.  

Otherwise, consider this:

Once again I did the PaQP (Saturday only) driving around Pennsylvania making 
lots of QSOs.  I had over 800 QSOs from 23 counties, including some of those 
places people are listing as the most difficult, like ARM, JEF, FOR, ELK, 
JUN, PER.  

Only 100 of these QSOs were on SSB.  It's not that I don't like SSB or that I 
didn't try, at least before about 9 PM EDT.  It's just that mobile operation 
on SSB is a lot tougher than on CW.  Since there isn't a lot of activity on 
CW in general, by tuning just a little farther away from the PaQP pack one 
could always find a clear frequency.  Once there, an S-7 signal was plenty 
loud enough to be heard.

OTOH on SSB, there just aren't a lot of open frequencies, and even if I did 
find one that seemed clear, an S-7 signal doesn't get a lot of attention.  I 
could call people on SSB, but if there was anyone else calling, they won the 
pileup.  I can't spend a lot of time waiting around in pileups, so usually 
after a few SSB qsos, it was back to CW to get the rate up.

And this is describing 40 meters.  On 80, things are even worse.  And mobile, 
you don't even think about 160!

I spent some time parked in some of the rarer counties.  This sometimes helps 
because I can better hear how clear a frequency might be, but my signal 
doesn't get any louder by being parked.

I could be a lot louder, but the rules, at least as interpreted, don't allow 
it.  Last year I inquired about if I could combine operating mobile with some 
interspersed stops where I'd throw a dipole up in some trees or with a 
portable mast.  I'd have submitted the entry as a rover.

The response was no way, I'd have to submit the mobile qsos as a mobile log, 
and the qsos while parked as a rover log.  So I said forget it, and stayed a 
pure mobile, always capable of motion even if I occasionally stopped, and 
never had a signal that would make a dent on SSB.

My suggestion: Why not define the rover class as any operation from multiple 
locations, using portable antennas? Including operation while moving. That's 
what the rover definition has always been in the VHF contests.

My strategy with such an option would be to find locations in rare counties 
that could be run for an hour or so, and then operate mobile while en route 
to the next such place, or while passing through common counties.  I'd run a 
lot of CW while moving, lots of SSB while parked.  Phone operators would 
finally get some of the benefits of my travels.

It seems counterproductive to prohibit rover stations from making QSOs while 
en route from one location to another.


73  -  Jim   K8MR

 

  


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