[PaQSO] TIPS FOR OUT OF STATE OPERATION IN PAQP

[MORSENUT@aol.com]

As this will be my first year operating PAQP out-of-state, I wonder if there 
are any operators on the reflector who have done well as an out-of-state 
entry willing to share some of their experiences.

High placing out-of-state Ops:

1.  Do you find that calling CQ is effective or do you rely on S and P?

2.  Judging from last year's out-of-state standings, it seems like the top
     scoring stations run about 1/3 CW and 2/3 SSB.  Is this the norm?  Or
     have there been years when a station using only CW has placed in the
     top 5 out-of-state stations? 

3.  Is there much activity on 160 meters, SSB and CW?

I know that the answers to the above depend on how good your signal is into 
PA, the power you're running, your QTH, and so on....still I wonder if there 
is
any consensus among out-of-state ops regarding the above, given station 
location, effectiveness of antennas, and so on.

I will be operating from SNJ using 100 Watts into a triband sloper for 160, 
80, and 40 meters.  This antenna puts a good high angle radiated signal into 
PA
on those bands  (maybe a minor lobe of low angle radiation....but it seems 
best on short haul,,no surprizes there)....not the best on 160 but certainly 
a decent signal for short haul work.  I will also have a 5 element tribander 
at 60 feet for 20, 15, and 10....but since PA is so close to SNJ, I am not 
regarding this as a strength, save for perahps very short skip on 20 meters 
into the farther flung areas of the state..even here, the major lobe is too 
low to the horizon to be of great benefit...not to mention that PAQP does not 
seem to be a high band contest from the outset.

I prefer CW and there is a point advantage and I am pretty fast,,,but since 
it seems that the stations scoring in the top five run the majority of their 
Qs using SSB, I guess I will have to defer to Donald Duck and use SSB (HI HI) 
as I will eventually run out of stations to work on CW, not to mention that 
it seems harder to find the rare counties on CW.

Just musings....would appreicate some input...short of your closely guarded 
secrets of course!

73 to all!


Tim
N8LXR


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