[PaQSO] Suggestions from W3USA/M

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

1. Last year 40 meter CW was clobbered by RTTY on Saturday evening.   It 
turns out to have been from the German sponsored Makrothen RTTY  contest.  This is 
an unusual contest because it runs in 3 separate 8 hour  segments.  The 
second segment ends at 2359z Saturday, so after 8 pm EDT the  RTTY QRM to 40 CW is 
likely to go away.  AFAIK the RTTY Sprint hangs out  higher in the band, so 
ought not have much affect on CW in the PaQP.
 
2.  Last weekend 15 meters opened very nicely to W6 in the California  QSO 
Party.  I suspect it was also open to the Pacific northwest, but  because those 
guys could not work California there was no activity.  So it  may be 
worthwhile to occasionally check 15 and make some noise during the  daytime.
 
3. If the skip on 40 meters is long during the daytime, check out 80 and 75  
early in the day. Our mobile operation as W3USA/M will have 75 meters 
available  during the day.  If 40 is working well  we probably won't use it much,  but 
if 40 is bad we'll be checking 75 often.
 
4. We will have 146.55 FM available.  We probably won't be  spending much 
time there, but if we hear activity we will respond.  We may  try a few CQ's if 
we park on some high ridge.  Likewise, it appears that  the Hustler triple 
mount somehow loads up on six meters, so we may try an  occasional call on 50.125 
from high spots, though we won't be listening there  often as six uses our HF 
radio (IC-746).
 
Good luck to all.  Stay warm and safe, and have a great time!
 
 
73  -  Jim  K8MR
     
Team  (W3)USA  in the 2006 PaQP