[PaQSO] Reflections on my 2007 PAQP Strategy

[The Trench Family]

Folks,

I typically spend time capturing thoughts, observations and lessons learned
after each contest that I operate seriously.  I figured I would share my
2007 PA QSO Party reflections with the reflector for your entertainment.

To recap, I had 1500 contacts including 260 2 point CW QSOs, 371 1.5 point
CW QSOs and 869 SSB QSOs.  I worked 138 multipliers including 64 counties.
I was on for the full 22 hours.  While I truly enjoy RTTY and PSK31, I
thought it would be better to stick with SSB and CW based on the low levels
of digital activity last year.

Based on my typical mix of SSB and CW QSOs, I estimated that each multiplier
was worth about 11 QSOs.  My average QSO rate is about 70 / hour, so each
multiplier is worth about 10 minutes of running time.  This relationship
helps me make the appropriate trade between running stations and looking for
multipliers; a sweep of 67 counties may not be a good thing if it results in
too much lost run time.

It was obvious from the onset that 40M was long.  This was really driven
home when I worked South Dakota about 30 minutes into the contest on 40M
SSB.  I moved to 20M around 17z and stayed there pretty much for the balance
of the daylight hours on Saturday.  This was the fourth year in a row where
my 20M SSB QSOs exceeded my 40M SSB QSOs - I am convinced that 20M SSB is
the money band for this contest.

During the Friday night warm up net, 80M was very promising.  I thought it
was not as good on Saturday night.  I observed that the 80M SSB activity
moved lower down the band than I remember from years past - it seemed there
was a lot of activity between 3800 and 3850 KHz.  I suspect this was a
result of the new 80M allocations.

I ended the first part of the contest with 975 QSOs and 131 multipliers
including 59 counties.  Even though I was not committed to the sweep, I
thought the county number was low.

My strategy for Sunday was to pick a band / mode, get a run going and move
quickly once the run subsided.  I started out Sunday on 40M CW and was
pleased to work many stations from the West Coast and mid-West.  I also was
surprised by the amount of 80M activity on Sunday morning.

My typical Sunday sequence was 20M SSB to 40M CW to 20M CW to 20M SSB.  I
worked a hand full of DX stations on 20M although I thought DX participation
was down a bit as compared to previous years.  I eventually expanded the
above sequence to include 15M SSB and 15M CW but 15M was not very productive
even though it was open.

I always kept the second radio on 40M CW and maintained a close ear on the
mobiles and rovers.  Prior to the contest, I collected information on
planned mobile and rover routes.  I plotted this information on individual
maps for each of the known operations.  I picked up ARM, CLA and FUL by
tracking mobile and rovers as they moved along their advertised route.  I
probably should have had CMB, but missed W3USA while he was there.

I ended the contest by moving between 40M CW, 80M SSB, 80M CW and 40M SSB.
I had some very intense runs during the last 90 minutes on both 80M SSB and
40M SSB, leaving me to wonder if perhaps I should have gone to these bands a
little earlier.  During the last hour, I thought I had a chance at 1500
QSOs, and indeed I hit that number exactly.

All in all, it was a great event and learning experience.  I can hardly wait
until next year.