[PaQSO] CQ vrs S&P

[Glenn O'Donnell, K3PP]

The biggest issue with the high bands (and therefore a challenge to many out-of-state participants) is propagation. This year, propagation was rough on 15 and nearly non-existent on 10. 20m was OK, but never great. 

The choice of run versus S&P isn't a choice. You do both. You run when you can, but when that dries up ( and it does for us regular folks), you go hunting. Freaks of nature like AA3B can do both simultaneously. I've done this, but at a very feeble level compared to the super-elite class. It's hard! EXTREMELY hard! People who can do this DESERVE to win!

My IC-7600 has a nice band scope. When I QSY to 15m, for example, I can "see" all the signals on the band. If I see one, I chase it. Hopefully, it's another PAQPer and I log it but often it's not. This year, the scope was largely empty. Usually, that tells me to move on. In a contest, you try anyway. That tactic didn't work on 10, but it was somewhat effective on 15. 

That "dead" band had a spectacular pipeline to the 0, 5, and 7 call areas! Every station answering my CQ was strong. If more people had known to try, I would have logged a boatload of stations on a pretty quiet band - recipe for beautifully blistering rates! As it happened, people shied away from 15 thinking it was dead. It makes me think of the inverse of one of my favorites from the great linguist Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded!"

Because 10 and 15 were such a bust, everyone crowded into 20. The same will happen in the upcoming CQWW SSB contest. 20 is usually a snake pit on phone, but under these conditions, it gets far worse. It was rare to find anywhere with a QRM level under S9+10 dB! Running in these conditions is a slugfest and S&P can be excruciating. That chases people back to 40. 

By the way, OOS stations can learn some lessons from OM2VL. This guy really knows how to play the game! I found him calling CQ at least once and answered him. He is smart enough to move stations to other bands and modes, and it works. He holds the DX record (I believe from last year) because he does things like this! He's an impressive guy!

I, for one, will always try running first, but I will also always tune around to look for other stations calling. The next several years are going to be tough for OOS stations calling us in PA and we will struggle to win those OOS multipliers. That's life when el sol calls the shots!

Thank you!
VY 73 de Glenn K3PP 

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 13, 2015, at 8:08 PM, John Getz <johngetz24 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I concur with Dave, WN4AFP, that there were a lot of out of state stations
> calling CQ for PA contacts.  I was one of the callers.  With this being a
> two day contest, you just run out of PA stations to work and need to
> attract the casual PA ops that only do S&P.  There was also a shortage of
> PA mobiles to work.  I think PA should be a one day contest.  It would be
> easier for the mobile stations so more mobile stations would come out.
> More mobiles to chase means out of station stations don't have to call CQ
> as much as new counties and contacts are always becoming available.  I'd be
> interested in hearing what others think about making PA a one day contest.
> 
> 
> John Getz
> ​, AD8J​ (Long time PA resident now retired in NC)
> ______________________________________________________________
> PaQSO mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/paqso
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:PaQSO at mailman.qth.net
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to k3pp at k3pp.com