Sweepstakes

[Bob & Debbie Fish]

Hi Guys,

I, like probably alot of you, have been doing some casual contesting
this weekend. Once again, I am amazed at how bad of a contester I am. It
isn't my rig or antenna. I have a K2/100 and a decent antenna. When I
call someone they almost always respond after the first call. My cw
skills are pretty good I can exchange contest info at around 30wpm if I
have to, although I run between 22 and 25wpm most of the time. I try not
to get distracted, another words I try to stay in front of the radio. So
I feel as if I should be, at least, competitive. But, it happens every
time. I sit down, eagerly awaiting the start of the contest, ready to do
battle, and get slaughtered. Within an hour or so I am hopelessly
behind. After 4 or 5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or 10 hours every
station I work has 600 contacts! Some of these guys are averaging a
contact a minute OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am just amazed. My best
contact rate was about 30 an hour and that was only for a couple of
hours.I usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes. So after a while I
get discouraged and start getting up and watching football for a few
minutes or something else and then I really fall behind.  I don't mind
not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one I work by a factor
of 7 or 8. I have to wonder, am I really that bad? The funny thing is,
by the time the next contest rolls around. I am sitting in front of the
radio, eagerly ready to do battle.......The lions and Christians come to
mind except the Christian weren't willing participants.

73,

Bob  K6GGO
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[dave.wilburn]

I can copy 15->18wpm pretty well.  I have been getting hammered in the
SS.  I often have to listen to 15 or 20 qso's, to get enough of their
info to give them a call, without too much disruption.  Sometimes I send
QRS and they slow down, other times they do not.  So far I have 25
contacts, and a bit over 1000 pts.  And I am proud of everyone of those
contacts.

If you are interested in the advice of someone who has only been in 4
contests, and this is only my 3rd in CW, that is to compete with
yourself.  Try to better your score from last year, or set a goal and
try to attain it.  Once you do, take a break for a half hour and get
something to eat.  Comeback with a new goal and work towards it.

This may not lead you to winning the contest, at least in the short
term, but it will make the contest enjoyable, which allows you to keep
coming back, and to keep learning and getting better.

A full deposit of my 2 pennies.
-  

David Wilburn
[hidden email]
K4DGW
K2 S/N 5982


On Sun, 2007-11-04 at 08:47 -0800, Bob Fish wrote:

> Hi Guys,
>
> I, like probably alot of you, have been doing some casual contesting
> this weekend. Once again, I am amazed at how bad of a contester I am. It
> isn't my rig or antenna. I have a K2/100 and a decent antenna. When I
> call someone they almost always respond after the first call. My cw
> skills are pretty good I can exchange contest info at around 30wpm if I
> have to, although I run between 22 and 25wpm most of the time. I try not
> to get distracted, another words I try to stay in front of the radio. So
> I feel as if I should be, at least, competitive. But, it happens every
> time. I sit down, eagerly awaiting the start of the contest, ready to do
> battle, and get slaughtered. Within an hour or so I am hopelessly
> behind. After 4 or 5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or 10 hours every
> station I work has 600 contacts! Some of these guys are averaging a
> contact a minute OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am just amazed. My best
> contact rate was about 30 an hour and that was only for a couple of
> hours.I usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes. So after a while I
> get discouraged and start getting up and watching football for a few
> minutes or something else and then I really fall behind.  I don't mind
> not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one I work by a factor
> of 7 or 8. I have to wonder, am I really that bad? The funny thing is,
> by the time the next contest rolls around. I am sitting in front of the
> radio, eagerly ready to do battle.......The lions and Christians come to
> mind except the Christian weren't willing participants.
>
> 73,
>
> Bob  K6GGO
> _______________________________________________
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> Post to: [hidden email]
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[Jack Brindle]

Bob;

No, you're not that bad. You just need to put things in context. The  
guys you are hearing, for the most part, are running lots of power  
(far more than 100 watts) with substantial antenna systems. While you  
(and I) go from frequency to frequency in a "search and pounce"  
exercise, their commanding power and locations allows them to sit on  
a frequency, call CQ and wait for us to come. Their stations are  
built to do exactly what they are doing, and their skills honed for  
the exercise.

Building such a station is definitely way cool, requiring lots of  
design savvy and more than a few dollars. Having the right radio  
makes a big difference, while knowing how to use its features to your  
advantage takes more than a little effort. Learning the ins and outs  
of contest software helps quite a bit, as can a good understanding of  
propagation conditions (and how to apply them). Add in a second radio  
for SO2R operation (to make use of the time when you aren't in a QSO)  
and things get really serious quite fast. Another area for advantage  
is location. A good high station in the clear will beat my valley-
floor station almost every time. They just hear more than I do. There  
are lots of tricks and details that high-level contesters put to  
their advantage.

I really enjoy learning from these folks and apply quite a bit of  
their knowledge to my own operations. But I don't try to directly  
compete with them (except in a pileup, of course). There will be QSO  
totals in the high thousand zone for CW Sweepstakes, I'll settle for  
about 150. That will be more than I have previously done in CW SS  
(I'm more serious in phone SS - the number will be at least 500 and a  
sweep). I compete against my previous records and my friends. Lions  
and Christians? Hardly. You compete where you want to compete at your  
own level. That makes it a lot of fun!

So, no you aren't bad at all, just slightly overmatched at a high  
level, but probably exactly where you need to be at your own level.  
Noting that you are in the Northern California area, I would invite  
you to a meeting of the Northern California Contest Club so you can  
meet the wide area of contesters we have here in Northern California.  
You will find hams of all types, from _really_ serious contesters to  
good "little pistols" and more than a few "casual contesters." All  
enjoy contesting, and all can be very helpful for those wishing to  
improve their skills. Check the NCCC web site at www.nccc.cc for more  
information.

By the way, the K3 was designed to be able to compete in the very  
environment we have in contesting. It is going through its paces for  
the first time in CW Sweepstakes, and so far the results are very  
good. We knew Wayne and Lyle created another winner, now it is being  
confirmed!

On Nov 4, 2007, at 8:47 AM, Bob Fish wrote:

> Hi Guys,
>
> I, like probably alot of you, have been doing some casual  
> contesting this weekend. Once again, I am amazed at how bad of a  
> contester I am. It isn't my rig or antenna. I have a K2/100 and a  
> decent antenna. When I call someone they almost always respond  
> after the first call. My cw skills are pretty good I can exchange  
> contest info at around 30wpm if I have to, although I run between  
> 22 and 25wpm most of the time. I try not to get distracted, another  
> words I try to stay in front of the radio. So I feel as if I should  
> be, at least, competitive. But, it happens every time. I sit down,  
> eagerly awaiting the start of the contest, ready to do battle, and  
> get slaughtered. Within an hour or so I am hopelessly behind. After  
> 4 or 5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or 10 hours every station I work  
> has 600 contacts! Some of these guys are averaging a contact a  
> minute OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am just amazed. My best contact  
> rate was about 30 an hour and that was only for a couple of hours.I  
> usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes. So after a while I get  
> discouraged and start getting up and watching football for a few  
> minutes or something else and then I really fall behind.  I don't  
> mind not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one I work by  
> a factor of 7 or 8. I have to wonder, am I really that bad? The  
> funny thing is, by the time the next contest rolls around. I am  
> sitting in front of the radio, eagerly ready to do battle.......The  
> lions and Christians come to mind except the Christian weren't  
> willing participants.
>
> 73,
>
> Bob  K6GGO
> _______________________________________________
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> Post to: [hidden email]
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- Jack Brindle, W6FB
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------


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[Stephen W. Kercel]

Bob:

You raise a question that I've thought a lot about. My experience of
contesting with a good 100 watt rig and a decent antenna is quite
similar to yours. Using a strict "search and pounce" strategy and
being very economical about the number of steps that I take for
logging (I do not use a computerized log) I can maintain a pretty
consistent QSO rate of about 30 per hour, but try as I might I cannot
do much better. In a 24 hour contest that works out to 720 QSOs,
respectable but not seriously competitive in high/medium power class.

Obviously, the big boys are doing something different if they can
consistently make 60-100 CW contacts per hour. Please be aware that
I'm not knocking them or their strategy, I'm merely looking at what
they do differently. The substantive difference between their
strategy and yours and mine is that they create a pileup around
themselves. The way they do that involves several specifics: 1) They
use a computerized log integrated with the rig and keyer so that as
much data as possible (e.g., time and frequency) are copied directly
from the hardware, and the operate/log procedure has been perfected
to work with the minimum number of keystrokes and no duplication of
entries. 2) They use the maximum legal power for their class of
competition. For example, using 100 Watts in a class that permits 200
watts is only a 3 dB disadvantage, and is just perceptibly weaker for
any given QSO. However, across 1000 attempted QSOs, the extra punch
of 3 dB will produce more consistent results. 3) They do not use
respectable antennas; they use spectacularly big and expensive antennas.

The point is that they put out a dominant signal, call CQ, and work
off the pileup. They have the steps of making and logging the QSO
worked out so that they can get into a rhythm that enables them to
work stations just as fast as they hear them. They also have one
indispensable skill: Given several simultaneous callers, they are
consistently able to identify at least one callsign out of the
cacophony of stations trying to call them.

Obviously the indispensable key to the strategy is the big antenna
that produces the big signal. That is out of reach for most of us,
and is the reason why you see a cluster of a few big leaders followed
by a very distant pack.

Nevertheless, there is a way for us ordinary guys to get a place at
the winners table. Go QRP. In my experience, even with a dipole
antenna, I can usually sustain a rate a bit above 20 QSOs per hour
with QRP, as opposed to 30 per hour with 100 Watts. Sometimes that is
enough to win. For example, I won the plaque for US high score in the
1983 ARRL CW DX contest in the QRP class. Even if I don't win, I'll
often end up in the top 3 in my class of competition. The reason why
the strategy works is that we're competing for relative standing only
against other QRPers, and with the very rare exception, QRPers do not
put up "big gun" antennas. Think of it as Christians vs. tabby cats.

73,

Steve Kercel
AA4AK




At 11:47 AM 11/4/2007, Bob Fish wrote:

>Hi Guys,
>
>I, like probably alot of you, have been doing some casual contesting
>this weekend. Once again, I am amazed at how bad of a contester I
>am. It isn't my rig or antenna. I have a K2/100 and a decent
>antenna. When I call someone they almost always respond after the
>first call. My cw skills are pretty good I can exchange contest info
>at around 30wpm if I have to, although I run between 22 and 25wpm
>most of the time. I try not to get distracted, another words I try
>to stay in front of the radio. So I feel as if I should be, at
>least, competitive. But, it happens every time. I sit down, eagerly
>awaiting the start of the contest, ready to do battle, and get
>slaughtered. Within an hour or so I am hopelessly behind. After 4 or
>5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or 10 hours every station I work has
>600 contacts! Some of these guys are averaging a contact a minute
>OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am just amazed. My best contact rate
>was about 30 an hour and that was only for a couple of hours.I
>usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes. So after a while I get
>discouraged and start getting up and watching football for a few
>minutes or something else and then I really fall behind.  I don't
>mind not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one I work by
>a factor of 7 or 8. I have to wonder, am I really that bad? The
>funny thing is, by the time the next contest rolls around. I am
>sitting in front of the radio, eagerly ready to do battle.......The
>lions and Christians come to mind except the Christian weren't
>willing participants.
>
>73,
>
>Bob  K6GGO
>_______________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Post to: [hidden email]
>You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
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[Dave, G4AON]

Bob

It's horses for courses (deliberate pun intended)... I've only entered
two contests and came second both times! My friend Tim, G4ARI, won on
both occasions. The contest was the RSGB low power contest
(http://www.contesting.co.uk/hfcc/rules/rqrp.shtml). We both ran
Elecraft K2/10 transceivers to dipole and doublet antennas, the maximum
points are gained from working low power and portable stations, so
QRPers have a huge advantage. The portable stations are limited on
antenna height and supports.

I'm not the fastest CW operator around, usually operating 20 - 25 wpm,
but if you miss something you can always ask the station to repeat it -
they probably need the details recording as accurately as you do.

73 Dave, G4AON
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[Ken Alexander-2]

Hi Bob,

Contesting is one of the things I love to do that I'm
no good at...skiing is another and golfing's on the
list too.

Competing against yourself is excellent advice that
you've already received.  There are a few other ways
to make contesting more fun:

- Join a contest club.  You still operate at home on
your own equipment, but your score becomes part of an
aggregate club score.  The big advantage is that it
puts you in touch with other contesters in your region
from whom you can learn.  You'll see contest club
scores listed in the results of many contests.

- An enormously motivating development is online
reporting of your contest score.  The computer you use
for logging (you are using logging saftware, aren't
you?) has to be connected to the internet for this to
work.  N1MM Logger, and probably several other loggers
has a module that you activate that collects your
score data from the logger and uploads it
automatically to a score reporting website, where your
score is listed with all other participants.

You can check out the website and see how you're doing
relative to everyone else.  The first time I tried
this I got into a race with a ham who was a few
hundred points ahead of me.  I tried to catch him and
did after a while.  Then I could see that he was
pouring it on to try and get ahead of me again.  

We battled for hours for (something like) 763rd place,
but it was great fun because he was a reachable
target.  I looked him up on qrz.com and e-mailed him
after the contest.  He said he had his eyes on me the
whole time and was working hard to stay ahead.

We both spent a lot more time in front of the radio
and improved our scores a lot.  It was also a lot more
fun, because after all QSOs = Fun.

Having said all this, I'll be darned if I can find the
website!  It's run by a W1/VE1 and it'll probably come
to me before long.  Maybe someone else on the list
knows and will jump in, too.

Hope this is of interest.

73,

Ken Alexander
VE3HLS


--- Bob Fish <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Guys,
>
> I, like probably alot of you, have been doing some
> casual contesting
> this weekend. Once again, I am amazed at how bad of
> a contester I am. It
> isn't my rig or antenna. I have a K2/100 and a
> decent antenna. When I
> call someone they almost always respond after the
> first call. My cw
> skills are pretty good I can exchange contest info
> at around 30wpm if I
> have to, although I run between 22 and 25wpm most of
> the time. I try not
> to get distracted, another words I try to stay in
> front of the radio. So
> I feel as if I should be, at least, competitive.
> But, it happens every
> time. I sit down, eagerly awaiting the start of the
> contest, ready to do
> battle, and get slaughtered. Within an hour or so I
> am hopelessly
> behind. After 4 or 5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or
> 10 hours every
> station I work has 600 contacts! Some of these guys
> are averaging a
> contact a minute OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am
> just amazed. My best
> contact rate was about 30 an hour and that was only
> for a couple of
> hours.I usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes.
> So after a while I
> get discouraged and start getting up and watching
> football for a few
> minutes or something else and then I really fall
> behind.  I don't mind
> not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one
> I work by a factor
> of 7 or 8. I have to wonder, am I really that bad?
> The funny thing is,
> by the time the next contest rolls around. I am
> sitting in front of the
> radio, eagerly ready to do battle.......The lions
> and Christians come to
> mind except the Christian weren't willing
> participants.
>
> 73,
>
> Bob  K6GGO
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   
>
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>

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[geoff allsup]

W1VE/VE1RM is the guy you're thinking of - www.w1ve.com and the realtime
scores site at www.getscores.org

72,
geoff - W1OH


Ken Alexander wrote:

> Hi Bob,
>
> Contesting is one of the things I love to do that I'm
> no good at...skiing is another and golfing's on the
> list too.
>
> Competing against yourself is excellent advice that
> you've already received.  There are a few other ways
> to make contesting more fun:
>
> - Join a contest club.  You still operate at home on
> your own equipment, but your score becomes part of an
> aggregate club score.  The big advantage is that it
> puts you in touch with other contesters in your region
> from whom you can learn.  You'll see contest club
> scores listed in the results of many contests.
>
> - An enormously motivating development is online
> reporting of your contest score.  The computer you use
> for logging (you are using logging saftware, aren't
> you?) has to be connected to the internet for this to
> work.  N1MM Logger, and probably several other loggers
> has a module that you activate that collects your
> score data from the logger and uploads it
> automatically to a score reporting website, where your
> score is listed with all other participants.
>
> You can check out the website and see how you're doing
> relative to everyone else.  The first time I tried
> this I got into a race with a ham who was a few
> hundred points ahead of me.  I tried to catch him and
> did after a while.  Then I could see that he was
> pouring it on to try and get ahead of me again.  
>
> We battled for hours for (something like) 763rd place,
> but it was great fun because he was a reachable
> target.  I looked him up on qrz.com and e-mailed him
> after the contest.  He said he had his eyes on me the
> whole time and was working hard to stay ahead.
>
> We both spent a lot more time in front of the radio
> and improved our scores a lot.  It was also a lot more
> fun, because after all QSOs = Fun.
>
> Having said all this, I'll be darned if I can find the
> website!  It's run by a W1/VE1 and it'll probably come
> to me before long.  Maybe someone else on the list
> knows and will jump in, too.
>
> Hope this is of interest.
>
> 73,
>
> Ken Alexander
> VE3HLS
>
>
> --- Bob Fish <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> Hi Guys,
>>
>> I, like probably alot of you, have been doing some
>> casual contesting
>> this weekend. Once again, I am amazed at how bad of
>> a contester I am. It
>> isn't my rig or antenna. I have a K2/100 and a
>> decent antenna. When I
>> call someone they almost always respond after the
>> first call. My cw
>> skills are pretty good I can exchange contest info
>> at around 30wpm if I
>> have to, although I run between 22 and 25wpm most of
>> the time. I try not
>> to get distracted, another words I try to stay in
>> front of the radio. So
>> I feel as if I should be, at least, competitive.
>> But, it happens every
>> time. I sit down, eagerly awaiting the start of the
>> contest, ready to do
>> battle, and get slaughtered. Within an hour or so I
>> am hopelessly
>> behind. After 4 or 5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or
>> 10 hours every
>> station I work has 600 contacts! Some of these guys
>> are averaging a
>> contact a minute OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am
>> just amazed. My best
>> contact rate was about 30 an hour and that was only
>> for a couple of
>> hours.I usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes.
>> So after a while I
>> get discouraged and start getting up and watching
>> football for a few
>> minutes or something else and then I really fall
>> behind.  I don't mind
>> not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one
>> I work by a factor
>> of 7 or 8. I have to wonder, am I really that bad?
>> The funny thing is,
>> by the time the next contest rolls around. I am
>> sitting in front of the
>> radio, eagerly ready to do battle.......The lions
>> and Christians come to
>> mind except the Christian weren't willing
>> participants.
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Bob  K6GGO
>> _______________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
>> Post to: [hidden email]
>> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
>> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   
>>
>>
>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
>> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>

--
*************************************************************
Geoff Allsup, W1OH     [hidden email]  or  [hidden email]
Research Engineer              Upper Ocean Processes Group
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution   Woods Hole, MA, USA
*************************************************************

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[N2EY]

In a message dated 11/4/07 11:48:07 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[hidden email] writes:


>  I have a K2/100 and a decent antenna.

With all due respect, what do you consider a decent antenna?

When I
>
> call someone they almost always respond after the first call. My cw
> skills are pretty good I can exchange contest info at around 30wpm if I
> have to, although I run between 22 and 25wpm most of the time. I try not
> to get distracted, another words I try to stay in front of the radio. So
> I feel as if I should be, at least, competitive.

You *are* competitive - with stations that are similarly equipped.

 But, it happens every
>
> time. I sit down, eagerly awaiting the start of the contest, ready to do
> battle, and get slaughtered. Within an hour or so I am hopelessly
> behind. After 4 or 5 hours it is a joke. after 8 or 10 hours every
> station I work has 600 contacts! Some of these guys are averaging a
> contact a minute OVER 8 HOURS! I'm not mad, I am just amazed. My best
> contact rate was about 30 an hour and that was only for a couple of
> hours.I usually run a contact every 3 or 4 minutes.

The question is, what factor limits your QSO rate?

In my case, the limiting factors have always been:

1) My signal isn't usually strong enough to hold a frequency and run QSOs.

2) Finding new ones to work by hunt-and-pounce.

The folks with 600 QSOs after 10 hours aren't hunting and pouncing much.
They're holding a frequency and running QSOs two-a-minute.

So after a while I
>
> get discouraged and start getting up and watching football for a few
> minutes or something else and then I really fall behind.  I don't mind
> not winning, but I am getting clobbered by every one I work by a factor
> of 7 or 8.

I know what you mean. It's hard to maintain focus when the results are not up
to expectations. Perhaps the expectations are unrealistic.

 I have to wonder, am I really that bad?

No.

The more-important question is, are you getting better? IOW, are you learning
from the experience?

One thing I notice about myself is that I'm pretty rusty when the contest
starts, and it takes me a while to get up to speed. That means I need to do more
"little contests", rather than just SS and FD.

I also need to get the computer fully integrated into the shack well before
the contest. As it was, all it could do was log and dupe - I did all the
sending myself.

---

SS is a really strange contest in some ways:

1) Compared to other contests, SS has a very long and complex exchange. Four
distinct items to be sent and received besides the callsign. (Used to be
five!)

2) It's a US-and-Canada contest (I'm old enough to remember when the Canal
Zone was a section!) which makes it very different from DX contests, because you
need to work close-in stations as well as far off ones. Where you are in the
country can make a difference

3) Unlike almost every other big contest, you can only work a station once,
regardless of band. This makes finding new ones harder and harder as the
contest goes on. It also means you have to use completely different judgement than
other contests, because the station you spend five minutes dragging out of the
mud on 80 may be twenty over on 20 in a few hours - or minutes.

73 de Jim, N2EY


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[Joe-aa4nn]

In my early days of contesting I would shy away from contests
having a serial number in the exchange.  It was for me a big
time thing to fall behind in the numbers, really embarrassing.
But no more.  As I entered Sweepstakes early Sunday
afternoon I found it interesting that ops would often ask for
a repeat to confirm my unexpected low serial number.

You need a strong station and a lot of experience with good
copying ability to compete for overall high score.  If you insist
on going for high score, make your goal more realistic and more
fun by competing with stations in your own ARRL/RAC section
or local radio club or a friend.  In this way you are competing
with stations in your particular area on this continent.

Forget the high score and all the pressure that goes with it, and
just concentrate on getting a *sweep* of all 80 ARRL/RAC
sections.  Now, there's a challenge for you and a quite difficult
one at that.  

de Joe, aa4nn

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[Goody K3NG]

Is there anything in the rules that wouldn't allow one to start with a
high serial number, like 800 instead of 1 :-)  ???

Joe-aa4nn wrote:
> In my early days of contesting I would shy away from contests
> having a serial number in the exchange.  It was for me a big
> time thing to fall behind in the numbers, really embarrassing.
> But no more.  As I entered Sweepstakes early Sunday
> afternoon I found it interesting that ops would often ask for
> a repeat to confirm my unexpected low serial number.

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[N2EY]

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe-aa4nn <[hidden email]>

IIRC, I was surprised to get such a low SN from AA4NN.

But then I noticed a number of stations on Sunday that had good big sigs
and yet were giving out low SNs.

I think they were playing the "hot and fast" game: Show up late in SS
(Sunday morning at the earliest, late Sunday afternoon usually) and
start calling CQ.
By then, almost everyone, even the big boys, are looking for new ones,
and you have a few
intense hours of being *very* popular! You won't win that way, but your
QSO rate will be
phenomenal.

> If you insist 
>on going for high score, make your goal more realistic and more 
>fun by competing with stations in your own ARRL/RAC section 
>or local radio club or a friend. In this way you are competing 
>with stations in your particular area on this continent. 
 
Or compete in a variety of ways:

- are you ahead of where you were last year, the year before that, etc?
- have you fixed any weak points in your setup (rig, antenna, operator?)
- where do you fit in the overall percentile rank?
- where do you fit in the particular class (QRP ops in your section,
etc.)

You can also use contests like SS as a way to get those rare states for
WAS.

>Forget the high score and all the pressure that goes with it, and 
>just concentrate on getting a *sweep* of all 80 ARRL/RAC 
>sections. Now, there's a challenge for you and a quite difficult 
>one at that.  

AAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Don't remind me!

I've worked all sections in SS - just never all in the *same* SS!
>From EPA, it is really tough to get AK, NT, and PAC, simply
because there are so many hams closer to those sections, they are so
rare
and so far away, and EPA isn't rare at all.

Got 76 sections including PAC this year. AK heard but couldn't break
through, NT nowhere to be found.
The other holdouts were WTX, and (sob) DE!

It's only a few miles from here to the Delaware/PA border, yet I never
heard any DE stations at all this year.

Perhaps they were all tossing pumpkins.

Maybe next year I'll have a different rig for SS...

73 de Jim, N2EY
 
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