View Full Version : CQ CQ WPX
WPX test this weekend is now over.
1776 QSOs (including dupes) for a total of 4.7 meg.
How did you guys do?
KC9ECI
03-25-2012, 10:13 PM
I spent Saturday road tripping with the wife as we were without children for the day and today was spent on grilling out and doing some brewing, filtering and kegging. Never turned on a radio.
I did a lot of listening, some e-tinkering and a fair amount of house cleaning. Was nice to hear the bands active.
I spent it working...and looking off my back balcony at my antenna crumpled on the ground from a wind storm last week. :(
I did a lot of listening, some e-tinkering and a fair amount of house cleaning. Was nice to hear the bands active.
The bands were OK, but not fantastic like they were for CQWW 2011. CQWW 2011 was also interesting because some guys who didn't have generators were removed from the contest by mother nature, so it became a bit more advantageous for the little guys like me. 10 meters was just WOW last year. This year not so much. I got some trans eq but that was it. 15 was the money band for sure.
I spent it working...and looking off my back balcony at my antenna crumpled on the ground from a wind storm last week. :(Well, please, pretty please, get it back up...
...ahem, get the ANTENNA back up...
I still need to work NV on 160!!
The bands were OK, but not fantastic like they were for CQWW 2011. CQWW 2011 was also interesting because some guys who didn't have generators were removed from the contest by mother nature, so it became a bit more advantageous for the little guys like me. 10 meters was just WOW last year. This year not so much. I got some trans eq but that was it. 15 was the money band for sure.Putzed around in the WPX. Spent a good bit of the weekend with the boss, since Saturday was her birthday.
Had I really wanted to, I could have done better. Quite happy with my 100 Q's.
Just don't have the desire for the WPX, or for that matter the CQ WW, contests anymore. Not since they got so adamant about Open Logs. Real pity, those used to be some of my top contests, too, even though I had next to zip chance of "winning" anything.
I don't mind the open logs... Randy K5ZD even posts audio from his contest operation on his website. I've been learning a lot by listening.
Of course it does rub some the wrong way, I don't blame you because you take time to develop your own techniques. But I'm relatively happy with open logs.
What I'm turned off by is the people who make 11kHz of splatter to keep a frequency clear. If you look at them on a spectrum scope you can see just how bad they are.
There were the jammers but they are largely a minor annoyance that can be ignored and they'll go away. Think of it - we pick out signals close to the noise floor with s9+30 QRM coming from people with stacks of antennas and kilowatt+ amps. Do they really think their little bit of jamming is going to stop us? LOL!
I don't mind the open logs... Randy K5ZD even posts audio from his contest operation on his website. I've been learning a lot by listening.
Of course it does rub some the wrong way, I don't blame you because you take time to develop your own techniques. But I'm relatively happy with open logs.
What I'm turned off by is the people who make 11kHz of splatter to keep a frequency clear. If you look at them on a spectrum scope you can see just how bad they are.
There were the jammers but they are largely a minor annoyance that can be ignored and they'll go away. Think of it - we pick out signals close to the noise floor with s9+30 QRM coming from people with stacks of antennas and kilowatt+ amps. Do they really think their little bit of jamming is going to stop us? LOL!
No argument about the splatter.
Regarding Open Logs: If someone choses to make their log information available to the public, to anyone who wants to see it, that's their business. I decline to do so.
So, when I'm told that in order to enter a particular contest, I must agree to make my logs open, and that I have no choice in the matter, I'll pass.
Ironically, Randy has tried a few times to convince me to send in my logs... even as check logs, which aren't (yet) made public. Chew on that one for a moment, and the obvious hypocrisy ought to spring right out. In any event, at the last attempt to twist my arm, he essentially informed me that since I don't send in my logs, he's decided that I should have no say in the matter, and he will ignore my opinion henceforth. In other words, no matter what, I have no say in the matter. So the hell with it.
KC9ECI
03-26-2012, 07:11 PM
Just out of curiosity, what are your objections to open logs?
KA9MOT
03-26-2012, 07:46 PM
20 contacts here. 940 Points. Most of my contacts were on 40M with the rest on 20M, 15M, 10M. Very little contest activity on 75M, which I think is the norm (The contesters are afraid of the meanies). 7 countries with Ireland and Aruba being new and right before I worked XR6T he commented that he was experiencing a strong earthquake at his station and kept right on working. It turned out to be a 7.1 Magnitude quake.
I rediscovered what I already new. My antenna works like gang busters on 40M. It is a dummy load with good ears everywhere else. And not enough radials on the Butternut. These are things that can be changed.
Just out of curiosity, what are your objections to open logs?Long story and best for another thread.
Short story is that I'm a firm believer in privacy rights (working for an insurance broker has a lot to do with that, HIPAA related headaches land in my lap), & I don't like what I've seen some people do with open logs. I don't like the way it was railroaded through with no input from the vast majority of the contest community; frankly, I don't like being pushed around. I don't like that promises made in the past that "we won't ever post these logs" have been broken.
Most importantly, I think that the way it's being handled is contrary to the spirit (if not the absolute letter) of US privacy statutes. And my company's HIPAA compliance people agree.
My only concern is closed logs, meaning i cant get a card after a certain amount of time because the manager decided it was long enough instead of simply going back in and having a look and shipping out a card. Its not too common, fortunately.
My only concern is closed logs, meaning i cant get a card after a certain amount of time because the manager decided it was long enough instead of simply going back in and having a look and shipping out a card. Its not too common, fortunately.Oh. That's a different issue, despite the similarity in the names.
And the sad thing about that is, there are plenty of QSL Managers out there who will gladly take over "orphaned" logs and handle the occasional request that wanders in. (And things happen... cards get lost or destroyed for a variety of reasons, for one.). But, instead of turning the responsibility over, the existing Manager just closes the log and says "Tough noogies." It's a power trip thing, I guess.
Open Logs, for those who don't know, refers to an after-contest posting of all contestant-entered logs on the Web for anyone who wants to look through them. So, in the case of the CQ WW & CQ WPX contests, if you submit a competitive log for scoring, you agree (as part of the entry) that your logs will be posted on the web. However... if you send in a check log (not for scoring or for an award, just so that they can check competitors against yours for accuracy), check logs are NOT posted on the Web. At least, not yet.
KC9ECI
03-29-2012, 10:43 PM
Long story and best for another thread.
Short story is that I'm a firm believer in privacy rights (working for an insurance broker has a lot to do with that, HIPAA related headaches land in my lap)
Stand by for a PM.
Oh. That's a different issue, despite the similarity in the names.
And the sad thing about that is, there are plenty of QSL Managers out there who will gladly take over "orphaned" logs and handle the occasional request that wanders in. (And things happen... cards get lost or destroyed for a variety of reasons, for one.). But, instead of turning the responsibility over, the existing Manager just closes the log and says "Tough noogies." It's a power trip thing, I guess.
Open Logs, for those who don't know, refers to an after-contest posting of all contestant-entered logs on the Web for anyone who wants to look through them. So, in the case of the CQ WW & CQ WPX contests, if you submit a competitive log for scoring, you agree (as part of the entry) that your logs will be posted on the web. However... if you send in a check log (not for scoring or for an award, just so that they can check competitors against yours for accuracy), check logs are NOT posted on the Web. At least, not yet.
I wasnt aware of all that since im an archaic paper log guy. I actually downloaded all the files for Logger32 and FastLogEntry, but, not being a good computer guy, am stuck now on how to open it and configure it properly. This computer is brand new (HP Pavillion), but once i get that together, i will start the months long laborious task of manually entering 30 years of contacts....one by one.
As for the power tripping qsl manager, it boggles the mind. Super dork material there.
I wasnt aware of all that since im an archaic paper log guy. I actually downloaded all the files for Logger32 and FastLogEntry, but, not being a good computer guy, am stuck now on how to open it and configure it properly. This computer is brand new (HP Pavillion), but once i get that together, i will start the months long laborious task of manually entering 30 years of contacts....one by one.
As for the power tripping qsl manager, it boggles the mind. Super dork material there.When I separated from the first wife, I had several months in an apartment (with friends) but no radios, outside of my HT & HF mobile. I ended up spending several weeks transcribing my paper logs into a dBase database. I've kept it up... er, I've continued the data entry ever since.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.