The Radio amateurs of Canada (RAC) winter contest has come and gone for 2022. This contest is both CW, AM, FM and SSB. As for me, it was the same old same old just CW. The propagation gods were smiling on this contest and conditions were great. I operated 7 hours on Saturday they were 1-hour sessions with about a 10 min break at each end of hour. I find this works best for me and I set in a lunch and or dinner time as well.
The radio, software and antenna worked great no complaints at all. The system I find works best for me is to start out searching and pouncing contacts. This gets in the log those who are only running in the contest and also it gets my ears warmed up to the code speed. I then move on to running which in this contest I did about 90% of the time. The participation was great and while running my best 1-hour count was 91 QSOs which kept me very busy and the hour flew by.
There were nice openings on all the bands my Hustler 4BTV provided for me 10,15,20 and 40m. The settings I find that work best for me on the Icom 7610 are;
Filter set to 400Hz so I can hear those that call a bit off frequency I find that 250 or less a bit too narrow. Now having said that during the "biggy" contests 250Hz is required due to the close proximity of signals.
I keep my APF (audio Peak Filter) on and set it to wide.
I keep the NR (noise reduction) on and set it to a low range.
I use the CW full break in and it does take some getting used to. As you transmit dits and dahs your rig goes back and forth from receive to transmit. This allows me to hear if anyone is trying to contact me while transmitting. You would be shocked at how many times I hear someone. Also when searching and pouncing as you call a station it allows you to hear if another station is also trying to make contact. In that case, I just stop transmitting as it would be just a mixed mess being sent to the station. Also, it allows you to hear if the running station is contacting someone and then you just stop transmitting as you don't want to QRM.
Below are the end results of 7 hours on the air I am very pleased with the numbers and I am getting more confident in my contest running abilities.
4 comments:
Well done Mike!!! I must confess that I totally forget about the RAC Winter Contest this year. Sounds like you had a good time!!
Merry Christmas!!!
73,
Bill VE3FI
Good morning Bill very nice to hear from you, yes it was very well attended and propagation was good as well. Merry Christmas to you and your family as well.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
52 QSO’S per hour - WOW!! That’s amazing! Don’t you get any aches from repetitive keying for prolonged periods?
Anyway, well done and hope 2023 brings you many more QSO’s.
Best regards, Tom, M7MCQ.
www.m7mcq.com
Good morning Tom and great to hear from you, I hope your Christmas was well and that you and your wife are in good health. As for the contest I used N1MM+ it's contesting software and basically, the PC does all the keying and sending of CW. About 10% of the time I will send CW due to repeats or something odd in the sequence of the exchange. I find what gets tired is the brain just coping for so long and at fast speeds. In the ARRL DX contest, I had some rates that were at 93 Q's per hour. I find taking a 10 min break each hour helps and allows me to rest my mind a bit.
73 and Happy New Year (in advance)
Mike
VE9KK
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