1. Messages
  2. CQWW VHF

Re: CQWW VHF

Keith Morehouse
 

Mike, congratulations on a good result !

Mike and I have somewhat conflicting views on the merits of FT8 during contests and we discussed it a lot during the W5UHF multi-op in June.  I'm not a big fan of it, as it's so very slow.  But, I certainly see the plus-side of it when 6M is not yet open (or open well enough to support QSO's on a more 'rapid' mode).  As Mike mentioned, use all the tools in the box to maximize results, BUT, know WHICH tool is the best, for you, at any given point in the contest.

As a side note, it appears W5PR in EL29 will either win or be highly competitive for the 6M single-band championship this weekend.  He is a perennial high scorer on 6M.  This weekend, he made 650+ QSO's without using FT8 at all.  Think about that the next time you're tempted to remain on FT8 when the band opens.

-W9RM

Keith J Morehouse
Managing Partner
Calmesa Partners G.P.
Olathe, CO

On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 1:09 PM, WB2FKO <mph@...> wrote:
For better or worse, this CQWW was all about FT8.  W9RM predicted that ops would get transfixed to their computer screens attempting to make digital QSOs when 6m Es could easily support faster, more efficient ssb.  This is exactly what happened.  An additional source of confusion was the incompatibility of North American contest mode and the regular DX mode of FT8.  Most were using the latter.  This often doubled completion time or prevented a QSO altogether.  In my opinion, the misunderstanding and mis-use of FT8 is the biggest issue/problem in VHF, contesting or otherwise.

Largely because of FT8, I scored a new personal best for this contest, worked Jim K6MIO to complete 6m WAS (pending receipt of his card), added 3 new DXCC and a few rare grids including DM86 on 6 and 2 (thanks Duffey).  Meteor scatter was entirely unproductive in this one, probably because everyone was sitting on 50.313 using FT8.

Mike WB2FKO

On 07/22/2018 04:21 PM, Keith Morehouse wrote:
Thanks to KK6MC/r for another great rove.  I worked him from DM86, DM74, DM75 & DM64 on 2M and from DM86 on 6M, where he was quite strong.  Both the DM86 QSOs are new all-time grids for me.

Also, thanks to N5SJ for a 2M QSO at the end of the contest for DM55.  We've worked before, but his new antenna system was head and shoulders above the old !

I also worked club members W7QQ & WB2FKO on both bands and N5JEH on 2M.  Thanks to all !

-W9RM

Keith J Morehouse
Managing Partner
Calmesa Partners G.P.
Olathe, CO
Join main@nmvhf.groups.io to automatically receive all group messages.