A Tale of Two Contests

Recently I got the results back from two contests, Worked All Europe and New England QSO party. One contest proved to be a disaster the other a surprise and both taught me lessons about operating a contest, let me explain.

The NEQP result was horrifying, then again I should have expected as much as this was the first test of the radio, minus a tuner. Which meant high SWR low power and low contact rates. In this contest my first when I got the TS120S I made under 10 contacts and scored a meager 49 points. The result second to last place in category and in Canada for Quebec, I was last.

Canadian Results

Call	QTH	Category	CW QSOs	SSB QSOs	Total QSOs	Counties	Score		Operators
Single Operator Low Power
VA1MM	VE1	SOLP	105	106	211	56	17,696
VE4EAR	VE4	SOLP	95	64	159	53	13,462
VE3GSI	VE3	SOLP	68	0	68	37	5,032
VE2AWR	VE2	SOLP	29	8	37	21	1,386
VA3RJ	VE3	SOLP	22	0	22	18	792
VA7ST	VE7	SOLP	21	0	21	17	714
VE7FCO	VE7	SOLP	0	25	25	18	450
VA3OR	VE3	SOLP	14	2	16	12	360
VE5BCS	VE5	SOLP	0	10	10	10	100
VA2UTC	VE2	SOLP	0	7	7	7	49
VE3MCF	VE3	SOLP	0	5	5	5	25
Single Operator QRP
VE3CW	VE3	SOQRP	18	10	28	19	874

The silver lining, if there is one is that I was one of only two ops in Quebec. So in reality it was no real contest for me. I am hoping that I will be allowed to work this contest again as a guest at a station here in Montreal as I have no radio at this time.

Worked All Europe was a different story. A surprise for me in that in the category I ranked 95th out of 174 stations. That is significant as it meant that the station and operating model worked.

Outside Europe
SINGLE-OP LOW
Place	Callsign	QSOs	Multi	QTCs	Total Score	Deduction	Club
1	RG9A	1 560	420	1 583	1 320 060		SUCC
2	9Y4W	1 769	373	1 716	1 299 905		BCC
3	3V8SS	1 490	411	1 412	1 192 722		RRDXA
4	4X0T	1 576	375	1 427	1 126 125
5	HI3TEJ	1 649	346	1 368	1 043 882		PUP CG
6	TA2/DL2JRM	1 349	342	1 359	926 136		BCC
7	UN7PBY	975	298	1 000	588 550		TEMIRTAU
8	VE3DZ	1 040	261	1 060	548 100		CCO
9	RN9CM	863	305	876	530 395		UCG
10	W3LL	802	271	821	439 833		PVRC
11	K3NM	749	254	753	381 508		FRC
12	ZX2B	649	256	642	330 496		ARAUCARI
13	PY2DY	648	239	638	307 354		CANT DXG
14	7Z1SJ	687	223	690	307 071
15	RW9C	534	191	543	205 707		UCG
16	VY2LI	458	195	466	180 180		MCC
17	PY9MM	411	189	433	159 516		RIO DXG
18	YB1TJ	506	155	515	158 255
19	CN8SG	511	234	150	154 674
20	PY3KN	329	182	348	123 214		ARAUCARI
21	H2E	358	145	365	104 835
22	TA7EB	370	139	364	102 026		GTRAD
23	VE3VID	285	166	283	94 288
24	VE1ZA	241	198	227	92 664		MCC
25	R9FR	307	150	309	92 400
26	RA0ACM	331	136	332	90 168
27	KB3LIX	219	183	223	80 886		AVRA
28	DV1JM	320	122	335	79 910
29	JT1BV	402	187	0	75 174
30	VE5MX	257	140	254	71 540
31	K2MFY	248	145	239	70 615		YCCC
32	UA9FGJ	307	114	309	70 224
33	EC8AFM	238	140	232	65 800		RRDXA
34	RU9WZ	284	113	297	65 653		ARCK
35	N8DE	230	166	159	64 574		MRRC
36	EK3SA	438	76	410	64 448
37	NK3Y	356	179	0	63 724
38	PY2CX	330	96	321	62 496		CANT DXG
39	N1API	279	110	288	62 370		YCCC
40	KR2Q	227	123	230	56 211
41	W1MAT	196	136	200	53 856		YCCC
42	WA1Z	196	135	198	53 190		YCCC
43	4L9QQ	172	157	161	52 281
44	VE1ZD	193	134	184	50 518		MCC
45	VE3IAE	175	142	170	48 990		CCO
46	K0FX	190	125	185	46 875		GMC CO
47	XU7ACY	231	104	207	45 552		FRC
48	VA3SWG	383	110	0	42 130		CCO
49	KP2DX	265	154	0	40 810		DX4LIFE
50	YB3IZK	190	103	185	38 625
51	PW2B	154	104	156	32 240		CANT DXG
52	K3WOW	131	127	110	30 607
53	VU2DK	190	80	190	30 400
54	AI4QY	124	121	124	30 008		FLCG
55	EA8BQM	160	100	128	28 800		CIDXS
56	4K9W	193	74	189	28 268
57	VE3UTT	119	120	110	27 480		CCO
58	HZ1DG	211	62	220	26 722
59	N6RV	147	87	151	25 926		SCCC
60	AB2TC	158	126	0	19 908
61	TC2X	140	66	139	18 414		TCSWAT
62	UA0WY/0	158	58	150	17 864		CSDXC
63	K3TN	98	90	95	17 370		PVRC
64	NP3CW	164	104	0	17 056
65	W9ZRX	94	81	107	16 281
66	KU5B	65	109	66	14 279		CTDXCC
67	PY4EK	156	60	80	14 160		CANT DXG
68	VK4LDX	107	74	84	14 134		VKCC
69	VE3TU	129	109	0	14 061		CCO
70	PY2NZ	129	99	0	12 771		CANT DXG
71	VA2BK	96	125	0	12 000
72	JM1NKT	111	58	90	11 658
73	N1OXA	68	87	64	11 484
74	KB1REQ	101	112	0	11 312		WHITMAN
75	VA7ST	85	72	70	11 160		BCDXC
76	VR2PW	138	78	0	10 764
77	K4OD	105	100	0	10 500		SECC
78	L33M	150	56	10	8 960		LUCG
79	DU1JI	148	56	0	8 288
80	W0YJT	63	58	74	7 946
81	W9VQ	79	66	40	7 854		SMC
82	4Z5PJ	66	58	69	7 830
83	YC9DEB	97	50	55	7 600
84	W9TTT	61	75	40	7 575
85	K3TW/4	54	70	53	7 490		FLCG
86	JA6DIJ	69	52	72	7 332
87	BA1SN	67	56	59	7 056
88	WP3GW	94	75	0	7 050
89	LU5MT	100	70	0	7 000		LU1MA
90	TA3X	83	47	60	6 721
91	VA3GUY	101	62	0	6 262
92	PY1GQ	54	60	50	6 240		RIO DXG
93	VE2QAU	70	89	0	6 230
94	W7IJ	72	48	52	5 952		WWDXC
95	VA2UTC	60	66	30	5 940
96	YC9AOS	68	48	55	5 904
97	UA9CBM	87	64	0	5 568
98	K4IU	48	52	50	5 096		MNWA
99	AJ1E	74	68	0	5 032		YCCC
100	PY2SEI	86	58	0	4 988		CANT DXG
101	N3XRU	59	56	30	4 984
102	LW3DN	75	58	0	4 350		LUCG
103	7N2UQC	58	42	30	3 696
104	CX9AU	51	36	41	3 312
105	VE3JSQ	64	48	0	3 072
106	6W7RV	49	58	0	2 842
107	PY7RP	42	37	33	2 775		WWYC
108	UA9OKM	65	42	0	2 730
109	JR4VEV	31	37	36	2 479
110	VE2AXO	48	48	0	2 304		CGQ
111	YC1BTJ	56	40	0	2 240
112	VE2XAA	33	67	0	2 211		CGQ
113	KR9E	36	60	0	2 160
114	K2SI	25	50	18	2 150		RNYDXA
115	JI1ALP	31	32	34	2 080		599CCJ
115	PY2RDZ	52	40	0	2 080		CANT DXG
117	RA0AY	32	32	27	1 888		ARCK
118	W8ASA	39	48	0	1 872
119	YC2LEV	42	44	0	1 848
120	W9OA/9	48	38	0	1 824		MDXC
121	N1NN	36	42	4	1 680
122	JF3NKA	32	30	19	1 530
123	KD2MU	29	47	0	1 363
124	K6GEP	26	47	0	1 222		SCCC
125	N4DTF	27	43	0	1 161		TNCG
126	YB5VB	41	28	0	1 148
127	VE3RCN	26	44	0	1 144		CCO
128	BD4CD	22	28	18	1 120
129	PY3FOX	18	22	17	770		ARAUCARI
130	KC9QHL	20	37	0	740
131	VU3LMS	30	24	0	720
132	BD9BU	27	26	0	702
133	VE1BZI	20	35	0	700
134	VA3TPV	20	34	0	680
135	AE6YB	26	26	0	676		NCCC
136	KD8HHG	19	33	0	627
137	PP5KR	24	26	0	624		RIO DXG
138	N8PJ	14	32	0	448		MARIETTA
139	DU1LC	23	18	0	414		DX1ER
140	VE1SQ	17	24	0	408		MCC
141	JA2GHP	17	14	10	378
142	PY5FO	15	25	0	375		PERDIGU
143	VE2GLA	18	18	0	324
144	N4ENL	15	20	0	300
145	UA9XBJ	10	18	5	270
146	JE4MHL	13	20	0	260
147	BD4TS	13	18	0	234
148	BU2AU	14	16	0	224
149	W1BJ	12	18	0	216
150	PY2PT	13	16	0	208		SPCG
151	PU1KGG	9	16	0	144		RIO DXG
151	VE3AJ	8	18	0	144		CCO
153	JH3DMQ	11	12	0	132
154	NG4L	7	18	0	126		FLCG
155	DS5TOS	10	12	0	120
155	K1HG	10	12	0	120
155	XV4TUJ	10	12	0	120
158	KS4X	7	13	0	91		TNCG
159	BD4WM	9	9	0	81
160	BA4WI	8	10	0	80
161	NX8G	11	6	0	66		PORTAGE
162	JA1FO	6	10	0	60
162	JK2VOC	6	10	0	60
164	JG5UWK	7	8	0	56
165	BA4TB	6	6	0	36		BCC
166	NS6T	4	8	0	32		NCCC
167	KD0BLZ	3	9	0	27
168	HL5JCB	4	6	0	24
168	JR1NKN	4	6	0	24
168	PY4XX	4	6	0	24		RIO DXG
171	JR2AAN/2	3	6	0	18
171	PY1CX	3	6	0	18		RIO DXG
171	YB0ECT	3	6	0	18		JDXCC
174	JG1GCO	2	4	0	8

As you can see in this table the number of QSO's multipliers and the QTC count made the difference. Also having a properly tuned antenna and a good operating pace helped to make the difference.

The lessons learned were, stay on a band that is busy with activity and has strong signals. It was tempting to bounce around the bands. However staying on a band that was open, in my case 15 meters made the difference. Avoid the big pile ups, as a low power op I came to the realization that trying to break he wall of Kilowatt transmitters was a waste of time and effort. It was better for me to look for a station calling CQ on a clear channel and working them first then attempting to break the pile ups. I found I had little success with the latter so I did make much of an effort to do it. For me calling CQ a waste of time and effort, I never got a call back and in a contest time is crucial for a successful run. I would say that in some instances it might be a good idea to call CQ, for me I found it was more work than it was worth.

Contesting, for the serious operator needs to be planned and that plan needs to be executed. If you want to win you have to plan and you should not deviate from it, that was the biggest lesson I learned. Having fun is important and for most contesting is just that. A time to have fun work a few stations and see what you can do. For the avid contest operator who is looking to score high and win an award be prepared to work on your game plan and stay true to it. Doing so will net results down the log.

Until next time on the air and on the net 73's and thanks for reading.

Cliff VA2UTC.

WAEDXC 2010 results in full.

NEQP Results in full.