AmateurRadio.com

N1MM Contest Logger Zone Count

N1MM Contest Logger Hourly Breakdown

N1MM Contest Logger Zone By Day Breakdown

Good afternoon from the #hamr shackadelic zone where rainy weather helps improve soil conductivity for my ground mounted vertical and its radial system. I’m looking over my statistics after last weekend and wanted to share my highlights. The top screenshot is Qs per zone count. The middle screenshot is my hourly rate in the pilot’s seat at SL’s shack. Lastly, the bottom screenshot, compares my Q count per zone against that of Saturday and Sunday.

Have you heard the saying, “Location, location, location?”
I never considered this sage advice until a few years ago when casual competition crept into my ham radio lifestyle. I’m looking at the evidence based on the work of Rick, ZL2HAM who submitted a masterful activity density visualization at CQ WW Contest Blog. I recommend ‘clicking’ on the maps for a better understanding of either the East Coast or European Walls.

The concentration of activity to geography favors the East Coast of the United States. For example, the signal generated by SL’s ICOM 756PRO and Alpha 89 amplifier must take a polar path into Europe unlike our competitors to the east. However, the opposite is true for the East Coast when beaming toward Asia, although, activity density is an apples to oranges comparison between Europe and Asia.

Evidence suggests greater zone activity in Europe versus Asia therefore point potential (eg. new zone, new country, new zone and new country) favoring that of the East Coast.

The name of the game is pointing your antenna systems toward major population centers on each respective continent. The flip side is following daylight and maximizing usable frequencies during daylight hours on the high bands as well.

Have you heard the saying, “Call CQ, CQ, CQ?”
The end result of calling CQ is rate and rate is essential for a casually competitive score. I didn’t operate the low bands focusing only on high band production. Is Cycle 24 peaking? Are we on the downside of the cycle’s bell shaped curve? I enjoyed a strong first two hours beaming 315 degrees toward Japan and China on 15m and twenty meters.

Likewise, I enjoyed limited Saturday production beaming toward Europe, between 25 and 30 degrees. The effects of space weather seriously dampened my path into EU and it is notable on zone by day breakdown.

Bravo Yankee and Victor Uniform
There are a total of 11 Bravo Yankee (BY) Qs in the log versus 204 JA-stations across two bands of activity. I’d like to see the number of Bravo Yankee participants double for next year? On the other hand, I didn’t hear a Victor Uniform (VU) from zone 24, throughout the ‘big event’. Potentially, activating this zone next year, could result in a Box score for that operator?

Conclusion
Overall, each event builds your experience level, lessons are learned, and goals are prepared. I’m learning from each respective experience with an idea of employing the band map much like a second receiver minus the actual hardware. I like casually competing against SO2R operators.

Contest on!