From owner-qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Thu Oct 30 17:26:11 1997 Received: from fidoii.CC.lehigh.EDU (fidoii.CC.lehigh.EDU [128.180.1.4]) by oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id RAA19821 for ; Thu, 30 Oct 1997 17:26:10 -0500 (EST) Received: from Lehigh.EDU ([127.0.0.1]) by fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU with SMTP id <35382-30590>; Thu, 30 Oct 1997 17:24:28 -0500 Received: from nss4.cc.Lehigh.EDU ([128.180.1.13]) by fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU with ESMTP id <35362-48258>; Thu, 30 Oct 1997 17:23:53 -0500 Received: from smtp3.erols.com (smtp3.erols.com [205.252.116.103]) by nss4.cc.Lehigh.EDU (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id RAA68976 for ; Thu, 30 Oct 1997 17:23:43 -0500 Received: from LOCALNAME (dam-as1s37.erols.com [207.172.137.37]) by smtp3.erols.com (8.8.6/8.8.5) with SMTP id RAA13426 for ; Thu, 30 Oct 1997 17:23:41 -0500 Message-Id: <2.2.16.19971030181540.2c6f2e26@pop.erols.com> Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 17:23:41 -0500 Reply-To: w6toy@pop.erols.com Sender: owner-qrp-l@Lehigh.EDU Precedence: bulk From: bruce muscolino To: "Low Power Amateur Radio Discussion" Subject: Sweepstakes - If I could do it last year you can do it this year! Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-To: QRP-L@Lehigh.EDU X-Sender: w6toy@pop.erols.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 2.2 (16) X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 beta -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN Status: RO For those of you who are contemplating entering the 1997 edition of the ARRL's Sweepstakes contest this weekend and who aren't sure of what to expect, I spent a bit of time doing an analysis of my 1996 Sweepstakes Log. I've presented the data below. Look at the performance and the station, and compare them with yours. I once was an avid contester --But, I entered the ARRL Sweepstakes for the first time in 1996. My expressed goal was to work 100 stations and get a pin. When I got to 100 I decided I'd continue for a while longer. I made a total of 205 QSOs in 79 sections in just under 13 hours on the air. I only used 80, 40, and 20. The rig was a TS130V feeding about a 60 foot longwire. I used a straight key and logged everything on paper. Very basic set up. The breakdown of operating time vs sections and QSOs produced is interesting, to say the least. My operating time was divided into roughly 11 periods. The first was on 20; the next 5 were almost completely on 80 and the last 2 on 20. A summary of those periods follows. Period 1: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 22:30 End Time: 23:00 Total Time: 0.5 Hour Band: 20 QSOs: 4 Total Sections: 4 Net Sections: 4 Period 2: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 04:15 End Time: 05:15 Total Time: 1.0 Hour Band: 80 QSOs: 12 Total Sections: 12 Net Sections: 12 Period 3: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 07:30 End Time: 10:00 Total Time: 2.5 Hour Band: 80 QSOs: 40 Total Sections: 38 Net Sections: 19 Period 4: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 11:30 End Time: 14:30 Total Time: 3.0 Hour Band: 80 QSOs: 49 Total Sections: 18 Net Sections: 14 Period 5: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 15:00 End Time: 17:00 Total Time: 2.0 Hour Band: 20 QSOs: 27 Total Sections: 15 Net Sections: 10 Period 6: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 18:00 End Time: 18:30 Total Time: 0.5 Hour Band: 20 QSOs: 4 Total Sections: 4 Net Sections: 1 Period 7: Date: 11/3/96 Start Time: 20:45 End Time: 23:00 Total Time: 2.25 Hour Band: 20 QSOs: 33 Total Sections: 25 Net Sections: 14 Period 8: Date: 11/4/96 Start Time: 23:45 End Time: 00:00 Total Time: 0.25 Hour Band: 40 QSOs: 1 Total Sections: 1 Net Sections: 1 Period 9: Date: 11/4/96 Start Time: 00:00 End Time: 01:30 Total Time: 1.5 Hour Band: 80 QSOs: 23 Total Sections: 12 Net Sections: 4 Period 10: Date: 11/4/96 Start Time: 01:45 End Time: 02:15 Total Time: 0.5 Hour Band: 40 QSOs: 2 Total Sections: 2 Net Sections: 0 Period 11: Date: 11/4/96 Start Time: 02:15 End Time: 03:00 Total Time: 0.75 Hour Band: 80 QSOs: 10 Total Sections: 9 Net Sections: 0 Notice that I only earned QSO points in the last two sessions. That time might have better been used sleeping. IN fact, as far as my original goal went, I could have quit after period 5 and gotten a lot more rest. However, contests have a way of sucking you in! I'm going to look at two more parameters before I wind up this informal analysis. That is where was the propagation during each operating period and how many states did I work per band. At any rate, what's here should encourage almost anyone to take some time and give Sweepstakes a try. You'll be heard and the operators at the other end will work with you to get the QSO done. Good luck and see you there.