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Friday - November 01, 2013 - Amateur Radio at the Beach - Amelia Island - KH2D.net |
Contesting - Island Style Visit the Awards Gallery |
After one round of complaints to CQ Magazine, we were both convinced that either they were ignoring us, or they just didn't care that we were complaining so I decided to try another plan to see if they were awake. I decided to enter the 1988 CQWW SSB DX contest as a single band entrant on 160 meters. Only problem was, I didn't have an antenna for 160 meters. So I rounded up my 40 meter dipole, my MFJ (Mighty Fine Junk) 3KW (ha ha) antenna tuner, and a fire extinguisher, and got ready for the contest. I didn't do real well, but I didn't get skunked either. I did manage to work one station on 160 meters. KG6DX (about 4 miles away). Problem was, he was in the same COUNTRY as I was, so the country (KH2) counted as a multiplier, but since he was in Guam, and I was too, the QSO scored no points. |
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That was fifteen years ago, but if you bang around in the CQWW record books, I think you'll find I still hold the record for Guam on 160 SSB with a total score of ZERO points. And you'll find my call a few other places in the records too. I think earlier I said that I never won a contest for the whole world. But guess what, I just noticed that I did! I set a NEW WORLD RECORD for 10 meters on CW with my #1 WORLD score! Maybe that's why that certificate has those nasty fold marks on it, I never unfolded it to look at it... So by now you must be wondering what the secret was. Big antennas? Huge amplifier? Sleep deprivation training? A special diet of Power Bars and Granola for two weeks before a contest? Did I magically transform myself into a 'super contester'? Nope, none of the above. My pileup handling skills improved as the years went by, there are times I remember seeing the rate meter up around 300 per hour. And times I remember being bored when it got below 200. But the secret to Contesting Island Style is very simple. You just need to be on an island. And you need to understand what drives the system. People who call Island Contesters during a contest are rarely other contesters. They are post card collectors. They don't want Q's and Mults. They want post cards. The biggest antenna I ever had for contesting in Guam was a tribander up 35 feet on a chunk of fence rail pipe. I didn't train hard, I didn't study propagation, I just turned on the radio and worked as many people as I could and stayed awake as long as I could. I remember having a neck to neck race one weekend with a guy in VK land - we both feel asleep at the keyboard near the end of the contest but he won because I feel asleep first. A couple more bags of M&M's and I might have won... You don't need huge towers, big amps, and monobanders to win when you Contest Island Style. You just need a little go power and a great QSL manager like K8NA... |
One of the most memorable contests I did Island Style wasn't from the island of Guam, it was from an island named Oahu. I was in Honolulu in 1998 for a trip to the doctor, which resulted in some cutting and stitching, and while I was hanging around healing up I got invited to KH7R's QTH for the WPX contest. Like I said earlier, I'd been to one of those multi multi places years ago, but they didn't let me anywhere near a radio. I was a little nervous, I didn't want to disappoint anybody by not being a 'real contester', and I didn't know most of the guys that would be there to operate. I think the gang was a little nervous about me too, I remember a few people kind of hovering around in back of me watching the computer screen when the contest started... |
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It turned out to be a really great weekend, I met a bunch of guys I hadn't met before, and I found out that sleep deprivation is a lot more fun if you do it with a group of other 'real contesters'. It you ever get a chance to do some Contesting Island Style, I'd recommend that you do. You'd be amazed at what you can accomplish with a lousy antenna and a few thousand QSL cards from W4MPY. I also think I mentioned that I had no idea how many contest awards I really have because I never put them all together in one place. I dug through the boxes in the closets, unpacked a few more that hadn't been unpacked yet, and dug around in all the drawers. The result of that digging around, added to the fact that I just bought a new scanner I wanted to smoke test, is the Contest Awards page on this web site. If you're interested in seeing what a bunch of First Place Guam awards look like, with a few good ones mixed in here and there, then give it a click. |
I have tried contesting from this island (Amelia Island) but the results from the contest aren't back yet. I did the Florida QSO Party in 2001. Now that I think about it, maybe there are times when you are on an island that some really big antennas would help. I don't think I set any world records in that one. Oh, that's right, I forgot. Nobody wants a post card from Florida... |
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Friday - November 01, 2013 - Amateur Radio at the Beach - Amelia Island - KH2D.net |
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