[Today’s run: Watson Road 3.5 miles (W & D)]
I had some time today to participate a bit in the ARRL CW Sweepstakes ham radio contest. The goal of this particular contest is to contact stations in the US and Canada. If you can get all of the “sections”, which are states or parts of states as detailed on the ARRL section list, you can make what they call a “clean sweep”.
There are two general ways to work these contests. First, you can tune around and look for stations that are calling for contest contacts. This is called “Search and Pounce”. You might be searching for a particular station, or you could just try to contact everyone who is calling. But your frequency changes as you do this.
The second method is called “CQing” because CQ is the morse code shorthand for “I want to make a contact”. You try to find an empty frequency, then you start calling for contacts. This is also called “running” a frequency. So you and pounce or you can run.
99.9% of my contest experience up until recently has been S&P. The reason for that is when calling CQ you have to be ready for someone to answer, and you want to understand what he is sending you. If you S&P you can tune around and listen in to other conversations. If you miss something in the contest exchange you can just loaf around and hear that station you just spoke to make his next contact. That way if your morse code speed isn’t so good you can figure out over a few repetitions the parts of the exchange that you missed.
I have to tell you, that is a terrible way to try to maximize your contest score because you waste a lot of time. I should know. But it is kind of fun.
Anyway, the last couple of HF contests I have worked up the courage to find a spot and call CQ. And I have found some benefits. The main one is that I don’t have to keep putting my frequency into the log. My radio is an older style that does not have a connection to the computer. I use a computer for logging, but I have to enter the frequency by hand. So that gets to be kind of a drag when I’m tuning all around.
So I found a frequency that wasn’t completely crowded and I started calling CQ. The first couple of contacts I had to ask for a lot of repeats. But after a few I got the hang of it. And I kind of liked it.
I did not get a clean sweep. But I had fun and hope to do even better next time.