Contesting The High Power 1500w Class Perspective

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Contesting The High Power (1500w) Class
Perspective

• By Mike Fulcher KC7V
• Presented to the Central Arizona DX Association
• October 2005

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Contesting The High Power (1500w) Class
Perspective

• Why high power?
• First through pileup most times.
• Little or no RFI worries requires bandpass
  filters, coax stub filters.
• Class competition against other big guns.
• Be the giant!

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1500w Contesting-Requires more hardware

• Amps, band switching auto preferred.
• Use presettings for amps. Band changes can take
  about 5-10 seconds this way.
• If you do SO2R band pass filters a must.
• Warm up the shack in the winter contest months.

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1500w Contesting-No RFI worries if

• You ground all equipment properly.
• You utilize bandpass filters coax stubs.
• You use good coaxial cable.
• You use filters on TVs, telephones etc.
• You need to keep the peace.

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1500w Contesting- Competition Level

• High power contesting is the cream of the crop
  hard core 48 hour type contesters.
• Competition is fierce and you can win many
  frequency battles.
• Allows you to keep a run frequency for long
  periods of time.
• Crush the 100 watters!

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Contest Stations

• Big Guns multi-tower setups with stacked,
  switchable yagis on all bands etc. (KC7V is one,
  for example).

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Contest Stations

• BUT
• You dont have to be a Big Gun
• to have Big Fun contesting!
• However
• It is fun to compete at the highest levels and
  still have fun!

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1500 w (HP) Contesting

• THE CHALLENGE
• You are about 12 db above a 100w entrant with the
  same antennae!
• That means you work them faster and move on to
  the next multiplier.
• Create your own pileups

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1500 w (HP) Contesting

• Using the 12 db of HP advantage
• You will be above average on every band.
• Take advantage of marginal propagation, band
  openings.
• Operating strategy still very important.
• Improve skills by managing pileup.

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1500 w (HP) Contesting

• PROPAGATION.
• Keep close tabs on SFI, K-Index, SSN, Aurora
  Indices and their trends.
• SFIlt80 (SSNlt30) means a tough weekend ahead. Use
  common sense and rx signals to mold your
  operations.
• Kgt4 and or Augt5 can be problematic too.
• Use ARRL propagation charts.
• Watch for dynamic changes.
• Same strategy as low power.

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1500 w (HP) Contesting

• OPERATING STRATGIES.
• Run, Run, Run with some SP.
• Set realistic goals of Run rates. When you fall
  below these rates move to SP. (I personally run
  75, 25 SP).
• At 1500w, you want to run wherever, whenever
  possible. Many mults will call you. SP perhaps
  10 minutes during each hour if rate falls below 1
  per minute and between openings to EU and JA.
• Know you are loud satisfaction!

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1500 w (HP) Contesting

• OPERATING STRATGIES (contd).
• Exploit any antenna/propagation advantages you
  may have.
• Start on the highest freq, open band that can be
  productive.
• Change bands frequently (SO2R?).
• Dont get ego driven in pileups. The idea is to
  make contest points, not call endlessly in a
  no-win mess. ( My 3 call rule).
• Same strategy as LP.

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1500 w (HP) Contesting

• OPERATING STRATGIES (contd).
• If in Assisted Class (using packet), be aware of
  call accuracy. Verify before QSY!
• Mults mean a lot, esp at end of contest
• STAY IN THE CHAIR!! Make QSOs. A small station
  that has a significant number of operating hours
  will beat a bigger station that operates only a
  few hrs, nearly every time.

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