2007 ARRL 10 Contest: There's No Meters Like 10 Meters!

By Jamie Dupree NS3T, radio-sport.net 

While 10 meters may seem "dead" to many at this point in the solar cycle, expect it to spring to life this weekend with the 2007 running of the ARRL 10 Meter Contest.

Among those leading the way back onto the bands this year will be the defending US SSB High Power champ Ed Gray W0SD, who strung together over 1600 contacts last year from South Dakota.

Gray told radio-sport.net his 2006 win was in part due to his efforts to improve his antenna system.

"I added a new 4-element monoband at 200 feet," said Gray. "It made receiving conditions quieter to pull out the weak ones and more scatter to the southeast."

As for conditions this year, "it may be a little tougher to South America. I did work ZL and VK and one Africa last year, so that might be a little tougher."

Gray predicts this year's winners "will mainly be those who get the most sporadic E."

Also back to defend his US Mixed Low Power title this year is John Barcroft K6AM, who says the down years for propagation help those in the Western USA.

"When the East Coast can't work Europe, we on the West Coast have a fighting chance on a level playing field," said Barcroft.

"In fact, there are many more of them for us to work than of us for them to work."

Barcroft's advice for this year's contest is not to get discouraged if the band sounds dead.

"Just don't give up, especially when the band is closed," advises Barcroft. "10 meters can open to anywhere at any time. You need to be on top of it since it may only last a few minutes."

"You don't need a huge station," added the California contester. "My little C4S at 50 feet is like a 2 element 40 at 200 feet."

One category that's open this year is the Low Power CW section, where 2006 World champ Bob Epstein K8IA will be switching over to the multi-op category with his new wife Sandy N7RQ.

"She is a very proficient SSB contester so this year we are gonna do a Multi-Mixed mode," said Epstein. "She will do the SSB chores and I'll play the CW end. Lots of strategy involved in that undertaking since CW Q's are worth twice the points of SSB."

From his home in Arizona, Epstein told radio-sport.net the strategy is pretty simple for the ARRL 10.

"The war cry is "point at 60-70 degrees and hit F1," said Epstein. "That produces a lot of East Coast Q's.... I had 297 FL stations one year!"

For those running in the mixed category, there is one piece of strategy that's very important.

"Moving multipliers was by the key to my victory," said Steve Nace KN5H, who won the US Mixed High Power section last year as KV7DX.

"I asked many stations to change modes and no one declined. I could not have done nearly as good as I did without the generosity of our fellow hams," said Nace.

Nace gave radio-sport.net one tip that he used to see where the band was going, and that's to listen to some of your friendly "good buddies."

"One great indication of the band's 'health' is to monitor 27.185," said Nace. "I program one of the rig's many memories with this CB channel and check it often.

As for what kind of band conditions you might have to make this year, Richard King K5NA was one of many wondering how tough it might be.

"I expect band conditions to be very bad," King added that you might want something else to do at times. "Last year I read an entire book during the contest."

As for strategy, King told radio-sport.net that he does not waste a lot of effort.

"I am probably CQing 99% of the time and, at the same time, I am tuning for mults using the dual receive function of my FT1000MP MkV," said King. "I seldom completely stop CQing just to search for multipliers."

"When the sun spots are high and the band is jumping; a different strategy will be needed and I will figure that strategy out when I am faced with improved conditions," King added.

One thing still chewing on King's mind was the number of busted QSO's he had in 2006.

"I was disappointed in my logging accuracy last year that allowed K1TO to surpass me for the top CW spot after I was ahead in the high claimed," King said. "If I get on again this year, I will certainly try harder to "get it right" in the log."

While the low sunspots have sapped a lot of the energy out of ten meters in recent contests, it still remains one of the most popular ARRL contests.

Over 1800 logs were submitted last year, twice as many logs as at the previous sunspot minimum 11 years ago.