IF YOU WANT TO WIN CQWW CW, WHERE DO YOU OPERATE FROM?

By Jamie Dupree NS3T, radio-sport.net 

When radio-sport.net asked top contesters in October which zone had the edge for the 2007 CQWW DX SSB contest, the answers focused primarily on Zones 33 and 35 in Africa and Zone 9 in the Caribbean.

But looking at the top claimed scores from the SSB leg, first place is in the hands of 8P5A from Zone 8. In second is VY2ZM, from zone 5 Canada, not exactly Africa or the Caribbean.

Now, a few weeks later, the same question needs to be asked about the CQWW CW contest. Is there a zone that should make it easier to win from?

"During the low of the sunspot cycle, because of north/south propagation, zone 35 is the best place to be, then zone 9 and zone 10 and only then zone 33," says defending high power champ Jose Nunes CT1BOH, who will again operate as CT3NT in zone 33.

"Zone 8 is no competition, under the current scoring system of the CQWW," says Nunes. "When a zone 8 competitor wins the contest it is because there was not a competitive entry from zones 9, 10, 33 or 35."

But the numbers tell a bit different story in the past seven years, as the high power CW category has had four wins from zone 33 and two from zone 9.

Only one was from Nunes' favored zone 35. And no zone 10 station has won any single operator CW title since 2000.

The low power CW category meanwhile has been dominated by zone 8, with most of those victories by Joseph "Bud" Trench V26K/AA3B.

"I’ve actually won the world SOAB LP CW category five times – 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2006," said Trench who will be back on Antigua to defend his low power title again this year.

"I have operated from the Caribbean every year since 1996 so I have a reasonably rich set of experiences to draw upon," said Trench.

In one CQWW CW category, there has been a definite pattern of late, as a Zone 9 station has won the QRP title five straight years, with three for P40A (KK9A) and two for FY5KE.

Assisted has been much more spread out around the world. Last year it was a zone 5 USA station winning the SOA title for the second time in seven years. There have also been winners from zones 9 and 20 and three victories from zone 33.

If you combine the last seven years of the four single operator categories (HP, LP, QRP and SOA) zone 9 has had 9 world wins, zone 33 has 7, zone 8 is third with five victories.

Overall, single operator wins have only been chalked up from eight different zones in the last seven runnings of the CQWW CW contest (5, 8, 9, 15, 20, 33, 34 and 35.)