CQWW CW: ADVANTAGE CT1BOH AND AA3B

By Jamie Dupree NS3T, radio-sport.net 

When you look at the roster of winners in recent years in the CQWW DX CW Contest, it isn't hard to see that a few callsigns keep showing up in the winner's circle.

In high power, it is Jose Nunes CT1BOH, who has won the single op high power title four of the past five years and six of the last ten.

In low power, it's Joseph "Bud" Trench AA3B, who has won two straight and five overall as V26K.

"The CQWW CW contest is my favorite one," said Nunes, "and I'm going back to CT3NT hopefully for another victory. It's not going to be easy."

Nunes told radio-sport.net that he will pay "close" attention to the Maximum Useable Frequency (MUF) during the contest, as that will drive some of his strategy choices.

"If the MUF is below normal, this means 20 meters will not be open at all during the night and 40 will not produce the kind of runs needed for a very high QSO number," said Nunes.

"80 meters may be a better run band than 40 at times, so the decision making process to be on 80 or on 40 is very critical."

Also critical is the choice faced by many during this contest, do you gather a high rate of contacts with few multipliers, or a lot of mults and a lower rate?

"From Madeira we get better runs/lower mults from the West (USA) and lower runs/better mults from the East," said Nunes. "What is best under a point rate is not so evident."

Meanwhile, Trench AA3B has been operating from the Caribbean for the last ten years and clearly is not one who just turns on the radio and calls CQ.

"I set quantitative goals and do a significant amount of post contest analysis of my performance against these goals," said Trench.

Much like the balance that Nunes must weigh, Trench also tries to figure out what will bring in the most points.

"There are three scenarios from Zone 8 - run 3 point QSO's (mainly Europe), hunt for multipliers and run 2 point QSOs from North and South America."

Trench uses those scenarios in pre-contest planning to set goals for how long he should run Europe, run NA and then search and pounce.

"In years past I hunted in 30 to 45 minute blocks," said Trench, but last year he shortened those periods to just 10 or 15 minutes.

"The impact of hunting in short durations resulted in much better points/hour rates in this scenario than I have seen in past years."

Trench says all that number crunching has really worked for him.

"My goals are posted where I can see them. I focus on the math of the contest – particularly in making trades between the different operating scenarios noted above."

Radio-sport.net asked both men how important 10 meters would be in this contest, especially since the openings there could be limited.

"10 meters is as important for a good score as any of the other bands," said Nunes. "I don't disregard a band just because we are at the top or bottom of the cycle."

"What usually happens is that under marginal conditions the importance not to miss things is very critical, and this makes the difference between the competitors," said Nunes.

"The big question this year will be with respect to 10 meters," said Trench AA3B. "There were brief but intense openings last year."

Usually Trench operates with two radios, but from V26K, he goes back to his roots and uses just one. That means he needs some help to figure out whether 10 is open or not.

"The way I knew that 10 meters was open last year was by listening to HC8N - I will likely use them as a beacon again this year!"

Of course, if you are familiar with CT1BOH, you already know his view on one versus two radios.

"Comparing SO1R with SO2R is comparing two different worlds," says Nunes. "With SO2R the operator never stops the run. While running he does S&P."

Nunes says an SO2R op doesn't operate a 48 hour contest. "He is operating a parallel contest."

And that extra time listening means, "there should be no doubt about the winner."