East Coast Shootout In USA CQ WW SSB 2009 Expected; Title Open With K5ZD On Sidelines

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted October 17, 2009

After two straight USA Single Operator High Power victories, Randy Thompson K5ZD will not be going for three in a row in 2009, making the 2009 CQ WW SSB Contest in the US a likely shootout of top stations in New England and along the East Coast.

"I'll be a guest op at K5ZD for SOABHP CQWW SSB," said Dennis Egan W1UE, who will try to fill Thompson's shoes in this year's SSB test.

"Krassy K1LZ, and Doug K1DG, from the rumor mill, will also both be on. It should be a great time, and I'm hoping for good conditions," Egan told radio-sport.net.

K1LZ and K1DG finished second and third last year to K5ZD, in what was one of the many battles in recent years for qualifying points in the World Radiosport Team Championships.

The main focus for stations in the US, especially on the East Coast, is to work as many European stations as possible.

K5ZD did exactly that in 2008, as his top three zones in terms of contacts were zones 14, 15 and 16, which amounted to 73% of his contacts overall.

The wild card this year in the US SOAB HP battle may be Rich DiDonna NN3W, who had the high US score in 2008 in Assisted, but this year will switch categories, operating again from the N3HBX superstation outside of Washington, D.C.

"We have a couple of new weapons on the low bands that I'm waiting to try out," said DiDonna, "so I think it will be a good show."

Remember: It's Not All About Winning

While the New England and East Coast stations will battle it out as usual, those to the West will have their own contest within a contest, to grind out as many points as possible.

That can be true even for those with big time antenna systems in the Midwest.

"I hope we have some decent European openings," says Mike Wetzel W9RE, who will try for big numbers from Indiana again this year. He finished 9th in the US in SOAB HP in 2008.

"You have to grab a frequency on 20 in the morning and be prepared to defend it all day which is very difficult from the Midwest."

Wetzel though tries to take a bit of a lighter approach about CQ WW SSB and CW, going with the flow of the conditions.

His plan - "be prepared, have fun, work stations and if it gets super boring take a break."

Realistically, that line of thinking can apply to just about anyone who wants to turn on the radio during CQ WW weekends.

So what about the rest of the pack, the low power guys, the ones with low dipoles, or even the tribander and wires crowd?

"Conditions are probably going to be crowded, but they are the same for everyone," says Thompson K5ZD, who told radio-sport.net that the best advice may be to stay in front of the radio.

"Best thing to improve the score is to stay in the chair and just keep making QSOs. It sounds trite, but even the slow hours can add up to a big difference in the final score."

Twenty meters will be the big band during the day for the US - which means that most everyone will be there, unless the higher bands open up.

"If 15m opens to Europe and is runnable, then that is the place to be while it is open," says Jeff Briggs K1ZM.

Unfortunately in recent years, 15 meters has been spotty at best, making it even more important for stations to stay on alert for any new mults that might pop in for a few minutes here and there.

"I remember some advice from N3RS when I moved to Pennsylvania for a short period," said Jim George N3BB, who now lives in Texas. "Sig said "There are always people calling you - always. It's your job to get their call."

That's a bit more difficult from W5, with a wall of East Coast stations getting an advantage on the Zone 14 and 15 stations from Europe.

"The 'average' station contester from the Southwest area has it really hard when the sun spots are down," says Richard King K5NA.

"If 10 and 15 meters don't really do much, then they are left to try and get QSOs from 20M all day long and below 20M at night. 20M is really hard from here beaming to Europe," King told radio-sport.net

"Your best bet from this area in the CQWW Phone is to do more S/P on 20M phone and all the lower bands. If you are lucky enough that 15M and possibly 10M opens up, then you can do a lot better," King added.

"On those bands it might be possible for the average station to run Europe and build a respectable score."