One of the towers at the well appointed station of Ranko Boca 4O3A in Montenegro.

From Georgia in Zone 20, This is the view of the main tower at the station of Gia Gvaladze 4L4WW.

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More Active High Bands Mean New Strategy Choices in 2011 November Sweepstakes SSB

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted November 13, 2011

Everyone got a taste of the better conditions on the high bands in both the CQ WW DX Contest and the November Sweepstakes CW - now it's time to put together what you learned for the SSB leg of Sweepstakes.

"It will be quite a different contest this year for SS phone," said Jeff Briggss VY2ZM, who last year became the first to win Single Operator High Power honors in this contest from Canada since 1948 - and he did it without sweeping all 80 multipliers.

Briggs made all but 41 of his 2209 contacts on 20 and 40 meters last year, going up to 15 meters for only 4 QSO's.

"10 and 15 are back in play and that helps the guys a lot out West," Briggs told radio-sport.net.

That could work to the advantage of contest sharpies like Mitch Mason K7RL who finished second to Briggs in 2010, netting 2113 contacts from his QTH in Western Washington.

Like Briggs in 2010, K7RL made over one thousand contacts on 20 meters, but with the bands open a few weeks ago in SS CW, he spread things out:

74 Q's on 80 meters, 334 on 40 meters, 296 on 20 meters, 322 on 15 meters and 257 QSO's on 10 meters.

In SS CW, VY2ZM had a bit more of a focus on 40 and 20 - 31 Q's on 80 meters, 654 on 40 meters, 513 on 20 meters, 106 on 15 meters and 156 on 10 meters.

Spreading it out in SS CW was typical - so, maybe that might be the answer for SS SSB as well, especially with higher sunspot numbers.

But 10 meters will likely be hard to resist for stations, especially if it is open.

In 2004, WP3R had 935 QSO's on 10 meters for a high power victory; last year, VY2ZM never made one contact on 10, while K7RL had just 25.

With recent sunspot numbers getting close to 200 in mid-November, it could mean that 10 meters will take center stage for many operators, introducing a wrinkle that hasn't really been seen in years in this contest.

In 2010, 10 meters opened for a short time around mid-day on Sunday - this year, one would expect it to be hopping both Saturday and Sunday, especially for stations well to the west and anyone down in the Carribean.

What will your strategy be with the high bands back in 2011?

The November Sweepstakes SSB Contest starts at 2100 UTC November 19 and ends at 0300z on November 21.

2010 ARRL SS SSB Contest Winners

VY2ZM (K1ZM) - SOAB HP

W4AAA (KK9A) - SOAB LP

N0KK - SOAB QRP

WB1GQR (W1SJ) - Unlimited

W6YI - Multi-Op

W6YX - School

2011 ARRL SS Schedule

November SS CW Contest

2100z November 5 to 0300z November 7; more on the rules at the ARRL web site.

November SS SSB Contest

2100z November 19 to 0300z November 21; more on the rules at the ARRL web site.

New Categories in ARRL SS

Don't forget that the ARRL is offering new power divisions in the Unlimited and Multi-Op categories, as now there will be specific Low Power and High Power options.

ARRL Contest Manager Sean Kutzko KX9X says that change won't alter the category that is sent as part of the exchange - it will still be "M" or "U" - but inside those, there will be High and Low Power.