2009 CQ WPX SSB Bring Repeat Fever As W2SC Bids For Four Straight World Single Op Titles

By Jamie Dupree NS3T  radio-sport.net 
Posted March 23, 2009

After three straight Single Operator wins in the CQ WPX SSB contest, Tom Georgens W2SC will be back for a try at a fourth consecutive victory, as he headlines the 2009 CQ WPX SSB contest.

Georgens will once again be operating from his contest shack on Barbados, where in 2008, he was the only single operator to end up with over 20 million points, as he won an easy third straight WPX SSB title as 8P1A.

"I will be on for WPX SSB," Georgens told radio-sport.net. "I missed both ends of the ARRL and have not been to the station in 4 months. I arrive on Thursday afternoon, so hopefully nothing is too broken."

Georgens just missed his existing North American SOAB HP record last year by 27,000 points, as he rolled up 5,671 contacts.

He did most of his damage a year ago on 20 meters - which has been a big time battleground in major SSB contests of late - but also on 15 meters.

"I expect 15 to be productive, at least to the US," Georgens said.

Also looking to repeat this year in the Low Power category will be John Bayne KK9A, who will be back at P40A in Aruba, where he set a new Low Power world record of 15.48 million points.

One op who has checked out the 8P1A log is Helmut Mueller DF7ZS, who will be back in the Madeira Islands this year as CS9L, where he had the top score in 2008 in the Tribander/Single Element category.

"I will try very hard to make the gap between (8P1A') fantastic effort and my third WPX single op try a little bit smaller," Mueller told radio-sport.net (photo of DF7ZS at work on the right.)

Mueller's goal for 2009 is a good reminder when it comes to strategy in WPX contests, as contacts on 40, 80 and 160 with other contests are worth extra points, making them very valuable in the long run.

"Lesson learned from 2008 .... be loud on 40m..... it's double points per qso!!!" said Mueller.

That also raises an important question - should you run 1-pointers from your own country/continent or grind out DX contacts first?

"One can have a better hour in the middle of the night working 15 or 20 six pointers than running Ws on 40 meters or 20 meters in the afternoon or evening at one point per contact," said Jim George N3BB after the 2008 contest.