5000 QSOs

The big contest is coming up. You set a personal objective to make 5000 QSOs in this 48-hour event. Just you, your radio, your antennas and spot/cluster assistance if that's your preference. It is a number regularly exceeded by quite a few contesters. 

For the sake of this scenario let's assume you have never accomplished that feat. How would you go about it? What does it take? Is it at all realistic? Well, why not? I have friends right here in VE3 who have done it, although I have not. We are not being a desired multiplier in any contest, our location is less than ideal, too many propagation paths are via the auroral zone and our climate is not particularly friendly to large antennas. 

I say VE3, but the same could be said for UA3, W3 or PY3. Most hams and contesters can't simply turn on the radio at 0000Z Saturday and expect to magically accumulate 5000 contacts in the log by 2359 Sunday. Even if you are particularly attractive to most of the contest participants it is still a challenging goal.

When I say "5000", that is for me, a VE3 in this part of VE3 -- VE3 is bigger than most countries. Contest rule and geography dictate an equivalent goal for others. In CQ WW CW my 5000 might be 4000 in the eastern US and 6000 in most of Europe for a ham similar to myself.

During this weekend's CQ WW CW contest I set a more modest objective of 4000 contacts. I was on track to do it but fate intervened and I had to stop at less than 2100 contacts before the halfway mark. I certainly was not on track to reach 5000.

I thought it would be interesting to review what you would have to do to reach 5000 contacts in a 48 hour contest. There are multiple factors, as you would expect, which can be weighted on each station's circumstances and relative strengths and weaknesses. This is not a prescription.

It must also be said that geography and contest rules must be accounted for in the goal. The 5000 QSO goal in CQ WW CW for me might be

First, as summary of the main points. Then we'll delve a little deeper.

• Rate: contacts per hour or minute, on average, you'll need
• Run: you can't accumulate a large number of contacts by calling others
• SO2R: running alone isn't good enough, unless you're in a great QTH or a rare multiplier
• Stamina: BIC (butt in chair) for as long as it takes
• Skill: practice, practice and more practice, and learn from the best
  
• Strategy: develop an effective plan and stick to it
  
• Station: having a big signal helps, usually a lot
• Automation: easy and foolproof band and antenna switching
  

Rate

Assume activity for 40 hours out of 48. That's a reasonable amount for an ordinary mortal human being in good health to stay healthy, alert and productive on the bands. The overall average rate you need to reach 5000 contacts is:

5000 ÷ 40 = 125 per hour, or 2 contacts per minute

The rate is highly variable so at times the rate will need to be higher, possibly much higher. I know that running on two bands (SO2R) this weekend my rate was regularly 4 per minute, with peak rates of more than 6 per minute. It's intense and you won't get a break until conditions change. When the propagation is in your favour you must take advantage.

On the low bands during the wee hours the rate can dip as low as about 30 per hour. This happens after the sun rises in Europe and NA casual operators are asleep. When the rate is that low I will S & P on at least one radio.

Rates on the second day are often lower than the first because there are fewer stations left to work. The best rates will tend to be on bands you were less active on the first day. Keep an eye on your QSO statistics to decide which bands to focus on.

To reach the required high average rate you must run. Indeed, the motto of the big gun is: ABR (always be running). With practice a high rate is possible by S & P when you first appear on each band since every station you hear is needed. That is not sustainable. Assisted makes S & P more productive since you only need to click on spots rather than tune and copy each potential station. Even so you will not reach 5000 QSOs this way.

SO2R

Running on one band is good. Running on two bands is better. That brings us to SO2R. 

It's a difficult skill to learn well and you'll need the equipment to make it possible. This includes: 2 × N antenna switches, band pass filters (BPF), harmonic filters (or high power BPF), headphone and audio switching, perhaps two keyboards, transmit interlock, and SO2R capable logging software. At its simplest it is still highly effective.

It is rare for a single op to reach 5000 QSOs in a contest without SO2R. Keep in mind I'm talking about contesters in non-rare locations. For those operating from a Caribbean island with no other locals active in the contest it can be done without SO2R. Of course with SO2R they can do even better.

Stamina

At the target rate you can count on making 125 contacts for every hour you are in front of the radio and working stations. That should be obvious. Yet it is all too easy to take breaks and to deceive yourself that you can make up the time later. You won't and you can't. A 15 minute break from the bedlam to enjoy a coffee or snack will cost you 30 QSOs or more.

Can you get by on 2 hours sleep a night? Do that for each night of the contest and you've already dropped from 48 to 44 hours. That's half your off-time budget. Operating a 48 hour contest will drain you, no matter your age and physical condition. For the older ham it may be impossible to operate 40 hours or more, though many still do.

As the mantra goes: BIC (butt in chair). There is no alternative. Invest in a comfortable chair and headphone to reduce the discomfort. While you're there you had better be working stations and not idly spinning the dial or daydreaming.

Skill

You need skill and perseverance to reach 5000 contacts. Some discover that they have a talent for SO2R and copying calls out of the cacophony. The majority must work hard to be only moderately capable. It is always possible to do better with practice.

Running well is a critical skill. You must efficiently and quickly work callers for the needed rate. You must pick calls out of the pile up, reduce overs to get the QSOs in the log and deal with the inevitable QRM. Lots of ops love the attention a big signal brings them but lack the skill to put the callers in the log. Make them wait and they'll leave. Maybe they'll come back later. Maybe.

SO2R is difficult. You must finesse timing and lengths of transmissions, quickly switch focus of which radio you're listening to and deal with situations where you are receiving on both radios at once. It is a curious fact that running on both radios is easier than running on only one because getting the timing right on the S & P radio since it is almost never synchronized to the running radio. There are ways to bring them in sync and not slow your run rate. When you fumble the callers will QSY and you may lose a valuable run frequency.

If you lack the skill you'll just have to hunker down and practice. There are offline tools like Morserunner, and it's now built into N1MM Logger+. You should enter smaller contests for live practice. Don't expect to do well in the big event if you don't keep your skills fresh.

Strategy

I admit that I am not very good at or terribly interested in making a detailed operating plan for any contest. Too much scheduling, strategic band changes and pre-made meals lessen my enjoyment. I prefer to leave those complications for multi-op contests. On that basis alone I will never compete for the top ranks as a single op contester.

To maximize QSOs you must have an effective plan and stick to it. Will 10 meters open to Europe? When? How will you check for it when you're running like mad on 20 and 15 meters? Do you hunt for multipliers or do you aim the antenna in the general direction, run and hope that they will find you?

There is no one best strategy. It must be tuned for your station, skill, propagation and knowledge of where the high rates will come from. For example, after Europe closes on the high bands there is a window of opportunity in CQ WW from this region to run stations in the western half of the US on 20 and 15 meters. However, I must decide whether to give it up when 40 meters opens to Europe in mid to late afternoon. It's easy to delay when the rate is good, and that can hurt your score.

Since so many of us are DXers at heart and we love to work DX in a DX contest there is an allure to working distant DX at a slow rate rather run a high rate on another band. For example, when 15 opens to Japan in the late afternoon I may linger and miss the high rate of running Europe on 40.

Most contest logging software has a statistics pane telling you how many incremental QSOs are needed to equal the point value of one new multiplier. It's useful information to tell you whether to go hunting. Be careful since multipliers are the "gift that keeps on giving" since all future QSOs are multiplied by each new multiplier, not only the next 5 or 6. But if you focus too much on multipliers you will miss out on many QSOs by continuing to run. 

There is no simple answer. What I can tell you is that by perusing the unassisted single op scores of the top ten you will see a trend of fewer multipliers and more contacts. Running non-exotic DX wins contests.

Another strategy is to move stations. Let's say you're running on 20 and 40 meters. A station answers on 20 and you work them. You see that your logging software flags them as a new mult or simply a station you have yet to work on 40. Ask them to call you on the 40 meter run frequency. Many hams will agree to do so, whether they are serious or casual. In the former case they, too, want the points, and in the latter case many hams enjoy helping you out. But it's up to you to make the request.

Slipping in that request is difficult without practice, as is your ability to read the colours and text on the display that tells you that they're needed on the other band. Soliciting QSOs while you're running will boost your score and get you closer to the magic 5000 QSOs.

Keeping to a strategy may not your idea of "fun". The fun comes afterwards when you've surpassed your objective. Design your strategy to maximize QSOs and score. Do your DXing and other fun operating after the contest.

Automation

The downside of a fully manual station like mine is that band changes are cumbersome. Taking one minute to change bands can cost 2 or more QSOs. If the band change isn't productive you do it again and lose more QSOs. It will easily add up to a 3-figure amount over the course of a 48 hour contest. That's costly.

Mistakes happen when you're fatigued. I forget to switch the BPF during a band change and wonder for 15 or 20 seconds why the receiver is so eerily silent. Or perhaps an antenna change with a manually tuned amp requires a few tweaks, but you forget and the amp protection kicks in. Again, that costs time and QSOs. You might not even notice for many minutes that you're using only drive power.

Automation itself adds risk. There is additional hardware and software to glitch or fail. The effect and cause may not be easily determined in the heat of a contest. Manual backup should be an option so that the fault can be ignored until after the contest or during a rare quiet moment. For example, the power supply for my control systems developed a fault in CQ WW and couldn't deliver more than 400 ma.

Ideally you can switch bands and antennas instantaneously and without effort. Some contesters roll their own while others use the increasing number of commercial solutions. Station automation will help you reach the 5000 QSO goal.

Towers, antennas and equipment

A great operator with a mediocre station can pass the 5000 threshold, while an ordinary operator at a big gun station will fail to do so. Big towers and antennas are not enough. I am regularly impressed by what the best contesters can do from a modest station. It has also never been easier for contesters to guest op at big gun stations. Automation and remote interfaces make it quite easy to operate from half a world away.

Whether you build, buy or rent a big station you must have the skills to use it effectively. What you will get from being a big gun is opportunity. I have no difficulty drawing attention when I get on the bands with my stacks. Converting that attention into logged QSOs is another matter.

A mass of zero-beat callers might tickle your fancy until you try to wring a call or just a partial call from the mess. In a contest many of the callers will not quit calling just because you ask for "the station with Z" or "W3?". They want the QSO as much as you do. It's your mission to pull out those call signs with courtesy and speed. If you can't do it nobody logs the contact.

You should strive for maximum intelligibility of your transmission. Crisp keying that is not too fast and easy to copy, and high fidelity audio and the use of standard phonetics will reduce mistakes and repeats. That will increase your rate far better than a casual disdain about whether others can copy you.

Hams that are good at building big stations are often not the hams who are good at contest operating. I am in the first category. I can have fun contesting while knowing that I'll never be one of the best. Most of us are like that.

Because I have neither the inclination nor skill to win as a single op, I would rather host multi-ops for the camaraderie and to see just how well the station can perform when operated by others. Within a year I'll be in a better position to host multi-ops. What I lack is station automation, multiple operating positions and modern equipment.

Learn from the best

I am not the best! My skills are wanting, and with my station reaching true big gun status the challenge of constant running is ever present. Luckily there are many elite contesters willing to share their knowledge. Look around and you'll find them. I will mention just one. It's recent, well presented and concise (one hour). It's by Randy K5ZD to the YCCC and has been uploaded to YouTube. You'll learn more listening to him than me.

What you don't want to do is listen to those with unethical practices. There are shortcuts to reaching that coveted objective: excess power, self spotting, stealing run frequencies, splatter and key clicks to guard your run frequency and failing to correct the other station's copying errors are on that list. Maintain a high ethical standard. You'll escape the embarrassment of disqualification and you'll feel better for having met your goals within the regulations and the contest rules.

I failed to reach my lesser goal of 4000 QSOs in CQ WW CW due to fatigue, lack of preparation and technical failures. I'll try again.