Reflections on IARU HF World Championship

I didn't operate in the IARU contest last weekend. However, my station was active with a guest in the operating chair: Vlad VE3TM. I didn't take a picture of him during the contest so I'll direct you to his QRZ page.

Since I'm not a fan of summer contests, it was an opportunity for Vlad to play with a bigger station than his small one in Ottawa. His station is also plagued with noise, a common occurrence in urban and suburban settings. 

I benefitted since this was the first time someone else operated my station in a contest. It was useful to learn how the station automation, operating desk layout and equipment performed for another contester. My job during the contest was to answer questions and fix any problems that might arise. Luckily, none did. I kept the coffee flowing and otherwise kept out of his way.

I designed my station automation to be intuitive but that is no guarantee that it will make sense to others who sit down to use it the first time. I directed Vlad to my description of it on the blog and that proved to be sufficient. I explained how the SO2R system worked and how to use the many rotators. There's a lot to learn and it can be overwhelming. I'm not the best judge of the learning required because I'm familiar with the station.

Aside from 2BSIQ, which Vlad has never done, the best way to exploit a large station is to always be running on one band and hunting for stations and multipliers on other bands. That takes practice. Propagation was such that only 15 meters delivered consistently strong runs, mainly to Europe. For the most part he kept the stack pointed northeast. Runs were limited on 20 and 40 meters to times when conditions were favourable. Part of that is due to stations migrating to the higher bands to take advantage of the high MUF.

Marginal conditions on the other bands -- 10, 80 and 160 -- proved difficult since he was in the low power category (100 watts). Vlad usually operates low power in contests and that's what he did in this one. Since my amps are manual tune (A1500 and L7) he avoided another point of complexity while operating an unfamiliar station.

At the end of the contest he had a respectable claimed score of over 700K points and more than 1200 contacts. Had he operated the full 24 hours and better able to exploit SO2R he could very well have had the top score in VE/W. Nevertheless, he enjoyed himself and I learned a few things about the station. That's a win for both of us.

Now I'd like to say a few words about the WRTC competition in Italy. It of course is run in concert with the IARU contest. Many participants make a point of working the competitors with their special call signs. There was a live scoreboard so that everyone could follow the competition, but with the operator identities hidden until after the contest.

The format and location of team statistics on the official web site keep changing so I don't know what you'll see when you click on the link. Before the final tally the claimed scores were shown. Those disappeared when the final scores became available a day or two later. First they were in a PDF file and then an HTML table, so who knows. You may have to take my word on a few points since you may find it difficult to check.

The final standings may be a surprise. Operators that consistently place high in major contests have mediocre results in WRTC, and vice versa. There are known and speculative reasons for this. The ones that occur to me include:

• Big scores in major contests most often are done with big stations, from stations that everyone needs for a multiplier, or from favourable geographic locations. Run fast and you'll do well.
  
• Skills to exploit the above benefits are not necessarily the skills needed to do well in WRTC. However, it does require many well-honed skills to do well with a big station, and a mediocre operator won't do well when dropped into the chair at the world's best station. The former include: SO2R; 2BSIQ; knowing where to point antennas, and when; picking complete calls from a pile up, correctly and on the first try; a recognizable call that is easy to copy; etc.
• WRTC rules reduce the value of many big gun skills. Many contesters love to find and call WRTC competitors, but aside from that they are little pistols in this contest. I'll just include one link (out of many) from my blog that enumerates skills you need to do well with a small station. Those accustomed to being a big gun may have rusty little pistol skills that they need in WRTC. You cannot simply point the antennas, cue the CQ machine and keep at it for 24 hours to place well.
  
• It has been said that contesting from Europe requires a local focus. There are more stations to work than, say, from within North America, and you must exploit that by working as many other Europeans as possible, despite the lower point value compared to DX contacts. I failed to understand that for a long time because I've never operated from Europe.
  

There is one point well worth noting from comparing the raw and final scores of the competitors: accuracy matters. The ranking of the top teams did not change but the margins did. After log checking the spread between first and second place dropped from 6% to 1%. They were very close to changing positions.

There are other notable points in the published statistics that I will not bother with. Have a close look and you will learn a few things, both good and bad. I'm sure it will be more interesting when the logs become public. I'll leave that job to others since I'm not that curious!

I have no WRTC ambitions. I enjoy watching many of the world's best contest operators do their utmost in these tests of skill and knowledge, and that's enough. Contest is recreation for me and an incentive to build a big station. That's all. 

My other great passion outside of amateur radio is cycling, and my attitude toward it is the same: it's recreation, and an incentive to hone what talents I may have. But I leave the racing to others. I didn't watch the WRTC but I do watch the Tour de France online. It was particularly enjoyable to cheer on home boy Michael Woods as he won a stage of the great race in grand style atop Puy du Dome that same weekend.

I don't know any Tour de France competitors but I do know several of the WRTC operators. It'll be interesting to hear the stories they have to tell when we next meet.