Major SSB Contest? Don't bother to check CW. Trust me.

For anyone who thinks that a major contest means that it's time to stay away from the bands, you just keep right on thinking that. That's right. Contest on and you're not a contester, or not a serious one, well, there's absolutely no need to even think about checking the cw portion of the bands. Everyone's in the phone portion living it up and contesting.

Trust me.

You can believe that malarkey, or you, too, can enjoy some fairly productive DXing from hardcore CW operators and noncontesters. You say that you haven't been able to work that latest DXpedition to Timbuktu? Trust me again...don't even try it during a contest because...well...you're liable to actually get through.

Of course, since you worked them while half the ham world was off contesting, that means that it doesn't really count as much as if they were there QRMing you, right?

Yeah right. I've yet to see a check-box on a QSL card that says, "Worked during contest weekend, deduct one-half country-worth of points".

In less than three hours during the ARRL SS SSB contest this weekend, I was able to work (on CW, of course):

1. Namibia

2. Ghana (twice)

3. Western Samoa

4. French Polynesia

5. Liberia

6. British Virgin Islands

7. Martinique

8. Chesterfield Island

9. Mariana Islands

10. Sierra Leone

11. Tonga

Now, I realize that some of that isn't rare DX. But two countries are on the 100 most wanted list, and some of the rest could be considered fairly decent...especially for a small, modest station. All of this in about three hours while one of the major SSB contests was going on.

Remember, don't bother checking CW. There's nothing going on.