Greetings!
According to my limited perspective, it seems to
me we have 4 distinct types of ops who get on
during a contest.
1) the hardcore competitive type who will be
there come hell, highwater, aurora, solar flares,
Murphy, football, or meals. They'll work anyone
anytime anywhere. Can be expected to be on, on
some band, the entire time they are allocated to
be on the air. Newbies, oldbies, and slowbies can
count on having multiple chances to work them.
These stations can be 'precopied' and the info
saved so that all you have to do is copy the
serial no (SERNO) of their Q, and hit 'ENTER' on
the keyboard to have a valid Q when you DO work
them. Hard core competitve types tend to not QRS
if calling CQ and you call them. They expect that
stations who answer thier CQ's should be able to
keep up in some reasonable manner. They WILL QRS
(usually) if asked but prefer that stations keep
up with them. Many times their hand key/external
keyer is set to a slowerspeed for just this
purpose in case they need to hand key an exchange
or part of one. They tend to think that if one
is entering the SS, once should expect that there
is a minimum level of competency expected and if
new or unsure one should expect to need help or
to be willing to put up with the expected higher
level of required ability.
2) The competitive type who wants to do well in
some personal category but will adapt to the
conditions at their own station/life. They are
usually on quite a bit, but they'll QSY/QRT
depending on personal needs or mood. Newbies,
oldbies, and slowbies can expect to find them
on, more often than not, but should try to work
them as they find them. Exchange can be
'precopied' like #1 but availbale opportunities
to do so may be limited or sporadic. Same
logging scenario. Copy current SERNO, insert
precopied info, hit Enter and done. They tend to
be very flexible to the speed of the station
responding and will tend to auto-QRS without
being asked. Tends to have SOME of the attitude
of #1 in relation to the expecatations concerning
people who participate in the SS, but more
flexible in willingness to accomodate the
slowbies or newbies.
3) The casual contester. They get on as the mood
hits them and are interested in some personal
goal such as beating their previous score,
getting states for 5BWAS/WAS, practicing
techniques or just having some fun in between
other activities. Newbies, oldbies, and slowbies
should strive to stick with these folks as much
as they can and work them as they can. This
station will QRS or tend to be a bit slower than
the normal SS speed because they are not
rate-focused and are not as tuned to that aspect,
save when they get a run going if they choose to
run stations. They tend to submit logs for
scoring purposes. Very flexible in their
attitude towards expectations that
newbies/slowbies should have.
4) The non-contester. They get on to 'give the
gang a few points', seek states/provinces for
awards, check out their gear and antennas, and
generally have a good time without any sense of
interest in submitting a log. They will usually
QRS without asking and tend to be more 'laid
back'. Newbies, oldbies, and slowbies like these
types because they have (usually) zero problems
with speed of exchange since the non-contester is
not into it for points, rate, or other contest
specific reasons.
I know.. these are generalized examples and there
are sub-divisions within the categories. These
are my own observations after many times opp'ing
in the SS.
Thoughts? I'm not looking for flames.. just
thoughts and comments.
73
Chuck K3FT
If CW is dying.. why was 20/15 always filled with
stations working each other? hmmm.
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