Here we go again: I was a packet-cluster sysop at the very beginning. It has
never, let me shout it, "NEVER", been considered good etiquette for USA
stations to spot USA stations during a DX contest.
Secondly a packet-cluster user cannot lock-out/reject spots from individual
stations only regions or districts, i.e. W6 or CA. Why would you suggest
further penalizing stations who are already handicapped because they can't find
DX stations on their own without the aid of the "cluster" big spotters.
Furthermore why would you penalize stations like, W6YX, who feel the need to
show-off the fact they can hear every station on the band and then can actually
type the calls in the cluster.
Everyone knows my feelings about using the"Cluster" during contests. Early
Saturday morning I had a nice/casual JA run going, 2 a minute. All of the
sudden, as if by magic, my rate jumped to 5 a minute. I didn't ask for that and
I guarantee you I didn't want it but someone in JA land spotted me on their
cluster. While it may be nice for the ego all the fun went out of the JA run
and it became work. The saddest part is because the spot went out to the whole
world 3, yes 3, USA stations called just because they saw the spot.(it was the
only time during the weekend USA stations called) How in the world were we ever
able to contest before 1987???
Unfortunately most contest sponsors refuse to restrict, or outlaw, clusters
during contests because they are afraid of losing precious revenue for their
magazines, not in the integrity or the real meaning of contesting. So the
cluster handicapped hams will always win out and the 'REAL' contesters will be
the losers.
I suggest we no longer call it contesting, because it is no longer a contest
when you know where to find stations to work because it is being spoon fed to
you.
The ARRLDX SpoonFeeding Weekend, CQDXSpoonFeeding, WPXSpoonFeeding,
SSSpoonFeeding, etc etc
MAL N7MAL
BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
http://www.ctaz.com/~suzyq/N7mal.htm
----- Original Message -----
From: Dean Wood
To: Richard Zalewski
Cc: Cq-Contest
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 23:22
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Domestic Spots
Richard Zalewski wrote:
> What's with W6YX and all the domestic spotes this weekend?
Hi Dick,
I am often an operator at W6YX, and although I did not participate last
weekend, I did speak to one of the operators today, and I'd be happy to
answer your query.
As you know, the ARRL DX CW contest was last weekend. W6YX was active
in it.
1) Not everyone who monitors the DX packet cluster, or was active in
last weekend's contest, lives in the USA. USA spots tend to be helpful
to the DX stations using packet.
2) Within reason for a given contest, we believe it is simply in good
spirit to spot any station we hear calling CQ. There has been a lot of
debate on the cq-contest reflector about "packet cheerleading" or
spotting a select few buddies dozens of times while not spotting other
stations. The W6YX group does not "packet cheerlead." We spot
everyone based on whether they are in or out of our bandmap. The fact
that W6YX was spotting both DX stations and domestic stations does not
mean that W6YX was misinterpreting the ARRL DX rules or trying to
contact any domestic stations for credit. It simply means we were
equally spotting CQers heard on the bands. We hope the spots helped
stations who chose to use packet last weekend have more fun, regardless
of whether they happened to be operating from the USA or not.
3) Any stations who don't wish to see the entire contents of a DX packet
cluster have been repeatedly encouraged on the cq-contest reflector to
use their packet software's filtering techniques according to what
regions of the world they want to view (or don't want to view).
W6YX has been thanked many times in the past by other stations for
increasing their fun in contests by accurately spotting many stations to
packet, and has been encouraged to continue to do so in future contests.
73...
-Dean - N6DE
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|