Well said Fabian!
I get a kick out of running across contesting friends and listening to them run
(or not as the case may be), knowing that they may be running new equipment or
antennas or just that they've been stressed out at work and are now focused on
something possibly more fun.
There's something to to watching your antennas deformed into U shapes by wind
or ice, or hitting an unexpected opening, or maintaining motivation during the
drag times that sets on the air contesting apart.
That being said, it's just as great that there are options to play off the air
as well. Choice is good.
73,
Julius
Julius Fazekas
N2WN
Tennessee Contest Group
TnQP http://www.tnqp.org/
Elecraft K2/100 #3311
Elecraft K2/100 #4455
Elecraft K3/100 #366
--- On Mon, 8/11/08, Fabian Kurz <mail@fkurz.net> wrote:
> From: Fabian Kurz <mail@fkurz.net>
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Does anyone prefer virtual contests to real ones?
> To: cq-contest@contesting.com
> Date: Monday, August 11, 2008, 8:36 PM
> Hi Barry,
>
> On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:21:57PM +0000, Barry wrote:
> > When I started the contest, I thought to myself,
> "I can't believe this
> > is really 36 WPM, the rate's so slow (only about
> 140/hr), this is
> > boring." Then I realized, since ARRL CW,
> I've been playing around with
> > Morserunner once or twice a week - set the pileup as
> many deep as you
> > want, set the speed anywhere you want, and away you go
> with an instant
> > 300/hr pileup.
>
> I feel compelled to answer here since I have probably spend
> more time
> practicing RufzXP, MorseRunner in HST mode and CW Freak
> lately than
> [anyone else and than] I spent on the radio; and even the
> time spent
> on the radio is way above what's healthy.
>
> But do I enjoy virtual contesting more than real
> contesting?
>
> A contest, for me, is not only the technical process of
> getting a
> certain number of contacts, mults, QTCs in the log. A
> contest is like
> a big party, where you walk around and say hi to hundreds
> of guys that
> celebrate with you.
>
> It's an event where I interact with hundreds, thousands
> of real people
> who are playing the same game as I do. It's a process
> that stretches
> over 24h, or even 48h, in which I don't only have to do
> my own job,
> but also observe what the others are doing. I may be happy
> with what I
> do when I see that I'm leading; I may get terribly
> upset when I see
> that someone else is way ahead of me, and do my very best
> to catch
> up. You're going through highs and lows; fight
> sleepiness, get annoyed
> over poor condx and people who steal your frequency, get
> visited by
> murphy, but also jump off your chair when a rare mult calls
> you, or
> you are fortunate to run a big pileup.
>
> Competing in a contest at a high level requires skills at
> many
> levels: Station building, propagation, strategy, ...
> Operating in a
> multi operator even also requires a good set of soft
> skills, and
> ideally a team that can work and play together without any
> words
> exchanged.
>
> Even though, on the surface, contests are not more than
> just a mere
> exchange of meaningless numbers, there is much more to it.
> Something
> that no computer can simulate or replace.
>
> Running a rate of over 400 QSOs/h in MorseRunner, or
> plugging away
> callsigns at 150-200wpm in RufzXP _is_ great fun, and
> it's certainly
> good for a quick rush of adrenaline. But the _real_
> motivation for me
> (and probably most of those who excel in those disciplines)
> to push it
> to the limits is very much the same as that for radio
> contesters:
> Taking part in competitions like the HST [1], the rough
> equivalent of
> the WRTC in the ham radio contesting world, or just
> improving your
> standings in the online scoreboards. The motivation and
> excitement
> increases as you know the guys you compete with in person.
>
> Fun in contesting for me is not proportional to rate or
> speed. Virtual
> contesting, no matter how hard developers try, will never
> ever carry
> the magic of real radio that we all love. It's a nice
> tool to build
> (a limited set of) skills and procrastinate, but the real
> fun
> happens elsewhere: on the radio.
>
> 73,
> --
> Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/
>
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_Telegraphy
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