CQ-Contest
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Re: [CQ-Contest] Here's an idea...

To: <ve3xb@rogers.com>, <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Here's an idea...
From: "Bob Shohet, KQ2M" <kq2m@kq2m.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2018 22:26:39 -0400
List-post: <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Yuri, it amazes me that some people make comments before thinking about what 
they actually write and those same people often make assumptions about what 
they are writing before having any information.

By definition, contests are about testing your skills and the skills of others. 
 What makes a contest valid is the test of actually COPYING information 
correctly not just relying on the computer to fill it in for you when you press 
“enter”. 

And because I send with my keyer and not my keyboard, whatever I send, I have 
to send myself correctly at whatever speed I am sending it.  You can be sure 
that tests my skill plenty – and after 900,000+ CONTEST qso’s, about 600,000 of 
which were made on cw, the last time that I checked, I was still doing pretty 
well in the skill category.   So NO, it is not like “QRP ops..... “yada, yada, 
yada”.  I am actually sending exchanges, NOT my computer and .
you might do well to ask next time before you assume.  There are few people 
alive who have made as many CW qso’s as I have and probably no one has ever 
made as many cw qso’s as me by sending with their keyer rather than their 
keyboard/computer.

I am sure that the Haitian man named Eemio that I knew would take issue with 
your characterization of “this kind of joke”.  There are MANY names which are 
unfamiliar to most Americans/Canadians/Eastern Europeans, etc., I certainly 
don’t think that choosing to use an actual name is a joke - either to send or 
receive.  Waste of “valuable” time?  Hardly!  If you know what the exchange is 
before it is even sent then what is actually being tested?   Certainly not 
COPYING skill; the only thing being “tested” is having enough coordination to 
use the keyboard/computer to log for you.

I would never begrudge anyone sending me an unusual name or a name that I 
didn’t expect, any more than I would begrudge an operator from using qrp or 
qrpp.  Actually, many lower power guys call me because they know that I will 
listen for them and take the time and make the effort to dig them out – many 
stations won’t do that.  I certainly don’t complain about it or make the 
statement that you did:  

“if you weren't expecting this kind of joke during contest rush. It just waste 
of valuable time, nothing more”. 

You might want to reconsider that  – it sounds pretty arrogant.

I thinks it’s nice that low power guys or people with unusual callsigns would 
call me even though the burden falls on me (and others) to get their callsign 
and information correctly through the contest levels of qrm, qrn, and qsb.  I 
appreciate that they are in the contest and raising the level of activity for 
all participants.  And copying 599TT1 or 59950MW is a lot more interesting than 
599KW.  Same with working TG0FRACAP or any of hundreds of unusual and never 
before heard callsigns that we are not expecting.

I get that some people don’t like to be “challenged” by something unusual.  
Yeah, it isn’t easy and slows down the rate.  And some people don’t have a 
sense of humor about some things, and aren’t very tolerant or forgiving.  But 
really, this is only a contest.  It isn’t about truly important stuff like a 
person’s health or safety or family.   Life’s too short to argue about contest 
exchanges.  

73

Bob KQ2M


From: Yuri VE3XB 
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2018 11:07 PM
To: cq-contest@contesting.com 
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Here's an idea...

Always amazes me. 

Some smart guy comes up with "brilliant" idea and he starts testing everyone 
else skills but not his own... It's like QRP ops keep complaining about  big 
gun stations that couldn't copy their tiny signals but never call weak stations 
themselves. 

As a member of QRQ club I can copy CW at 40 wpm and higher speeds but I would 
definitely make sure that I copied EEMIO right and will ask for the repeat. 
Nothing wrong with that, especially if you weren't expecting this kind of joke 
during contest rush. It just waste of valuable time, nothing more. On the other 
hand if I had nothing better to do I would come back with some fancy name (like 
Enine, my old friend's name, for example) and see how well the joker will copy 
it. Not sure he will.

I guess that most people care about how to get contest exchange copying easier 
for their party, but looks like some think otherwise, having fun at someone 
else expense...


73 Yuri VE3XB

-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Bob 
Shohet, KQ2M

A lot time ago in the CW Sprint, I used EEMIO (sent at 40+ wpm of course  :-) 
and Scandalla amongst other names.  EEMIO was pretty funny – almost impossible 
to copy correctly at that speed – it was a true test of operator skill and 
honesty.  Skill to get it right the first time and honesty to ask again for it 
when they weren’t sure that they got it right.  As you would expect, the best 
ops got it right on the first or second try, most of the rest either needing 
MANY repeats (clearly expecting Bob) or just faking it and sending “r’” or 
“tu”.  I used other unusual names as well to “test” the ops.  I was more 
interested in having fun with that than achieving a good score.

Once in the mid-80’s, on the way back home after a YCCC meeting in Mass., I 
operated for an hour at Hal, W1NN’s station in CT, and worked K8CC on two bands 
with two different names.  When I got back to eastern Long Island in NY (where 
I was living at the time), I then worked K8CC again on a 3rd band using a 
different name from another state.  So I worked Dave a total of three times - 
from two different states on three bands and with three different names (one 
name per band).

Dave being the FB op that he is, correctly copied each name change and state 
change.  I’m pretty sure that Dave still remembers that contest.   :-)

73

Bob KQ2M
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