There are many skills, accomplishments and requirements necessary to win or
score highly in a contest. The ones that come to mind are:
1. Having a loud signal on the other end.
2. Being a superior operator in terms of technique, understanding of the
rules, propagation, etc.
3. Having an excellent receiving set up -- receiver, beverages, hi/lo ants,
RTTY decoder, etc.
4. Knowing when to change bands, where to point the ants (as in #2 above).
5. Having the physical stamina (solo effort) or organizational skills (multi
op) to mount a real campaign.
6. Controlling your post-contest anger at having to screw with the Cabrillo
format.
The WAE Contest's QTCs require great accomplishment in the #2 category above.
One may have a lot of power and good antennas but if you can't "hear 'em"
you can't copy the QTCs being sent by those 100w stations on other continents.
Nowhere in the rules is it required that a US station receive QTCs. In fact,
there can only be an exchange of 10 QTCs between any two stations, whether
sent OR received.
I watched my score yesterday as I sent QTCs to a European station. The score
jumped 3,652 points from one QSO and the 58 seconds it took to send the 10
QTCs. How else can one pick up 3,652 points so easily?
While living and operating in Europe (HA, DL, R3, 3A, OE, OH, OH0, OK, LZ, F,
I) for ten years, I saw that the European and especially German operators
considered it a matter of pride to develop their operating skills to the point
they could receive QTCs in the WAE tests (esp. CW) very well.
Once I FORCED myself to do it, I began enjoying it too. I once hated the
whole idea. Now I look forward to it.
I would suggest that on the weekend before the CW and RTTY WAE tests, a bunch
of ops get on and practice sending QTCs back and forth. Somebody suggested
that this year on 14.040 but I never had any takers. In fact, if anyone wants
to call me up, I will make a sked for QTC practice anytime.
I'd like to encourage QTC haters to give it another go. There is NO shame in
asking a station to QRS on CW or to ask for repeated "fills" on either RTTY
or CW. The best stations do that. It's a sign that you WANT to help the other
station with his score and you want to improve your own.
73,
Mike
W0YR/4
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