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"A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may
never get over." Ben Franklin
-----Original Message-----
From: W0MU Mike Fatchett [mailto:w0mu@w0mu.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 9:22 AM
To: 'Dan Evans'
Subject: RE: [VHFcontesting] My Proposal to the VUAC
Interesting. I never used the word cheat nor was I implying it. I simply
said that a manufactured contact does nothing for me. If I have to call you
on the phone or another band so that we can make a 10ghz contact should that
really count as a 10ghz contact? Without the phone or other band I am led
to believe that the contact probably could not occur.
I have been contesting for 20 plus years. Yes making a contact is much
easier when you know what is coming.
Modest stations on HF certainly cannot sit and CQ all day and night and have
a steady stream of callers, at least not out west in DX contests.
Yes there are generally more participants in HF contests.
I am not arguing against having a assisted class it makes sense but where do
you draw the line.
On HF in some of the Sprints especially RTTY we instituted a dupe rule that
allowed you to rework a station after a set number of contacts in between by
both participants. That rule was just removed as more people are operating
now. There are other options to keep people on the air. The more people
operating the better the change that the casual operator will find other
people to work.
I just think it is not in the spirit of the contest to use non radio means
to make contacts. Years ago it was rumored that a large contest dx station
made telephone calls to many other countries to ask them to get on and work
them for a multiplier. Contests to me should be decided on the operators
skill, station design and of course the luck of having some good openings,
not on the guy with the biggest phone bill or chat prowess, etc.
While I understand peoples desire to help. Help takes a person out of the
Unassisted class. Any contacts made with help are no good in my book in a
contest. When someone comes by and says hey grid xxxxx is down 3 puts you
in a tough position. You may have found it on your own but now a dark cloud
looms if after some time you go down and work that station. Only you know
if you acted on the assistance.
VHF contests are not marketed like DX contests, thus you have fewer
participants. I also understand that if the band is dead then less serious
participants might turn off the radio and do other things.
I could be wrong but the CQ-Contest reflector is about contesting. There is
very little discussion about VHF contesting at all. I know many contesters
on that list that do both. Here is the description of that list:
CQ-Contest@CONTESTING.COM is an electronic mail reflector dedicated to hams
interested in all types of amateur radio contesting. This is a good place
for contest-related announcements, discussions and rumors.
I am for more contacts but not at any cost or by any means. These are radio
contests not internet or telephone contests.
CC Packet Cluster W0MU-1
W0MU.NET or 67.40.148.194
"A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may
never get over." Ben Franklin
CC Packet Cluster W0MU-1
W0MU.NET or 67.40.148.194
"A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may
never get over." Ben Franklin
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Evans [mailto:dan.evans@insightbb.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 3:53 AM
To: W0MU Mike Fatchett
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] My Proposal to the VUAC
W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote:
> I agree with Ken's email.
>
> Why should there be any difference between a VHF and HF contests
> general rules?
>
There are fundamental differences between HF and VHF. As someone else
pointed out, one of the key differences is simple numbers of participants.
On HF, a decent station in a popular contest will likely be able to run
stations for the entire contest, and never run out of people to work.
On VHF, you will likely run out a band in a matter of hours, or even
minutes, depending on what part of the country you are in. I think this is
one of the key problems we have. For example, a small station will get on
the air, operate for an hour or two, get bored, and then shut off the rig
and go watch TV... Now the contest has lost a participant for the rest of
the test. And no amount of CQ'ing and searching can make his rig turn back
on...
> Using means other than the radio diminishes a contact in my eyes.
> While packet alerts you to a station being at a specific frequency he
> does not know who might be calling him.
>
> Making a contact when both sides know what is coming is much different
> than having to dig out a callsign out of the noise.
>
I respectfully disagree. You are assuming here that one or the other
stations will cheat. Just because I know a stations call and grid, DOESN'T
MEAN I DON'T HAVE TO COPY IT OVER THE AIR. [caps added for emphasis
only...] After a few years of contesting, the fact is I have learned the
call and grid of about 80% of the stations I work in every contest. But I
still have to copy their complete info over the air, or it's not a valid
QSO. And most of the operators I have worked on VHF are very strict on this
point. Particularly the MS ops. The other thread about Tilton's rules
illustrates this nicely. So please don't assume someone is going to cheat.
In my opinion, being able to use "whatever means" to find stations could
help boost the numbers of active VHF contesters. I have to believe this
would be a benefit to contesting. Now, please don't assume I am going to
cheat. Just because I believe this would help, doesn't mean I will not
follow the rules as they are written.
I also supported the idea of adding APRS to Rovers, basically for the same
reasons. I hope to add it to my station someday.
73
Dan
--
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budget Rover ***QRP-l #1269 Check out the Rover Resource Page at:
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>
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