Hello Ron and others interested in this topic....
I think that all this will sort itself out in a fairly short time. Some
believe that ALL VHF contesting will go to FT8. Others say that ALL VHF
contesting will be digital. I firmly believe that these folks are lost
and that the scores will prove me correct. IF all digital will give you
more points in the long run, then smart contesters will go that way.
I am a good operator, but certainly not a great one. I know some great
ones and they make me look pretty bad. Still, I can run 150 contacts
per hour on 6M SSB when the band is open. The really good ones can run
over 200 per hour. Let me know when the digital modes get up to that.
FT8 takes 1 minute even if everything is perfect. Then it is hard to
get to the next station without 15sec or 30sec loss. I would be very
interested in the claimed "run rate" for FT8.
In VHF contesting, I believe that the digital modes will be an addition
to the traditional SSB/CW contesting not the primary mode of
contesting. The September 2017 contest proves that every general rule
has an exception. We did not work a single SSB contact on 6M via Es.
We worked locals, up to 300 miles, on SSB but nothing long haul. So, we
spent hours on MSK144 working new grids that way. We did not work
hardly any FT8, because the guys there were sending the "funny little
numbers" and you could not complete with them.
I(and I hope everyone else) want more stations participating in VHF and
VHF activities, such as contesting. We just have to get on the same
page. Somehow, we need the guys coming from the HF world to understand
the we need GRIDS. If we can accomplish that, the rest of it will fall
into place....
GL to all...73 Marshall K5QE
On 9/18/2017 8:04 AM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
Instead of creating a separate category, they
could cut all digital mode QSO points in half,
ie., 2 digi-Qsos on 6M = 1 real Qso.
Maybe that's being too generous ?
Just kidding.
-73 Ron WZ1V
----- Original Message -----
From: Sean Waite <waisean@gmail.com>
To: "Steve (K1IIG)" <stephen.tripp@snet.net>, VHF Contesting
<vhfcontesting@contesting.com>, Marshall-K5QE <k5qe@k5qe.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2017 12:14:46 +0000
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Digital Questions
Hi Steve,
I am of the opinion that splitting the VHF and up contests into mode
specific contests will be at the detriment of all. There just simply is not
enough activity.
If activity continues to grow, it might make sense to make mode contacts
worth different amounts of points,or maybe mode mults. I'm not sure where
that break point is, and certainly thus might end up handicapping people
that we really want to get more involved.
It's a fair point about automation. It would be pretty trivial to automate
the entire process. Click go and kick up your heels with a beer. If it's
found that this is happening, a rules rewrite might be in order.
Sean WA1TE
On Mon, Sep 18, 2017, 07:52 Steve (K1IIG) <stephen.tripp@snet.net> wrote:
Marshall,
Thank you for a very informative article detailing the different digital
mode pros and cons. I have not ventured into this and not sure I will as
most of my operating is on the upper UHF bands. I see a lot of confusion
with the various setups including major QRM packet collisions with only
one
calling frequency. Three questions come to mind.
1. If the digital modes continue to get popular, do you think having
a
separate Digital Contest makes sense?
2. If not, should the rules be re-written to equalize the playing
field.
3. If the automated computer program completes the contact and not
the
ham operator, does this truly constitute a ham op making the contact or
his
station making it. I wish to compete against other hams not just their
station computers. Hams copying vs computer decoding.
I do enjoy using a PC to assist making a contact with a SDR e/w a
panadapter waterfall but in the end I have to copy the weak signal to
complete a legit contact.
73's and Tnx for posting the article
Steve K1IIG
HF-3.4+10ghz
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9l5oeiir4inn4x6/Contesting%20and%20Digital%20Modes.doc?dl=0
73 Marshall K5QE
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