OK Gang; the April 96 issue of QST is out. It was another good day at the PO
box. Not only did QST arrive, but another fishing mag, and a check from UPS
for some audio equipment I sold. Now I can buy that DSP, low loss coax,
connectors for the hardline, etc. Also, the weather is great, 70 degrees.
If it stays like this for the next two weeks it may be hard to decide
whether to operate the WPX SSB or inaugrate the new fishing season.
NO COMMENT on April Fools articles! But there is a great ad for a new HF
vertical antenna with +16.7 db gain at 7.2MHz!!!!
Alright, so what's in this issue that is CONTEST related?
The long awaited review of the FT1000MP (any comparison comments from those
of you who already have one?); Cushcraft ad for their new R7000 (for the
residentially- challenged contest site); History of the 811A and 3-500Z
tubes; Electric Fence Interference; review of MFJ's 8621 Packet-Only Data
Radio (for those of you who must have assistance in finding contest QSOs);
Hints & Kinks - tower bracket for wire antennas; Pratas Island and
Scarborough Reef - new DXCC countries; results of the 95 ARRL 160 Contest;
Yaesu ad for the new FT-900CAT with Collins filter; and more.
I did not receive any negative comments about these postings, so I will
continue doing them until further notice.
73,
Henry Pollock - WB4HFL
henrypol@aol.com
>From Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> Thu Mar 14 19:18:29 1996
From: Gary Nieborsky <k7fr@ncw.net> (Gary Nieborsky)
Subject: NCJ CTT&T column
Message-ID: <199603141918.LAA18139@bing.ncw.net>
At 09:42 PM 3/13/96 -0500, you wrote:
>my outgoing e-mail is QFU, hope this gets off my disk and headed your way,
>Gary.
>
>....all I gotta say about two radio contesting, other than it is great, is
>that after doing it you realise how much time is wasted using your brain to
>listen to yourself call cq! If we don't recognize our own cq's by the time we
>start contesting...well, I guess we never will!
>
>After the recent cq-contest reflector discussion of how many unanswered cq's
>are frequently sent by big guns...all I can say is guys - they aren't CQing,
>they are listening (on another band)......oops, the secret is out.
>
>Jim K1ZX
>
>
My companies really into measurables so this thought hit me out of the blue!
Score modifier reflecting the number of cq's sent vs. cq's answered,
modified by the number of calls in S&P to the number of stations worked S&P.
Score Modifier = Square root((cq's answered)**2 + (S&P answers)**2)/ Square
root((# of cq's sent)**2 + (# of S&P calls)**2)
This would give a decided advantage to the efficient operator and penalize
those evil ether devouring East Coast Mega-stations.
Plus it would give me a thesis subject to get my MS in Mathematics.... <8^).
Gary K7FR
Been sniffin' the ether again!
>From Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> Thu Mar 14 15:20:07 1996
From: Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> (Steve Bookout)
Subject: Final WRTC Bitching.
Message-ID: <199603141520.PAA03499@ba.com>
For Skoch92707:
I for one, any maybe the only one, agree with you on this. I had a
response written by my buddy talked me out of it. Then I saw some of the
traffic this morning, so I'm at it again (Larry, where are you when I need you?)
For the rest:
I really don't care that the organizer want to promote this event.
It's fine with me, really it is. I just don't think the way it is being
billed is accurate. IT IS A CLOSED EVENT FOR A SELECT FEW DEMI-GODS. But
that's an OK reason for having a contest,if they want to.
I WOULD be interested to find who will be the top ops in the world
ON A GIVEN WEEKEND. The level of skill is such that anyone could win. It
will be close.
If people want to have associated social fuctions where they want to
place the people that they find inportant in their life on a pedistal, more
power to them. But, DON'T say this contest is open to all and DON'T make
the suggestion that the selection process was objective. It's your event,
make the process anyway you want, but don't market it as something it's not.
If All contest oriented clubs were asked to submit the name of the top 5
contesters in the world, as chosen by that club, it still would be
subjective at the club level. If not all groups are asked for input, than
it's a closed party. But, again, thats ok, it's your event.
If all involved want to be either the "ego polish-ers or the
polish-ees", then that is fine, also. Large egos need constant attention.
And back to Skoch92707, you don't owe anyone an appoligy. I didn't
see anything that suggested a personal attack from YOU. If you have
ruptured any egos with your non flattering perspective of the events, there
are enough inflated egos left to make the needed repairs (see the thread on
QSLing of the past week.)
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and if SOME, not all (you know who you
are) of you were half the person that you are contesters, you would accept
them as differing opinions and leave the personal attacks out of it.
...now where the heck did I put that Nomex firesuit?.......
At 11:06 PM 3/13/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>I think the writer of these lines has missed the whole point of the World
>Radiosport Team Championship. If there is that perception out there that
>this is a private party, though, then perhaps we should take a minute to
>review the rationale of this whole event.
>
>(I think the difference is smaller
>than you think, your athlete analogy may be a poor one. Athletes compete with
>the gifts that they were born with, enhanced through training and hours of
>practice. Contesters do some of the same, but most of the enhancement comes
>through hardware. A better analogy may be race car drivers, while they must
>be greatly skilled and in excellent shape, the best driver in the world will
>not win the Indy 500 in a Ford Escort. It takes Major cash-ola to have a
>winning race car team. You can draw an analogy between major corporate
>sponsorship and the amount of cash the top contesters lay out in hardware. I
>don't care who you are, you will not win any contest from the USA using a
>modestly appointed station. I am talking, of course, about winning the entire
>USA. You can not learn the techniques of a top contester when you can not be
>heard. Please, do not tell me about the people who are coming from all the
>third world countries who build their own gear, etc. It is NOT RELEVANT. They
>are competing against similar stations in their own country, and have the
>advantage of working thousands upon thousands of USA stations to enhance
>their scores. Therefore, the thousands of contesters that live a more
>balanced life, as you say, "most of us", were afforded absolutely no chance
>to compete in the WRTC-96. I do not feel left out personally, I clearly never
>had any want or need to be among the chosen few, but I hope this clears up
>my position.
This is indeed a CLOSED event.)
>There were checks and balances at every
>stage of the process to ensure that the resulting choices were as objective
>and impartial as could be. ( I can look at the list of wild card leaders and
>predict with much accuracy who a couple of the partners WILL be, no question
>about it. Please post a list of all of the subjective criteria used by the
>wild card team leaders to select a partner. I am assuming this is as checked
>and balanced as the rest of the process.) In general, candidates had 4
>sequential chances
>to become a competitor at WRTC: (1) as the team leader selected by their
>country's national contesting organization (As in some person(s) made a
>subjective decision) or by one of the clubs designated
>by WRTC, Inc.(another subjective decision as to which clubs to include.) to
>chose a team leader; (2) as the parterner selected by the
>team leader chosen per the above; (yet again) (3) as one of the 10 "wild
>card" team
>leaders chosen by the panel of 21 eminent contesters who have agreed to be
>judges at this event; (Another subjective decision made to select the 21
>people, who in turn made a subjective decision to include 10 others.) or (4)
>as the partner selected by one of the wild card
>team leaders. (You can see where this is going.) This was anything but an
>insider's game: I don't see how the
>selection process could have been any more open than it was. (Oh, really?
>Please post the list of all other contesters in the world, who were not
>chosen, and the objective criteria used to exclude them. If this were truly
>an objective process, then how did the people who WERE chosen, come to be in
>front of the panels to begin with? Someone said "Oooh, oooh, I know, how
>'bout this one??)
>
>When July arrives and the WRTC competitors come to San Francisco, we are
>going to have the olympics of the contesting sport live and on display.
>W6OAT has already dubbed this the "Woodstock of Contesting", and indeed the
>number of non-competitors who are coming here just to rub elbows with the
>world's great and share in the week-long run of parties and beer-busts is
>straining our hotel's facilities. (Oh boy, can I come too? I cant wait to mix
>in and "rub elbows" with some of the most egotistical people in the world. I
>am sure they will find the time to sit and BS with people they have never
>met. I bet that I will be personal friends with around half of them by the
>time it is all over. Or just possibly learn the time of day from one of
>them.) Most of those people know they would be
>lucky indeed to equal whatever team turns out to be the last-place finisher
>in the competition. (WE'RE NOT WORTHY, WE'RE NOT WORTHY!) Still, they can
>admire the skill of the truly top
>operators and are sure to learn something that will help them in their own
>efforts just from watching and talking with the competitors. I don't see
>this as any different from the Olympics. (The average-joe will not mingle
>with the competitors in any meaningful way, nor do spectators at the Olympics
>hang around the locker room after the events talking shop with the decathalon
>leaders. This event will mirror the Olympics as you say, but in the opposite
>manner.)
>
>What is different from the Olympics, though, is that here even those who
>can't come to the Bay Area will still have a chance to "watch" the
>competitors from their own stations. (I will have no clue as to how ALL the
>stations are doing or who is leading at any given time. I can see full
>coverage of the Olympics on television which is better than being there. You
>can not, after all, go to a marathon race in person and stand at all areas of
>the course at once. This one makes no sense at all.) And, in one of the
>unique aspects of
>our hobby, they even have a chance to interact with the athletes and
>direcctly be a part of it all.
SOME INTERACTION.
>
>As far as the financing is concerned, it is worth pointing out that every one
>of the competitors is paying his own way to come here. (I should certainly
>hope so.) We are not out trying
>to raise money in order to provide a freebie vacation to people who
>habitually drop by exotic tropical islands for radio fun anyway. The money
>is going toward parties, dinners, awards for the competitors, (I noticed in
>your posting asking for volunteer stations, you mentioned that the folks who
>let these competitors in to their homes will actually be invited to SOME of
>the festivities. Some was your word, not mine. I am assuming that people who
>donate money will also be invited to SOME of them. People who actually pay
>their own way there and their own lodging, food, etc. will be invited to no
>doubt "EVEN LESS?" After all, they can't expect to actually attend the
>parties that are meant for the hard-working "volunteers" and the chosen few.)
>prizes for the
>people who get on the air and make contacts with the competitors during the
>competition, etc., etc. This is the Woodstock of Contesting, (an
>interesting analogy) and we're going
>to have a big old love fest this summer. (I'll say!) You're all invited;
> this is not a
>private party.
>
>WORLD RADIOSPORT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP, INC.
>
>/s/ Bruce Sawyer, AA6KX
>Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer
>
>I am in no way a disgruntled would-be competitor. You would have to look hard
>to find my callsign buried in the results of past contests. I was just
>surprised to see that this events organizers had the stones to ask for money
>to support this thing. I am sure all who attend will have a marvelous time. I
>will post no more on this subject after this. You can ask for and receive
>donations for whatever you want. People may make contributions as they like.
>I am of the opinion, however, that the entire event should be financed by the
>competitors and the organizers / judges. This is not a big world-wide contest
>event to be entered by all, there are plenty of those now. This is an
>in-crowd gathering and should only be discussed as such. That would be the
>honest way to describe it. Kind of an elite contest kissy-fest. Everyone has
>the right to worship these people as much as they see fit. I prefer to think
>of them as other human beings. My opinion is my own and will change nothing.
>
>The absolute end.
>
>
>From Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> Thu Mar 14 15:23:31 1996
From: Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> (Steve Bookout)
Subject: final WRTC Bitching
Message-ID: <199603141523.PAA03561@ba.com>
I appologize to all for not including my name and call in my response. It
was an oversight on my part. I feel comfortable with what I said and please
don't take this as an attempt at keeping my self anonymous and hide within
the "bowels" of the internet. 73 all
S-T-E-V-E B-O-O-K-O-U-T, NJ4F NJ4F NJ4F
>From Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> Thu Mar 14 15:23:33 1996
From: Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> (Steve Bookout)
Subject: final WRTC Bitching
Message-ID: <199603141523.PAA03564@ba.com>
I appologize to all for not including my name and call in my response. It
was an oversight on my part. I feel comfortable with what I said and please
don't take this as an attempt at keeping my self anonymous and hide within
the "bowels" of the internet. 73
S-T-E-V-E B-O-O-K-O-U-T, NJ4F NJ4F NJ4F
>From Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> Thu Mar 14 15:39:32 1996
From: Steve Bookout <sbookout@mailhost.mnsinc.com> (Steve Bookout)
Subject: Unidentified WRTC Opinion Flingers
Message-ID: <199603141539.PAA03935@ba.com>
If I was trying to hide I sure wouldn't have left my NAME on the address.
As soon as I realized that I had left it off, sent a message announcing my
name and call to the world.
For some reason, it came back to me from the reflector. I just resent it a
few minutes ago before I read this. I still don't know if it will be
accepted by the reflector and be distributed.
But, your stuff is typical. If you can't address the issues for their merit,
attack the person.
Being a contester does not have to be synonimous with bad manners. Does
being nasty make you a better contester or does it put you at a higher plane
of "respect" with your peers?
And I stand behind what I said.. If you can't stand a differing viewpoint,
take up another hobby.
Steve Bookout, NJ4F
At 10:08 AM 3/14/96 -0600, you wrote:
>Funny how much weight I place on reflector comments based on
>someone's call sign. Skoch92707 and Steve Bookout have their own
>opinions on the WRTC and sent them forth for the world to read.
>However, neither person felt reputable enough to relinquish their
>near anonymity.
>
>I guess I learned that I pay more attention to contest discussions
>when I learn a commenter's callsign and then relate that to my
>knowledge of what that person has done in contesting. If K3ZO or
>N6TR or N2IC etc., write something, I pay more attention to it simply
>because I know these guys have the contest experience and savvy to
>make meaningful posts. I realized that for the past two years, when
>I see a post from a name I don't recognize, or with a reply address
>without a callsign, I immediately go to the end of the message to see
>the callsign of the poster before I read the message--just so I know
>who is making the statement.
>
>So, I was disappointed to see that Steve Bookout (who is likely NJ4F)
>and Skoch92707 (who I can't figure out yet) neglected to let us know
>who they are with the method most hams use to recognize each other.
>Therefore, even though each had the guts to let us know their fair
>opinion, I cannot place any credence on their comments and must place
>them in the trash where they belong. I strongly advise others to do
>the same with "illegitimate" comments such as these (more "computer
>geekingly" known as FLAME BAIT).
>
>73, Dave Patton, WX3N
>mudcp3@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu
>
>BTW, great job WRTC organizers! Thank you. I view this event as
>something for which I have aimed for 20 years.
>
>
|