This weekend was the IARU contest. I like to fancy myself as
a 'contester'. Not as much of a contester as I was 15 years
ago, but a contester none the less.
I don't really care much for SSB contests any more, the CW
ones seem to be a lot more fun for me these days. But this
weekend I owed another Guam contester a favor, so when
it was time to draw straws, I let him have the one that said
CW.
Another thing I've noticed lately is that contesters are getting
more and more of a bad rap. Lots of people seem to think that
contesters are overpowered, rude, bully ops with big
antennas and no manners, who 'stomp all over everybody
else who's on the band that weekend'. When ever I hear
that discussion start, I always jump to the immediate defense
of the contest fraternity, explaining that a little QRM is just
'gonna happen' and that none of it is intentional or due to
lousy operating. Contesters are the best ops ever, right ?
After this weekend and the IARU contest, I'm not sure I'll be
able to do that anymore......
As I said, I'm not really 'interested' in SSB contests, and I had
other stuff to do this weekend anyway, but I thought I'd get
on and play a bit anyway and pass out a few 64's to anybody
who needed one. So off to 20 meters I went. No big runs, but
I got to play with my software DVK a bit, read my email
while I was calling CQ, figure out that my radio interface for
CT still doesn't work, and make a few of the 'hard core' guys
happy with a new mult. Besides, I've said '59 27' so many
times in the last 15 years that's it damn near impossible for
me to say '59 64' without thinking about it......
And then along came a W3 station who gave me a '59 1'. So
I asked him where he was, and when he told me the east
coast, I explained that he was in zone 8, and this was a
contest where you just gave everybody your zone number,
not a serial number. Well, one thing led to another, he seemed
like a nice guy, and was thankful for the gentle explanation
of zones, and after all, he called me to help me out, so I
figured I owed him a polite explanation. We got to talking and
next thing you know, I had CT turned off, Logger turned on,
and I was ragchewing with the guys in the states.
During the course of the next few hours, I talked to about
six or seven U.S. stations. We chatted about computers,
logging software, and a number of other things. A few guys
needed Guam for a 'new one' so I passed along my QSL info.
And during the course of the next few hours, something else
happened that left me totally amazed. Not once, not twice,
not three times, but probably TWO DOZEN times, someone
who was operating in the contest plopped himself down on
the exact frequency we were using and started calling CQ
CONTEST.....
And of the two dozen times that happened, NOT ONCE did
one of my fellow contesters ask IS THE FREQUENCY IN USE.
Not once......
Not once did I jump on anybody, every time I politely told
the visitor to the frequency that "'There is a QSO going on
here, the frequency is being used, and everyone would
appreciate it if you listened for a minute or asked if the
frequency was in use before you called CQ. Thanks"
A couple times, the visitor simply tucked his tail between his
legs and QSY'ed. One time, after I told a loud California
station, "Gee, that's not nice to call CQ without listening
first" I got a polite apology, an explanation of how he was
popping back and forth between two VFO's, and a request
for zone 64, so I gave him a report and put him in my CT
log.
But what happened the overwhelming majority of times that
our ragchew frequency was suddenly visited by one of
my fellow contesters left me even MORE amazed.......
The majority of the time my requests to realize the
frequency was being used were responded to with another
CQ CONTEST !! Since I've been operating on HF for more
than 3 weeks, I have methods to deal with most situations,
and I realize that in a contest, lots of QRM, people can't
hear each other, etc. So when my request to please QSY
was met with another CQ CONTEST, I'd apply the old
'Let's see if he can REALLY hear me trick' and yell 'KH2D'.
And then I was even MORE amazed when almost EVERY
time I did that I'd get "KH2D 59 xx". You can't hear KH2D
when he's ragchewing, you can't hear KH2D when he
politely asks you to QSY because the frequency is in use,
but when you key KH2D into CT and you see you need
Zone 64 for a new multiplier, well, that's another story -
you damn sure can hear KH2D then......
This isn't another one of KH2D's 'after the contest too
much QRM from Europe' stories. I got QRM'ed from the
USA, I got QRM'ed from Europe, and I got QRM'ed from
JAPAN too. One guy in Japan, after I politely asked him
to QSY in English CQ'ed again. Then I politely asked him
to PLEASE QSY in my best broken Japanese. He CQ'ed
again. Then I yelled 'KH2D' to which he responded
'KH2D 59 45'.
When I knew he was indeed hearing me, I explained
the frequency was in use, that he hadn't ASK if the
it was in use, and that it would be appreciated if he'd
PLEASE QSY. So he thought about it for about 20
seconds, and then he CQ'ed AGAIN !!!
I still fancy myself as a contester. But I'll tell you what.
I think the contest fraternity, the guys I picture as
my 'brothers' in contesting, need to clean up their act
a wee bit. Just because there's a contest this weekend
(like there is EVERY weekend) doesn't mean we have
the right to ignore anybody on the bands who ISN'T
contesting and treat them like they don't exist. Contests
aren't lost by taking the time to listen for 30 seconds or
asking 'IS THE FREQUENCY IN USE PLEASE' before you
call CQ. Nothing in ANY of the contest rules I have read
give us 'contesters' the exclusive rights to any band for
48 hours.
Some people don't LIKE contests. And after this weekend,
I have a much better understand of WHY some people
don't like CONTESTERS.
The next time they start beating us up, I don't think I'll
be as quick to defend us as I used to be.......
73, Jim KH2D
Mariana Islands DX Association & Logger Info Page
http://www.guam.net/pub/midxa/
DX LIST - http://www.egroups.com/group/dx-list
LOGGER LIST - http://www.egroups.com/group/logger
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