> [Original Message]
> From: Hanlon, Steve <SHanlon@dnr.state.md.us>
> what makes a good contest radio? - ssb and cw modes
> are the one's i'm interested in. i currently have an Icom
> 746PRO. i understand several features of my rig are
> useful to contesting, but i don't think that the 746PRO
> is a "contesting" rig per se. what makes a rig a "contesting"
> rig. i'm looking to the future when i upgrade to SO2R for
> next year's SS.
Depends on your budget. If you don't want to break the bank, I'd shop
around for a used IC-761, 765, or 775. All three of these are good radios
"out of the box", but when properly loaded with filters they're credible
"competition grade" boxes. The Yaesu FT-1000D is currently perhaps the
"best in class", but can be pretty spendy.
In a contest radio, you look first for a bullet proof receiver (or as close
as you can get to bullet proof). The two key things which will make or
break a good contest radio are a good noise floor (MDS) and adjacent
channel blocking (BDR). ARRL has a spot someplace on their web with all
the results from their lab tests. If you see a "good deal" on a certain
radio, go there and check out the numbers. In my experience, the CQ
magazine reviews are mostly fluff without good technical support.
Don't worry about bells and whistles. Features like pass-band tuning and
band stacking registers are desireable; features like a gazzillion memories
aren't important.
> i'm also at a loss on what frequencies are "in play"
>on a given band during a contest. if it's a CW
>contest, is the entire band within one's license fair
>game?
Yes.
> since CW is allowed per the band plan
>on an entire band, why wouldn't it acceptable?
While it is legal to transmit CW anywhere on the band, including the phone
segments, you are technically correct. But no contester will listen for a
CW station in a phone band, so it would be a waste of time to set up there
and call CQ TEST.
> i understand that there are DX freqs that should
> be left alone, but while S&P'ing you come across
> someone calling CQ on the freqs, do you work them?
If you find a DX station in the DX window, of course you work them. If you
find a domestic station in the DX window, ignore them. If you feed them
they'll stay there, but if we all ignore them they'll starve or leave.
Great questions, by the way!
73, de Hans, K0HB
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