I always enjoyed listening to KH6BZF (blooming zipper flipper) in a phone
contest. He would always have a snappy remark or comeback to almost every
qso. May have hurt his rate a bit, but I'll bet he made up for it in
additional qso's overall.
73
Red
K0LUZ
> Wonderful response! It forms the basis for a wonderful debate
> Gerry. You
> are definitely correct that each of us is marketing our station if we are
> using a run radio. The part that makes a contest interesting is
> that each
> of us has a different "marketing plan". It wud be dull indeed if
> we tuned
> the band only to hear a chain of run radios churning out all computer
> generated CW at 37 wpm. I have no idea who first stated that "variety is
> the spice of life", but it is also the lure of a contest.
>
> Enough from here.........Happy New Year to all for the last time (I think
> it's illegal to say it after January 2nd)
>
> 73 de Frank W8HO ex WB8ZEV
>
>
> At 09:42 AM 1/2/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>
> >The recent thread on CW speed is an interesting one.
> >
> >When you are running in a contest, you are marketing your station.
> >"Hey, please come work me. In and out, fast and efficient.
> >I am a competent operator and we will be done as quickly as possible."
> >
> >How do you get that message across? Here's some of the techniques
> >I use. Probably old news for 90% on this reflector, YMMV, IMHO, etc...
> >
> >- Call CQ in short bursts.
> > If your doing S&P, you should be tuning quickly for stations. If you
> > hear "CQ TEST CQ TEST CQ TE..." hopefully you've tuned by
> that station!
> >
> >- Find the "sweet spot" of CW speed for the contest you are in. Somewhat
> > contrary to the opinions here, I tend to keep my speed fairly
> > high, typically 35-37 WPM. Too slow (say below 27 wpm) and you'll run
> > into the same "long CQ" problem. Too fast, and you'll limit the
> > audience. However, I believe the top end of speed is somewhat open.
> > If you're a DXPedtion or rare QTH, you can use speed to modulate the
> > depth of a pileup. Faster is very good in you're managing a
> > packet-spot pileup.
> >
> > Rarely do I slow down if a station is QRS. If they ASK for QRS, sure.
> > Otherwise, I assume they can copy me. Typical contest exchanges are
> > pretty simple, other than SS. Even that is not bad -- they can listen
> > to prior QSOs to get static information. It is a rite of passage for
> > a new contester to sit and listen to a station and figure out the call
> > which is above their current copying speed. Also, I get stations
> > responding to my 37WPM CQ with a straight key... copying me perfectly,
> > and replying with the technology they have.
> >
> > Years ago, as a newbie, I remember listening for 15 minutes in an SSB
> > contest before I could get the callsign "KP4AST". A rite of passage,
> > the cost to get a new multipler.
> >
> >- Send exchanges using your computer, if you have it. Nothing turns off
> > S&P stations in a hurry like mistakes. Even if you're a perfect
> > sender, use the key for fills only. Use the CQ time for other
> > tasks. We are all human, that's why we use computers!
> >
> >Always remember you are marketing yourself. Have you ever noticed that
> >many of the perennial top 10 finishers in contesting work in marketing
> >in their professional lives? (Oh Oh, I'm an engineer :-( )
> >
> >73 & HNY,
> >
> >Gerry, W1VE/VE1RM
> >
> >
> >--
> >CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
> >Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
>
>
> --
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> Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
>
>
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