Al (NH7A) states one of the major sources of dupes is the non-serious contest
participant, one that may not be using a computer log system or keeping a
dupe sheet and often handing out a low contact/serial number. I have to say
I have noticed the very same correlation. In the November SS (SSB) I
operated 13 hours as a low power entrant and called cq the entire period, no s
&p. I spent 1.85 hours of that finding out I had no output on 20-40-80 so,
that leaves about 11 hours of productive time. I had 1163 contacts minus 52
dupes. Thats almost 4.5% but, 4.7+ dupes average per hour. When I looked
back nearly all these came from low contact number stations, even late in the
contest this fact was consistent. The only other factor these dupes had in
common was the class. A large percentage were multi-op stations. It would
appear these casual multi-op stations run no dupe sheet and thus when they
change operators the new guy has no idea who they have worked previously. Im
sure everyone appreciates the efforts of local clubs who decide to contribute
to the contest activity with a casual operation and involve a number of their
members but, someone should tell them that dupes are sorta frowned upon in
the contest world.
Al (were back to NH7A) wondered how they could dupe a call like NH7A, who in
the world do they have him confused with. From my observations a distinctive
callsign does not reduce your dupe rate. I can see why this is with the above
mentioned casual multi-op station that has made no provisions for a "DAS"
(dupe avoidance system) but this does not explain why dupes happen other
than the busted call reason. I had a friend guest operate, he used NH7/N6HC
in the ARRL 10M contest on cw only. Nobody is going to forget working
NH7/N6HC right? ..... wrong, his dupe rate hanging out on cw, where one would
think there would be few casual operations given the fact that there was a
ssb only catagory, was again about 4%. My first two hours in the CQWWDX SSB
contest was on 80 meters with low power, 248 contacts minus 10 dupes for 238,
there is that 4% again. Signals were loud, how can 10 people bust your call
in 2 hours when your giving it every contact. There is no getting around it,
once we account for the situations discussed above, and in others earlier
postings, some of this dupe problem is nothing more than operators trying to
see if they can bust the pileup again. This doesn't explain why they dupe
you when you have no run going but, I think has to be added to the endless
list of reasons for dupes that others have noted. So add to your list casual
ops and casual multi-ops who dont keep a dupe sheet and dx's who like busting
pileups. Others have trivialized the dupe problem but its depressing to
remove 60,70,80 or more contacts from your total at the end of what was
otherwise a fun contest.
Ron KH6DV
Kaneohe Hawaii
--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
|