There are many things to consider many of which have been mentioned:
1. Propagation - here today gone tomorrow - A BIG ISSUE
2. Many stations only operate a few hours during the contest - maybe not there
later
3. Possible problems with the station which could slow down future rate
possibilities
4. Possible antenna/rotor failures which could have great impact
5. Other extenuating circumstances such as illness, etc.
6 Probably others which aren't included...........
IMHO the best strategy is to work them when you can and as fast as you can -
worry about
sunday when sunday comes.
Regarding the signing of your call: I can't imagine how much time I've wasted
while hunting new
multipliers, especially in
the waning hours of the contest, listening
to a station running but
not signing his call only to realize I'd already
worked that station when
the call is finally divulged! VERY
FRUSTRATING! Sometimes I'll
finally call the station and when he
answers I'll ask for his
call and if it's a dupe he's wasted HIS
valuable time! So who wins?
Even worse if you're operating Unassisted and
can't refer to the "spots"
and more or less determine who it is.
My modus operandi is to
sign at least every second QSO and
always acknowlege the
receipt of the other stations' report with
a "TU" or "QSL" or in some
manner. If both stations don't acknowledge
the receipt of the exchange
how can they know it was a valid contact
and is it worth the risk of
a 3 QSO penalty if it wasn't? Especially
important when the pile up
is massive.
Tony Rogozinski
Amateur Radio W4OI - W4AMR - HK1AR - HK7AR
LICENSED FOR OVER 52 YEARS
EX-N7BG, K5LMJ, K4KES, WA6BOU,
W6JPC W7HZF, F7BK, VP5AR, VQ9AR,
OJ0/N7BG, CN2BG, 5V7BG, TY5AR
9G5AR, TU/N7BG, ZC4BG, HK3KAV
HK0/HK1AR, and others.....
I've been to 103 Countries
On Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 1:56 PM, <al_lorona@agilent.com> wrote:
> As a little pistol I must admit that a lot of what I read here can be
> intimidating. For instance, for years I have read the opinion that goes like
> this: such-and-such behavior wastes valuable time in a contest. The behavior
> in question is usually saying "Please copy...", or sending the other
> station's call sign before sending your own exchange, or any number of
> things that irk contesters who have little patience for such "wasteful"
> practices.
>
> Most of these statements are highly ironic. To see why, tune in to the last
> few hours of any contest, when stations can go several minutes on a
> frequency calling CQ without an answer but keep pushing the button anyway.
> I'm in no way begruding their right to call CQ; I'm saying that if you add
> up all of the precious seconds "wasted" by those of us that say "please" or
> "QSL" or whatever, that "wasted" time doesn't even come close to the time
> you spend sitting on a quiet frequency looking for those last few contacts.
>
> In other words, most stations are not time-limited in most contests, they
> are 'finding-another-Q' limited.
>
> You may argue that it is worse to lose seconds in the first hours of the
> contest when rates are higher, than in the last hours when rates drop. This
> argument may have merit, but remember that presumably everybody is being
> impacted more or less equally by the "wasters" and so all this does is
> change the point of peak rate (as well as the peak rate itself) for each
> participant. To me this is little different than everybody being affected by
> a solar flare. You may argue that if your goal is to set a new world record
> then any deviation from your precise idea of the perfect exchange has a
> greater negative impact and there I might agree with you, unless you find
> yourself pushing the button a lot at the end... in which case, maybe most
> contests are too long?
>
> I submit that most of the "wasted seconds" arguments are moot and belong on
> the Aargh! wiki page.
>
> Al W6LX
Tony Rogozinski
Amateur Radio W4OI - W4AMR - HK1AR - HK7AR
LICENSED FOR OVER 52 YEARS
EX-N7BG, K5LMJ, K4KES, WA6BOU,
W6JPC W7HZF, F7BK, VP5AR, VQ9AR,
OJ0/N7BG, CN2BG, 5V7BG, TY5AR
9G5AR, TU/N7BG, ZC4BG, HK3KAV
HK0/HK1AR, and others.....
I've been to 103 Countries
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