On 2/25/2013 10:11 AM, Kenneth E. Harker wrote:
On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 05:41:29AM -0800, KU7Y wrote:
After all, if you are in a contest as SO Unassisted, what the heck do you
need the internet for?
I'm mostly with you on this, but... the Internet is very useful for
weather radar storm tracking during a contest weekend with any kind of
severe storms in the area. I've shut down operations when it was clear
from the weather radar that lightning activity was getting too close and was
definitely headed my way. In some locations, you might have a 24/7 weather
radar channel on the television to use, but in other places, the internet is
the way to go for that information.
In fact, I've been known to keep the weather radar going even on weekends
when there's no expectation of severe weather. Just in case.
Oh, for christ sake. The notion that you have to be in pure isolation
during a contest period is absolutely stupid in my opinion. I can't
tell you how many times I have:
1) read about hams who operate in Sweepstakes and have the TV on in the
background during the 1:00 pm kickoffs
2) check weather.com to see if a storm is approaching
3) shoot the breeze with friends on IRC or webchat
4) text each other inane comments while dual CQing
As far as I am concerned, unless you are given information that tells
you where a station is located and you act upon that information, you
can do whatever you feel like doing.
Read the newspaper, watch porn, set up your next Backpage date, talk on
IRC. Your choice. But be ready for you rate to go down.
73 Rich NN3W
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|