Sure it maybe suck in DX contests from the west coast but all is not lost
because you do enjoy an advantage in domestic contests.The same could be said
about not hearing Asia and Southeast Asia from over here towards the eastern
part of the US. We usually don't hear that area of the world on a regular
basis except for the big gun JA stations. I have no problem working Europe from
my QTH from Georgia but there is a significant difference between here and the
east coast. They hear a lower level of stations that we don't hear at
all.JeffSent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: Edward Sawyer
<EdwardS@sbelectronics.com> Date: 7/25/19 6:06 AM (GMT-05:00) To:
CQ-Contest@contesting.com Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Possible changes for CQ VHF
Contest Actually, the propagation is the same on the West Coast as it is on the
East Coast. The issue is the lack of DX participation in Japan, China, India,
Australia, Indonesia, etc that rivals Europe. If there was even half the
participation in said region as there is in Europe, we wouldn't be having this
conversation on East vs West Coast all the time.Ed N1UR-----Original
Message-----From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of egruff@cox.netSent: Wednesday, July 24, 2019 6:01 PMTo:
CQ-Contest@contesting.comSubject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Possible changes for CQ VHF
ContestAll,I feel like I am fighting the same battle on alternate fronts here.
It's either "FT8 isn't real radio and shouldn't be allowed" or "No one needs to
run 1500 W to work DX". The common thread is that the originators of these
messages are almost exclusively hams on the East Coast (where I grew up and
operated for the first 13 years or so as a ham, so I have no inherent bias
against you guys, I promise). You have to understand that propagation from the
western half of the US is NOTHING like it is where you live. On some bands, we
haven't heard Europe in a year or more. This includes 12, 10 and 6 Meters. On
160 M, it takes a kW+ to work Europe most nights, and FT8/JT65 are often the
only modes that are sensitive enough to pick them up. I have frequently
reviewed my logs for 160, 80, 10 and 6 Meters, and more than half the contacts
I've made in the past three years (nadir of Solar Cycle 24) were with stations
that were weaker than -15 dB on digital modes. This is the commonly-accepted
threshold for being able to hear CW. So, without the weak-signal modes, I
wouldn't have made the contacts. It's great that you all are 2000 miles or less
from most of Europe, but remember that we are at least 5000 miles from the
continent. I'm not going to give up the chance to work new countries because
"it's not CW or SSB", and I suspect none of you would either. For contests, a
very similar situation exists. I am a semiserious contester and prefer CW to
all other modes. However, for multimode contests, I can't hear, much less work
many of the stations that you all work easily. WhileFT8 is painfully slow
compared to CW or SSB, at some point I can pick up many more QSOs and some
multipliers at the cost of a much lower rate with FT8. Again, why shouldn't I
take advantage of the opportunity instead of turning off the radio? This
weekend's CQ WW VHF contest was a great example.In 4 hours that I had to
operate, I made 15 CW and 5 or so SSB QSOs, all in TX and FL. I was able to
make 40 FT8 QSOs within the same window, many of which were new grids in the
contest. Looking at my log, fully 75% of them were below the -15 dB threshold
for CW. I bet that most of you East Coasters were able to make more QSOs in one
hour than I did in 4 and probably had twice as many multipliers. I'd love to
impose a rule that before anyone can bitch about FT8, they should have to run a
contest from the West Coast. If you can get within 25% of your score in the
same contest from a prior year at your home QTH, I'll take out a full-page ad
in the newpaper of your choice to trumpet your opinion. You guys just don't
know how much better it is there. There is a reason why there are fewer than
two dozen 6 M DXCC awards earned by West Coast stations since the award
started. Some of us have multiple towers, big yagis or stacks and run full QRO.
You can argue how we do so much better to Japan, and that's true, but it's ONE
country. We also occasionally can work China, Taiwan, S Korea and VK/ZL, but
that's about it and they are 6000+ miles away. Certainly not the number of
entities that are within 2000 miles of you guys. So, the next time you want to
complain about why anyone would want to use FT8, consider that we're all not as
fortunate as you. It's far worse for our fellow hams in KH6 and KL7. It's a
great weak-signal mode that has a place in radio. I'll never give up CW (phone
is another story), but I have no intention of quitting FT8 either and neither
do many of my friends on this side of the country. All we're asking is that you
show a little consideration for others that are in less favorable QTHs. 73,
Eric NC6K _______________________________________________CQ-Contest mailing
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