Bill Turner wrote:
>
> Can someone explain why anyone would want to operate on the lower band
> edge in a phone contest?
Nobody can squeeze in below to QRM you...
Although I've pushed it down to .202 on 15 meters and STILL had guys get
in there below me - jeeze...crummy east coasters !
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PROBE ELECTRONICS 100 Higgins Road, Park Ridge IL 60068 USA
Keith J. Morehouse / W9RM / Society of Midwest Contesters
847-696-2828 FAX: 847-698-2045 e-mail: blckhole@ripco.com
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>From aa4lr@radio.org (Bill Coleman AA4LR) Mon Nov 11 16:40:40 1996
From: aa4lr@radio.org (Bill Coleman AA4LR) (Bill Coleman AA4LR)
Subject: Auto-speed CW
Message-ID: <961011123831.MAA24456@gate.iterated.com>
>From: Greg Becker, na2n@ifam.com
>
>Tree wrote:
>> Or this - "Should I get on and work some guys in the contest? They
>> are sending so fast. Let me call one, WOW! he QRSed to my speed the
>> first time! I don't have to feel bad about asking him to repeat his
>> exchange and take up his time. This is fun! Let me see who else
>> I can work".
>
>Hmmm... seems to me that a simpler, less-subject-to-controversy
>solution would be what I learned to do:
>
>- CQ at a speed (eg. 30 wpm) that most everyone can get your call after
>a time or two. With all these wonderful "new" 1x2s, this shouldn't be
>difficult.
I think this is part of the problem. You are assuming that neophyte
contesters can "get" a call sent at 30 wpm. I'm here to tell you this is
incorrect. Getting the callsign of a fast CW station is probably the
hardest part for a slow CW op. The exchange is slightly more predictable.
The callsign could be just about anything.
>IMHO, the time
>lost
>by slowing down for a few dozen Qs will far overbalance the time lost by
>numerous repeats and contacts never made because "he was just sending
>too fast".
Let's apply this principle further. While there may be time lost in
slowing down, you have to weight that against the time spent CQing
unproductively at 20-30 wpm or more. Perhaps the entire solution is just
to slow down below 20 wpm when things start to get slow. That should
entice a new "layer" of operator.
I think Tree's idea is interesting, but I don't know if it helps.
Realistically, as a slow-poke CW op, if I hear someone clipping along
with a CQ at 40+ wpm, I just skip them. How am I to know he'll slow down
to my speed? I'll have enough trouble copying his call.
Further, if I think someone is going too fast for me to copy the
exchange, I'll send AA4LR QRS. That just about always works. Sometimes
I'm wrong, and I get bulluxed up copying the exchange and have to ask for
QRS after the first try. (Happened once this SS) Most of the time, I
don't have to even ask for QRS. If a fast op hears me calling at 18 wpm
(the fastest speed I can accurately send with my paddles), they usually
slow down a bit anyway.
Now, I'm not intimidated by high-speed CW (I just can't copy it) -- but
think how the more casual operator must feel. The trick is to get someone
to stick to CW contesting long enough to get proficient in CW.
As for SS, I did find some slow-speed ops at the high end of 40m who were
going TOO slow for ME to feel comfortable. So, there was slow-speed stuff
to be had.
Bill Coleman, AA4LR Mail: aa4lr@radio.org
Quote: "Not in a thousand years will man ever fly!"
-- Wilbur Wright, 1901
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