On 1/26/2025 2:36 PM, Roger Kennedy wrote:
Oh I get what you're saying Jim . . .
What I really meant is that I don't want to come on 160m at 3am, just to
work a load of Europeans (which I can work in the evening), when I have
really come on the band to try and work some DX ! (especially when a lot of
these stations only seem to come on 160 when there's a contest).
Activity breeds activity, and contest scoring rules drive activity.
Contests with distance-based scoring, like the Stew Perry, are best for
hams around the world, as opposed to those in proximity to the Atlantic
Basin. Sadly, those around the Atlantic Basin, who have built stations
to only work others around it, aren't interested when they can't sit
there and call CQ in one direction for the duration so the Stew suffers
from low activity.
As for times outside of contests -- the world has changed a lot since we
were willing to sit in front of our radios for hours on end waiting for
openings. There are many other interesting things to do with our time,
and, probably equally important, noise levels around the world are MUCH
higher than they were 20 years ago. A major reason I no longer get up
early to work Asia is noise from a neighbor's solar system in that
direction.
But funnily enough I actually just went on the band at 2100Z for the last
hour of the Contest, to give European stations some points.
I called CQ, and OMG, I couldn't believe the pileup ! I managed to work 154
stations in one hour . . . quite hard considering I use no computer
software, so even writing down the callsigns was really hard !
WOW! That's great operating, Roger! I started out at age 16 in the late
'50s with paper log and paper dupe sheets, was on and off the air
(mostly off) after college, worked some contests in the '70s, still on
paper, haven't logged a contest to paper since getting back on the air
in 2003.
73, Jim K9YC
_________________
Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
|