Felipe, thanks for listening and thinking I was working for it in SS. I would
like to think that anybody who listens and/or is paying attention, not just
this year but over many years, can make some good judgments on "what's what."
I agree it's good to see KV4FZ back, especially with a classic callsign like
that. I think Herb hasn't been paying very close attention to SS for some
years since he thought the two-mode win in what was it, 1970? by K7JA was the
only time that's happened. And, as you note, but to say it more clearly, KP4
is almost always rarer in SS than is KP2. I have been told that even Puerto
Ricans go to the Virgin Islands if they want a beach vacation. The beaches
over there are nice and it's a real vacation spot. And, English is the
language there, so maybe that's the preferred place for Anglos to go, either to
retire and live or for contest vacations. Puerto Rico is much, much larger,
but for the non-Spanish speaker the language "barrier," so-called, may be
intimidating. There are many, many, many licensed Puerto Rican hams but very,
very few make contest QSOs. It's been hard getting Puerto Rico in the log for
a sweep every time I'm there. Everybody can work me for the sweep but I can't
work myself.
Tying back in to my first paragraph above, there are several factors I see
playing a part. First, there is a bit of a "generation gap" within contesting,
that some "naysayers" are more recently on the scene. I don't hear much
criticism coming from the guys my own age, who probably have a better
appreciation of the fact that I've been around a long, long time. I guess my
first SS was in about '66 and I've been in it every year since then that it was
humanly possible. I think some critics have a tendency to view the world as if
it started when they arrived on the scene, and they don't have much
appreciation of or interest in anything that happened before then. I was a
history major, which does accurately reflect that I am kind of at the opposite
end of that spectrum of world view.
Along with the supportive comments, you allude to something else that one
could, I could, view as an "illness" within our ranks, though we might agree
that it's a typical one amongst any group of people, in any group involved in
any competitive pasttime, etc. This is the factor of a relatively small group
of self-appointed "Sweepstakes elite," who issue pronouncements on these
things, mostly in private, as I suspect comments to you about me not being a
real SS op, were, quiet, behind the scenes, politicking for their point of view
that is designed to elevate their own accomplishments and belittle others'
accomplishments. You can also hear some of their attitude come out in public,
on the air and elsewhere, though generally not in direct, on-the-record,
statements. We all have an interest in cleaning up our act and refusing to
support these sorts of attitudes.
These guys tend to be in geographically favored areas, and though they clearly
are excellent operators, much of their success also directly relates to their
geographical advantage. Then add serious station hardware, including domestic
stacks or multiple domestic stacks. Most of the "also rans" elsewhere in the
country would love to have that kind of station to work with, just like many
would love to operate from KP4 or KP2. There's a "chicken and egg" factor,
that a good, and driven, operator will tend to arm himself with as many
advantages as he can, geographical,
enough-real-estate-to-build-a-serious-antenna-farm, the big antenna farm
itself, SO2R accessoried to a fare-thee-well, etc. These will produce big
scores, resulting in a reputation as a top operator. So, you can debate
whether a top operator gets all the tools he needs to succeed, or whether a guy
who gets the best tools to succeed ends up developing operator skills and
chalking up successes to match the station.
It's interesting to consider what these folks think a "real SS operator" is.
One might come to the conclusion that they define it as themselves and their
closest buddies. I'm not too bothered that that doesn't include me. Maybe I
should stir this kettle again, let's say, late October next year, because I'm
glad to represent "all the little guys," who are 99% of the SS operators
against the 1% elite who look down their noses at the rest of us. I'm Hickory
High School ("Hoosiers") representing the little guys -- so all you little guys
need to work me next November cuz I'm one of you! And I appreciate that most
of you already ARE working me. But if a hundred or two of you haven't been
getting on, maybe you'll remember this discussion 11 months from now and get
on. hihi.
Anyway, I have a check of 65 and that means I've been around a while. And I've
been doing SS most of that time, and have had pretty good success, even before
going to Puerto Rico. At least to some extent it's my previous success that
got me the invitation to operate at WP3R. Even early in my contesting career,
the local contest gurus heard me on the air and I guess liked what they heard
because I started getting invitations to operate at all the big multi-multis in
my region since 1965 when I started. Unfortunately for me, I didn't go,
because I wanted to put my own callsign on the air, pick up new countries in DX
contests, and I was more of a contest loner I guess. Also, I was in high
school and college football and basketball which were a big conflict with
contests in the fall and winter, so it was hard to get on a contest fulltime.
I was in a lot of football and basketball games, though, not at my best,
because I was up most of the night operating in a contest. But, I spent years
operating low power with limited antennas (made my own monobanders when I was
about 14 but envied my buddy whose dad was a ham so he had a Collins S-Line and
commercial TH-3 tribander).
Making top 10 from the east coast is tough and whoever does it certainly is an
SS operator with SS skills. I did it once and was 11th once, by a QSO or two
as I recall. And, let's face it, cutting off the "who's who" at 10 is
arbitrary. Is K3LR a real SS op? Beat him once, though I think it might have
been K3UA operating. But, everyone in this area who knows K3UA knows he's one
of the very best ops in this region -- which make him one of the very best ops
in any region. Likewise K3MM, K3ZO, N2NC, N2NT. (My list is skewed towards
the Atlantic Division because these are the guys you have to get by, if they're
on, to get the Atlantic Division plaque, a tough one to get). These guys all
know me. They're all excellent ops. Put them at one of the big SS stations in
Texas, certainly toss in W5WMU, another serious SS station, and they will
probably all be in the top 10. Every year. Not to overlook folks, there are
more on the list of east coast serious guys -- certainly K5ZD/1 who made top 10
in SS CW this year, again. W4MYA, K2PLF, KD4D, N4AF lots of east coast guys
are A-1-100% "real Sweepstakes ops."
It's time we stood up to the sort of Sweepstakes snobbery that we hear year in
and year out, and those of us (myself included) who have been at it longer need
to instruct our younger SS hotshots, and others, in proper behavior. If you're
sick and tired of people cutting you off in traffic then giving YOU the finger,
stand up to the SS snobs! hihi.
Let me toss in another related topic. I have repeatedly heard contest
"authorities" (I want to leave it at that, but I mean it literally this time,
not sarcastically) comment or intimate that coming in second in a contest to
(fill in the blank) who often wins is like winning because (fill in the blank)
cheats and doesn't feel it's worth winning if you can't do it by cheating. I
know that top contest organization guys know the callsigns I'm referring to.
If this is the case, why these guys haven't been able to be "disciplined" for
their misdeeds, I don't know. Maybe it's that packet spots just happening to
coincide throughout a weekend with the callsign going into the op's log is
"circumstantial" and can't be proven beyond some threshold the contest guys
see. I don't know.
I raise this just to note, to those who aren't in either of these "loops," the
99% of you out there who aren't in the "elite," that there are various
undercurrents and back room hushed voice conversations that go on about the
"meaning" of someone winning from somewhere versus someone else winning, or
coming in second, etc. from somewhere else, like comments NP4Z has heard. I'm
not at the center of them all. This kind of back channel gripping and grousing
goes on and at some point I think we have to just kind of shrug our shoulders
and say, "yeah, okay" and move on from it. We have to each one look at what
our motivations are and our "return" is for our investment of time, effort, and
funds, and do our own thing.
Summarizing the "real SS operators" point, my own view is that anyone who
thinks I'm not a real SS op, that I haven't paid my dues, worked my way up,
developed my skills, etc., just hasn't been paying attention. It may say
something about their own experience, level, though, that they would be that
out of touch with reality as to think that.
A final point, advice for young or younger contesters on the politics of
contesting. 1, join a contest club and go, meet everybody, make friends. 2,
if invited to a big multiop operation, go, and start building relationships
with all the other ops. 3, start going to Dayton when you're young and go, if
not every year, often, to build relationships. One disadvantage I have is
that, partly because of my "loner" side, I didn't go to Dayton for the first
time until 1991 or '92, after I had been contesting for 25-27 years. Seeing
and being seen by the "rising elite" is part of what helps you be defined as
one of the "rising elite" yourself. Don't do it and you tend to be an unknown,
except to the guys in your own state or section or region who you either beat
or who hear your footsteps. On the other hand, like on going to Dayton, do I
really care enough what this or that other self-defined "hotshot" thinks of me
to bother? Maybe not. Still, this is my comment on what it takes to play the
contest politics of it so, after you've been contesting in SS for 38 years and
been competitive in your own region some young upstart won't lower his voice
and say "He's not a real SS operator, you know." hihi.
My apologies to WA3FET; I'm human. I succumed to getting down and dirty in
this discussion. Still, I think I avoided any four-letter words, name-calling,
at least "naming names," etc. I guess "snob" was the worst word I used. hihi.
73 - Rich, KE3Q
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