Just my two cents worth on the zero beat issue. My station is one of the little
guns / squirt guns. I operated in the weekend's contest with a K3/100 into an
Inverted L with only 25 feet in the vertical plane. When I hear big-signal
stations calling QRZ or CQ and subsequently get answered by a bazillion
callers, all zero-beat on the caller's frequency, my tiny signal has very
little chance of being heard. I can imaging what it must sound like to the
person running the frequency, to have a bunch of folks call, all on exactly the
same frequency. So, I, like quite a few others, move off frequency a few Hz, in
an attempt to differentiate our CW tones from that of the thundering heard. It
works. I know that If I were running 1,500 watts into a huge antenna array and
had 15-20 people answer my CQ, all on exactly the same frequency, I'd scream.
And, look at how DX stations pull out a single signal from a pile-up. When they
say "Up 5", you'll hear them answer callers anywhere from 4 - 6 KHz up.
Zero beat is great if there aren't a bunch of stations all calling. I can zero
beat EXACTLY with the push of one button on the K3. I do that when I'm having
non-contest QSO's, or if I'm in a contest and calling a station who doesn't
have half of California calling him/her. So, there may very well be a good
reason why there are those of us out there who do NOT do a zero beat 100% of
the time…
Just my thoughts
(And, thanks to the folks who were able to copy me this weekend and gave me
some valuable info on where my signal was or wasn't being heard!)
73, Jim / W6JHB - Folsom, CA
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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