That's something that has bugged me since I started contesting...
Why do we have signal reports are part of the exchange if they're
meaningless anyway? Seems like a waste of time to me. I can send
"AL" faster than "599 AL" and (if cows DO fly and I get into a run)
could make more QSOs maybe.
I get the feeling it's one of those legacies from the early days
of contesting that has never been eradicated, since newer contests
like NAQP and Sprint don't have the RS(T) in the exchange.
I'd be happy to either just remove the RS(T) from the exchange
or else make them mean something. Either way I wouldn't feel like
I'm wasting time sending 5's and N's over and over.
Until then I (S&P almost 100% in DX tests) will only give honest
reports to anyone who gives me less than 59(9). I know damn good
and well I ain't no S9 across the ocean ;)
-- ray // WQ5L // hoping 80m and 40m are good this weekend
>From milewski@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU (Steve Milewski) Fri Feb 18 22:06:09 1994
From: milewski@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU (Steve Milewski) (Steve Milewski)
Subject: DX TEST
Message-ID: <01H917WZ9K2Q99DNYH@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>
Getting ready to leave work early to get ready for the test. Has anyone
heard what the numbers are for today?
Steve
Steve Milewski
milewski@oregon.uoregon.edu
Ham: AA7FL
*** Stumps don't lie! ***
>From Skelton, Tom" <TSkelton@engineer.clemsonsc.NCR.COM Fri Feb 18 18:37:00
>1994
From: Skelton, Tom" <TSkelton@engineer.clemsonsc.NCR.COM (Skelton, Tom)
Subject: FW: ?-RST 599-?
Message-ID: <2D650D56@admin.ClemsonSC.NCR.COM>
It'll be a "casual" multi-single effort
73 Kevin ... WA8ZDT
But the second most fun I have ever had in a contest was a
casual multi single with my friend Jerry/K4SGL during the
1987 CQWW. He wasn't a contester -- really just focused
on DX'ing, but we had fun taking turns and seeing what each
other could pull out of the bands. Antenna was a simple
TH5DXX. Made about 800 Q's.... (and we each had dates
with our girlfriends that weekend) 73, Tom WB4iUX
ps: Matter of fact, that is the ONLY time I've ever done
anything besides single op. Mebbe I'm missing
something...????
>From STEVE BJARNASON <sbjarnas@hpb.hwc.ca> Sun Feb 20 16:28:23 1994
From: STEVE BJARNASON <sbjarnas@hpb.hwc.ca> (STEVE BJARNASON)
Subject: HELP
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9402201131.A13946-0100000@hpb.hwc.ca>
HELP
>From STEVE BJARNASON <sbjarnas@hpb.hwc.ca> Sun Feb 20 16:31:09 1994
From: STEVE BJARNASON <sbjarnas@hpb.hwc.ca> (STEVE BJARNASON)
Subject: Posting for VE6SH
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9402201149.B13946-0100000@hpb.hwc.ca>
I was asked by Tim, VE6SH to post the following:
Address:
mail cq-contest@tgv.com
February 15, 1994
TO: CAC Members
FROM: Tim Ellam VE6SH
Canadian CAC Rep
VE6SH@VE6YYC.#cgy.ab.can.na
I have read with interest the numerous proposals for regional
recognition in ARRL Contests. Any regional recognition would be
an improvement, and suggestions to have ten or twelve different
regions would be outstanding.
Most of the proposals do not deal with how the Canadian regions
should be represented, so let me give it a shot. First, let me
reiterate that CRRL no longer exists. What is left of that
organization is in a binder in my office! Radio Amateurs of/du
Canada is the new organization resulting from the merger with the
Canadian Amateur Radio Federation on May 2, 1993.
RAC has the following Divisions:
Atlantic
VO1/VO2 Newfoundland & Labrador
VE1 Nova Scotia
VY2 PEI
VE9 New Brunswick
Quebec VE2/VA2
Ontario North VE3/VA3
defined by postal code-includes Ottawa
Ontario South VE3/VA3
includes Toronto, Windsor etc
Mid West
Manitoba VE4
Saskatchewan VE5
Alberta/NWT
Alberta VE6
NWT VE8
Pacific
BC VE7
Yukon VY1
One proposal I read on Internet suggested VE7 and VE6 could be
one region. That would be akin to lumping Colorado with
California! Another proposal was to have regions based on time
zones, while this would be a good start you can hardly say a
station in Texas will compete at the same level as say a VE6.
It is a simple fact that in Canada the further north you go the
worse propagation becomes. For example there is a vast difference
between operating in Calgary and Edmonton which is only 200 miles
to the North. Some parts of VE6 have only a few hours of daylight
during the winter months! Try operating on 10M in those
conditions! Canada is simply too big to try and allocate regions
based on call areas.
My suggestion is to ignore regional differences based on call
areas(which are really an artificial attempt to separate
different areas of the country), and designate say a dozen
"regions" based on latitude and longitude. That way you can
recognize unique regions such as the North or the Mid-west
without being restricted by call areas.
For example, any stations north of 54 deg would be designated as
one region, which would include the northern part of VE7 to VE2
most of VO1 and all of VE8 and VY1.
I can hear objections already! How will ARRL recognize what
region a participant is in if the regions are not defined by call
area? The quick answer is to have each participant indicate on
the summary sheet what region they fall in to. You can easily
find you Latitude and Longitude coordinates(what contester does
not know this information!)
My point is simply to suggest we are restricting our debate in
attempting to allocate regions based on callsigns. Lets take a
more realistic approach to how we recognize different regions of
North America.
If you insist on recognizing regions by call area, for Canada I
would suggest the following five areas:
VO1/VO2, VE1, VY2 and VE9
VE2 and VE3
VE4, VE5 and VE6
VE7
VE8 and VY1
Attempting to recognize regional differences will never be a
perfect exercise, but any proposal is better than what we have at
present!
73
Tim
___________________________________________________________
STEPHEN BJARNASON (VA3GE)
AIR QUALITY - HEALTH EFFECTS RESEARCH SECTION
RM. 337, BLDG. 8
TUNNEY'S PASTURE
OTTAWA, ON K1A0L2
ph. (613) 957-1309
FAX (613) 941-4768
INTERNET: SBJARNAS@HPB.HWC.CA
____________________________________________________________
>From AGDM25A@prodigy.com (MR KEVEN J DROST) Mon Feb 21 07:40:30 1994
From: AGDM25A@prodigy.com (MR KEVEN J DROST) (MR KEVEN J DROST)
Subject: the "BLACK HOLE"
Message-ID: <013.00364882.AGDM25A@prodigy.com>
Attention passengers ... its 0000Z, Friday night, the BLACK HOLE EXPRESS is
now departing ... stopping in MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA, ILL, MO, and
points west ALL ABOARD!
1st stop . 40mtrs ... listen to the all those W1s - 2s CQ. If you try real
hard, you can barely pull out a charecter or two of
the replying station. They're running 60/hr but
you can CQ for 30 minutes without a reply. Maybe
now would be a good time to explore the RPT function
on the F1 memory...
2nd stop 160mtrs ... See all those European packett spots on 160? Don't
bother... You might occasionally hear a beep from the
DX stn, but forget transmitting through the
"East Coast Wall"
3rd stop 20mtrs ... 1100Z - All night 20's been so dead - you thought
maybe your ant fell down! Not even any band noise!
But now mornings here, so swing the beam to EU and
prepare to rip off a modest run. But NO! The loudest
EU big guns are barely in there. And they take 3
calls and repeats to work! Forget running - you
frantically search and pounce to squeeze out 20/hr,
and they're all bug guns who'll be there all weekend.
3rd stop 20mtrs ... Meanwhile, you hear N2RM running 75/hr on .005
4th stop 10mtrs ... 1600Z You feel lucky to work an EA8! Thats it for EU
Thank you for joining me on this tour of the RF "BLACK HOLE"
This ARRL DXCW TEST sure gave a new meaning to the work "weak-end"!
.... your host ... Kevin, WA8ZDT
multi-single op at K8LX
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