Tom,
Again, my intent with the original post was to remind folks to watch the
band edges (which I was doing, incidently), not to berate the OO. He just
struck me as a little TOO prepared to nail people -- like the cops at the
speed trap in a community north of Pittsburgh (said community had illegally
lowered the speed limit on State Route 65 within their borders, and then
nabbed people who didn't have enough time to drop from 55 to 40 MPH) who had
their tickets filled out with everything except the date, time, and license
plate. Odd -- but still, if he's right, he's right. Annoying, but right.
But even though I didn't identify him, it's amazing how many people knew
exactly whom I was talking about. Right down to the style of envelope the
notice came in, and age of the stamps on it.
73, ron wn3vaw
"You are a fluke of the Universe
You have no right to be here
And whether you can hear it or not,
The Universe is laughing behind your back"
-- National Lampoon's Deteriorata
To: cq-contest@contesting.com
From: Tom Horton <k5iid@ntelos.net>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] OO reports
For the life of me, I do not understand why everyone is so upset at an OO
a volunteer task that is trying to, in his/her own way keep the tradition
alive of the ham bands policing themselves. This very rare in today's
climate.
The folks are seriously trying to inform you of your misdeeds before
the FCC sends out one of those notices. I received an OO card a few
contests ago for, I believe, the same infraction that most of the guys here
are talking about. That of being too close to the band edge.I do believe the
rule still states that if any part of your signal is heard outside the band
edges, then you are operating outside the band.
I used to be an OO a very long time ago, and Iremember what a thankless
job it was then and apparently it still is. You used to be able to show that
you
equipment met certain standards, and I imagine that it is the same today.
After mentioning the self policing that we used to do, why don't hams tell
other hams when their signal sounds bad? It absolutely flabbergasts me to
hear a CW signal with a super loud hum and chirp and when you mention it to
the
operator they rarely even acknowledge that you said anything, and if they
do, they
just keep on plugging.
The same applies to SSB also, distorted signals that are extremely
difficult to copy.
You know, communications microphones are supposed to be close talked...i.e,
lips VERY near the wind screen. If you are talking a distance away from the
mic,
then you have to turn the gain up to get enough output, then all the
background
noise is competing with your voice. For those of you that disagree...go
ahead, but why not try
to get a friend to test this with you sometime on the air.
I think our South American friends are probably some of the worst about
this. Any of you guys down yonder want to talk this around?
Flame away...I'm old and don't have much time left anyway.
73, Tom K5IID
Tom Horton
K5IID in West "BY GAWD" Virginia
" E " sorter for the W5 Bureau
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