Contesting is very much like fishing - you throw out the hook (cq) and see
if there are any bites. It is up to the "fisherman" to decide when he (she) has
not had enough "bites" to continue casting (cqing). The are times when you
have worked all the stations that you can hear on the entire band and one
of the ways to work more stations is to cq. The small stations are going to
have
more success calling a loud cq station than calling cq themselves. A cq will
attract the small stations. In the this last contest I had more DX stations
answer
my cq than I called. Working any DX from my location is always a challenge.
In my opinion there is plenty of the 160 band to spread out and everybody call
cq.
BTW bless MFJ for their great 434 voice keyer! I still have a voice left after
the
contest is over.
Doug
Tree wrote:
> Sigh - this is one of my pet peeves about 160 meter contests in general...
> The
> small amount of space is used up by stations calling about 10 CQs per QSO (or
> even more) per QSO. However, this is the way to make the best score... be
> loud and keep the duty cycle up.
>
> There are times that I often dream for some way to reward the act of tuning
> around and finding a station to call. In the Sprints, you get rewarded for
> that by getting the frequency - even if it is just for one QSO. However, I
> can already hear the tons of flame mail against that concept.
>
> I typically get on for the CQ 160 SSB contest and try to encourage activity
> up the band. However, it seems strange that I can't have a chance in the
> prime part of the band - because someone just has to occupy it to work another
> 15 guys in an hour. If I am fresh meat and have a rate over 100/hour - isn't
> that better than someone hogging a frequency so they can work 15? Does anyone
> calling CQ contest and not getting answers really own the frequency?
>
> How about a rule where if someone calls 20 CQs in a row without an answer, he
> has to go somewhere else? It just seems a terrible waste of spectrum. Or
> how about this... if you answer someone's CQ - you get double the QSO points
> for that?
>
> Oh yeah - maybe nodoby will call CQ then... maybe we can use BaconNet or
> something to fix that.
>
> This year, I just didn't bother getting on. It just didn't seem worth the
> trouble.
>
> 73 Tree N6TR
> tree@kkn.net
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
--
Doug Renwick VA5DX
PO Box 50, Clavet, Saskatchewan, Canada S0K 0Y0
VE5RA@sasktel.net
First VE5 2 x 5BDXCC and 160 M DXCC
What profit it a ham if he gains all the awards yet forfeits his soul?
I'll run the race and I will never be the same again.
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