Mike Gilmer wrote:
>
> I also see the similarity between theses two resources, bands and roads,
> however, I see it somewhat differently: no race cars necessary.
>
> I liken the bands to the highways, normally filled, to various degrees, with
> "casual" drivers, going to the mall or visiting their friends, etc. But a
> couple of times a day, the roads fill up - rush hour - when room and
> civility are at a premium. Now, a sensible person learns when rush hour
> occurs, and unless necessary, avoids the roads at those times. Casual
> drivers may complain about the traffic, but they never claim that the rush
> hour drivers should not use certain roads or be banned from certain lanes on
> others.
>
During the week, Chicago rush "hour" starts at 7 AM or earlier, goes
till about noon, then you get a couple hour break, then rush "hour"
starts again at about 2 PM or so and goes till maybe 7 or 8 PM. Driving
in Chicago during rush "hour" is one of my most hated activities! Yet I
have to do it from time to time. I have learned to live with it. :-)
>
> A sensible ham, IMO, learns when contests are going to occur (at least the
> BIG ones) and avoids the appropriate bands. Folks who insist on doing
> otherwise are as unreasonable as the contesters so often admonished in these
> "opinions".
>
> Trying to complete the analogy, and be reasonable, I realize that emergency
> traffic has to have access to these two resources. Even during rush hour, a
> fire truck can get through, even if a bit more slowly. If and when
> contesting and emergency traffic collide, we can look really, really bad,
> but I don't think that means all the HF bands need dedicated 50kHz-100kHz
> pieces banned from contest use.
>
> Mike N2MG
>
Emergency traffic would be the only exception I see. But how much
bandwidth does that need, realistically?
I try to take the viewpoint of the non-contester but I always find flaws
in their reasoning. In almost every contest, there are "contest-free
zones". They are called the WARC bands and the other modes. Most
contests only take place on one mode per weekend. I consider myself a
well-rounded amateur and I'll switch to the other mode(s) if I don't
care to participate in a contest. I can operate on CW, SSB, PSK31,
MFSK16, RTTY, AMTOR, PACTOR, Hellschreiber, etc. and I can get on any
band from 80 through VHF. I also don't consider myself the only ham
living in the world and when I have a sked and someone else got to the
frequency first, I either ask if I can call my sked station and then
QSY, or I forego it for that week. Better yet, we plan a couple
alternate frequencies in advance for skeds.
And how many major contests are there in a year? A dozen?
I try to be flexible. I wish others did, too. I know I'm "preaching to
the choir" here, as we're all contesters. Maybe I should send these
views to ARRL, etc.
73, Zack W9SZ
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