A few random thoughts following the ARRL DX Phone contest.
- Why don't the Caribbean expeditions transmit above 7100? There were
some clear frequencies around 7101-7102 and 7106 that would have been
out of the European QRM and still easy to locate for those of us
listening down. OA4SS was on 7102 for awhile and he was much easier to
copy there than when he was down in the mess.
Response-
Very few W/K's ever bother to listen in the USA phone band. Until 40 is
opened up for the rest of the world, it is fruitless to be the only DX
station in the USA phone band
- What happened to all the 160m DX? The band was great on Saturday
night with very loud signals from Europe on CW, but no one up on Phone
working the contest. I always thought 160m DXers would chase DX on
whatever mode was happening, but not in ARRL. There was a huge pileup
on CW at one point that had more than 100 workable Eu in it.
Response-
Many European stations are loud, but they seldom can hear the people
calling them.
- Is the ARRL contest too long? 48 hours is better than 2 weekends, but
would 24 hours be even better? As it is now, there are only a few
competitors at the top of each category. Everyone else is in
participant class. Would shortening the contest enable more guys to
compete seriously (i.e. be on for the whole contest)? Or is this
"contest" run as a DX/WAS chasing promotional activity?
Response-
Not withstanding the "usual suspects" found in contests, most operators
are causal that just happen to get on. Shortening the contest to just 24
hours would exclude a huge percentage. I worked many stations on Sunday
that were new ones for me.
24 hours would also put us at the mercy of the Propagation Gods whose
wrath we can escape by having two days of operating.
In ARRL Phone, the first 12 hours of the contest the propagation
rendered very slow rate. On Sunday, all that totally changed.
Lastly, few will bother to go anywhere and expend the effort and money
for just a 24 hour contest. IARU is a prime example of that.
Albert, T05A, F5VHJ
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