Don,
This survey does not give respondents any opportunity to voice what
are clearly the large concerns about RTTY contesting/CW contesting
conflicts, especially on 40 meters.
Most US/VE domestic CW contests operate in the 7025-7055 range. Thus
the question of whether or not operation below 7025 is an issue is not
germaine. In the not-too-distant past, RTTY activity was comfortably
above 7060. Now it is not. And I am not talking about domestic-to-DX
QSO's, either, so the fact that EU operation must be below 7040 is not
applicable here.
The second issue, which is not addressed anywhere in your survey, is
the fact that RTTY operators apparently are using their computers, and
not their ears, to assess what is on the frequency. That puts their
operations in a conflict with CW operation that goes beyond the same
mode-QRM of a typical contest.
Has the presence of a RTTY contest materially affected your operating
decisions in a CW contest? That is a relevant survey question that I
suspect many would answer "yes" to.
I know that RTTY contests are popular and that popularity breeds QRM.
But these mode vs. mode conflicts are not just incidental QRM. When
you are a CW operator, and a RTTY station strays onto your run
frequency (or vice versa), no communication between these stations in
conflict takes place. Also, from the CW perspective, you are doing
battle with a computer. When you decode the RTTY guys and discover
that they are in the middle of the traditional CW band, calling CQ's
and working nothing but domestic guys, the argument that the EU
activity dragged them lower in the band falls completely apart.
I look forward to a rational discussion on how to manage this.
Unfortunately, I don't see your survey questions as being flexible
enough to serve as a starting point.
- Pat
N9RV
_______________________________________________
CQ-Contest mailing list
CQ-Contest@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
|