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[CQ-Contest] QSRe: Contest-Free Zones was: Re: Record Number of SAC CW L

To: "Hank Garretson" <w6sx@arrl.net>, "Ted Bryant" <W4NZ@comcast.net>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] QSRe: Contest-Free Zones was: Re: Record Number of SAC CW Logs -- Now Grab YourMicrophones!
From: "Richard DiDonna NN3W" <richnn3w@verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2011 08:25:13 -0400
List-post: <cq-contest@contesting.com">mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com>
Hank has a valid point....

I've argued this topic on QRZ.com (countless times) and in a letter which 
was published in QST.

When we're talking about wall-to-wall contest activity, we're really talking 
about 6 contests: ARRL DX, WPX, RDXC, IARU, CQWW and SS (maybe, WAE). If we 
look - theoretically - at 20 meter SSB - you can bet that the frequency 
range from 14.112 to 14.350 will be filled during these events.  This 
happens on 10 out of 104 weekend days out of a year.  That is less than 10% 
of all weekend time.

The remaining 90% of the weekends have ample spectrum for SSB users on 20 
SSB.  Even where you have events like the IOTA, the NAQP, the myriad state 
QSO parties or national/regional contests (like SAC or All Asia), the 
loading on the band segment is such that there is ample free space for 
non-contest activities.  In NAQP for example, you rarely hear activity below 
14.175 and rarely, if ever, above 14.300.

Irrespective of the loads that borne by 20 meter SSB during one of the 
Big-Six contests, the fact remains that there are significant swaths of 
usable amateur spectrum that are contest free.  20 meter CW is contest free 
during ARRL DX SSB; 15 meter CW is contest free during ARRL DX CW; 20 meter 
SSB is contest free during ARRL DX CW.  And, as noted by folks like N3KHK, 
the WARC bands are contest free 24/7, 365 days a year.  For the TWO major 
contests which are dual mode contests (IARU and RDXC), they are 24 hours in 
duration and the remaining 24 weekend hours are contest free in toto.

The fact of the matter is that the complaining you hear comes primarily from 
people who 1) don't play nice in general, 2) have stpck equipment which does 
not lend itself to filtering adjacent QRM (even if the"QRM" is 2.4 KHz 
away), 3) don't use the bands except for rare instances, and, 4) and demand 
that everybody else acquiesce to their wants and demands whenever they see 
fit.

73 Rich NN3W




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hank Garretson" <w6sx@arrl.net>
To: "Ted Bryant" <W4NZ@comcast.net>
Cc: <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 12:42 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] Contest-Free Zones was: Re: Record Number of SAC 
CW Logs -- Now Grab YourMicrophones!


> The problem with "contest-free" zones is that non-contesters never seem to
>> know where they are.
>>
>> 73, Ted W4NZ
>>
>
>
> An additional problem with "contest-free" zones is that non-contesters 
> want
> the zones to include all frequencies, all bands.
>
>
> 73,
>
> Hank, W6SX
>
> Mammoth Lakes, California
>
> Elevation 8083 feet in John Muir's Range of Light
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest 

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