> I still believe that additional category's will encourage new roving
> activities and will foster additional activity. That should be our
> ultimate goal ... right?
I would have thought that a Contesting reflector would be used to
discuss ways to increase one's score. I thought it somewhat odd that
a fair amount of words were expended on the VHF Contesting reflector
on the various mechanisms we can use to penalise certain stations and
reduce their scores. Coincidentally, the certain stations to be
penalised always seem to be the high scorers, which is another way to
say the winners.
Who wants to spend gobs of time, sweat and money to build a winning
station to then have the community change the rules specifically to
knock the winners off their perch? What I'm saying is that if I take
5 years to create half the (wonderful) rover that say W3IY has built
up and by some stroke of luck I win my section, will the community
then decide that my high score is somehow unethical, immoral and
unacceptable? Because I won? Honestly, seriously and humbly, all
this debate has me completely baffled.
I've seen posts tearing a rover down for not working station X in the
parking lot and I've seen posts chewing rovers for working QSOs that
are _merely_ across the parking lot (not REAL radio.) I've seen posts
ripping rovers for using weak stations to talk to big guns and I've
seen posts that revile rovers for not talking to all stations they can
hear - is a big gun exempt from that good practise? And why is it
that bad to have a weak (i.e. beginner) rover go out? Is _no_
activity better than a poorly equipped station?
Is it still Real Radio if fixed station A knows that fixed station B
is at azimuth 172 degrees, distance 10 miles? Or should it be
absolutely random? And should the two stations be forced to reduce
their power so they can barely make each other out so that operator
skill is paramount? After all, propagation plays little part in a 10
mile QSO on virtually any amateur band below 76GHz.
There are posts telling me that I should go to rare grids -- to give
multipliers to fixed stations (where there aren't other fixed
stations.) Then there are the posts that call such activity
'artificially manufacturing contacts.' If I do go into a rare grid,
nobody will point their beams at me _because_nobody_is_there_ (ask the
Canadians.) But God help me if I post my schedule in advance (so that
someone will know I'll be in that rare grid they want) on the
Contesting reflector because that's not Real Radio. Yet, who thinks
it's a Bad Thing for the phone to ring and have someone tell you that
6m is open to Europe?
If I make a random QSO on 2m, and then ask to go up the bands, that's
frowned on because I've 'disappeared' before anybody else can work me.
But I use progressively higher bands to peak the beam, and trying to
work everyone on 2m, then everyone on 1.25m, etc. means that I need to
move the beam endlessly and therefore can't peak up for the higher
bands. If I do stay on the low bands, the fixed station is likely
gone by the time I make it to the microwaves; reducing his score and
mine. And incidentally, not working him when I heard him. Why is a
lower score better?
If I go to a rare grid anyway, I'm too far to work 'everybody' and can
only work my friend who drove along with me to keep me awake and a big
gun, then my logs will show a huge percentage of contacts with just 2
stations - one always in my grid and one big gun. Great, now I'm a
captive rover AND a pack rover. If I were presumptuous enough to go
to a grid corner and try to deliberately increase my score by
following the rules (multipliers for each grid worked) then I'll
complete the perverted triad and be a grid circler as well. If I stay
in town, I'm not a Real Rover because I didn't activate any desirable
grids and only talked to hams who are close by.
The most puzzling part is that every single thing that a rover does
can be exploited by a fixed station. If you know that a beginner like
me is in the area, you know I have a weak signal. Call me on the low
bands, use your superior skill to tell me exactly where you are and I
may be able to drive closer to you so I can work you on higher bands,
or choose a site where I can see you better. Or is that artificially
manufacturing contacts?
If you know that a 'rover pack' is coming through, you can probably
work them in all 4 grids they circle (if you can work 'em in one grid,
the others aren't that far away.) Imagine the points possibilities.
3 rovers, 4 grids, 10 bands (6m - 10g.) There are 40 multipliers (4
grids, 10 bands) and lots of points: 1, 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 8, 8, 8, 8 = 46
points per grid x 4 grids = 184 points x 40 multipliers = 7360 points
x 3 rovers = 22080 points. If you happen to be in the middle of a
grid, you can probably work them at their next grid intersection for
another 22k points, totalling 44160 points. They'll probably be happy
to work you, as it increases their score too. I know I would.
Does the fixed station need to do some work to make that happen?
Well, sure. Just like I have to do some work and integrate amps and
sequencers and circulators and power busses into my microwave bands,
fixed stations who want a better score will need to work on their
station. But don't bust my chops because your station can't work
mine. Radio waves go in both directions. I'll do my darnedest to
make my rover capable of talking to as many folks as I can (increase
my score,) but I can only be responsible for my success (or failure.)
For the record, I'm in favour of a 'mega rover' category. Let them
compete in their own class, just like the multi-unlimited's do. I say
let them do whatever they want with their radios, their time and their
money. If they feel that contesting means talking mostly with each
other on microwatts, then who the heck am I to try to disabuse them of
that notion?
That was a long way to go to finally get to the point of my post. Is
it permissible to talk about specific techniques for improving my
station, my operating habits and ultimately, my score?
I'll start off with this one: What do folks use to keep corrosion
down? Periodically unscrewing everything and cleaning it, some
chemical, weather-proofing? In particular, I have a 6m hamstick on
the car that I suspect isn't performing as well as it used to. What's
a recommended way to clean it? I hesitate to take a wire brush to the
3/8ths connector, and I'm especially leery of using anything harsh
around the SO-239.
Respectfully,
--buck KC2HIZ/r
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