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Re: [VHFcontesting] Are EME/MS digital QSOes reducing rovers contributio

To: Mark Spencer <mark@alignedsolutions.com>, "vhfcontesting@contesting.com" <vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Are EME/MS digital QSOes reducing rovers contributions?
From: Mark W7MEM McMillan <w7mem@msn.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 17:55:37 -0700
List-post: <vhfcontesting@contesting.com">mailto:vhfcontesting@contesting.com>
Since NO rovers were heard or worked In DN17 for the last 2-3 years I am just 
working Locals some who do get on and look east. MOST of my grid and Mults are 
EME/MS ..Just saying     Mark W7MEM

> From: mark@alignedsolutions.com
> Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 11:50:36 -0700
> To: vhfcontesting@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Are EME/MS digital QSOes reducing rovers 
> contributions?
> 
> A few comments re this.   
> 
> I've found that MS / long haul digital qso's are challenging to make while 
> roving / portable especially if I don't have good Internet connectivity.  
> Over 90 percent of the successful MS / long haul digi mode QSO's that I have 
> made outside of contests would not have happened without constant access to 
> the internet by both me and the other station.  These QSO's on average 
> probably took 30 minutes or so to complete.
> 
> During the last contest I spent about an hour in total of my six and a half 
> hours of prime operating time in a semi rare grid trying to work MS with no 
> results.   About half this time was spent in an effort to work a station in a 
> rare grid that prior to the contest had announced they were going to run on 
> digi modes.   Deciding to run MS / digi modes was my choice though and on 
> balance I'd probably do it again as I would have liked to work the rare grid, 
> and I figured I had a reasonable chance of picking up at least one more grid 
> in that hour, but things didn't work out that way.
> 
> (Between the 11am pst contest start time, and my desire to have a two hour 
> tear down and packup process done before nightfall I had about 6 and a half 
> hours to run the entire station.   I was able to keep the 2M station up until 
> the very end.  Staying overnight is also apparently not allowed in that 
> location.)
> 
> I doubt I will run MS or long haul digi modes in a future contest without a 
> pre arranged sched on a frequency other than the customary calling 
> frequencies, and preferably some form of near real time communications with 
> the other station to confirm that they are looking for me.  
> 
> In hindsight during the last contest I'm almost certain I would have picked 
> up more grids and or bands by focusing on terrestrial ssb / CW for another 
> hour, but hindsight is 20/20 and I wanted to work the rare grid more than I 
> wanted to simply run up my score.
> 
> To answer the question though, In my case at least the answers is that yes, 
> MS / digi efforts did in hindsight reduce my roving contribution.  I'll put 
> more thought into running these modes or not in future contests.  All that 
> being said I do like having the option to run these modes and I'm fine with 
> the rules as they are.   I just need to put more thought into how I choose to 
> run my station.
> 
> 73's Mark S
> VE7AFZ
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> 
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