On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 8:56 AM, Douglas Dever <dougdever@gmail.com> wrote:
> Most people on 313 probably didn't even realize there was a contest, they
> just saw a bunch of spots and assumed the band was open. CQ WW VHF doesn't
> have the sort of awareness that the ARRL contests do, in my opinion.
>
> -doug
^^^ THIS, I believe, is a big part of this weekends problem. The only
reason I can think this is the case is that 6M is overrun (yes, a strong
word, but it's kind of true) by HF-centric op's who swoop in on the band
for the prime 6 weeks and have no clue about normality, traditions, or
whatever. Add a bunch of new-to-the-band op's, only brought in by the
existence of FT8 and you have a large pot of op's who may not know CQWW VHF
exists, even though it is, arguably, the (one of the..) premier VHF contest
and has been running for decades, more or less on the same weekend.
To continue, the perceived PROBLEM with contest mode is not a problem with
contest mode, at all. It's a operating and training problem, compounded by
certain euro-centric software that doesn't even include contest mode (JTDX
- I'm looking in your direction...). HOW this program could have come to
be, as a open-source fork of WSJT-X WITHOUT the inclusion of such an
important feature as contest mode is staggering. The entire BASIS of WSJT
is with the VHF-UHF weak signal community - a community of grid chasers,
grid collectors and grid SENDERS. Sending grids should not be a "MODE", it
should be normal procedure on 6M and above.
The other day, there was a big 6M op from EU on one of the chat pages,
advocating NOT using contest mode, because, he said, the European ops
didn't want to be bothered with grids during a big opening. This is
ludicrous - anyone who has been around for a while, who used to work 6M DX
on SSB or CW, knows that your typical EU op would have had a fit if you
didn't give him your grid.
My suggestion is simple - just get rid of the 'funny little numbers' and
send grids ALL THE TIME. The funny numbers are meaningless, useless and
highly variable - they tell us nothing except who's signal quality is
perceived by a computer program to be "better" in some slice of a 15 second
transmission. VHF-UHF ops have ALWAYS sent grids - it's what we want and
what we need. Don't let a bunch of HF-centric guys co-opt the original
purpose of WSJT. Suggest the addition of a "HF MODE" instead. Let them
deal with the funny numbers.
-W9RM
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