In a message dated 4/1/04 5:47:11 PM Greenwich Standard Time, barry@mxg.com
writes:
Throwing money at towers and amps and multiple
radios so you can broadcast CQ 6 times a minute;
where's the operator skill therein?
(Unless you have the additional hardware to
operate SO2R, which I acknowledge really
does require operator skill to broadcast
and to listen simultaneously.)
Barry, W5GN
I don't know much about the business of packet, since I don't use it for my
single op operations and have only used it a handfull of times when I had guest
ops and we did multi-single.
I think you have the wrong idea about superstations. I don't think K3LR,
KC1XX or W3LPL are going to invite too many ops to their stations if they they
never-endingly "broadcast CQ at 6 times a minute". When the band is dead or
dying, that may be the case. However, I doubt they are doing that druing prime
time. If they do, I doubt they would be invited back.
But, let's take a look at the "broadcast CQ". What is really wrong with it?
If the band is marginal, these stations act as beacons and can stir up
interest in that band. Granted to push F1 is not a high skill operation, but
to
pull those ESP sigs out of the mud is.
I have done the 6 CQs per minute on rather dead bands and have tried to pull
the guys out of the mud who were ESP level...that requires as much skill as
any S/P. Having had hours of 100 while S/Ping I speak from experience
I and other big stations did not just "throw money at towers and amps". We
busted our asses in research, scavenging materials, and homebrewed lots of
stuff. That, takes lots of skill. We then invested more in researching past
scores to know where to put our efforts in a given contest. That takes skill.
The bottom line is, you may not have a station which is capable of big runs,
but you are happy to S/P. Good for you. I had a station which was not
capable of big runs, but I didn't like it. I prefer running more so I invested
lots
of time to build a station so I could run.
I am not knocking your skills because you S/P. S/P is a necessary skill for
winning contests. So is running. Anybody can get behind a rig at a big
station. Only skilled ops can consistantly get 200 plus hours. It takes
skill...lots of it.
Bill K4XS
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