[CQ-Contest] Are You a Contester ?

[Jim Kehler]

This weekend was the IARU contest. I like to fancy myself as 
a 'contester'. Not as much of a contester as I was 15 years 
ago, but a contester none the less. 

I don't really care much for SSB contests any more, the CW 
ones seem to be a lot more fun for me these days. But this 
weekend I owed another Guam contester a favor, so when
it was time to draw straws, I let him have the one that said 
CW.

Another thing I've noticed lately is that contesters are getting
more and more of a bad rap. Lots of people seem to think that
contesters are overpowered, rude, bully ops with big 
antennas and no manners, who 'stomp all over everybody 
else who's on the band that weekend'.  When ever I hear 
that discussion start, I always jump to the immediate defense 
of the contest fraternity, explaining that a little QRM is just
'gonna happen' and that none of it is intentional or due to 
lousy operating. Contesters are the best ops ever, right ?

After this weekend and the IARU contest, I'm not sure I'll be
able to do that anymore...... 

As I said, I'm not really 'interested' in SSB contests, and I had 
other stuff to do this weekend anyway, but I thought I'd get 
on and play a bit anyway and pass out a few 64's to anybody
who needed one.  So off to 20 meters I went. No big runs, but
I got to play with my software DVK a bit, read my email 
while I was calling CQ, figure out that my radio interface for 
CT still doesn't work, and make a few of the 'hard core' guys
happy with a new mult.  Besides, I've said '59 27' so many 
times in the last 15 years that's it damn near impossible for
me to say '59 64' without thinking about it......

And then along came a W3 station who gave me a '59 1'. So 
I asked him where he was, and when he told me the east 
coast, I explained that he was in zone 8, and this was a 
contest where you just gave everybody your zone number, 
not a serial number. Well, one thing led to another, he seemed
like a nice guy, and was thankful for the gentle explanation
of zones, and after all, he called me to help me out, so I 
figured I owed him a polite explanation. We got to talking and
next thing you know, I had CT turned off, Logger turned on,
and I was ragchewing with the guys in the states. 

During the course of the next few hours, I talked to about 
six or seven U.S. stations. We chatted about computers, 
logging software, and a number of other things. A few guys
needed Guam for a 'new one' so I passed along my QSL info.

And during the course of the next few hours, something else
happened that left me totally amazed. Not once, not twice, 
not three times, but probably TWO DOZEN times, someone 
who was operating in the contest plopped himself down on 
the exact frequency we were using and started calling CQ 
CONTEST.....

And of the two dozen times that happened, NOT ONCE did 
one of my fellow contesters ask IS THE FREQUENCY IN USE.
Not once...... 

Not once did I jump on anybody, every time I politely told 
the visitor to the frequency that "'There is a QSO going on 
here, the frequency is being used, and everyone would 
appreciate it if you listened for a minute or asked if the 
frequency was in use before you called CQ. Thanks"

A couple times, the visitor simply tucked his tail between his
legs and QSY'ed. One time, after I told a loud California 
station, "Gee, that's not nice to call CQ without listening 
first" I got a polite apology, an explanation of how he was
popping back and forth between two VFO's, and a request
for zone 64, so I gave him a report and put him in my CT 
log. 

But what happened the overwhelming majority of times that
our ragchew frequency was suddenly visited by one of 
my fellow contesters left me even MORE amazed.......

The majority of the time my requests to realize the
frequency was being used were responded to with another
CQ CONTEST !!  Since I've been operating on HF for more
than 3 weeks, I have methods to deal with most situations,
and I realize that in a contest, lots of QRM, people can't 
hear each other, etc. So when my request to please QSY
was met with another CQ CONTEST, I'd apply the old 
'Let's see if he can REALLY hear me trick' and yell 'KH2D'.

And then I was even MORE amazed when almost EVERY 
time I did that I'd get "KH2D 59 xx".  You can't hear KH2D
when he's ragchewing, you can't hear KH2D when he 
politely asks you to QSY because the frequency is in use,
but when you key KH2D into CT and you see you need 
Zone 64 for a new multiplier, well, that's another story -
you damn sure can hear KH2D then......

This isn't another one of KH2D's 'after the contest too 
much QRM from Europe' stories.  I got QRM'ed from the
USA, I got QRM'ed from Europe, and I got QRM'ed from 
JAPAN too. One guy in Japan, after I politely asked him
to QSY in English CQ'ed again. Then I politely asked him 
to PLEASE QSY in my best broken Japanese. He CQ'ed
again. Then I yelled 'KH2D' to which he responded 
'KH2D 59 45'.

When I knew he was indeed hearing me, I explained 
the frequency was in use, that he hadn't ASK if the 
it was in use, and that it would be appreciated if he'd 
PLEASE QSY. So he thought about it for about 20 
seconds, and then he CQ'ed AGAIN !!! 

I still fancy myself as a contester. But I'll tell you what.
I think the contest fraternity, the guys I picture as 
my 'brothers' in contesting, need to clean up their act
a wee bit.  Just because there's a contest this weekend
(like there is EVERY weekend) doesn't mean we have 
the right to ignore anybody on the bands who ISN'T
contesting and treat them like they don't exist.  Contests
aren't lost by taking the time to listen for 30 seconds or 
asking 'IS THE FREQUENCY IN USE PLEASE' before you 
call CQ. Nothing in ANY of the contest rules I have read
give us 'contesters' the exclusive rights to any band for
48 hours. 

Some people don't LIKE contests. And after this weekend,
I have a much better understand of WHY some people 
don't like CONTESTERS. 

The next time they start beating us up, I don't think I'll
be as quick to defend us as I used to be.......

73, Jim KH2D
Mariana Islands DX Association & Logger Info Page
http://www.guam.net/pub/midxa/
DX LIST - http://www.egroups.com/group/dx-list
LOGGER LIST -  http://www.egroups.com/group/logger









  


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