[CQ-Contest] overwhelmed by packet spot dumper inners

[James White]

Generation NEXT ----------> enter the lost skill of split frequency
operation...

With the advent of xcvrs vs separate transmitter and receiver the seemingly
routine split operations of decades ago have almost disappeared - I only
remember working two stations who were split this past weekend - both were
marginal signal level here but worked on a first call....

Poor operating technique in general coupled with low signal levels of DX
stations causes these big packet generated pileups to cover the juicy
multipliers with QRM.  It seems also that many stations think the only way
they can beat others out is to sign their call several times and hope they
are left the last one sending in the clear.

I especially note this stuff here close to the Caribbean, on 10 meters and
some of the other high bands, those signals which are pounding in into most
of the US market are puny weak...and I am sure the vice versa applies as
well...

Those DXpeditions with booming sigs to most of the US are so close we can
only work em on timing alone.  One guy called one of our locals a lid as he
was dropping in his call trying to tail end.   He was signing his call (and
so was I) during a lull in the calling for a 6Y this weekend...right after
someone he cussed out K4XS the Caribbean station came back to XS but XS
could not hear him through the lid QRM so of course I dropped in my
callsign...the 6Y proceeded to work both of us...at my QTH he was an S2 at
best!  TO the station chiding K4XS, just because the Caribbean mult and K4XS
were loud at your place does not mean either end of that QSO was loud to the
other participant!

Many packet guys are clearly pointing and shouting the moment something is
spotted rather than listening first....this is apparent by their first
appearance in a pileup transmitting on top of the juicy mult....poor
technique, as VK5GN stated you really should listen FIRST!

This was my first DX contest WITHOUT packet in a long time and I had mixed
feelings, the spots are fun to chase and see what monster station you can
beat to the punch, but they in the end, I suspect, serve predominantly to
increase scores and serve as a "measuring technique" and do not enhance
operator skills. Contesters pride themselves on operating skill, I do not
think packet is any sort of show piece for this at all...fun yes -
definitely, as far as being a display of operating skills.....NOT!

It was fascinating when we had that "brown out" on Sunday, all of the sudden
someone had  thrown a switch...the really big Euro stations were still there
but all of the sudden my run completely stopped and the band got so quiet I
thought it was minima condx! (One of the locals called on the phone to
verify some sort of solar phenomenon had occurred!)....Interesting to hear
the DXpedition guys asking for verification that this had just happened,
too...as the bands recovered the bigger stations got better faster and the
little ones took longer to come up to speed...what exactly happened at that
moment?

Jim, K4OJ S/B 10


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