[CQ-Contest] IDing revisited...

[John Godwin]

Some very interesting comments about ID'ing and Packet Cluster spots.
Has caused me to speak up.

In most HF contests I S&P. 

I have used the Packet Cluster to try to get additional mults. 

Unless I have copied the call sign I do not transmit. 

Sometimes I send in the log sometimes not. Contesting is fun for me. To
maximize my fun I abide by my rules as to how or why I try to work
someone and whether or not I submit a log. If I have knowingly violated
a contest rule I will not submit a log. Time violations come to mind.
Contesting is an ever changing beast which causes all of us that contest
to see things differently.

No matter the size of the pileup I will try to work a CQ'ing station if
they are ID'ing after every QSO.

If there is a major pileup and I have not heard the call sign after 2 or
3 QSO's I move on, to never intentionally go back to that frequency (I
make a note of it). 

After going through the band I usually start again and do it all over.
Avoiding those frequencies where I will probably not hear the station ID
within a QSO or two. 

My time like the folk's that really rack up the score is at a premium.
By having to listen for a stations ID for more than one or two QSO slows
my 'rate' down. It will also reduce that stations score because I am
probably not going to work them unless they have changed frequency and
started to ID after a QSO or two. I will allow them an occasional TU
because I know that some folk's will have heard another station and can
work them without additional ID'ing. This does not violate my rules of
'rate'. Besides ID'ing after every QSO is not required by my rules.

I did not always require a station to ID after every QSO or two, that
has changed because of the lost time involved waiting for an ID to find
out that I had already worked them. If it takes me two minutes or more
for me to ID a non ID'ing station every time I move through the band
then not only will my 'rate' suffer but also the rate of one or more of
the other contester's that will ID after every QSO. 

Bottom line. If you want to work me then you will ID frequently or my
potential QSO will be lost. 

Good, bad or ugly the above is my opinion/view on Id'ing and the Packet
Cluster. It is also my opinion that each station has to decide on what
is fun for them and act accordingly.

John K5IUA


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