[CQ-Contest] Behavior of U.S. M/M's in CQ WW

[Bill Coleman]

On 10/31/00 15:27, Nat Heatwole at heatwole at clark.net wrote:

>I didn't yet have the Zone 5 mult (this particular M/M's zone) or the USA
>mult so I thought I would work him for the quick and easy double mult. I
>dumped my call in after he finished a CQ and his response was the following:
>
>"WZ3AR, sorry, we can't work stateside in this one, I won't put you in the
>log, ok?"
>
>Translation: "I already have Zone 5 on this band so working you would yield
>ME no points, so go away". Why on earth would this M/M chose to do this?

Doesn't make sense. Seems like it would be easier to work you and get on 
with life than to sit around on the frequency and argue about the merits 
of doing so.

At NQ4I, Rick's policy is to work and log everything. That means 
stateside, that means duplicates. (In the first couple of hours on 20m, 
we had logged about 10 duplicates - sheesh!)

The only rationale I can think of is that working one stateside station 
may "open the door" to a flood of stateside calls, cutting into the time 
they could be working DX. I don't agree.

>Is this the common policy of all M/M's: don't work anyone in a US zone after
>you already have worked that mult on that band? 

It isn't the policy at NQ4I. I know I worked W3LPL during the day for the 
40m USA multiplier and didn't get any complaints. (Although I hope he 
logged us)

>That seams very selfish to
>me, and it certainly doesn't promote the idea of bringing new people into
>contesting.

Agreed.

A couple of years ago, I worked CQ WW CW and made a handful of contacts 
(like 25, if I remember). When I got the UBN report, I was shocked to 
find a 60% score reduction. Once you got past my obvious copying errors, 
one problem was that several USA stations I had worked for the multiplier 
hadn't logged me. Naturally, it didn't count for them, but it did count 
for me.

I think this is more insidious than not working you in the first place. 
After all, you did work the contact, they just didn't log it. It didn't 
cost them anything, yet you got slapped with a NIL and the resulting 
penalties.

It makes me wonder if certain stations or clubs have a policy of not 
logging zero point contacts just so they can reduce everyone else's 
scores somewhat.

>What should I have done to get the QSO/mults?

You did the right thing. Especially if there was no evident rate involved.

>Should I have told
>him that I had gotten a late start and didn't have 05 yet? 

Begging for the mult might have helped.

>Would he then
>have worked me? Could I have done anything? 

Maybe. But if someone is all determined not to work you, they won't.

>What should be the policy of M/M
>'s in CQ WW?

I think that anyone calling CQ should answer and log anyone calling from 
anywhere. (this goes for M/S operators calling CQ on he mult station) I 
also think that if the judges discover an inordinate number of NILs from 
people claiming contact with a certain station, they should DQ that 
station as being unsportsmanlike.

But, who cares what I think, I'm not a contest judge.



Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
            -- Wilbur Wright, 1901


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