[CQ-Contest] How did these guys get to be so good?

[Jerry Keller]

Well, this sounds encouraging.  Glad somebody doesn't mind reaching out.
Why would established players want to make it even MORE difficult for
newbies? What joy or benefit is there in forcing them to knock on doors?
Isn't it a little more friendly and helpful to anticipate their needs and
reach out to them?

Those who want and need some help should perhaps be willing to ask, but I
think  the "newbie" often finds it difficult to determine exactly who to
ask, and how much to rely on the answers.

Ask a question on this reflector, for example, and you will receive an
assortment of answers, most of which are direct, and only
some of which are on the reflector. Many are contradictory, or poorly
phrased, or perhaps from people who mean well but don't know any more than
the "newbie"... how to sort all that out in some reliable way is a puzzle
not readily solved.  So asking for information and help quickly becomes
tiresome and counter-productive.

Apparently there is a belief that there are lots of  multis out there within
reasonable travel distance, anxious for  "newbies" to ask for a learning
experience .... sorry to report that my personal experience is somewhat
different. In six recent months of serious inquiry in a major east coast
metro area, among members of a large and well-established contesting club,
only one such multi stepped forward.

Granted that there are some aspects of contesting that are difficult and
time consuming to teach.... after learning the basics, those aspects are
best improved upon by lots of practice.  And there are some aspects and
techniques that a clever newbie can pick up on by merely listening on the
air.  However, the same can be said of DXing....and yet there are a number
of excellent texts available that introduce the newcomer to the basic
techniques of the DXing art.... why cannot the same be done for the basics
of the contesting art?

Jerry K3MGT


----- Original Message -----
From: "Leigh S. Jones" <kr6x at kr6x.com>
To: <CQ-Contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2001 12:00 PM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How did these guys get to be so good?


>
> Bob, that's fine for you.  We all make personal choices as to how our
> efforts are best spent.  You go ahead and "Listen to any of the cited
> 'experts'" and we'll go on passing along what we know to newcomers.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Naumann - N5NJ" <n5nj at gte.net>
> To: <CQ-Contest at contesting.com>;
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] How did these guys get to be so good?
>
>
> >
> > I think that this "mentoring" thing places the burden in the wrong
> place.
> > It's as though those who know, must teach those who don't.
> >
> > I disagree.
> >
> > I think those who desire to know something, need to do as much as
> they can
> > to learn about the subject.  Find out who knows what they're doing,
> observe
> > them doing it.  Contrast what they do to what you think you should
> do and
> > emulate what they do.
> >
> > If it doesn't work, ask a question.
> >
> > As anyone who has been on here more than a few days knows, if you
> ask a
> > question, you'll get a ton of answers.
> >
> > The part about what we do in contesting, is that we can observe all
> of these
> > really great operators in action on the air.
> >
> > Listen to any of the cited "experts" in a contest for a while.  Not
> only
> > will you be impressed, but you'll learn something.
> >
> > 73,
> > Bob N5NJ
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > let's truncate this mess right here.
>
>
> --
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>
>


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