[CQ-Contest] Re: [Dx] Lets change phonetics

[Pete Smith]

At 07:33 AM 11/2/01 -0000, Cormac J. Gebruers wrote:
>
>I'm going to make myself dreadfully unpopular...however in the spirit of
>always speaking my mind :o)
>
>Maybe people just aren't listening anymore...
>
>Receivers are better than they have ever been - with DSP, slope tune filters
>etc.etc.etc. Granted the bands are busier and qrm is higher but I would
>suggest that receiver technology has the edge over these factors...
>
>Maybe we need to pay less attention to the computers, pre-compiled lists of
>stations we expect to be on the air, packet clusters, what we think we
>should be hearing etc. and actually listen a bit harder...
>
>Anyone who works DX and/or contests regularly will perhaps agree how few
>stations calling CQ seem to listen out for, or even try to work weaker
>stations...

Hi Cormac -- I trust nobody will get mad at you for that opinion, but
here's a politely dissenting view.  I *know* that as my station has become
more competitive, I have listened harder and harder for the weaker
stations.  You have to, in order to compete.  I never used to work the
people with 5 watts and indoor dipoles, but now I do.   

On the other hand, I think most would agree that the bands have gotten
noisier.  If I take a portable shortwave rx near my stack of Sony CD
player, stereo receiver and VCR, the racket they emit is terrific.
Multiply that by an entire neighborhood, add DSL routers, cable modems, and
microprocessor-controlled everything, and it seems to me the urban/suburban
noise floor must be higher than it used to be.

73, Pete N4ZR


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