[CQ-Contest] but are YOU really

[Bruce Sawyer]

>This is also the reason why a lot of us do not even both investigating
>PSK31 - it isn't operating ... I also feel the same way about RTTY. If I
>am not having to use my brain to decipher sounds and turn them into
>contest exchanges, etc. it is not operating (to me) .

I haven't tried PSK31 yet, so can't comment there, but I have done some
RTTY.  Normally I find myself in violent agreement with OJ on most things,
but this one is a big exception.  There definitely IS an element operator
skill involved in RTTY--a HUGE element.  Until you've been on the receiving
end of a good RTTY pile-up, you just can't appreciate what chaos is.  There
are lots of good calls in that mess, but trying to pull out just one good
one can be quite a challenge.  It's the kind of thing where a mediocre op is
likely to have a UBN rate that is just through the roof.  (Right now I'm
living in dread of my UBN report from last winter's RTTY/RU, because I know
I'm one of said mediocre RTTY ops!)  In addition, timing is
everything...just as it is in CW.  I can listen to a really great RTTY op
(e.g. AA5AU) running a pile-up and see hear just as much beauty (well,
almost) as listing to one of the CW greats showing off their stuff.

In summary, my advice to OJ would be to give it a try sometime.  I think Jim
just might discover a new challenge and have some fun.  And, super op that
he is, I would expect that eventually--after he learned the needed
skills--he would work his way into the top 10 boxes.  Say, didn't K5ZD do
just that a few years ago?

Bruce, N6NT/ZF2NT