[CQ-Contest] Packet vs. No Packet Contesting

[Jeffrey Clarke]

 My 2 cents worth ......

 Radio contesting has changed a great deal from what it was 20 years
ago(for those of you that go back that far) due to technological
advances that have occurred. The same can be said for just about any
sport like NASCAR,skiing,football,etc.... Back in 1980 having a memory
keyer was a big deal!! (this is making me feel old!!)  Fast foward to
today and we now have computer logging, contest cards, voice keyers,
automatic band switch devices, and the list goes on...

  The advantages of the devices I mentioned above are they are doing
things that in the past that the contester had to do manually. Packet
is different. It is true that if you use packet in conjuction with
a logging program that you don't manually have to turn your VFO to the
frequency of a station that had been spotted. You just hit a key on
your
computer keyboard and it moves your radio to that frequency. So it
sense
you also have eliminated the manual process of moving the VFO. The
big difference with using packet along with SO2R that you have removed
the "skill" of having to know what band to be on at what time to pickup
all those "rare" multipliers. With SO2R and packet you can basically be
everywhere at the same time.

  Don't get me wrong. I'm not against introducting new technology into
contesting to make it more fun for everyone. My problem with packet is
that basically you are being "spoon fed" contacts without any real
effort on your part. Can you really call contesting a "sport" anymore
when this is happening??? Plus you have the negative aspect of dealing
with "packet pileups" , which I think reflects badly on contesting due
to the behavior that takes place by some stations. Plus, how do you
prove that those stations who claim to be S/O are not cheating by using
packet ??

  I look at a contest as being like the game "hide and seek". The
object
of most contests is to work as many contacts as you can but it is also
important to work as many multipiers as you can to have a good score.
If you are that rare DX station it's my job to find you and work you.
Now if someone tells me where you are is the game (i.e. contest) really
any fun anymore ??? 

                         73's  Jeff



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>From Sylvan Katz <jskatz at sk.sympatico.ca>  Fri Feb 22 15:20:16 2002
From: Sylvan Katz <jskatz at sk.sympatico.ca> (Sylvan Katz)
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 09:20:16 -0600
Subject: [CQ-Contest]  W/VEs spotting W/VEs
References: <LPBBJKOIBBDIEAIDLPLMIEGMDFAA.aa7bg at 3rivers.net>
Message-ID: <012e01c1bbb4$6e994390$6400a8c0 at selfsimilar>


What maybe needed is a registry where stations can place their calls if they
do not want to be spotted. This registry can be used by clusters to filter
all spots to these stations. Technically it is a simple solution. OH - and
by the way - the registry should be publicly viewable.

.. sylvan

----------------
Sylvan Katz, VE5ZX
Saskatoon, SK


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