[CQ-Contest] Re: [ DAKOTA-HAM ] The Mother of all Public Service Demonstrations!

[Bob Wolbert]

While the GOAL of contesting and emergency communications are vastly
different, the TECHNIQUES and URGENCY are similar. 

How else do you impart the necessary sense of urgency, scheduled far in
advance, unless you include the competitive aspect?

How else do you get a large number of 'volunteers' on the air at a given
time to participate? Seems to me that the SET (Section Emergency Tests)
don't attract very many operators, and is more a "hurry-up-and-wait"
operation that does not appeal to skilled ops.

I think this idea is interesting, timely, and workable. I'll participate!


73 de Bob, K6XX
k6xx at arrl.net
www.k6xx.com

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002 23:41:59 -0600 "Ford Peterson" <ford at cmgate.com>
writes:
> 
> OK, please don't flame me for throwing a wet blanket on this idea.
> 
> Isn't the very idea of a *contest* 180 degrees opposite of what 
> would 
> need to take place in a real disaster? Contests get the blood 
> pressure pumping and bring out those raw competitive urges; the 
> desire to be the victor, the desire to triumph over your fellow man, 
> 
> the desire to put up huge antennas and buy big amps to thunder over 
> the signals of lesser stations, the desire to muscle other stations 
> off of your calling frequency, the desire to see your name at the 
> top 
> of the list in QST.
> 
> In an honest-to-gosh, flat-out contest, the *goal* is to win, to 
> crush your competitors. In an actual emergency, the goal is to work 
> cooperatively and synergistically with every other operator involved 
> 
> in the effort. It's not at all a matter of making more Q's than the 
> next guy, it's a matter of having the discipline and restraint to 
> stand by while a weak station with important traffic is allowed to 
> get through. Contests (even Field Day, which is supposed to 
> demonstrate emergency preparedness) are usually an exhilarating, 
> wild, free-for-all with ample amounts of QRM. Emergencies need calm, 
> 
> cool, collected order and organization.
> 
> Contests are great fun and an enjoyable past time for a lot of hams; 
> 
> an opportunity to cut loose. Granted, they do build some operator 
> skills, but what do they really have to do with the authentic 
> conditions needed for effective emergency communication?
> 
> I think there are a lot of good operators out there who don't care 
> to 
> engage in the aggressive frenzy of contesting, or for that matter, 
> busting through huge DX pile-ups (with all the swearing, jamming and 
> 
> DX cops). For some of us, life is too short for all that rudeness. 
> How could an exercise be constructed that would include the all 
> important "After you, my dear Alphonse" component? Is it possible to 
> 
> design a competition where the least intrusive, and the most 
> cooperative, courteous and efficient operator(s) would win?
> 
> 73,
> 
> Lee Blaske N0IZ
> 
> (BTW, I don't mind if someone cross-posts this back to the list 
> where 
> it originated.)
> 
> 
> --
> CQ-Contest on WWW: http://lists.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
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> 

73 de Bob, K6XX
k6xx at arrl.net
www.k6xx.com

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