[CQ-Contest] OO reports

[Tom Horton]

  For the life of me, I do not understand why everyone is so upset at an OO
a volunteer task that is trying to, in his/her own way keep the tradition 
alive
of the ham bands policing themselves. This very rare in today's climate.
  The folks are seriously trying to inform you of your misdeeds before
the FCC sends out one of those notices. I received an OO card a few
contests ago for, I believe, the same infraction that most of the guys here
are talking about. That of being too close to the band edge.I do believe the
rule still states that if any part of your signal is heard outside the band 
edges,
then you are operating outside the band.
  I used to be an OO a very long time ago, and Iremember what a thankless 
job it was
then and apparently it still is. You used to be able to show that you 
equipment met
certain standards, and I imagine that it is the same today.

After mentioning the self policing that we used to do, why don't hams tell
other hams when their signal sounds bad? It absolutely flabbergasts me to 
hear a
CW signal with a super loud hum and chirp and when you mention it to the 
operator
they rarely even acknowledge that you said anything, and if they do, they 
just keep on
plugging.
  The same applies to SSB also, distorted signals that are extremely 
difficult to copy.
You know, communications microphones are supposed to be close talked...i.e, 
lips
VERY near the wind screen. If you are talking a distance away from the mic, 
then you
have to turn the gain up to get enough output, then all the background 
noise is competing
with your voice. For those of you that disagree...go ahead, but why not try 
to get a friend to test this
with you sometime on the air.
I think our South American friends are probably some of the worst about 
this. Any of
you guys down yonder want to talk this around?

Flame away...I'm old and don't have much time left anyway.

73, Tom K5IID


Tom Horton	
K5IID in West "BY GAWD" Virginia
" E " sorter for the W5 Bureau