[CQ-Contest] QRS/SS appeal, etc. -- was Unsportsmanlike?

[Matt]

Interesting chart Dale.

I tend to slow down quite a bit if the station calling has a long
unrecognized call or if they are sending slowly. That is sometimes, but not
always. Nobody asked me to QRS.  Some of those 30 and 40 check guys using
chirpy breadboard rigs and bugs can't send past 20 words a minute, but they
can copy upwards of 50 I'd venture to say. As Jay eluded to, in S&P mode in
every contest but the Sprint, you can listen prior to as well as after
making a "contact" to see if you got the right info. That may not be the way
it's supposed to be done, but we've all done it on occasion. That's why the
sprints are the true test of operating ability, there's no sandbagging, but
the reason I like SS is that it has everything.

*You get the rate of Saturday (great fun)
*You have the intrigue of wondering whether to run or search for mults early
on
*It has a fixed number of mults equalizing the battle field somewhat
*It tests your perseverence on Sunday
*It allows anyone from anywhere who enters the game late to taste the frenzy
of a mondo pileup without going on a DXpedition. (We should market this
'fresh meat' appeal of sweepstakes by taking out Sunday tv adverts to be run
during halftimes of the ballgames--does anybody on here work for the brewing
industry?).
*and about a buzillion other aspects of ss


It always seems uncanny how fast the code sounds after QRSing down to around
20wpm and then ramping back up to 30+wpm. Likewise, going from 36 wpm (after
milking a ten deep pile dry) and dropping down to 30 wpm makes the 30wpm
seem like trying to run in a swimming pool--it's sloooowww. I guess that's
why N0AX in his email of last week suggested that newcomers code speeds
would double if they'd only get on and operate.


snip--------------------------
I ran a little test here using this exchange at different speeds:

K5RC 733 Q KG5U 59 STX

15wpm = 18s
20wpm = 14s
25wpm = 12s
30wpm = 10s
35wpm = 8s
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