[CQ-Contest] The N7MAL opinion

[Dallas Carter]

Dearest Mal,
    I believe we all have the right to voice our opinions as you have.
There
is a point at which some let their posterior overload their piehole.  You
may have
reached that point.  There is a right way and a wrong way to voice an
opinion.
Remarks such as idiot/moron/loser may be your opinion, but when voiced in
such
a forum, tend to distract from any valid points you may have been trying to
put
forward.
    I have followed this thread for it's duration, and it has really out
lived itself.  Your
denegrating references to operators such as WZ3AR are not called for.  In
reading his
comments, I find nothing to which you should have taken offense.  On the
contrary, I
think Nat made a pretty valid counter to your charges.
    >>If, as you say, "by using packet, beyond any reasonable doubt you ARE
NOT
    >>a skillful contest operator," this means that people like K3WW and
KI1G are
    >>not stilled contesters at all. Such an assertion reeks of falsehood.
[WZ3AR]

You on the otherhand wrote:
        >My email inbox has be overwhelmed, like N6TJ's, with folks who seem
to have
        >an opinion based on no facts, no correct information
................. My concerns
        >are mainly with USA domestic contests, There are probably 750
active contesters
        >in IL, 500 in MDC(at least it seems that way), and 100 in AZ

OK, let's examine some FACTS.  The following from the ARRL web for 2002
contests.
        SS Phone  1693 entries, MD=61, IL=168, AZ=22 N7MAL did not submit a
score.
        SS CW     1319 entries, MD=44, IL=108, AZ=20 N7MAL in A class 267th
of 701 (38%)
        10 Meter   3121 entries, MD=54, IL=89,  AZ=28 N7MAL (cw low power)
218th of 640 (34%)
        Total of M and U entries SS CW = 186 (14% of total entrants)
        Total of M and U entries SS Phone = 395 (23% of total entrants)

    Now for why I use packet in some contests.  I contribute my scores to my
clubs aggregate totals.
I love CW SS, but I am just getting too long in the tooth to battle it out
on phone anymore.  I want
to help my radio club, so I operate reduced hours and use packet to maximize
my score for the club.
The fact that you do not submit your score to a club aggregate probably
explains why you don't give
this aspect any merit.  The other domestic events in which I use packet at
times are the "QP" events.
To answer the "Why?", it is really quite simple.  I participate in those
events to help the fellas in those
states that are competing with their peers.  I rarely submit a score for
those as I am not a serious entrant.
I am merely trying to make the event more fun for them and give them an
opportunity to put a new mult in
their log.  Packet allows me to maximize the limited amount of time in which
I participate.  This also makes
it more enjoyable for me, and of all the opines that you have offered to
date, personal pleasure hasn't been
mentioned.
    So, Mal good buddy, if you don't want to use packet, then by all means
don't use it.  It would appear
to me that the percentages of folks that could use packet by rule in the SS
was significant.  That in itself
should dilute your battle a bit.  And, before I leave the frequency, I would
take issue with another statement
that you made:
        "The challenge since the very beginning of the SS was to see how
many US sections you find
        and work. Not for one moron to tell another moron what section,
call, and freq to go to and
        get a """"new one"""". "
My recollection of the challenge of the SS was to hone your traffic handling
skills.  That is why the
exchange so closely resembles the ARRL message format, and why there are
such significant penalties
for getting the individual elements of the exchange wrong.  Your focus seems
to be only on score versus
operating skill with no weight given to copying skills and logging skills.

    Now, let me get back to my nap....  73  Dallas W3PP