[CQ-Contest] Packet (was: self spotting)

[Pete Smith]

At 08:23 PM 4/1/04, Cqtestk4xs at aol.com wrote:
>But, let's take a look at the "broadcast CQ".  What is really wrong with it?
>If the band is marginal, these stations act as beacons and can stir up
>interest in that band.  Granted to push F1 is not a high skill operation, 
>but to
>pull those ESP sigs out of the mud is.
>
>I have done the 6 CQs per minute on rather dead bands and have tried to pull
>the guys out of the mud who were ESP level...that requires as much skill as
>any S/P.  Having had hours of 100 while S/Ping I speak from experience

Bill makes a good point.  Recently, I opped at a big multi for the first 
time, during the ARRL DX CW test.  On Sunday, it appeared that 10 meters 
was open, at least to southern Europe, but very few stations were there.  I 
made a point of spotting everything I worked S&P, in the hope that the 
world-wide propagation of Internet spots would cause people to realize that 
the band was open.  To the extent that spots provide a profile of what's 
happening on a given band, they can actually be a sort of "second order 
beacon."

That said, I personally prefer to operate unassisted as a single op, and 
use my second radio to check for band openings.


73, Pete N4ZR
The World HF Contest Station Database
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