[CQ-Contest] Disturbing the peace

[Andy Blank]

I was surprised by Alex's response to me, and it got me to thinking about
the QSY issue again.


    "Dear Andy,
You only person with whom I qsy
 I make only one qsy this contest and its you and 80m contact
 I even decide I will not ask multiplier to qsy with me
 I dont know about GW stations but I think me and Paul WP3R was allways on
the band and its not so difficult to find as
 I think also thats too easy way to comeup on DX freq call him and ask him
to qsy on all 6 band if he have good setup and you sure you will hear him
 Anyway Im happy only with one qsy we make 6 band contact and there is
plenty of contesters make 6 bands qsos with out asking to qsy to another
band
 I wish you GL in SSB with my friend W2GD I know John propably will join you
in SSB contest
      73     Al 4L5A/D4B"


That was the only time I had asked him to QSY, and I know I couldn't have
been the first :)
But since it was 2 hours into daylight, maybe curiousity got the best of
him!
Congratulations to him on a fabulous score!

The thing is that nowadays, the SOAB Unassisted is a lonely island, but I
wouldn't live anywhere else. Did I mention I hate packet?
A station like D4B, who is bonecrushingly loud and at the right latitude,
will always have a
huge pileup, even without packet. Easy to find. Most of the DXpeditions are
easy to find.
But, it is possible to miss a few here and there, on certain bands, mostly
because of timing. You might be running on the same band and never stumble
on him.
A competetive SO must check to get the easy ones wherever possible. I really
made sure I did that this time.
   If I find someone on another band, I ask them about the needed band.
Maybe they are multi and have another station? No harm in asking, but I only
ask if I am sure I am not disturbing a pileup. It doesn't always work, you
can't always hear the callers. But at least I try.
In response to Alex, he will have tons of 6 banders, but let's be real. The
moment he hit 160, I am sure bedlum broke loose. Did I mention I hate
packet? I am thrilled I found him on
5 bands anyway :)
I did this with J6DX. They were multi. I needed 15 at the time I think, and
found them on 20. He tells me the frequency, I look and nothing. Waste 2
minutes. I go back and find out the operator is in the kitchen. I wait for
him, and tell him to enjoy his coke.
So while it might be easy to work them on a pass, I used up 3 minutes of
time. Is it worth it? You bet.

There were MANY stations that moved that I could not hear. On the other
hand, there were some I never thought would make it that did!
I was thrilled when RW2F moved me to 160, I didn't have to ask. They
couldn't have needed NJ, but who knows:)
The best was WP3R who is so quick, that he moves me before the report is
done. It was early in the contest and almost a pre-emptive strike! Why move
a lowly NJ? It's not like I am in Delaware or something... He knows I will
ask eventually, so he beats me to the punch.
It was all done in 10 seconds. Paul didn't miss a beat and kept on running.
Very impressive.

I suppose my point is that you always have perspective. All competitive ops
are trying just as hard as any DXpedition. For me, moving is actually fun.
There are very few DX single ops that call me, I have to find them. Did I
mention I hate packet?  At least with my station, I don't get called by rare
stuff that often.  I would say, the difference between winning and not is
doing the little things like passing better. Of course I never win, but
that's another story!
Thanks to everyone for a fun weekend, and especially the many stations that
did move!

73, Andy N2NT