[CQ-Contest] Feb 04 QST op-ed article

[Leigh S. Jones]

Sorry to be entering this thread without first reading the article.
Nevertheless,
it's easy to pick up what appears on page 98 of QST from reading the
thread.

Well, it's easy to say that this is the contesting reflector, and, as
such, we can
expect that pretty nearly everyone who participates here will
disapprove with
the article.

Here are a couple of things that we all need to keep in mind.  First
of all, we
are outnumbered.  But we're only outnumbered if those who are not on
the
air count in the totals.  The fact is that "on the air" contesters
outnumber non-
contesters.

I don't know how many of you have been noticing this over the last 4
decades, but the HF bands are wastelands of disuse until a contest
comes
along.  Oh, sure, a fantastic opening brings operators out of the
woodwork
even when there's no contest, because a substantial number of DX'ers
exist around the world.

But the truth is that on a typical Saturday night during a big CW
contest
(when you'd expect that the non-contesters would be out in force on
phone) the HF phone bands are remarkably empty.

I'm going to have to put it this way: amateur radio is largely
abandoning
the HF bands if contesting isn't included in the analysis.  This
wasn't true
during the 60's and 70's.  HF spectrum usage by amateurs has really
dropped over the last couple of decades.  Simply put, ham's are not
occupying the spectrum space available to them except during big
contests.  The HF bands need contesters -- amateur radio needs
contesters -- or we'll all lose our HF spectrum to disuse.  Instead of
trying to limit the activities of contesters, contesters should
receive
the thanks of amateur radio operators worldwide for our contribution
to the well-being of the hobby.

To those who try to suggest that contesting should be confined to
limited spectrum space like race cars that are confined to tiny race
tracks for the safety of the general public, I'd have to say, "Bad
analogy."

KR6X

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <KI9A at aol.com>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Cc: <smc at qth.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 2:21 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Feb 04 QST op-ed article


> Take look at page 98 of the 2/04 QST....
>
> More non-contesters wanting to limit us to less than 100kc of 40!!
Plus the
> other bands. This guy is looking for our views on this proposal.
>
> Wonder if he also proposes limiting nets, skeds, ragchewers & pig
farmers to
> a  subband? ;-)
>
> 73-Chuck KI9A
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>     The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland!
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