[CQ-Contest] Another gratuitous SS-CW trick

[Steve Root]

Let's think about where we're going with this.  Do we really want a set of
rules
that would punish an OPERATOR for OPERATING his RADIO?

Once upon a time some guys would remember the calls of the first 800 guys
they
worked in their heads.  Some guys could manually send CW for hours on end
without
errors.  People could tell which bands were open by what the background
noise
sounded like.  People knew who was who by their fist.  People who put the
time in
had a pretty good idea who was active in rare zones or countries.  The
operators
who had these skills attained them by doing a lot of OPERATING.

Now there's the suggestion that's it's somehow unethical to even listen to
the bands
before the contest starts?  Look, there's nothing to prevent ANYBODY from
putting
his butt in the chair before the contest and listening.  Just where do you
draw the line
on pre-contest preparation?  An hour before the starting gun, a day, a week?

I'm supposed to stay away from my rig before I operate a contest?

Ridiculous.

73 Steve K0SR