[CQ-Contest] What happens when you spot

[David Robbins K1TTT]

There is just one problem with your argument against spotting the qsx
frequency... if it isn't sent then stations just grabbing the spot and not
listening before calling will call on you tx frequency making it so other
stations who know the split can't hear you.  Many people are dependent on
the qsx for setting the split now, and many programs add it automatically,
so its really better to send it than not to... even if the dx doesn't stay
there long afterwards at least it gets everyone blindly grabbing spots and
calling into the split mode to start with.


David Robbins K1TTT
e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
web: http://www.k1ttt.net
AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:cq-contest-
> bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tree
> Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 17:46
> To: cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject: [CQ-Contest] What happens when you spot
> 
> 
> Ev writes:
> 
> > I was thinking about taking the most frequent categories of replies and
> > creating a web survey that more folks would feel comfortable taking, but
> with
> > only three related responses, that won't happen. :)
> 
> I think your three answers pretty much cover it - except for one that I am
> surprised didn't make it:
> 
> 4. To increase the # of stations the DX station can work.
> 
> Recently, I have started seeing people working a DX station and NOT
> spotting
> them - because there are already enough stations calling the station.
> This
> is excellent behavior in my book.
> 
> Before the CQ WW CW contest, it was great fun to fire up HC8N and work a
> big
> pileup.  However, often the pileup would get hard to manage as I would get
> spotted and a large number of stations would call.  It takes a lot more
> energy to work guys when you have hundreds of people calling.  Maybe
> better
> operators than me can state there is no such thing as a pileup too big,
> but
> I found myself challenged to work it efficiently when I was tired.
> 
> One thing I would do is let people know what frequency I was listening on.
> This is a "secret" some of the recent DX peditions have been doing.  It is
> great fun to start sending "37" a few times and see how long it takes for
> people to start calling me on 10137 (for example) - while the people who
> just keep sending without listening continue calling "up 1".  This rewards
> those who listen and enables those without the strongest signals to have a
> shot at working me.
> 
> However, even though I am having no problem attracing new people, someone
> will want to show off that they found the secret and make a post list
> this:
> 
> VE2XYZ    10109.4 HC8N        QSX 10.146.01                 0311 21 Nov
> 2006
> 
> This serves no useful purpose in my book.  If you made the spot and just
> indicated my TX frequency, then you have alerted everyone that HC8N is
> on the band.  Then they can listen - and hear what is going on and act
> on that information and work me.  Posting the QSX frequency results in
> a hord of people all calling me on 10.14601 - which is next to useless
> and I instantly QSY and start listening somewhere else.
> 
> So - PLEASE think about the impact of your spots.  Why post the QSX
> frequency IF the station has a pileup?  It is counterproductive.  Put
> your desire to brag that you found the right frequency on the back
> shelf and let the DX station work the pileup the way they want.
> 
> If the people can't hear the DX station telling them where to transmit,
> then they probably don't have any shot at working them anyway.
> 
> I like it better when I see spots like this:
> 
> RA4LW     10109.7 HC8N        op.N6TR, good ears            0456 21 Nov
> 2006
> 
> Maybe I had good ears because RA4LW listened to my instructions and
> transmitted on a clear frequency.  This is much more fun for the DX
> station and makes it worth losing sleep over to keep handing out QSOs.
> 
> 73 Tree N6TR
> tree at kkn.net
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