[CQ-Contest] Packet has ruined Ham Radio

[Kjboasi at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/22/2006 9:54:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
art.boyars at verizon.net writes:


> With Packet, the pile-up is aroar after the first spot.  
> 

Art, you hit the nail right on the head, and the above statement can be 
either good or bad.  For guys with big towers, big beams, and bigger amps, pileups 
may not really pose much of a problem.  For smaller stations though, this can 
be a big problem, especially if you're in the process of trying to work the DX 
and have a pileup dumped on you because of a packet spot.

Example:  Last winter, there was a DXpedition to YJ0 which I'm sure many 
people needed/wanted to work.  I was on the air at sunrise one morning on 80m and 
just happened to catch him calling CQ.  I called, but he worked an N6 station. 
 After that he worked a JA which I couldn't hear.  After that, I got through. 
 I had barely finished the exchange when bedlam broke out.  I ran upstairs, 
booted the computer and logged in to the cluster to see whodunnit.  The spotter 
was the first station who worked him, which means if I had been a MILLISECOND 
slow in my call, I would have missed out on an all-time new one.  

Same situation, but now a few days ago:  I moved to a new home, just put up 
an antenna, and was tuning 40 CW at sunset looking for something good.  Sure 
enough, an African station was on the low end of 40 that would have been an 
all-time new one for me.  He was working mostly EU stations.  I heard virtually no 
NA callers.  A few minutes into it, I heard a station work him that I know is 
a cluster lizard with a big station.  Seconds later, there were (what seemed 
like) hundreds of NA callers.  Either he hadn't been spotted yet, or the Usual 
Gang of Cluster Guys were filtering WW spots.

The point of this is that there was no way I was getting through at that 
point.  Say what you will about skill, timing, etc...but there are times you know 
you're screwed.

I run a minimal station here (100W, wires) because that's what I can 
reasonably afford/accomodate.  I'm sure this is true for many other people, and for 
quite a few reading this list.  I've worked some great stuff and had a great 
time, and will continue my DXing and contesting.  The DX will be back another day 
(hopefully).  But the cluster adds a lot of QRM sometimes; I'm sure I'm not 
the only one who doesn't appreciate having a pileup of KW stations dropped on 
him while I'm trying to work a DX station I found myself without any help other 
than the tuning knob.

Has packet ruined ham radio?   Probably not, but it certainly has shifted 
around operating techinques and practices.  Is this good or bad?  Not for me to 
decide.  But sometimes I wish we were able to go back and see what it was like 
in the days before packet became what it is now.  I was licensed in 1994, well 
into the packet frack era.  Sure, there were autocall lists and 2m DX 
spotting nets "back in the day", but I can't imagine they had the impact that a 
worldwide, instantaneous network has on the bands.  

As far as contesting goes, I've never entered assisted for a variety of 
reasons.  Either I can't fight through the pileups (or don't have the patience to), 
or I find packet too much of a distraction.  Besides, I still think it fun 
just to Not Know; to not know what's on the next kHz while I'm tuning.  That's 
half the fun to me.  Whether it's another STX station or a VY1 for the 80th 
section I need for a sweep, finding and discovering (and being amazed by the 
find) keeps me coming back to the game.

73/DX,

Ken N2ZN