[CQ-Contest] Contesting in the Sunlight [was: SO1R and SO2R]

[Mark Beckwith]

> "2.1.3.3.High Power: More than 150-W PEP output (see
> rule 1.3)."
>
> A station running 150-w is 10-dB less powerful than
> one running 1500-w.  That's quite a difference.  Are
> stations at opposite ends of this range *really*
> contesting peers?

Ev, you're championing an underclass of people running 151 watts that does 
not exist.  The rule was designed to separate people who run exciters only 
from people who use an amplifier.  Virtually all people in the high power 
class are much less than 8db down, and most are nearly zero db down.

> I'm curious to know just how SO2R is done

This link says it all in about 3 minutes:

http://n6tr.jzap.com/tworadio.html

Even today, there is no standard implementation of it.  Everyone likes to 
split their audio differently, some contesting programs do more of the 
automation than others, etc.  Everyone has their own secret weapons which 
makes it kind of interesting.  All the commercial products are highly 
user-configurable.

It has made contesting more expensive and more work than it was in the good 
old days.  Do I do it?  Yes.  Do I like it?  I like trying to run with the 
big boys more than I dislike SO2R.

Mark, N5OT