[CQ-Contest] Packet luck or pot luck?

[N7MAL]

How about if you create your own luck by spotting yourself on packet and then saying...ooooops.... Or have a nearby neighbor who just happens to be a packet-cluster sysop spot you.
I don't operate in phone contests and I never use the packet-cluster in any contest I participate in. At the beginning of the contest I told the cluster I didn't want to receive any phone spots. That works pretty well on every band except 40 (which is being covered on other threads). Friday night I was tuning around below 7025 and watching the cluster. I noticed several different stations being spotted on the same frequency, below 7040. A closer look revealed the same spotter was spotting those stations. An even closer looked showed the QSX frequency was exactly the same for the group of spots. This happened several different times by several different stations. I'm sure there will be loud and violent explanations for why and how those spots happened but I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. When you are spotting stations you are working on your run frequencies, it is plain, pure, and simple self-spotting.


p.s. Wonder if those stations will claim single op unassisted?
 


MAL       
N7MAL
BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
http://www.ctaz.com/~suzyq/N7mal.htm
http://geocities.com/n7mal/
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today.
It's already tomorrow in Australia

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Martin Luther 
  To: Cq-Contest 
  Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 2:26
  Subject: [CQ-Contest] Packet luck or pot luck?


  If you have been here a while you will have seen various missives from
  me raising the undesirable effects that worldwide packet spotting is
  having on contesting. This is a new one.

   

  I was working in the ARRL phone contest. I was in the shack whenever I
  thought there would be an opening to the states. I followed my normal
  way of search and pounce and CQing on any clear frequency I encounter as
  I tune the bands.

   

  By 2130 on day 2 I had attained the lofty heights of 75 QSO's. I had not
  been able to establish a run anywhere.

   

  I worked a station calling CQ on long path 20. WX3B called and asked me
  to go down a couple. I did that and worked him as my QSO number 77 at
  2135. He put my call out on packet. At 2210 I lost the frequency to QRM
  and a changing band by which time I had a QSO count of 165. 

   

  77 QSO's and then one packet spot gives me a further 88 QSO's.

   

  Pure luck - without that spot I would have been hard pressed to get up
  to 100 QSO's. 

   

  There have always been imbalances in radio contesting, equipment,
  location, conditions all play a major part before the skill factor comes
  into play. However, non of these is under human control. Yes, you can
  change location but only before the contest. However, the packet spot is
  human induced "luck". 

   

  How about I get one of my friends in the states to put me out on packet
  spots as required? Is that really fair competition to other VK's without
  that "lucky" break? It certainly is not how I want to play the game!

   

  In my opinion DXing has been terminally devalued by nets and packet
  spots are we going to let contesting go the same way?

   

   

   

  Martin VK7GN

   <mailto:VK7GN at Bigpond.com> VK7GN at Bigpond.com

  Tel +61 3 62602600

   

   

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