[CQ-Contest] Does anyone prefer virtual contests to real ones?

[Fabian Kurz]

Hi Barry,

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:21:57PM +0000, Barry wrote:
> When I started the contest, I thought to myself, "I can't believe this 
> is really 36 WPM, the rate's so slow (only about 140/hr), this is 
> boring."  Then I realized, since ARRL CW, I've been playing around with 
> Morserunner once or twice a week - set the pileup as many deep as you 
> want, set the speed anywhere you want, and away you go with an instant 
> 300/hr pileup.

I feel compelled to answer here since I have probably spend more time
practicing RufzXP, MorseRunner in HST mode and CW Freak lately than
[anyone else and than] I spent on the radio; and even the time spent
on the radio is way above what's healthy.

But do I enjoy virtual contesting more than real contesting?

A contest, for me, is not only the technical process of getting a
certain number of contacts, mults, QTCs in the log. A contest is like
a big party, where you walk around and say hi to hundreds of guys that
celebrate with you.

It's an event where I interact with hundreds, thousands of real people
who are playing the same game as I do. It's a process that stretches
over 24h, or even 48h, in which I don't only have to do my own job,
but also observe what the others are doing. I may be happy with what I
do when I see that I'm leading; I may get terribly upset when I see
that someone else is way ahead of me, and do my very best to catch
up. You're going through highs and lows; fight sleepiness, get annoyed
over poor condx and people who steal your frequency, get visited by
murphy, but also jump off your chair when a rare mult calls you, or
you are fortunate to run a big pileup.

Competing in a contest at a high level requires skills at many
levels: Station building, propagation, strategy, ... Operating in a
multi operator even also requires a good set of soft skills, and
ideally a team that can work and play together without any words
exchanged.

Even though, on the surface, contests are not more than just a mere
exchange of meaningless numbers, there is much more to it. Something
that no computer can simulate or replace. 

Running a rate of over 400 QSOs/h in MorseRunner, or plugging away
callsigns at 150-200wpm in RufzXP _is_ great fun, and it's certainly
good for a quick rush of adrenaline. But the _real_ motivation for me
(and probably most of those who excel in those disciplines) to push it
to the limits is very much the same as that for radio contesters:
Taking part in competitions like the HST [1], the rough equivalent of
the WRTC in the ham radio contesting world, or just improving your
standings in the online scoreboards. The motivation and excitement
increases as you know the guys you compete with in person.

Fun in contesting for me is not proportional to rate or speed. Virtual
contesting, no matter how hard developers try, will never ever carry
the magic of real radio that we all love. It's a nice tool to build
(a limited set of) skills and procrastinate, but the real fun
happens elsewhere: on the radio.

73,
-- 
Fabian Kurz, DJ1YFK * Dresden, Germany * http://fkurz.net/

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_Telegraphy