[CQ-Contest] From VO1DD re Interference with emergency traffic

[Richard F DiDonna NN3W]

According to DX summit, DD4B commenced CQing on 14.124 at 1251z.  You can't 
really say that he was on your frequency as he was 1.5 KHz above from 
14.122.50 and, with 250 Hz of filtering, would very likely not have heard 
what was happening 1.5 KHz below him.

In any event, I am confused by your assertion that there is a net on that 
frequency 24/7.  According to some websites, that frequency apparently had a 
net on only at 1245z.  There is no reference to 24/7.

73 Rich NN3W

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "DK Card" <weatherdeck at persona.ca>
To: <cq-contest at contesting.com>
Cc: "'Don Demeza'" <ddemeza at magma.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 3:12 PM
Subject: [CQ-Contest] From VO1DD re Interference with emergency traffic


> Good afternoon,
>
> My name is Doug Card, callsign VO1DD.  During the contest period ,
> specifically Sunday on or about 1235Z , our maritime mobile net was 
> involved
> with a vessel who had declared an emergency on a frequency of 14.122.50.
> This is a frequency used by the Mississauga maritime mobile net which is 
> on
> 24/7 @ 1245Z.   This vessel had been having difficulty for a few days.
> Conditions continued to deteriorate for this vessel. We were working the
> vessel and taking important information from the captain at the time.  All
> was well until a station involved in the contest came on to the frequency
> and started to call CQ contest.
>
>
>
> I am primarily a CW op and was able to clearly copy the callsign, DD4B ,
> which apparently is a contest station in Bonn , Germany.  I asked on SSB 
> for
> him to please respect the situation and to please give us a clear 
> frequency
> to operate.  I asked several times as he continued to call CQ test. His
> signal here was very strong. I switched to CW and still got no response 
> and
> the interference continued.  He continued and started to draw other 
> contest
> stations to the frequency which of course caused even more interference. 
> If
> he heard me and still blatantly ignored the situation he is not a true ham
> operator as far as I'm concerned.  Ham radio exists because of its public
> service element and when a contest interferes with the ability of hams to 
> do
> that service , I have serious problems with ham radio being used as a
> contest medium especially if they only "come out to play" for contests as
> apparently many operators do.  I have no problem with that as long as they
> are aware that there are a lot of us out there who spend considerable
> operating time in public service and deserve to be respected as well
>
>
>
> That far up in the band is not primarily a CW portion of 20 mtrs although 
> I
> am well aware that CW is legal anywhere in the ham bands.  Again I am
> primarily a CW op and as such am very careful when operating on CW in the
> phone portion of the band (which does not happen often).  I can appreciate
> that the station likely had his filtering narrowed right down and could 
> not
> read my sideband signal clearly.  However he was technically in the phone
> portion of the band and should have been more aware of the possibility 
> that
> emergency traffic might exist.  Hopefully he was not using a code reader.
>
> I was running 650 watts to the antenna and I am sure he would have been 
> able
> to hear me if not so focused on scoring points!.  I am well aware that CW
> contesting is not the way it used to be with keyboards/computers used for
> sending as well as decoding.
>
>
>
> The situation was very serious and could have turned out very badly ending
> in a possible loss of a vessel at sea. For this reason as far as I'm
> concerned , during contests stations should be limited to the CW sub-bands
> so that the possibility of another incident like this occurring is 
> minimized
> as most vessels on the high seas use SSB communications.
>
>
>
> This incident has certainly done nothing to enhance my feelings about
> contesting.  I'm always told that contesting makes better operators.  If
> this incident is an example of that , that reasoning holds no credence.
>
>
>
> 73
>
> Doug Card  VO1DD
>
> Hearts Delight ,Newfoundland
>
>
>
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