[CQ-Contest] N6TJ AXIOMS OF LIFE

Sat Jul 17 10:59:29 PDT 2010

Jim...

Your comments about actual on the air experience reminded me of my own 
frustrations a while back. I had been using the Morse Runner application 
extensively for a long time (nightly for several months). I was practicing 
to build more accuracy and speed while I was off the air. The program worked 
great. It worked perfect.

What I discovered when I returned to the airwaves, with *real* contesting 
participants, I became very frustrated that the cadence of the stations I 
was working was not anywhere as smooth as Morse Runner. This wasn't a 
one-time deal, rather a number of contests where I would loose interest to 
the point of turning off the radio and going to do something else.

I eventually weaned myself off Morse Runner when I realized where my 
dissatisfaction was rooted.

Posted for what it's worth... a personal experience I am sharing.

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Neiger" <n6tj at sbcglobal.net>
To: "K1TTT" <K1TTT at ARRL.NET>; <CQ-Contest at contesting.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 2:09 AM
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] N6TJ AXIOMS OF LIFE

>I will comment about your last paragraph David, since obviously you've 
>never
> ran a contest pile-up from the DX end, when often hundreds are all calling
> on the same frequency.  But then your statement:
> "ONLY if you DON'T have the skill to know how to deal with it".  I've been
> contesting 50 something years now, but there's never one where I don't 
> learn
> something new.   So please, go out somewhere rare, and show us all how to 
> do
> it.
>
> It's not that I don't send my call frequently enough; some operators 
> better
> than I,  say I send it too often.  But growing-up when KH6IJ was my idol, 
> I
> signed on to Nose's manner of just sending my call at the end of the QSO,
> which when you're  in  a 4 per minute rhythm (cw of course), the skilled
> operators calling simply know it means 3 things:  (1) I QSL your exchange
> and call; (2) I am XXX; and (3) QRZ.   It's simply musical poetry.
>
> No, David, that is not the problem.  It's those like you, and others,
> promoting packet, skimmers, nets, lists, etc.  that have destroyed the
> ability of many (most?) to copy.  I send ZD8Z.  Your students post ZD9ZZ.
> Or 2D8Z.  or ZD8MI.
>
> You opine that I should "just work the dupes that don't listen and get 
> them
> out of the way".  I do this 99% of the time.  But often to the 
> considerable
> detriment to my score.  Like in the 1997  CQ WW CW from ZD8Z.  I did 
> single
> band 15, and became the first to ever do 5000+ QSO's on a band.  It's 
> still
> the world record.  But, because of your wonderful technology operators, 
> who
> busted my call in some of the above ways, I ended up with an outrageous 7%
> DUPE rate.  Help me out with the math, please, David:   7% of 5000 = 350
> QSO's lost by DUPES.  Which is equivalent to wasting about 3 hours of the
> contest.  As you don't appear to be a serious contester, I can understand
> why you don't care about wasting 3 hours.  But for those of us with a goal
> to operate 48 straight, can you understand why we might not be too pleased
> that the generation you are fostering can't even copy code?
>
> And I cannot let your last words of learned advice pass without a note: 
> You
> said " while adding a comment about what your real call is again"  Ever 
> try
> that, on cw, when you've got 500 stations constantly calling you, and 
> every
> dit you send starts a new fever of calling?  Ever try to inform a DUPE, on
> CW,  that he is just that, when (1) he has no clue as to what your call 
> is,
> and (2) obviously doesn't believe he's DUPE'd you.  And further to that,
> most likely his top speed has maxed out somewhere around 15wpm.  Again,
> please go out somewhere this fall, and show us all how to do it.  I'm 
> always
> willing to learn.
>
> It's late, and now every time I read the word DUPE, it's increasingly
> looking like I wrote DOPE.   No insult intended, but I think I better quit
> here.
>
> Vy 73
>
> Jim Neiger  N6TJ
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "K1TTT" <K1TTT at ARRL.NET>
> Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 4:13 AM
> To: <CQ-Contest at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] N6TJ AXIOMS OF LIFE
>
>>> NO. 548    Packet spotting, skimmers and that ilk, corrupts and perverts
>>> any
>>> attempt to demonstrate operating skills, absolutely.
>>
>> Only if you consider packet spotting not a part of operating.  By now we
>> are
>> all aware that packet spotting exists, it has existed for many years, and
>> it
>> will continue to be a part of contest operating for the foreseeable
>> future... so learn how to handle it and make it a part of your skill set.
>>
>>> They're happy, and I'm left with a DUPE.  Wonderful.  My only solution
>>> then
>>> is to QSY.  Then watch the DUPES disappear (for awhile, at least)
>>
>> ONLY if you DON'T have the skill to know how to deal with it... ID more
>> often, call a couple CQ's with your call 2 or 3 times, and just work the
>> dupes that don't listen and get them out of the way... while adding a
>> comment about what your real call is again.
>>
>> David Robbins K1TTT
>> e-mail: mailto:k1ttt at arrl.net
>> web: http://www.k1ttt.net
>> AR-Cluster node: 145.69MHz or telnet://dxc.k1ttt.net
>>
>>
>>
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