[CQ-Contest] Summary: Disruption of Emergency Communication during CQWW SSB contest

[Maarten van Rossum]

Steve, we passed that station long time ago. We all concluded that most, if
not all, contester would keep emergency QRG's clear *if they knew it was
there.*
Of course the best stations in the world would stand by and help out. But in
order to do that they would have to know what frequencies are being used.
I don't know about you but when I'm in a contest I do not monitor the news
to see if there is a major disaster going on somewhere in the world.
During a major contest there are thousands of people on the band and by far
the most of them would be more then happy to skip the contest to assist in
emergency communication or the very least keep the emergency frequencies
clear. But there are quite a few operators out there that hardly speak any
English other then "five nine, seventy-tree" and maybe "thank you". These
people could very well be capable of unknowingly disrupt the emergency
communications.
Furthermore, conditions constantly change making it even more difficult to
keep the QRG clear.
Hoping that the best stations in the world would stand by is probably not
enough. It would be better to think about it in advance and come up with
some good ideas and maybe even get a good plan in place.

Just my 2 cents,

73, Maarten PD2R


2010/11/17 Steve Hanlon <asciibaron at verizon.net>

> please stop and think about this entire thread.  we all have a radio (or
> two) in front of us.  if an event happened that required HF comms, i
> would think plenty of people would stop contesting and monitor the
> situation.  is ham radio contesting that important that it must happen
> during a emergency that needs HF support?  would you still try to run'em
> if a disaster struck like the tsunami?
>
>  if there is a real life and property situation, the bands would
> quickly make space just from the amount of people monitoring.  at least,
> i would hope the people with the best stations on the planet would stand
> by in such an instance...
>
> -Steve, WM3O
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> CQ-Contest mailing list
> CQ-Contest at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest
>