[CQ-Contest] Just one weekend

[John Geiger]

But clusters do lead to some of the bad behavior, like calling a DX station
you can't hear just because he was spotted on the cluster.  I do think they
have reduced the listening skills of many newer hams.

73s John AA5JG

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 12:51 PM, David Gilbert <xdavid at cis-broadband.com>wrote:

>
> Frighteningly enough I often agree with with Mal, but I'm afraid I can't do
> so this time.
>
> I don't think that reliance on clusters has anything to do with any
> "generation" of contesters.  I'd bet my rig that there are just as many old
> timers who now predominantly use clusters instead of manually searching the
> bands as there are newer hams.  And I'd bet that it has rather little to do
> with being "lazy" and more to do with the time that people are willing to
> spend in a contest or chasing DX.  Check out the statistics on the number of
> hours the majority of hams spend in any contest ... it isn't a very high
> percentage of the total contest period.  Check out the percentage of contest
> participants who submit a log ... I'd be surprised if it typically exceeds
> 10%.  Spotting clusters bypass a skill that used to be part and parcel of
> operating an amateur radio station, but so does using a memory keyer or
> buying a commercial antenna or any number of other things I could come up
> with.
>
> Personally, I can think of other lost arts in our hobby that would concern
> me much more than how well someone can find another station.  What about how
> to time a call in a pileup, or adjust your rig to put out a clean signal, or
> make a crisp contact in a contest, or have the least little bit
> understanding of propagation?  People who want to shut down the spotting
> tools seem to think that they're the worst things going on in our hobby, but
> they aren't.  They're merely some of the most popular, most visible, and
> easiest to identify a "solution" for.
>
> Clusters aren't ruining our hobby ... bad behavior, stodginess, and
> intolerance is.
>
> Dave   AB7E
>
>
>
>
> On 2/28/2011 7:30 AM, N7mal wrote:
>
>> I don't often, if ever, agree with Hans, K0HB, but this time he has hit
>> the
>> nail on the head.
>> More than 20 years ago I was an early packet-cluster sysop. That means
>> there
>> is a whole generation of hams who know nothing but the clusters. Then
>> there's another generation of hams who have just become 'flat-out' lazy in
>> their  contesting and DXing efforts. They have completely forgotten the
>> term
>> S&P. If their local cluster goes down they hyperventilate. No I'm not
>> nostalgic for the good 'ole' days because I'm connected to VE7CC 24/7. I
>> also don't think turning off technology will mean the end of ham radio.
>> Put me down as 100% in............
>> 73
>>
>>
>> MAL
>> N7MAL
>> BULLHEAD CITY, AZ
>> http://www.n7mal.com
>> Everyone in the world is
>> entitled to be burdened
>> by my opinion
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> Subject: [CQ-Contest] Just one weekend
>>
>>
>> Let’s pick one summer weekend in 2012, when no DXpedition is planned and
>> no significant international contest is scheduled.  Maybe the second
>> weekend
>> of August.
>>
>> On that weekend, let’s turn off all the DX packet clusters, all the
>> internet spotting networks, all the skimmers, all the RBN’s, and just
>> play
>> “a boy and his radio†.
>>
>> Just one weekend, 18 months from now.
>>
>> Talk it up.  Pass it on.
>>
>> 73, de Hans, K0HB/K7
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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