[CQ-Contest] The Calling Disease

[George Harlem]

I need to offer an admission.

Like most, I too deplore this ugly habit of some lids.  Running in SS CW
earlier this month I was called by a weak station and a very strong station.
I went back to the weak station with (not the actual prefixes) "K4?".  The
very strong WA3 again came back on top of the K4.  I sent "K4?" again.  Same
thing.  Then "K4 K4?".  Again the WA3.  So I worked the WA3 and
intentionally failed to log him.  Yes, I let my emotions get the better of
me.  Pity that the K4 moved on, but I felt justified.  I'm not sure there is
any way to change that WA3's behavior.

George W1EBI

-----Original Message-----
From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Joseph.Giasi
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2011 12:58 PM
To: cq-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [CQ-Contest] The Calling Disease

But you also have to educate the DX operator who encourages this stupidity
by failing to observe good DX practices. As a "little pistol" I have lost
count of the number of times I have run into the following scenario:

 

After spending 15, 20, 30 minutes or more trying to work the DX (using all
of the usual tricks - tail-ending, calling slightly off frequency, trying to
time my call to be first one heard, etc) finally:

 

DX op - "QQ"

Me - "W2QQ" and my response is drowned out by a bunch of high power stations
not one of which has a QQ suffix 

DX op - Instead of "only QQ" (which would be good practice) goes ahead and
works one of the stations who called over me

Me - "what the f.?" (in my head, not on the air)

 

So, now, do I continue to try to work this DX or do I move on to someone
else? Sometimes after this has happened a couple of times in a contest, I
switch off the radio and find another, more satisfying, activity.

 

There are some DX ops (maybe even a majority) who will not allow the
stations with the calling disease from taking over the pile-up; they will
ignore all the other callers and stick with the station they called out
until they have completed the contact. I'm sure their run-rate takes a
momentary hit, but they have controlled the pile-up and by maintaining order
I suspect improve their overall results. 

 

On the other hand, by rewarding those with the calling disease, a DX op
merely helps to perpetuate the problem. Of course, it's not a problem for
him since he makes a contact whether it was with me or the station that
called over me.

 

So, I think there needs to be education of both the stations with the
disease and the DX operators who encourage it.

 

Joe, W2QQ