[CQ-Contest] Stew Perry no packet

[W0MU Mike Fatchett]

I jumped into the Stew Perry last night.  SO low power.  I did fine  241 
contacts and whatever points.  I have to say that what I missed about 
not having packet is a sense of the contest going on around me.  I was a 
participant but I was in my own world, not the world of the contest.

With packet you can see what is opening up, who is where, changes in the 
band, you can learn and for me I have a more visual sense of the 
contest.  Many people are much more visual learners or visual people 
while others can learn more from their ears.  I must fall into the 
visual side of things.

I admit I had some good runs a number of times.  When things started to 
slow down I found my interest in the contest waning. Before the pacific 
opened to KH6 and beyond I packed it in.  It was not that fun any more.  
I seriously considered using packet to stay active, instead I went to 
bed.  If I had chosen packet I probably would have stayed on and made 
more contacts which would have been good for everyone.

Unfortunately, this contest also dumps SO packet into a class with 
multiops.  Their contest their rules.  Would more people get on for 
contests if packet was embraced more?  Are we at a point in contest 
where we don't want more participants or should we try to get more 
people into the contest.  More people to work for me is always a good 
thing.  I don't know about you but I get real tired of the cq machine 
and slow rates.  I have no way to know if I am working someone who found 
me using packet or not and I don't care.  I am glad that someone found 
me and wanted to work me.

I have received a number of emails off the list because people are 
afraid that they might get blasted or even blacklisted by their fellow 
contester hams because they share a different view. Is this really what 
contesting has become?  Is so, shame on all of us.  There are people 
that agree with me that are afraid to post on what should be an open 
forum to discuss contesting.  I also wondered myself if I was shooting 
myself in the foot and people are not working me because they don't like 
me or what I write. Yesterday I worked one of the NPOTA stations and he 
recognized my call and said he had read my posts on the reflector and 
thanked me for my comments.

For what it is worth.

W0MU